With
so much division in our nation, I know we should overlook minor
differences as long as we unite over the fundamentals. I am especially supportive of a united church, with many different members from different cultures and with different gifts working together as one body under Christ, serving together as Christ's ambassadors, fulfilling God's mission on earth. However, a healthy and fruitful church must be like-minded regarding the Gospel and the core doctrines of the faith. There is one difference within the church, which concerns creation vs. theistic evolution and the age of the
earth, that we must stop overlooking, especially as we witness so much pain and death.
The Bible teaches that death entered the world THROUGH sin and that death began with Adam's sin. This sin and death has extended to all people, for all have sinned.
Before Adam, there was no sin or death. Before sin entered the world, God created the earth and all living things and animals on it, each according to "their kind" (repeated 7 times in Genesis), and God saw that "it was good" (repeated 7 times in Genesis 1-3).
While God may take our pain and suffering and work it together for our good and His glory (Romans 8:28), He always has and always will hate both sin and death. The first two chapters of Genesis present God's perfect plan for creation in which men and women experience holy relationships with God and each other. Genesis 3 explains how man and woman, by their own free will, chose to ruin this perfection by bringing sin and death into the world. From Genesis 3:15 through the rest of the Bible, we see God's gracious plan unfold in which He sends Jesus to conquer death and to reconcile mankind to God. Death is not God's choice. Death is the result of man's choice, yet God chose to defeat sin and death to reconcile mankind to Himself through the work of Christ on the cross. (John 3:16)
The theory of evolution is built upon an ugly series of struggles and deaths over millions of years to establish life through the survival of the fittest. Theistic evolution suggests that God used pain and death over a long period of time ("a million years is like a day to God") to create every living thing. This theory requires that death existed before Adam, which directly contradicts God's word, not just the specific passages referenced above, but the entire theme and purpose of the Bible itself. Why would a good, all-powerful God choose a system of survival of the fittest, pain, and death to create that which He kept calling "good" in Genesis 1-3, when He has the power to speak it all into existence in a moment, exactly as presented in the historical narrative found in Genesis 1-2? If God is perfectly good and omnipotent, shouldn't He get creation right the first time? Those who attempt to diminish God's power and perfection in their own minds have a faith that offers little hope. Why would the God of truth who cannot lie (Titus 1:2) contradict Himself, doing one thing and saying something completely different throughout His inspired Word? If this cycle of continuous death is supposed to evolve us all into something better, why do the headlines show us growing worse, especially in terms of morality over the past 50 years?
If death is part of God's plan, then why did Christ come to defeat it? To hold to theistic evolution is to nullify the Gospel of Christ. You must choose which you will believe, but you cannot believe both. Only Jesus is the way, the truth, and life. (John 14:6)
Radioactive dating methods are flawed. How could anything based on uniformitarianism deliver accurate results? Simply experiencing North Carolina weather should provide enough understanding to know that natural processes are neither uniform nor predictable. Regarding geological changes, one earthquake, volcanic eruption, hurricane or hypercane, or flood can drastically skew the geological timeline. Regardless of nature's clues one side or the other, true believers must take God at His word. Eyewitness accounts hold a lot more weight in the courtroom than random "clues" do, after all. When you view science through the lens of Scripture, the mysteries start to make sense, and those clues lead Spirit led scientists to new discoveries at a much more rapid rate.
The Bible teaches that death entered the world THROUGH sin and that death began with Adam's sin. This sin and death has extended to all people, for all have sinned.
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—(Romans 5:12)
Before Adam, there was no sin or death. Before sin entered the world, God created the earth and all living things and animals on it, each according to "their kind" (repeated 7 times in Genesis), and God saw that "it was good" (repeated 7 times in Genesis 1-3).
While God may take our pain and suffering and work it together for our good and His glory (Romans 8:28), He always has and always will hate both sin and death. The first two chapters of Genesis present God's perfect plan for creation in which men and women experience holy relationships with God and each other. Genesis 3 explains how man and woman, by their own free will, chose to ruin this perfection by bringing sin and death into the world. From Genesis 3:15 through the rest of the Bible, we see God's gracious plan unfold in which He sends Jesus to conquer death and to reconcile mankind to God. Death is not God's choice. Death is the result of man's choice, yet God chose to defeat sin and death to reconcile mankind to Himself through the work of Christ on the cross. (John 3:16)
The theory of evolution is built upon an ugly series of struggles and deaths over millions of years to establish life through the survival of the fittest. Theistic evolution suggests that God used pain and death over a long period of time ("a million years is like a day to God") to create every living thing. This theory requires that death existed before Adam, which directly contradicts God's word, not just the specific passages referenced above, but the entire theme and purpose of the Bible itself. Why would a good, all-powerful God choose a system of survival of the fittest, pain, and death to create that which He kept calling "good" in Genesis 1-3, when He has the power to speak it all into existence in a moment, exactly as presented in the historical narrative found in Genesis 1-2? If God is perfectly good and omnipotent, shouldn't He get creation right the first time? Those who attempt to diminish God's power and perfection in their own minds have a faith that offers little hope. Why would the God of truth who cannot lie (Titus 1:2) contradict Himself, doing one thing and saying something completely different throughout His inspired Word? If this cycle of continuous death is supposed to evolve us all into something better, why do the headlines show us growing worse, especially in terms of morality over the past 50 years?
 |
| lifehopeandtruth.com |
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. (John 10:10)
Radioactive dating methods are flawed. How could anything based on uniformitarianism deliver accurate results? Simply experiencing North Carolina weather should provide enough understanding to know that natural processes are neither uniform nor predictable. Regarding geological changes, one earthquake, volcanic eruption, hurricane or hypercane, or flood can drastically skew the geological timeline. Regardless of nature's clues one side or the other, true believers must take God at His word. Eyewitness accounts hold a lot more weight in the courtroom than random "clues" do, after all. When you view science through the lens of Scripture, the mysteries start to make sense, and those clues lead Spirit led scientists to new discoveries at a much more rapid rate.
We can agree to disagree on the nonessentials, but those who consider Jesus an essential while upholding theistic evolution should consider
the full implications of theistic evolution. Theistic evolution is not a compromise to preserve unity. It is a contradiction that attacks Christ's offer of eternal impunity.
Resources for Additional Study
Dr. Paul Elliot has provided useful resources for discerning and addressing false teaching in Christian churches and seminaries here. This article references many Bible verses that are highly recommended for personal study. Please note the following excerpt:
Resources for Additional Study
Dr. Paul Elliot has provided useful resources for discerning and addressing false teaching in Christian churches and seminaries here. This article references many Bible verses that are highly recommended for personal study. Please note the following excerpt:
In the past generation, false teachers have crept into Evangelical and Reformed seminaries largely unnoticed. The men they have instructed in their false teachings have likewise come into the church for the most part without being recognized. They have secretly brought in destructive heresies. They cause sound doctrine to be ridiculed. They claim that their teachings are superior to what has been taught in past generations. They say they represent progress in theology. They often allege that misconceptions regarding the covenants, the person and work of Christ, baptism, justification, sanctification, the church, and the Last Judgment have become embedded in Protestant doctrine over the centuries. Neo-liberals claim that their teachings serve to correct these supposedly long-held misconceptions. But what they are really saying, at the end of the day, is that our forebears in the faith - from the apostles themselves onward - have been wrong on the most basic elements of Christian doctrine. What they are really doing is denying authentic Biblical ChristianityWordTruth.net offers a handy .PDF reference guide entitled "False Teaching in the Church" here.
No comments:
Post a Comment