Originally Posted by
alanmolstad
I will tell you a little story about what I mean when I say, "I don't teach or defend evolution"
Many, many years ago...
I was locked in an argument with a bunch of guys who were on this forum attacking my views on Genesis, and one of them told me about a different forum where they invited me to go check out as they all were members there too, and they wanted me to go there and post.
So I clecked on their link and went to visit and register at that forum.
I soon discovered that it was true, all these guys did post a lot more there, and in fact I soon discovered that they had a few topics in their GENESIS/EVOLUTION section of that forum that were named after me personally, and were attacking me in a very personal manner.
(Thus the reason I dont ever allow anyone to name a topic here at someone by personal name)
Well it's impossible to see that going on and not feel the need to respond, and so I started to post and soon discovered that the MODs of that site were really, really REALLY pro-Young Earth Creationist!
The MODs challenged me to enter into a formal 'debate' on their forum at a special "Debate section" where only I and one other person would be allowed to post, and all other guests would be only able to post in a lower "comments section"
I told the MOD that Im not trained in the art of the forum debate, and I just know how to post on forums in a more general friendly manner .
The MOD told me in a private message that if I turned down the offer of a debate, that this too would be something that would be used against me from now on on that site, and people would connect me with being unable to debate my views when challenged.
So feeling boxed-in I agreed to do a formal debate on their site...
Then over the next week we had a mini-debate over the name of this future debate i would be in....they wanted it to be "Genesis vs Evolution", but I told the MOD over and over that I dont debate evolution because Im only a simple Bible student and I dont teach science at a school.
The MOD finally agreed to list the ***le of our debate under the name something like "What does Genesis teach?" or something like that.
I wanted everyone to understand at the time that I was not there to defend evolution, nor would I even much speak on that topic.
I wanted everyone at the start to understand that my views are centered on the text of the bible alone.
And so the formal debate was announced, as well as the other person who would be up against me.
we were each told the rules.
We would get like 1/2 a page of room each time we posted to make our point, and we also were given 24 hours to post our comment before it was the other person's turn.
So we began.
I introduce myself....and start with the text at Genesis 1:1 .
I spend my first post dealing with the general introduction of what the bibe says at Gen 1:1 and how this leads to the next set of verses.
Then it was the other guy's turn....
He attacked the personal life of Darwin.
Then it was my turn again, and I build on my first post and start to deal with the next verse in the Bible that talks about the "Let there be light".
I try to show from the Text what is going on in this verse and how its connected to later sections that we will be soon dealing with as we go along.
Now it was the other guys turn again....
He attacked me personally , and only dealt with the fact that I had totally ignored what he had said about the personal life of Darwin.
he then went on to attack me on the issue of how many people are put to death in the USSR?
Now it was my turn again, and I continued building my case about what the bible says on the topic of this "light"and I went to the next verse of the Bible were we were now dealing with the issues that appear in that verse.
At about this point and after I had posted what would turn out to be only my 3rd or 4th post in the debate the MODs locked it down and i got sent a bunch of warnings from the MOD about the way i was not responding to the other guy's attacks on Darwin and Evolution.
I was warned that unless I started to defend evolution I would be locked-out of the debate and banned from the site until I agreed to defend evolution.
Needless to say, the debate was over.
I was not banned from the site and I returned to the open forum , but soon learned why they all had wanted me to defend evolution so badly?
Thats all they had.....
All their YEC books, tapes, and websites really only are a bunch of the same "Anti-Evolution" **** that keeps getting p***ed around over and over.
They dont really have much BIBLE-centered information there.
The guys who wanted me to debate evolution so much needed me to do that because that is all they got.
They really were totally unprepared to open their Bibles to see what it says in black and white.
and when i started to get people to open their bible and read what it says for themselves, thats when i got in yet more trouble with the MODs.
The MODs were fine with me around so long as I was there to defend evolution , but the moment they discovered i was there to teach what the Bible says they banned me.
so,,,,,,,back to your question to me today "Is that what you are saying?"
My answer is this - I dont teach evolution because Im not a science teacher.
I dont defend evolution because as a Bible Student I have only the area of "Bible Stuff" that I can speak on and defend with any real confidence.
Bible stuff i can deal with....Bible stuff I know.....Bible stuff i can defend.....Bible stuff i can teach.
Thus, I stuck closely to the text of the Bible as written in Genesis.
That is why the YEC teachers have such a hard time dealing with what Im saying, its because i stick to what the text actually says, whereas the YEC teachings are all about what the YEC teachers wished the bible said.