Sunday, February 27, 2011
As we made our way home from church today, my wife and I engaged in our usual “Whadja think of this week’s teaching?” type of conversation. Rolling along as the country miles sped by - practically unnoticed by the two of us, we began to unpack some of our pastor’s sermon points. And by the time our van came to rest in front of our home, my mind had traveled well beyond that brief conversation. So I felt it might be a good idea to take a seat in front of this here computer screen, while all this is fresh in my mind. Once again, that confounded little blinking courser is daring me to try and fill this blank-white Word-doc with a few cogent thoughts – and assuming I have one or two worthy of your time, I’ll give it a whirl. So, here-goes…and I’ll try to keep it brief but…well, you know me!
I’ve had a soft spot for missions since I was a young man. Some of you know my history; that I’d briefly served as a missionary when I was in my mid-twenties. As a matter of fact, I met my future wife on the mission field and we went on to spend our first tender years of marriage serving there. So my ears usually perk-up just a bit when Missions-Month rolls around at our church each year. Well now, this year has had an added twist as our senior pastor has been introducing our congregation to a certain point of view of his - a view which has come as a bit of a surprise and a profound disappointment to me and many others. Namely, that taking a young-earth/literal 6-day creation position flies in the face of sound science and that the first three chapters of Genesis can be interpreted in such a way as to accommodate billions of years, evolution, etc. Therefore, in the spirit of missions apparently we're expected to embrace the reaching-out to the so-called educated-folk. You know; those whose “hang-up” is the book of Genesis and all those “flat-earthers” who interpret it as an accurate accounting of world history. So our church is hosting a two-day seminar called "Creation Workshops". Well now that sounds very enticing - doesn't it? I mean if one didn't know better, they might just assume it's all about Creationism, evidence for a global flood - you know, a chance for folks to hear how to defend the literal interpretation of the Genesis account. Nope! We're inviting people from the local colleges and universities to come and listen to a couple of Christian fellas. Christian geologist fellas. Christian geologist fellas who are convinced that the book of Genesis can be interpreted as a framework - a metaphor intended solely for the purpose of conveying that God created, not how God created. They teach that young-earth creationists use very poor science by viewing geology through the lens of a global deluge; calling the flood of Noah's day "a geographically local event". This year, our missions focus is to be the ripened fields of academia.
The assumption, I gather is this: That if one has an impressive collection of letters following their name, they’re often too sophisticated to accept a young-Earth, literal six-day creation. Furthermore, I’m to believe that the preponderance of the evidence is so overwhelming to anyone with a classic education, that it’s impossible for them to hurdle that six-day barrier and embrace a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. In other words, those of us with the audacity - if not the limited grasp of science - to take the book of Genesis at face value have made ourselves stumbling-blocks to such people. Apparently, we’re viewed by some as sort of like that relative no one wants to talk about at parties – an embarrassment to the family of Christendom, especially when they find themselves discussing matters of faith while in the company of the more refined. Furthermore, we’re admonished for having imposed unreasonable conditions on those who would otherwise become Christians. And worse, we’re viewed to be smugly indifferent as to how we may be hindering those who cannot tolerate our heart-felt positions. We’re thought to be unconcerned for such as these who are languishing in unbelief. And I must say that I take great exception to such notions as these.
Now before I continue, I want to first of all express my pleasure in knowing that our pastor has a heart for reaching the lost within our sphere of influence. Of course, this is the calling on all of us who are in Christ. And it is this desire; namely, to draw people into the Kingdom of God, which compels me to passionately engage others in this debate. It is why I have for years taken a keen interest in questions of science and Biblical history. Having said that, I’d like to point to three of the premises upon which our pastor seems to have built his platform. And I’ll attempt to explain why I believe them to be flawed. Now I have an enormous amount of esteem and respect for our pastor therefore I take no pleasure in writing these things but I feel I cannot remain silent in these matters.
PREMISE #1 Holding to a literal, young-Earth interpretation of the Genesis account of creation and the world-wide deluge of the flood can hinder certain people – especially highly educated ones from accepting Christ as their savior. Here’s the problem I see with this notion: One is therefore assuming that coming to Christ is largely an intellectual ascent. Yes indeed, God has given us a brain and He expects us to use it. And I believe He meets us on an intellectual level – giving us a reasonable path to faith in Christ. And so I would like to put forth this thought: That anyone with a broken and contrite heart will come to Christ. He will come willingly with the aid of the Holy Spirit who is ultimately the One who draws any of us from our unregenerate state and into the light. And he will come; having laid aside all of his inhibitions and so-called hang-ups because of the groaning deep within his spirit to be reconciled to his Creator. A truly thirsty man will be thinking only of the water he craves – not the road which leads him to it.
PREMISE #2 Holding to a literal, young-Earth interpretation of the Genesis account of creation and the world-wide deluge of the flood is an affront to many of the intellectual or the highly educated among us. To which I reply that Jesus Himself was often quoted to say, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear." Anyone whose heart is inclined towards knowing and understanding God’s Holy Scripture has available to him a nearly inexhaustible supply of resources to answer any honest quest to reconcile the evidence gleaned through observable science with the Biblical record. Seeking answers to such questions as the age of the universe, the fossil record, flood geology and a host of topics is both a fascinating and rewarding pursuit for those inclined to take that journey.
PREMISE #3 Holding to a literal, young-Earth interpretation of the Genesis account of creation and the world-wide deluge of the flood is non-essential to salvation. Therefore, the Church shouldn’t promote it lest it cause some to stumble. Is such a position essential to salvation? No. However, I’ve come to believe it is nonetheless foundational to a Biblical world view and I’ll elaborate on that later. Meanwhile, let me ask this: did Jesus seek to relieve people of their stumbling blocks? The rich young ruler had a big stumbling block (Mark 10: 17-22). Was his aversion to letting go of his wealth any more egregious than a professor of paleontology at the University of Michigan who refuses to set aside his own presuppositions? How did Jesus respond to that young man of wealth and power? Was our Lord looking to relieve the man of his particular hang-up? On the contrary, He exposed it – drew it out as an example for all! He told him to go and sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor. And then He invited the young man to follow Him. And when that man; wealthy (and I would presume, highly educated in the wisdom of his day) was unable to accept Jesus’ instruction, did Jesus try a different tack - another more persuasive angle lest he be forever lost over an issue which was non-essential to salvation? No, he let him walk away. He wasn’t ready to give his life to Christ. His piety was ankle-deep and Jesus had waded right through it. He looked straight into the heart of a man who had wanted all the benefits of the Kingdom of God – but on his own selfish terms. When one is called to Christ, he’s required to leave all behind and I would propose this thought; that our preconceptions – the ideas of fallen man; the prevailing wisdom of this age to which our flesh will stubbornly cling – they all must be laid at the foot of the cross as well. Rather than treading lightly around people’s so-called hang-ups, Jesus seemed to go out of His way to stomp directly on them; recognizing them for what they were. Namely, a rebellious heart in search of its own desires; not broken and contrite before God! And furthermore, since when did promoting non-essentials become taboo when engaging the world in the arena of ideas? Take immodest dress for example: I can understand the strategy that if you were trying to lead a woman to Christ; one who habitually dressed in revealing attire, confronting her with the issue of inappropriate clothing might best be deferred to a more opportune time; concentrating instead on the essentials of faith in Jesus - her need for a Savior and acceptance of Him would presumably result in all sorts of behavioral changes as she matured in her new-found faith. So, of course you wouldn't hammer her over the head with such issues in the infancy of her re-birth. However, I would hope it’s safe to assume the that our church wouldn’t take the other extreme and organize a weekend workshop to promote the idea that one can be a Christian and dress like a $10 hooker if she wants to because that’s what our culture has accepted and we don't wish to hinder the more promiscuous in society from coming to Christ. Of course I’m using an absurdity here but my point is this: If we as a church in our community wish to effect change and promote the gospel to our generation, we must be willing to gently and respectfully advance Biblical truth no matter how antithetical it is to the prevailing winds of modern culture and convention.
Now if I may, let me attempt to support my position that a literal interpretation of the Genesis account of creation, the global event of the flood and its effects on the world as we know it today are essential to a solid biblical world-view. Gradualism, trans-species evolution (macro-evolution), billions of years and the like are all ideas imported from the province of rebellious men. They are born, not of a desire for the truth but rather a desire to run from it. The unregenerate stop their ears to the narrative of Scripture; they have contempt for its account of man’s creation, his fall and the plan for his ultimate redemption. Aristotle once said, “Nature abhors a vacuum”. And a heart emptied of the truth is a void which must be filled and so fill it they do; foolishly spending their lives in search of another “truth” – one which is more accommodating of their fallen flesh. Embracing man-contrived ideas, they run from the truth because they do not wish to be accountable to the truth which is Jesus Christ Himself. And they’re not content to live in their own little bubble of self-deception, they seek to promote it; to have it validated by as many as possible. And their ultimate prize is to gain the stamp of approval of the Church. To that end, the truth becomes their enemy. Therefore, they suppress the truth:
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”-Romans 1:18-23 (Emphasis mine)
We’re instructed by our pastor that we must meet the doubter, skeptic and the like on their terms because the intellect of such people is offended by anything which contradicts the knowledge they’ve acquired in their academic and/or professional careers. So then, we’re told it’s just fine if they wish to dissect, rearrange, or cut and paste Scripture to satisfy their quest for higher knowledge. You know, this is nothing new; not really. It’s the very way Satan tempted Eve - well...that is if she ever really existed. Let me direct your attention to the original sin:
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” -Genesis 3:1 (Emphasis mine)
“Did God really say…?” It sounds strikingly similar to the questions being disseminated today by those Creation Workshop fellas and their ilk – and I’m sorry to say, by our pastor as well. “Did God really say a literal six days?” “Did God really say He destroyed the entire ancient world with a global flood?” “Did God really say (insert query here)” And just where is one to draw the line as to where this question can be applied. “Did God really say homosexuality is an abomination?” “Did God really say Jesus healed the sick, raised the dead, calmed the seas, walked on water…was raised from the dead?” These are all potential stumbling blocks to the intellectuals of our day as well. So then, when can we expect a workshop on how these stories are all just metaphors? And believe me, there are people out there right now who’d beat a path to our front door; eager to teach these heresies. Think about this for a minute; that forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden – it was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” –Gen. 3: 4-5
Isn’t it interesting that the original sin was a quest for so-called higher knowledge. So here we are, some six thousand years later and the enemy is still using the same play-book! And now we’re scolded by our own shepherd for not embracing the higher thinking of those scholarly folks who sit there all day long in the shade of today’s version of the tree of knowledge; their lips stained red from the fruit of man-contrived ideas! And now they've been invited into our church with a bushel basket of their hand-picked beauties - holding them out to whomever will partake. Look around you, people. Read the newspapers, watch your televisions and see what just one deception and one act of rebellion all those years ago has led to. Ideas and choices have consequences - more unintended ones than not!
So then, are we told to concern ourselves with what the world finds offensive, foolish or difficult to believe? On the contrary, that is precisely what God’s word tells us to expect:
“For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,
‘I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE,
AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE.’Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,” -1Corinthians 1:18-31 (Emphasis mine)
Earlier, I cited the example where Jesus led the rich young ruler right past his pompous, pseudo-reverent salutation; past his self-righteous theological question and straight on to his stumbling block – and then let him fall headlong right over it. Our commission is to preach the gospel just as He did; to lead people to the plain, unabridged, and unadulterated, take it or leave it truth. It is The Holy Spirit who brings people to brokenness and contrition; tilling the fallow ground of their hearts so that the seeds of faith can take root. It’s not our convincing rhetoric, our enticing delivery nor is it the believability of the message which saves. No, it’s the deeper work which is done where no hand or tool of man can reach; it’s there where one is redeemed. Furthermore we don’t know how that young man’s story ended. Scripture doesn’t record it but who can say, maybe some time later; perhaps years later he may very well have found his way to repentance and brokenness before the cross of Jesus. This I think we can say with confidence, that by leading him to that place where he stumbled, Jesus had the man’s best interest in mind and it may have been the very catalyst needed for a changed heart. Likewise with contemporary man; we can’t begin to know the end of the story for anyone who lives among us today. Who can predict but God Himself how many times an unbeliever must stumble over his particular issues before he kneels before the cross. We mustn’t feel the need to engineer the message to fit the hearer. God already did that and it is He who will open the ears of whom He will. When we tinker with God’s message; thinking we can achieve a desirable result, we’re completely ignorant of the unintended consequences which only an omniscient God could see. Thinking we’re keeping someone from stumbling, we may unwittingly be leading them to the edge of a cliff!
It was painful to sit through our pastor's series on Genesis and creation last year when he first introduced our church to his views. I winced while he performed his hermeneutical gymnastics - twisting and contorting child-like faith in an attempt to help us gain a fresh understand of "In the beginning..." When he and those like him abandon the simple and clear account that God gave us through His servant Moses - when we abandon it for such clever interpretative contraptions in order to accommodate the affinity of some for the the more complicated circuitous route, what you end up with is sort of like one of those Rube Goldberg machines. What you have is an exhausting hermeneutical system of pulleys, gears, squirrel-cages and voluminous explanations of how it will work if properly set up.
Occam's razor is a principle attributed to the 14th-century English logician and Franciscan friar William of Ockham. The principle states that the explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible, eliminating those that make no difference in the observable predictions of the explanatory hypothesis or theory. The principle is often called the lex parsimoniae ("law of parsimony" or "law of succinctness") and if you’re inclined to read Latin, it says:“entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem,” Yes, well that means practically nothing to me so for the rest of us English-speaking folk:“Entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity.” Or perhaps like me, you’re familiar with this paraphrased version:
"All things being equal, the simplest solution tends to be the right one,"
"We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances."
Occam's razor isn’t scientific law nor will you find it in the pages of your catechism. Nevertheless, when taken as a supplement to a steady diet of Scripture and with an honest examination of the evidence found in creation, I think it lends some strength to the young-Earth position. So if I may, let me apply this old rule of thumb to the subject at hand:
Nuancing your way through the book of Genesis; seeking abstracts to what is so plainly written obscures or confuses the simple truth of the Word of God. Taking such a position; one must reject the obvious in favor of an idea to which you arrive at by way of any number of circuitous routes. And to what end? I submit that doing this in order to accommodate people; people who wish to bend and mold the plain text of Scripture to fit what they’re willing to accept is a fool’s errand. Yes, they’ll homogenize Scripture with their years of secular indoctrination. They’ll view Scripture through the lens of science and the prevailing wisdom of man yet never subject the same to scrutiny through the lens of Scripture. And this ultimately leads them along a path away from the inerrancy and supreme authority of Scripture. If only more Christians understood that as well as the typical atheist does:
"Belief in modern evolution makes atheists of people.
One can have a religious view that is compatible with evolution
only if the religious view is indistinguishable from atheism."- Will Provine atheist scientist from Cornell
University
However well-intentioned the Creation Workshop people are, their ideas are next of kin to some far more insidious organizations and people such as the above quoted atheist whose agenda is no less than the eradication of Christianity. To such people as these, Solid Rock Lectures - the people who we've invited to our church to conduct their so-called Creation Workshops are nothing more than useful idiots – a means to an end. I believe that paving this road for unbelievers; supposedly to draw them into the fold is a two-way street. And I’m afraid that the more heavily traveled lane will be the one leading away from the church; away from a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ - towards the destruction which is appointed to all of us whose heart loves the world rather than the Kingdom of God. By that, I’m not suggesting that taking an old-Earth view is tantamount to rejecting Christ. What I am saying is that this “have it your way” version of Christianity where people come to the cross on their own terms doesn’t promote the idea of complete submission to the Lordship of Jesus nor does it foster growth in understanding of God’s word or a maturity of one’s faith. It puts folks in danger of all sorts of false teaching, deceptions and crisis’ of faith.
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. -Matthew 7:13-14
In order to accept this notion that Christianity is compatible with an old-Earth point of view, the story of creation as recorded in Genesis must be divorced from the context of the entire Bible. How can one reconcile millions of years of death, burial and fossilization of both flora and fauna with the scriptures which tell us that all of creation was subjected to futility because of the curse of Adam’s sin?
“…cursed is the ground because of you…” -Gen. 3:17
“For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.” -Rom. 8: 29-22
Or how can one reconcile the pre-curse world described in Genesis 1: 31 as being “very good” with the world of the old-Earth people – a world with an unstable crust, devastating earthquakes, floods, landslides, waste-lands, deadly volcanism and the gradual ebb and flow of continents for billions of years? Oh, and let's not forget the occasional mass extinction thrown-in to keep things interesting – you know, mix things up a bit while God’s trying to get it right. I mean really now, is that sort of creation “very good” by any reasonable definition of the term? Even with my finite mind, I can imagine a far better world than that. Just think for a moment what the God of all creation must have originally dreamed up - what has since been ruined by man's rebellion and sin. Just image what it must’ve been like before the curse; just imagine what it’ll be like when He restores all things!
Well now, I could write with a sustained passion for many more pages but it’s not my intention to author the exhaustive work on this subject – I’m hardly qualified to do that anyhow. So if you’ve made it through this far, well then thanks for indulging me the several minutes of your time it took to get here to the last paragraph. I’ll close with one more thought regarding that “Did God really say?” approach to Genesis. You know, my kids (and probably yours too) use that very same sort of question all the time. “I know dad said I had six minutes to clean my room but were those literal six minutes or can I just take my time and play a while first?” Searching for a more liberal interpretation of my clear instructions - instructions they can easily understand - and taking a gradualist approach to cleaning the room – while it won’t compel me to disown the child, it will nevertheless carry with it some rather unfortunate consequences. Yes indeed, as scripture says, "foolishness is bound-up in the heart of a child"...and yet they're also the embodiment of the sort of faith we're exhorted by Jesus to hold as adults - uncomplicated faith; unsullied by the world:
COME AS A CHILD!
“He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.”Matt 18: 2-5
If you'd like to explore the fascinating world of creation science, then here are a few clickable links to places where you might begin that journey:
In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood by Dr. Walt Brown
Creation Ministries International
