There is an obvious reason why evangelicals seem so reluctant (1) to seek insights from challenging books with which they have major disagreements or (2) to read books on evolution by its most skilled defenders rather than by Christian apologetics who debunk the theory in a highly biased and poorly informed way. The reason is the Domino Theory of Scripture.
I once read a quote from Jerry Falwell saying that if you don't believe in a literal 8-day creation, you might as well not be a Christian. Inerrantist evangelicals often claim that if one provable error can be found in Scripture, then none of teh Bible can be trusted. Do you really want a struggling seeker to abandon her faith in Christ simply because she can't embrace your narrow perspectives? Is being right important enough to you to jeopardize someone else's salvation? The Domino view creates great ego investment in defending the Bible against charges of error. The inevitable result is threefold (a) a closed-minded judgmentalism that attributes contrary views to the work of Satan rather than honestly won different insights; (b) a refusal to endure the threatening discomfort of reading authors who articulately challenge their spiritual beliefs, and (c) a theological Ghetto mentality in which only Ghetto-approved books are read. Such evangelicals need to be asked: If your views on important issues were seriously flawed in serious ways, how would you ever find that out? Or would you even want to know the truth?
I once read a quote from Jerry Falwell saying that if you don't believe in a literal 8-day creation, you might as well not be a Christian. Inerrantist evangelicals often claim that if one provable error can be found in Scripture, then none of teh Bible can be trusted. Do you really want a struggling seeker to abandon her faith in Christ simply because she can't embrace your narrow perspectives? Is being right important enough to you to jeopardize someone else's salvation? The Domino view creates great ego investment in defending the Bible against charges of error. The inevitable result is threefold (a) a closed-minded judgmentalism that attributes contrary views to the work of Satan rather than honestly won different insights; (b) a refusal to endure the threatening discomfort of reading authors who articulately challenge their spiritual beliefs, and (c) a theological Ghetto mentality in which only Ghetto-approved books are read. Such evangelicals need to be asked: If your views on important issues were seriously flawed in serious ways, how would you ever find that out? Or would you even want to know the truth?
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