"My book attempts to resolve how the Fall of Adam could be responsible for all evil in the world, both moral and natural IF the earth is old and thus IF a fossil record that bespeaks violence among organisms predates the temporal occurrence of the Fall. My resolution is to argue that just as the salvation of Christ purchased at the Cross acts forward as well as backward in time (the Old Testament saints were saved in virtue of the Cross), so too the effects of the Fall can go backward in time."
Uhm....what kind of poisonous psychobabbel is that? How can the effects of the "Fall" go "backward" in time? Sin on earth entered the world through mankind. But wait-there is more psychobabbel about his book-
"Mental environments are more powerful than what typically are understood as worldviews. A worldview can be thought of as a collection of propositions to which we assent. But a mental environment adds conviction to a worldview. How strongly do we hold to certain principles and values in our worldview, and how does that make a practical difference in our lives? A mental environment controls, among other things, our plausibility structures – what we find reasonable or unreasonable. In the current mental environment, given that it holds to an old earth, it becomes very hard for people to accept that the Fall affected the physical world (and, in particular, induced natural evil). My theodicy attempts to redress this obstacle posed to the Fall by the current mental environment."
HUH? Me thinks Dembski tries to think TOO MUCH.....As the book review on Amazon.com says of his book "Entering the conversation, Dembski’s provocative The End of Christianity embraces the challenge to formulate a theodicy that is both faithful to Christian orthodoxy and credible to the new mental environment. " What does "credible to the new mental enviroment" mean"?
In fairness to Dembski, he doesn't believe in evolution, yet he is trying to reconcile a supposed 4.5 Billion yr. earth with Adam & Eve and denies the flood was global, but rather was local in the Middle East. This is what happens when you begin to compromise with the world. There is plenty of evidence to refute evolution-no need to compromise on that or the global flood.
William Dembski is a Research Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. Hebrews 13:9