Omphalos Hypothesis about Creation

[tellville]

I was wonderning what people thought of the Omphalos Hypothesis?

Omphalos Hypothesis:

The Omphalos Hypothesis argues that in order for the world to be "functional", God must have created the Earth with mountains and canyons, trees with growth rings, Adam and Eve with hair, fingernails, and navels (omphalos is Greek for "navel"), and that therefore no evidence that we can see of the presumed age of the earth and universe can be taken as reliable. (definition taken from Wikipedia)

 

[rmwilliamsjr]

the book omphalos by Phillip Grosse dates from the mid 19thC.
interestingly there are two companies trying to sell it on ebay. although i doubt it is worth either the $50 or the $225 they are asking. so i've never had the chance to read a copy although i am still looking *grin* just quibbling over the price. in my years online i've only ran into one person who has an old dogeared xerox.

it's often referred to as "creation with apparent age" so googling that phrase will get you into the literature online.
philosophically it appears to end up in the problems labelled:
decartes demon, last thursdayism, brains in a vat so there are a few more terms to research.
one interesting side is Glenn Morton's --- morton's demon
http://home.entouch.net/dmd/mortonsdemon.htm
is a version of decartes demon created for the creation-evolution-design discussion.

As far as I know it's logical conclusion is a form of solipsism that makes the world merely a projection of the inner self, because the external world is not trustworthy, not a place Christians find philosophically comfortable, which explains why most people avoid the position (including AiG which has it on the list of weak-not to use arguments).


if you wish to get a handle on the argument, start by making the distinction of scars and a belly button, which are symbolic of history and normal developmental processes. The issue seems to revolve around if God would have created Adam not only as an adult male but with a scar on his knee and the memories of falling out of a tree and his mom comforting him over it. The omphalos issue represents the normal developmental process that can be expected if you are human, then it follows that you have one, even though Adam did not undergo the birth process. Even though it, pregnancy and birth, are historical processes they are necessary ones to undergo to arrive at human adulthood. Unlike the scar which is a record of a particular contingent history, for not all human beings have such a scar, only those that underwent that particular experience. This seems to be the crucial early distinction to make in the discussion, without it, the discussion is a vicious circle.



[Edited on 3-3-2006 by rmwilliamsjr]