Religion and Science, according to The Plain Truth

The latest (July 1993) issue of _The Plain Truth_ (sent to you free
for the rest of your life by request, The Plain Truth, Pasadena, CA
91123-0210) contains an article titled "Religion and Science:
Bridging the Gap" by John Halford.  The subheading is "Do we really
have to choose between science and the Bible?"  It includes numerous
quotations from John Polkinghorne and a few from other scientists
such as Stephen Hawking. It argues that the book of Genesis is not
a scientific account of the origin of the universe and life, that
the Bible is compatible with an old earth and evolution, that to
call evolution "only a theory" is to "misunderstand the scientific
method," and more.

I continue to be impressed with the accuracy and fair-mindedness in
_The Plain Truth_'s articles on science, theology, and biblical
scholarship.  Is this why many Christians characterize the Worldwide
Church of God as a cult?

Jim Lippard              Lippard@CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU
Dept. of Philosophy      Lippard@ARIZVMS.BITNET
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721
===================================================================
From:  Dr Pepper

> Worldwide Church of God as a cult?

No. Various mainstream evangelicals have called WWCOG a "cult"
because the of the ideas of founder Herbert W Armstrong being,
as they judged it, "aberrant".

Walter Martin decribed Armstrong as "part mormon, part witness, part
adventist, and part british israelite". This characterization, while
not quite correct, is a reasonable one. Armstrong taught that God is
not merely a trinity, he is a family, and each believer is going to
join it, that british israelism (that the anglo-saxons are the lost
ten tribes) is true (but he used it to support manifest destiny rather
than racism as some do), that old testament ordinances on diet and
the sabbath are still valid, that Daniel and Revelations are about
to happen with the Antichrist emerging as the dictator of united
Europe, and that Hell is anihilation, not eternal suffering.

He also used to fulminate against evolution with a mixture of scorn
and ridicule that would have made Gish and company green with envy.
He had a booklet called "For the Birds" which he boasted "makes a
monkey out of evolution". He was very fond of the watchmaker analogy.

But Armstrong died nearly a decade ago. He was in his mid 80's and had
just remarried. In one of his last personal editorials he declared how
wonderful he felt and offered the suggestion that all elderly widowed
people should consider remarriage because regular sex was good for
one's well being.

Since his death, the same evangelicals who had fingered him as a
"cultist" have reported that his successors have been revising the
church's positions to join the mainstream. The evangelicals have
rejoiced in this process. They aren't going to like the change on
science though.

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