Do compromised ideas about origins undermine Scripture’s inerrancy and authority?

Dearest hijas and hijo,

Back in the fall of 1978 a group of Christian leaders and scholars came together in Chicago, Illinois for an important purpose. Much like the councils of old that met to define and defend what was Christian belief and orthodoxy against heresy, (as example see my post The Councils of Carthage: Augustinian/Pelagian Controversy Over Free Will), these leaders and scholars met to defend the doctrine of the inerrancy and authority of Scripture in lieu of the growing liberalism within the Church. There were about 300 of them and their meetings became known as the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy. After this initial meeting in 1978 they continued to meet several other times over the next ten years.

As a result of this initial meeting they published a document called the “Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy” (hereafter CSBI). You can find both this statement on Biblical Inerrancy and their other statement on Biblical Hermeneutics at: https://defendinginerrancy.com/chicago-statements/. You would do well to read through these statements on inerrancy and hermeneutics when you have time and interest.

The preface to the CSBI contains this statement:

The authority of Scripture is a key issue for the Christian church in this and every age. Those who profess faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are called to show the reality of their discipleship by humbly and faithfully obeying God’s written Word. To stray from Scripture in faith or conduct is disloyalty to our Master. Recognition of the total truth and trustworthiness of Holy Scripture is essential to a full grasp and adequate confession of its authority.

In Article XII of the CSBI it says this:

WE AFFIRM that Scripture in its entirety is inerrant, being free from all falsehood, fraud, or deceit. WE DENY that Biblical infallibility and inerrancy are limited to spiritual, religious, or redemptive themes, exclusive of assertions in the fields of history and science. We further deny that scientific hypotheses about earth history may properly be used to overturn the teaching of Scripture on creation and the flood.

What is of interest to us, and my reason for the above introduction is that we have been talking about the claims of Scripture for infallibility, inerrancy, and authority in these past few posts. I wish for you to see that others have raised these same issues and addressed them as well, alarmed enough to get together and convene a council. The question I raise in the title of this post is whether the inerrancy and authority of Scripture pertains to origins, and whether any compromise views of origins erodes it.

My conclusion is that all compromise views of origins being promulgated in the Church today (day-age theory (Hugh Ross); gap theory (Thomas Chalmers); framework-hypothesis theory (Meredith Kline); cosmic-temple theory (John Walton); analogical-day theory (John Collins); theistic-evolution theory (BioLogos), etc.) do indeed undermine and erode Scripture’s inerrancy and authority in several egregious ways. No other position upholds Scripture’s claims to inerrancy and authority, except for the historic and orthodox 6-day literal view as held by the Church for 1800 years prior to the early 19th century. Why do I say this?

All old-earth views mentioned above (gap, day-age, framework, cosmic-temple, analogical-day, theistic-evolution) posit a universe and earth billions and millions of years old. They all accept some form of evolution, whether cosmological evolution, geological evolution, or biological evolution. They all deny a global (worldwide) and universal Flood in the days of Noah that destroyed everything by God’s judgment of the then world except Noah and his family and the animals on the Ark. They all significantly downplay or excuse natural evil (earthquakes, tsunami’s, meteorite impacts, mass extinctions, hurricanes, sweeping forest & brush fires, predation, sickness, disease, bloodshed, and death) before the sin of Adam. They downplay or excuse that moral evil (murder, theft, fornication and adultery, etc.) existed before the sin of Adam as seen in people groups that supposedly came long before Adam (e.g. Cro-Magnon, Neanderthal, Aboriginal Australians, etc.)—[it was just animalistic behavior].

The historic and orthodox 6-day literal view posits just the opposite. It posits that the universe and earth are recent (thousands of years, not billions) and created in mature form right from the beginning and very good (Gen.1:31). It posits that both natural and moral evil are a result of Adam’s sin and that because of this sin God cursed the totality of His creation (Gen. 3, Rom. 8). It posits that at the time of Noah God judged the whole earth with a universal and globe-covering year-long Flood that destroyed all humans, all air-breathing land animals, and all birds not on the Ark.

The implications of all old-earth views is that they undermine Scripture’s claims to inerrancy and authority in the following manner: (a) sloppy exegesis of Genesis 1&2 and Ex. 20:8-11 concerning ‘days’ and God’s creating in days of normal 24-hours, (b) misunderstanding and mishandling of the implications of the Curse of Genesis 3 concerning natural and moral evil, (c) outright denial of a global and universal Flood of judgment in Gen. 6-9 as shown by the evidence in the fossil record, the soft-tissue (proteins and original tissues) now being found in many of those fossils, and the geomorphology of earth’s land mass and seas (ex. the Whopper Sand of the Gulf of Mexico).

I can’t say it any better than has already been said by others:

The cost of an old earth: Is it worth it?

Follow the link above and read the whole article by Dr. John Byl when you have time, as he lays out the dangerous threats to Biblical inerrancy and authority from all compromise views of origins.

All my love,

Dad

Vaya con Dios!

ET Phone Home and Why No One Answered

Dearest hijas and hijo,

In the 1982 American science fiction film E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, ET receives help from the boy Elliott in building a device from a Speak and Spell toy to “phone home”. Elliott had befriended ET who was stranded on earth, and he and his siblings were trying to hide him from the government while attempting to help him get back to his “home” planet. It became an instant classic, the highest grossing film of all time until 1993 when Jurassic Park surpassed it. Perhaps you’ve seen it.

People today are still searching for E.T. Why do you think that is? Could it be related to world-view; your philosophy of life and its origins and purpose? Is it possible that most people today have been sold a bill of goods about the past and how it all got started? Why do your friends think there may be life on other planets, and why are your Christian friends believing in the same thing? These are critical questions to think about.

How would you go about answering these questions? Would you start from Scripture or would you start from the philosophy of naturalistic evolution? Your starting point makes a difference with the answers to these questions. Most people starting naturalistically find it hard not to believe there must be life on other planets because it somehow started here and the universe is so vast it must have also started somewhere else.

Or would you start with Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”? Would you explain earth’s special purpose, created not to be void but to be inhabited, and mankind the pinnacle of God’s creation, created in God’s very image in fact, on day 6? Would you be able to explain the stars, created on day 4, almost as an afterthougt compared to God’s creation of man and the earth, and intended to draw man’s attention to the vastness of God’s glory?

Would you explain the Fall of mankind in Genesis 3, and the subsequent Curse not only upon mankind, but upon the entirety of God’s created order, His whole universe? Would you explain that since that initial act of disobedience, all mankind is now in rebellion to God, no one who seeks for Him, all have gone astray, no one who does good; and in need of reconciliation somehow back to God?

Would you be able to explain how we can get back to God? God exists, He’s there, He’s not silent, so how and why do I need to be in relationship with Him and how do I become reconciled back to Him?

Would you be able to point to Jesus as the only way back to God? Would you be able to describe why the Cross was necessary?

Would you then be able to tie all that in to E.T. and life on other planets?

Starting biblically, we understand God’s purpose for creating life on this earth, specifically men and women to be in relationship to Him. We understand His purpose in creating a vast universe for us to look up and glory in His majesty. (…For I am God, and there is no other, Isaiah 46:9). We understand His purpose in sending His Son because we messed up but He still loved us (Rom 5:8). What joy that is!

As we approach the most holiest day in the Christian calendar on Sunday (Easter), may you rejoice that the God-man Jesus Christ was sent to this planet, the only planet designed for life by God, died and was resurrected for us on this planet, none other; and that we are His special creation and people, chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. May that encourage you to love and worship Him with all your mind, with all your strength, with all your heart, and with all your soul.

Happy Easter my beloved ninos!
He is Risen!
Hallelujah, what a Savior!

Love always,
Dad
Vaya con Dios mis hijos!

Who Can Tell Me? Part 2

Mis hijas and hijo,

…continued from “Who Can Tell Me? Part 1

He then considered human will:
Both the weak and strong.
He thought about conscience
That discerns the right from wrong.

He thought about emotions
And feelings that arise.
He thought about love and hate
And tears that flow from eyes.

He thought about the anger
And the joy that’s all around.
He thought about the happiness
And sadness that is found.

And filled with curiosity,
This boy would daily strive,
In hopeful expectation
That his answer would arrive.

He spoke with scientific men
Who claimed his question solved.
They told him of a great big bang,
That all things had evolved.

He then spoke with philosophers—
Heard some of them insist
That there’s no true reality
And we do not exist.

He spoke with many people
From different groups and sects,
And heard the vast opinions
Of various intellects.

Now baffled by confusion,
A very troubled youth;
Unable to discern
What is error, what is truth.

He almost gave up looking,
But he took a second look.
And very unexpectedly
He found a special Book.

As he gazed upon the first page,
He knew his search was done.
His questions all were answered
In Genesis chapter one.

With a nod of understanding,
He smiled, so elated.
For now he surely knew—
“In the beginning God created…”

(By Emeal (“E.Z.”) Zwayne, The Evidence Bible, Bridge-Logos, Inc., Newberry, Florida, 2011)

With love enduring for all time,
Dad
Vaya con Dios, mis ninos

Who Can Tell Me? Part 1

Mis hijas and hijo,

“Who can tell me where I came from?”
The little boy would ask.
His question such a good one,
Yet he faced a trying task.

Each man had different answers,
As he was soon to learn,
This brought him great confusion,
And it caused him deep concern.

He first went to his schoolmates
And they spoke with one another,
“i know, said the brightest one,
“You came from your mother.”

Now this had satisfied him,
Yet only for a time,
For as he grew, year by year,
His thoughts began to climb.

He then looked all around him,
At all that he could see,
And his mind began to wonder
How it all had come to be.

He thought about the rounded Earth,
Its tilt and its rotation,
And all the seasons that occur
In yearly circulation.

He thought about the darkness
And he thought about the light
He thought about the sun and moon
That rule the day and night.

He thought of all the creatures
Of the land and sea and skies,
Of all the different species,
And their variance in size.

He thought of all the plants and trees
And all that each provides,
Each growing from a tiny seed
With roots the soil hides.

He then looked at humanity,
The sea of different faces,
Varied tongues and characters
From many different places.

He thought of mortal bodies,
With features so profound;
And the sense of taste and touch
And smell and sight and sound.

He thought of human reproduction
And the miracle of birth,
He thought of human life itself
And all that it is worth.

…to be continued.

(By Emeal (“E.Z.”) Zwayne, The Evidence Bible, Bridge-Logos Inc., Newberry, Florida, 2011).
With all my love,
Dad
Vaya con Dios, mis ninos

Adam at the End of Creation?

Dearest hijas and hijo,

Did Adam come at the end of creation, millions and billions of years after Christ started creating the universe and the biodiversity of life on earth? If you remember from my last post and the chart we are referring to, modern humans are at the very top.

Why is this significant in terms of Christian theology? Simply put: sin and death. This sin-death causality is and has been a cornerstone of Christian theology since its inception; that the penalty for sin was death. Let me say that again, death is the penalty for sin. It started with God’s command in Genesis 2:17:

but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it, you shall surely die.

The judgement was declared by the Supreme Judge and the penalty assessed after Adam and Eve disobeyed this command in Genesis 3:19:

By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.

The apostle Paul reiterates this sin-death causality in Romans 5:12: “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin…”

Paul again states in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death…”

He confirms again this sin-death causality in 1 Cor. 15:21: “For since by a man came death…”

Paul also says in 1 Cor. 15:26 that “the last enemy that will be abolished is death.” It is important to understand that Death is an enemy, an intrusion, and it was never part of Christ’s creative work.

Revelation 20:14 confirms this when in the future at the great Judgment “…death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.”

Another important piece here from Romans 8 is that the entire creation “groans and suffers” under God’s judgment (Rom. 8:22). The universal law of decay, known as the Second Law of Thermodynamics, is conclusive evidence for exactly this truth.

Therefore, and I refer you back to the chart above, if death has been around for millions of years as evidenced in the fossil record, then sin is not the cause of death. If sin is not the cause of death, then Christ’s death on the cross as payment for sin is unnecessary. The question becomes, “Why would Christ die a horrible death on the Cross, for the death He instituted and programmed into His creation in the first place?” This is logically incoherent and makes the gospel message foolish and irrelevant.

Christ then becomes a liar when He says in Mark 10:6:

But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.

Notice the word ‘beginning’, not at the end, millions and billions of years later. If man came at the end of creation, millions of years after all the rest of the biodiversity of life had lived and suffered and died along the way, then Christ’s words are untrue. And as God wouldn’t He know what He did or didn’t do?

With Love always,
Dad
Vaya con Dios, mis ninos!

Jesus Did Not Create the Geologic Column

Dearest hijas and hijo (welcome to the family mi hijo),

Following on from my last post, I wish to proffer for your consideration, the title of this new post. We can turn it around and make it a question if you like, “Did Jesus Create the Geologic Column, or did He not?”

From Scripture, we know that Jesus, as God Himself, the 2nd person of the Godhead, was the agent in creation:

All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being (John 1:3).

For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things have been created by Him and for Him (Col. 1:16).

God after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom He also made the world (Heb. 1:1-2).

If Christ as God, was creating the biodiversity of life throughout the geologic column as seen in the above graphic, then Christ was responsible and accountable as Creator for those dead things we find in the rocks during those particular periods and epochs, is he not?

Look at the five mass extinction events in red; (1) at the beginning of the Silurian, (2) the end of the Devonian, (3) at the end of the Permian and beginning of the Triassic, (4) the end of the Triassic, and (5) the end of the Cretaceous. There is even a 6th extinction event during the Pleistocene epoch where the chart says “Extinction of large mammals and birds”.

Is Christ then not responsible for these mass extinctions? Is he not then accountable in His act of creating, for wiping out millions of creatures that He Himself just brought into existence? Was He not omnipotent enough to create perfectly, without this seemingly haphazard trial and error?

Look at the very top of the chart. What does it say under ‘Life Forms’? It says ‘Modern Humans’, does it not, during the Holocene epoch, supposedly 0.01 mya (millions of years ago). Those of our ancestors who look like you and I didn’t come on the scene until the very end. Why is that important? Stay tuned…[see my post Adam at the End of Creation?]

With all my love,

Dad

Vaya con Dios, mis ninos!

‘Death’ Before the Fall?

Dearest hijas,

Have you ever considered one of the arguments that some Christians give for believing in death before the Fall of Adam, and its related corollary of an old earth? It goes something like this: “Well, I don’t believe that death as an entity only came about because of Adam’s sin. That was death for humans only, for surely plants died before the Fall, and animals don’t experience pain in death like we humans do, so animals were peacefully dying long before Adam’s sin, much like the good ole’ family pet, Fido, curled up by the fireplace who simply dies peacefully and naturally”.

It seems like a logical argument – doesn’t it? It seems so logical that many of your Christian friends and leaders stumble over it. A case in point, is the below article and link by Dr. Jonathan Sarfati about R.C. Sproul Jr., who teaches at Reformation Bible College in Sanford, Florida. An otherwise stalwart man of faith and of the Reformed tradition, Sproul Jr. is a young-earth creationist, but seems to be confused about the implications of his position, as Dr. Sarfati points out.

I encourage you to click on the link below and read the article carefully. Within the article are other links to other articles that you can click on and get more information. You may have to read a portion, think about it, read more, and/or come back to it several times as you have time to read through the whole article completely.

R.C. Sproul Jr Blunders on Plant Death

Pay particular attention to the description of plant ‘death’ from a Biblical perspective and to Scripture’s definition of what constitutes a ‘living creature’ or in Hebrew nephesh chayyah.

Pay attention also to the way animals ‘died’ as shown in the fossil record. Did they die peacefully and naturally like our example of the family pet, or were there other things evidenced in the fossil record that indicate this was not so?

Keep asking questions, mis hijas. Don’t be afraid to challenge respected leaders who have compromised on Biblical truth.

With love I remain,
Dear ol’ Dad
Vaya con Dios mis hijas

Without Genesis 1-11: Nothing

Dear hijas,

I’m going to repost a video and post from Answers in Genesis that I think you might enjoy:

Teach the Uncompromised Truth of Genesis in Church

Click on the above title and watch Pastor Corey Abney of Florence Baptist Church explain why the first 11 chapters of Genesis are foundational to all our doctrines in Christianity. The great doctrines of the Church build on one another, link after link, and foundational to that and to the gospel we preach is the creation of all that exists, including you and I, by an act of omnipotent, omniscient, and benevolent power. He is a God who is there and is not silent; who spoke and it was done.

Listen to what Pastor Abney explains is happening in churches all across this country: perhaps in your church. Listen to “why” this is happening. Listen for the “how” it occurred. Try to glean a few action points that you can use in making a change where you are; with your colleagues and friends, with your church, in reversing this dangerous trend.

For an in-depth article on the importance of Genesis 1-11 by the Logos Research Associates, see and click here:
The Importance of Genesis 1-11 In Depth

With love,
Dear ol’ Dad
Vaya con Dios mis hijas

Jesus Devastates the Old Earth View

Dearest hijas,

In taking a break from the review of Dr. John K. Reed’s book Rocks Aren’t Clocks: A Critique of the Geological Timescale may I direct your attention to this article by Bodie Hodge of Answers in Genesis:

Jesus Devastates An Old Earth

Mr. Hodge draws from Jesus’ own statements about marriage from the “beginning” of creation in Mark 10:6 and Matthew 19:4, and not 13 billion years later as an old earth advocate must believe to hold to her old-earth view. There are interesting parallels with other Jesus AGE verses in Mark 13: 19-20 and Luke 11: 50-51 which you might want to consider and ponder. Jesus, as Creator (Col.1:18) (John 1:3) obviously knows when He created the universe and as God is aware of time and age and how old His creation is, so these are powerful verses which indicate that Jesus Himself taught and expected us to believe a relatively recent creation about 6000 years ago.

There’s an interesting account of Hodge’s discussion and dialog with an old-earth advocate at a Christian conference that Hodge was attending. I won’t spoil the story, so read it yourself and enjoy!

With love and blessings,

Dear ol’ Dad

Vaya con Dios mis hijas!

Philosophical Foundations of the Geologic Timescale: Uniformitarianism

Dear hijas,

From our last post in reviewing Dr. John Reed’s book “Rocks Aren’t Clocks: A Critique of the Geologic Timescale”, we saw that evolution is one of the foundations of the timescale. It is not the only one however. The concept of uniformitarianism that was promoted primarily by Charles Lyell in the 1830’s is also essential to the concept of deep time and the resulting timescale. Uniformitarianism used in its fullest sense means: a philosophy and method that allows science to become the arbiter of history. For Lyell, it was a mix of the methodological principle of uniformity (a principle which all scientists accept) with the gradualistic theory of history. This well-regulated past of imaginary vast eons, paved the way for Darwin and his evolutionary ideas, quite different from Biblical history, and contrary to the concepts of God creating and then overseeing the cosmos.

Reed says that “All three ideas–evolution, uniformitarianism, and deep time–are closely connected. Although many people today reject Lyell’s gradualism and are increasingly skeptical of evolution, the timescale and geologic history remain unscathed. But if all three are intertwined, the selective rejection of evolution and uniformitarianism, with no consequences for the timescale, seems schizophrenic.”

Reed then goes on to talk about James Hutton’s role in the idea of uniformitarianism. James Hutton, you remember, a Scottish natural philosopher and early geologist in the 1700’s, was called by some ‘The man who found time’. Reed says, “Hutton knew Genesis had to be discredited to make way for his deistic view of history. So he went straight for the jugular–there is nothing more basic to orthodox Christianity than ex nihilo creation and the end of the world at the final judgment; for the Bible begins with the famous words, ‘In the beginning’ and then moves immediately outside the ‘system of nature’ in the next words, ‘God created.'”

Remember mis hijas, uniformitarianism is not the same as uniformity, but the secularists like to equivocate here and make them say the same thing. They are not the same thing, however, and you shouldn’t confuse the two. ‘Uniformity’ is an essential axiom of science and is the idea that patterns in nature, or more frequently called ‘natural laws’ operate in the same predictable manner over space, time, and for the most part, scale. Because it is a statement about the nature of reality, it is a metaphysical assertion, justified only by Christian theology. ‘Uniformitarianism’, however, assumes that past causes will be natural ones like those observed in the present. This is not a scientific assertion, but a ‘philosophical’ one. Do you see the difference?

I pray that you do see the difference and that you will be able to share that difference with your friends and colleagues. Uniformity is at the heart of science, uniformitarianism is not.

With Love,
Dear ol’ Dad
Vaya con Dios mis hijas