Do Darwinists at Christian schools unwittingly argue that 6-year-old patriarchs fathered kids?
24John Walton is a Darwinist teaching at Wheaton, a Christian school (or at least it was once upon a time).
He claims Genesis 11 should not be read literally as rendered in translations from King James to ESV.
Consider the following passage from Genesis 11:
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"10 This is the account of Shem’s family line.
Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father[d] of Arphaxad. 11 And after he became the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
12 When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah. 13 And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
...
24 When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah. 25 And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters."
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Shem lived 600 years (100 + 500) years.
Arphaxad 438 years, but had a kid at 35. If the lifespan of Shem wasn't really 600 years, Should it be scaled down to 100? Ok, so that's a scaling factor of 1/6.
Ok, let's apply the 1/6 scaling factor to the age Arphaxad had a kid at (35 x 1/6) = 6 years old!!! YIKES!
The little boy is still losing milk teeth at that age!
And how does Walton explain the declining ages? It's irrelevant if the base-10 system is in play or not, the declining ages Genesis 5 and 11 are still a problem for Walton's views.
Of course, one could think the Christian Scriptures are false, or maybe the copies we have in hand aren't very accurate.
But Genetic Entropy is a good explanation for Genesis 11.
In an attempt to reconcile the Bible with evolutionism, Walton's re-interpretation of Genesis creates problems like 6-year-old boys knocking up child-bearing women, and totally leaves open the problem of why the declining ages are written in Genesis 5 and 11.
BUT, modern data indicates a literal reading of Genesis is feasible, and therefore supports the idea the Christian Scriptures are authentic in the original manuscripts and most certainly authentic in the meaning the Lord imparted to the writers.
In any case, Walton strains at gnats and lets camels through.
Emory's Youtube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsaKEYyS9ER0iKOoZnnowhQ
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