Biblical text discussed

To the Journal editor:

In his letter to the Mining Journal published July 21 Richard P. Lehto of Ishpeming states that “The Bible is the infallible, inerrant, inspired Word of God.” He also claims that “Evolution is unproven and basically groundless.” I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume that Mr. Lehto believes that the theory of evolution is a false doctrine.

Mr. Lehto also mentions the “world-wide flood as recorded in the 7th chapter of Genesis.” For those readers not familiar with the book of Genesis, Mr. Lehto is referring to the story of Noah and the Ark. In this quaint little fable, God gets irate with the evil ways of humans.

With the exception of one God-fearing man and his family, (Noah) he decides to flood the Earth and kill everybody else. Not being a Biblical scholar, I read the sixth through ninth chapter of Genesis to make sure I got all the“infallible, inerrant, inspired” words of God straight.

In the sixth chapter, God instructs Noah to “Make yourself an Ark” (a big ol’ boat). God then goes on to tell Noah “Of all other living creatures you shall bring two into the Ark, one male one female, that you may keep them alive with you.”

So, if evolution is a false doctrine and the Earth and all of it’s creatures are exactly the same as they were in the first week of creation, It seems to me that the “infallible, inerrant, inspired Word of God” is saying that, at least, two penguins swam up the Atlantic from Antartica, took a hard right at the Mediterranean Sea, made landfall somewhere in the Middle East and waddled around until they found an old guy (600 years old, according to the “infallible, inerrant, inspired Word of God”) with a big ol’ boat, climbed aboard and joined all their fine feathered and furry friends (God knows how they got there!) and went for a cruise with Noah and the family.

Mr. Lehto, this is the United States of America and you are entitled to express your beliefs. I, myself, believe in and thank God for, the separation of church and state.

Wally Tuccini

Marquette