There are no answers in Genesis

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

James Hutton was a Scottish geologist and the essential founder of uniformitarianism (the idea that changes in the Earth’s crust occur over immensely long periods of time, which pretty well discredits YEC).

It doesn’t really matter (for purposes of this discussion) what Augustine of Hippo had to say about Genesis.

Boru

Yes, Augustone does matter because it directly refutes the point you were making. There are important early Christians that did not consider Genesis a literal account. Augustine is one. Origen is another.

Yes, there are many Ken Hamm types. And I cannot speak for @Belacqua, but when I do have a chance to engage respectfully with a fundamentalist, I point them in the same direction as I do those atheists who mistakenly assume that if the bible is not true in any respect (like cosmology), that it cannot be reliable guide in any other respect, like spiritual instruction.

I’m confused - what point was I making that you think Augustine refuted?

What the church fathers say about YEC doesn’t matter because rank and file Christians, by and large, have no idea what Origen, Augustine, et al, said. The issue before us is whether a literalist, absolutist interpretation of the Bible is valid when it comes to science. I think both of us agree that it isn’t.

In this case, my issue is with YEC, not with Christians in general.

Boru