GroshLink

After returning the remaining elements of the GFM Conference book table to Hearts and Minds, I swung north to Messiah College to join Ted Davis' class on the Creation-Evolution Debate (Also check out ID on Trial notes from his recent F&M presentation). I found this opportunity of interest because the material he presented today parallels a seminar which he provides for local congregations as they seek greater understanding of the issues involved. I'm going to explore options for a seminar in the Elizabethtown area.

The class began by reviewing John Polkinghorne's visit to Messiah College over the weekend. One unique piece of his presentations was his thoughts on purgatory. The students found Polkinghorne surprisingly humble and not intimidating. Davis wrote the Creation-Evolution unit as part of an introduction to science for Elementary Education majors.

In general, Ted recommended Species of Origin: America's Search for a Creation Story, (Karl W. Giberson and Donald A. Yerxa. Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2002) as the best treatment of the cultural, historical, and scientific issues involved. For the Biblical, theological issues he encouraged students read Three View on Creation and Evolution (J.P. Moreland and John Mark Reynolds, Zondervan, 1999) which considers Young Earth Creationism (also Scientific Creationism), Old Earth Creationism (also Progressive Creation), Theistic Evolution (also Evolutionary Creation or Evolving Creation). Similarly, he advocated The G3N3S1S Debate (CruXpress, 2002), which explores the 24 Hour View, Day Age View, and Framework View.

What is scientific creationism? The main components/assumptions include 1. The Bible is the ONLY reliable source of knowledge about the origin of the earth and the universe. 2. Scientific evidence, when properly interpreted, is consistent with a literalistic interpretation of the Bible. 3. The Bible tells us that the earth is young (not more than 10,000 years old), and that all major kinds of living things were created separately, in six 24-hour days, not long ago. The traditional Biblical date calculated to be 4004BC by Bishop Usher in 1650s. He counted the chronologies and used the Jewish tradition of 2000 years before Abraham, 2000 years to the Messiah, 2000 years to the end of the age. Currently, science estimates 13.7 billion years as the age of the universe and 4.65 billion years as the age of the earth. An apologetic for this position is Refuting Compromise: A Biblical and Scientific Refutation of "Progressive Creationism" (Billions of Years) As Popularized by the Astronomer Hugh Ross, (Jonathan Sarfati, MasterBooks, 2004). Sarfati is a Jewish convert to Christianity, chemist from Australia. 4. The Flood was responsible for producing almost all fossils about 4000-5000 years, i.e., Flood Geology, Henry Morris just passed away this spring, John C. Whitcomb Jr, Grace Seminary (McCready Price's views from the 1920's influenced the perspective which generated The Genesis Flood: The Biblical Record and Its Scientific Implications, Baker, 1961). Dr. Dino (Kent Hovind), Creation Science Evangelism. Harold From Goo to you by the Zoo (Harold Hill, Logos, 1976). The Handy Dandy Evolution Refuter (Robert Kofahl, Beta, 1977). Ken Ham's Answers in Genesis. 5. The fall of Adam and Eve radically altered the laws of nature, so that the pre-fall world was very different from the post-fall world in which we now live. This is the heart of the issue. The whole order of creation has been disturbed. No carnivorous animals in pre-fall. The deleterious aspects of the Second Law of Thermodynamics did not exist before the Fall.

Some important conclusions: 1. Scientific evidence for an old earth is misleading or misinterpreted. 2. The fossils are an accurate record of the types of the plants and animals that were killed in the Flood; they were laid down all at once, not over millions of years; the fossil record does NOT tell us the order in which various forms of life appeared and disappeared. 3. Evolution has not happened, except for minor changes within some created kinds since the creation week (micro-evolution). 4. Some features of the earth and the universe appear older than they really are, since they were created with apparent age. E.g., Adam and Eve were created in full form. Related to the question, did Adam have a navel? If he had one, it would portray a false history.

What is Concordism? The main components/assumptions: 1. the Bible and geology are BOTH reliable sources of knowledge about the origin of the earth and the universe, i.e., The 2 Book Theory, Galileo's Letter to the Duchess Christina. 2. Scientific evidence, when properly interpreted, is consistent with the Bible, when properly interpreted. 3. The Bible does NOT tell us the age of the earth, nor does it necessarily state that all major kinds of living things were created separately. 4. The Flood happened as the Bible says, but it was not responsible for producing the fossils; rather, fossils are vestiges of the pre-Adamic world.

Some important conclusions: 1. Scientific evidence for an old earth is generally reliable. 2. Some evolution may have happened, but at least a few major forms of life were separately created.

History: most Christians before the 17th century believed in a recent, literal creation week, in the 19th and 20th centuries, nearly all Christian believed in an old earth until the 1960's when Whitcomb and Morris imported flood geology from SDA authors. Some resources include: Genesis One and the Origin of the Earth (Robert Newman and Herman Eckelman, Jr, IVP, 1977), Creation and the Flood: An Alternative to Flood Geology and Theistic Evolution (Baker, 1977), The Creator and Cosmos (Hugh Ross, NavPress, 1999), The Frontiers of Science and Faith: Examining Questions from the Big Bang to the End of Universe (John Jefferson Davis, IVP, 2002).

Next week: the Gap view, the Day Age view, Framework Hypothesis, Theistic Evolution.