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| Cowboy Bob knows the answer to that! |
I get an emailed newsletter from
an atheist called Ashley Haworth-Roberts who spends much of his time harrying the anti-science Christian fundamentalist culture. As I am a researcher of sectarian brands of Christianity I find that Ashley actually succeeds in drawing my attention to a
lot of useful material. In one of his latest newsletters he quotes a
Trump and Ken Ham supporting fundamentalist who calls himself "cowboy Bob". What interested me was the following quote from the cowboy's blog. It's an indication that for at least some of the Christian right-wing young earthism is a faith test, a
test you fail if you don't go along with their young earthist views Here's the quote with my emphases:
Some folks reject the Bible's authority. We expect that from
atheists and other non-believers, but there are professing Christians who also
downplay the Word of God. Scripture plainly says that everything was created in
six days. Instead of humbling themselves and submitting to Christ, they light a
shuck out of there and head for the comfort of riding the owlhoot trail. (Cowboy speak for "outlaws") They
are degrading Scripture.
Why would a supposed believer want to compromise? It seems
to me that these owlhoots don't want to look like one of those people who
reject deep time, so they seek the praise of men rather than God. Another
reason is that they want to accommodate atheistic views of science and their
interpretations of evidence so they can allow for evolution. Some of these alleged
Christians get a notion to add millions of years to the Bible by pretending it
doesn't mean what it clearly says.
People who try to compromise with theistic evolution, old
earth creation, and hybrid creation accounts do not accomplish anything of
value. Indeed, such tinhorns mock God, his people, and Scripture. Do they
really believe? Their insistence on eisegesis over exegesis**, ridicule of
Bible-believing Christians, and giving comfort to enemies of God causes me to
lack belief that they do so.
It never occurs to people like this that even on a literal interpretation Genesis 1 is hardly a description of the process of creation for it says very little about the details of this process; that is, the actual sequence of events that the commands of God entail. The Genesis 1 narrative, by all accounts, is (necessarily) a mere summary of an immense burden of creative activity See here.
But what I would like to focus on here is the fact that the above quote reveals just how full of assumptions the cowboy is about the underlying motives of those Christians who don't agree with him: The cowboy is quite sure that Christians who beg to differ are harbouring malign ulterior anti-Christian attitudes. Moreover he, like other young earthists, is unlikely to make known that his views actually originate from the 1960s, a time that Ken Ham thinks of as the young earthist reformation.
But what I would like to focus on here is the fact that the above quote reveals just how full of assumptions the cowboy is about the underlying motives of those Christians who don't agree with him: The cowboy is quite sure that Christians who beg to differ are harbouring malign ulterior anti-Christian attitudes. Moreover he, like other young earthists, is unlikely to make known that his views actually originate from the 1960s, a time that Ken Ham thinks of as the young earthist reformation.
The character deformation implicit in the cowboy's words allied to his all too obvious profound suspicions of Christians beyond the pale of his subculture are of-a-piece with the right wing & fundamentalist affinity for paranoid conspiracy theorism: Let's not forget that Trump and professional Christian conspiracy theorist Alex Jones have in the past engaged in mutual support.
As the Watchtower egged on its followers to believe that 1975 was going to be the likely end of this system of things and then claimed that it never made a prediction, so likewise we can see how Ken Ham is egging on the cowboy's behaviour and yet turns round and tries to claim that he's not making young earthism a salvation issue...... Oh yes he is!.
Apart from research purposes I would warn reasonable Christians to avoid engaging with people like the cowboy (along with fundamentalists in general). As we can see one doesn't start on a level playing field with them. Reasonable Christians (who are in fact in the majority, I'm glad to say), in fundamentalist eyes, are the lowest of the low, traitorous apostate spiritual outcasts on the "owlhoot" trail! Fundamentalists like the cowboy are so full of a priori suspicions & potential recriminations that the trusting and mutually respecting relationship needed for constructive dialogue just isn't there to start with. Interaction with them just catalyses further accusations, slandering, anger, aggravation and polarisation. However, it helps to realise that these people are not out to intentionally deceive, but their pathological paranoid vision of the world is very real to them; it takes a long time and a lot of effort to deconstruct that world view. Unless one is specifically lead to engage these kinds of rabid sectarians there are better things Christians can occupy themselves with!
Relevant links
As the following links suggest there are parallels here with a sect like Jehovah's witnesses.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzLwnl6qE_yeemhBVURGSExVaFE/edit?pli=1
As the following links suggest there are parallels here with a sect like Jehovah's witnesses.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzLwnl6qE_yeemhBVURGSExVaFE/edit?pli=1
Footnote:
* I doubt the cowboy would be able to tell us much about the relationship between "eisegesis & exegesis" and the difference between "notation and connotation".
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