Consistency

As I work through what I believe and why, one area I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about recently is consistency. I’ve found that far too often we don’t consider the full implications of our arguments. It is illogical to use one argument as why you support an issue, and then turn around and use its antithesis as to why you disagree with another issue.

For instance, I have heard people argue against the Gap Theory, which says there is a gap in time between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2, by saying that you cannot add something that is not there. The same people then turn around and argue that there is an indeterminable period of time between the 69th and 70th weeks in Daniel’s prophecy (see here) in which the Church is a parenthesis (re: Dispensationalist Theology), and that the writers of the Old Testament never spoke of the Church or knew anything about it. So, to sum up their arguments, they say you’re dishonest and don’t believe scripture if you insert time at the beginning of Genesis, and also say you can’t understand scripture and interpret it ‘correctly’ if you don’t insert time in Daniel.

I recently came across another example of this logic. Many of those who argue against embryonic stem cell research do so because they believe life is sacred. To quote the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message, “We should speak on behalf of the unborn and contend for the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death.” Their argument goes something like this: “Because we believe all life is sacred, all types of stem cell research should be banned. Even though there are promising possibilities of finding cures for many different diseases that would save hundreds of thousands of lives down the road, it is not worth it if other lives are taken in the process.”
I have then heard the same groups turn around and give their unreserved support for the Iraq War by saying “The civilian causalities in this war (an estimated 40,000 currently) are worth it, because it may save lives in the future.” So which is it? Is life sacred, or is it not?