Response to a book criticism
Ken Silva at Apprising Ministries has written up a paper critical of the book Quantum Theology: A Postmodern Apologetic by Leonard Sweet. I have to say, after reading this article, which attempts to disparage Mr. Sweet and his book, I'm rather tempted to read it. It sounds like a good book. In particular, Rev. Silva talks about the idea of the interconnectedness of all creation as if this were an inherently bad thing.
Oh, and Rev. Silva should work on his logic skills. At one point, he writes:
In fact, if we have one verse alone from the Bible that destroys this whole panentheistic New Light argument it would be Romans 8:9 — You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. We see here that this is a conditional statement, if the Spirit of God lives in you. Simple logic tells you that the possibilty then exists for the truth of the b part of this verse — if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. Therefore one is not in Christ, and if one is not in Christ then God is not in him.
(emphasis his.) Sorry, Rev. Silva. "Simple logic" tells you no such thing. An assertion of the positive does not a priori mandate the existence of the negative. Take a quick course in logic and set theory before you again attempt to use something you don't understand. Not that I think logic and mathematics are appropriate domains to use for biblical discussions, but shoddy, invalid uses of logic is a pet peeve of mine.
An edit: I had assumed, from the orginal post, that this was a new book. I see now that it was published in 1991! Don't these people have anything more current to work against?
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Comments
Dwayne: A long time ago I quit visiting the site in question and those that Silva associates with. They are offensive and not at all interested in any conversation, logical or not. Sad that those who claim to be the defender of the faith can’t even adhere to the basic command of Jesus to love one anther and promote unity.
All that was said was - the possibility exists for the b part of that verse, which is true. Perhaps you might read a item more carefully before criticizing an obvious statement.