I never found the quote myself but a former contact in California once attributed this quote to the well-known Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892): "If it's true, it isn't new. If it's new, it isn't true."
I like Charles Spurgeon but I was never sure that I fully endorsed this quote. But, I remembered it and never saw it in writing until now. .
The message being conveyed was that God never changes. Theology in its purest meaning is the study of God. The truth about God never evolves or changes but is established and firm.
Oh, my. I think this final statement of yours is completely false. The opposite appears true Nl. It was the realization of this that, I think, finally ended my belief in God.
Personally, I think that theologians can still discover new insights even though God doesn't change.
I do agree that new insights are possible. The ground breaking work of Robert Eisenman, James the Brother of Jesus, is one fine example of this being true.
Personally, I think the statement is fully accurate that: "only humans possess true language and conceptual thought, art, humor, science, and religion."
Only humans possess an intricate spoken language, true, but chimps possess vocalizations and gestures that convey meaning to other chimps, just as we do. Facial expressions are all important in the human world, as they are in the world of chimps, and so are gestures. I am not sure that Huxley had much of an awareness of this.
Conceptual thought: if by this we mean problem solving, or self-awareness, then chimps certainly are in full possession of this. I gave you a very good example of this in regard the banana-stealing chimp. They also understand that when they look into a mirror they are looking at themselves. So they possess a concept of themselves as individuals. There was one chimp that used to enjoy looking at photographs of other chimps and people. Interestingly it had the habit of sorting the photos into two separate piles: chimps in one and humans in the other, but it always put photos of itself in the people pile. What’s that tell you? I suspect this would have completely stunned Huxley.
On the matter of art you may have me stymied, but there is at least one primatologist who claims chimp youngsters make and play with stick dolls. I saw the video on-line, but thought, well okay, but how do we know that this is what the chimps are thinking? It was a bit of a stretch, but they did seem to be playing with the sticks they’d fashioned as toys.
Humour: well I don’t know. Do chimps sometimes do things that they think are funny? Maybe they do. How are we to judge that only we appreciate humour? So they don’t tell jokes, but that doesn’t mean they don’t understand and use their own brand of humour. I wonder what Jane Goodall would say?
The modifying word "true" is there as in "true language and conceptual, art, humor, science and religion."
Yes, and interesting modifier, but did Huxley use it? Do you have the original quote? In your post you tied Huxley’s words to the notion that only we think analytically, and you seemed to imply that this is what Huxley meant:
“1. We can think analytically; we can reason and philosophize. A non-Christian writer, Julian Huxley, noted that only humans possess true language and conceptual thought, art, humor, science, and religion.”
Jane Goodall has spent significant time around chimpanzees and I'm sure has observed much. I'd be glad to have contributions from chimpanzees in the areas of language, conceptual thought, art, humor, science and religion but I won't expect too much.
I'm not sure why you would find it necessary to do what I would describe as "dissing" Josh McDowell over using an older source (Julian Huxley) who was a prominent evolutionist.
It is important to understand that since Huxley’s time scientists have had to discard the old notions of what sets humans apart from the animal world. Huxley was part of that misunderstanding. He was born 127 years ago. I am sure McDowell was aware of that when he chose to quote him. McDowell wants to accentuate the differences between ourselves and the animal world, so best to quote from an older evolutionary source that was not yet aware of the newer findings. Yes, Huxley was prominent, but our views have change since his time and we are now far more aware of what ties us to the animal kingdom. We no longer seem so different from the apes as we once did.
If they are true, foundational principles will not change over time. If they are not true, then they need to change.
The foundational principles of Islam have not changed over time so they must be true?