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Sunday, July 01, 2012

David H. Bailey: Creationism, technology and intellectual consistency

In his recent blog post, David H. Bailey somewhat mockingly claims:

"If one does not accept old-age geology or evolution, then to be consistent one should wear a bracelet instructing emergency medical personnel not to utilize electronic or MRI equipment when treating you, because such devices, based as they are on quantum mechanics, are presumably not reliable."

Bailey's comment illustrates what happens when someone completely rejects all supernatural information sources. Let's consider, for example, whether a person like Russell M. Nelson should be required to wear one of Bailey's ridiculous bracelets.

Before being called as an apostle, Russell Nelson was an internationally renowned heart surgeon and medical researcher. He performed open-heart surgery on Spencer W. Kimball a short time before Kimball became Church President.

Russell Nelson's belief regarding organic evolution is very clear:

"Some ... have deduced that, because of certain similarities between different forms of life, there has been a natural selection of the species, or organic evolution from one form to another....

"To me, such theories are unbelievable!...

"It is incumbent upon each informed and spiritually attuned person to help overcome such foolishness of men who would deny divine creation or think that man simply evolved. By the Spirit, we perceive the truer and more believable wisdom of God." (Ensign, Jan. 1988.)

Russell Nelson does not accept evolution. So, is David Bailey really sure that Russell Nelson shouldn't be allowed to trust electronic or MRI medical equipment? How can Bailey be so sure about this?

2 Comments:

Anonymous Jeff G said...

I'm glad to see your response here, Gary. The other blog has comments disabled, but I did want to ask David why "intellectual consistency" is supposed to trump all other moral factors that might be at play? Might not a consistency in following revealed doctrine have more moral clout with many people? And most importantly, what rules can each side appeal to without begging the questions at hand?

7/01/2012 10:53:00 PM  
Blogger R. Gary said...

Good questions, Jeff. Hopefully David will provide the answers. Thanks for stopping by.

7/02/2012 07:50:00 AM  

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