1953 Geloof en Wetenschap : Orgaan van de Christelijke vereeniging van natuur- en geneeskundigen in Nederland - pagina 226

200

RONDBLIK

entirely, or conceives of God as dependent upon the process of a so-called creative evolution, or allows for Him to enter into the process only incidentally. The human form of revelation should prompt the Church to proceed with modesty and caution, and to refrain from making various kinds of pronouncements in the field of natural science". This same Synod of 1949 asked the Synods of the participating Reformed Churches tot study these three guiding principles earnestly. For that reason the Synod of the Christian Reformed Church of 1951 apointed your Committee for the study of these ,,decisions". Your Committee advises Synod to accept these decisions. Through correspondence we have been informed that the Synod of the Reformed Church of South Africa of 1952 has adopted these guiding principles. We have also tried to find out; what the Gereformeerde Kerken of the Netherlands decided to do, but we have not been favored with any information. Even though your Committee advises the adoption of the „decisions" we wish to add the following provisos and declarations : 1. Your Committee wishes our people tot understand that these „decisions" are not to be put on par with our Forms of Unity; for example, the Articles of the Belgic Confession. They are merely guiding principles and directives. Nor are they on par with the infallible ex cathedra utterances of the Catholic Church. The „decisions" should be taken seriously; but we should not consider the person a heretic who deviates from them in the slightest degree. 2. The „decisions" speak of the „historical character" of Genesis 1 and 2. We consider that this terminology requires further elucidation. There are many differences among theologians in regard to the connotation of these words and also about the historical meaning of the words of Genesis 1 and 2. 3. Your Committee unreservedly condemns the mechanistic type and interpretation of evolution so rampant to-day and accepted by many scholars and scientists. We should gratefully accept the facts they give us but not their interpretations. 4. We wish to emphasize the difficulty of the problem of Creation and Evolution. On the one hand, Reformed theologians are constantly modifying their stand and re-evaluating their interpretation of Scripture, particularly of Genesis 1 and 2. In fact, we have been informed that material has been published or is ready to be published of such a nature that the whole subject of Creation and Evolution may have to be considered afresh. On the other hand, new discoveries are constantly being made in the field of natural science which make it necessary to alter our point of view; for example, in regard to the age of the earth and the length of the days of creation. Think but of the radio-active elements and the presence of Carbon 14. Theologians and scientists, particularly Christian natural scientists, should make contributions to the solution of this problem. Should they

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen