Biblical World View Under Attack
Ever since the Age of Enlightenment began in the 17th century, the Bible and the Christian world view derived from it have been under secular attack. This attack has come from various secular sciences, including physics, geology, and biology, as well as from secular academics and the popular secular press, which have unduly influenced most universities and public schools.
The primary strategy of the attack has been to discredit the Genesis 1 and 2 account of creation by successfully demonstrating to the satisfaction of many, including Christians academics in seminaries, that the world is much more ancient than the few thousand years inferred from a straightforward reading of the biblical text.
Attack and Counterattack—Evolutionism and Creationism
As a corollary to a very ancient world and ever since Darwin, men of admitted anti-Christian bias introduced random and mindless biological evolution as the scientific alternative to special creation. Without any sound evidence, but only vague interpretations of fossils, they have misrepresented adaptive change within species (microevolution) as change between species (macroevolution). Assisted by exorbitant pseudoscientific speculation, this alternative to biblical creation has been so influential that most Christian academics and seminaries attempt to accommodate the biblical account to biological evolution, using oxymoronic terms such as “theistic evolution.” However, this sort of accommodative apostasy ignores the fundamental atheism of biological evolution and its rabid proponents, who seek to invalidate the Bible’s authority and message.
The attack of biased “scientific evolutionism” on the biblical world view has inspired a counter-attack among conservative Christians seeking to defend biblical creation. Unfortunately, this reactionary group has an “ism” in its own—“scientific creationism”—which shows its defensive assumption of human science as a superior interpretation of Holy Scripture. Hence in its very name this movement makes concession to the secularist’s assumption that “science” is a threat to the truth of Scripture.
I have learned a great deal from “scientific creationists” over the years, especially from their astute and valid critiques that clearly demonstrate the impossibility of biologic evolution as an explanation for all life on Earth. But beyond those valid critiques they have attempted to erect a presumably “scientific” scenario of biblical creation that forces an obviously ancient world into a time frame only a few thousand years old that will contain their straightforward reading of the book of Genesis. This they have done using extensive publications, creation museums, and discovery sites that purport to show that human beings cohabited the earth with dinosaurs. I have visited one of those sites and found the evidence of human footprints in the same rock strata with dinosaur footprints wholly unconvincing.
While I appreciate and agree with their linguistic integrity in reading the Genesis account, I am unable to accept their synthesis of a young Earth out of a contrived amalgam of biblical creation and their own strained view of earth sciences. “Scientific creationists” have their own bias for a young Earth. and they utilize “Christian education” to promote their view. I have attended some of their educational seminars in which they proclaim to conservative Christian audiences that if they don’t accept the young Earth view, they cannot truly be Christians. This harsh judgment is disturbing and disrupts Christian fellowship with many contentious arguments.
By default, some churches and Christians accept the teaching of “scientific creationism,” because they can see no other alternative to the secular mantra of ancient earth and biological evolution, the whole thrust of which is to invalidate the Bible’s message of creation, fall into sin, and redemption through Jesus Christ. Correctly do these Christians recognize the sentiment expressed by William Provine, American professor of science and history at Cornell University,
“Evolution is the greatest engine of atheism ever invented. Naturalistic evolution has clear consequences that Charles Darwin understood perfectly. 1) No gods worth having exist; 2) no life after death exists; 3) no ultimate foundation for ethics exists; 4) no ultimate meaning in life exists; and 5) human free will is nonexistent.”
As the creationists claim, 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.
It is with increasing despair that Bible believing Christians look on as seminary academics progressively cave in to the reigning scientific fraud of biologic evolution, and assemble such oxymoronic thought-bastards as “theistic evolution.” But such apostates from the Bible simply expose their lack of understanding of both biological evolution and the Bible. There seems to be no end to schemes to accommodate the revealed divine word of Genesis to the faultily assumed and changing words of secular science. But in fairness to such apostates, I can understand in part why they feel so compelled to accommodate evolution into their theology, even though I am convinced that they are deeply mistaken.
God’s word demands complete trust in the Creator. Removing the first two chapters of Genesis removes the need for the entire biblical story of creation, sin and redemption, and hence the significance of Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Man, Who is the Savior of mankind. Hence, I am unwilling to so easily discard divine wisdom that has withstood the test of the ages.
But I cannot ally myself with the young earth creationists, whose speculative creation science impacts me more as speculation and pseudoscience in pursuit of their predefined goal—the special divine creation they read in Genesis—than objective impartial science. In addition, I find the evidence of an extremely ancient cosmos and planet Earth so convincing that it overwhelms any creationist’s calculations of an earth merely ten to fifteen thousand years old. It seems to me, as well as many other sincere Bible believers, that such creation “science” contrivances as a changing speed of light or human footprints alongside dinosaur footprints, are not intellectually convincing or verifiable.
However, I am in complete agreement with the creationists, who, along with many others, give abundant proofs that biological evolution is fraudulent science that is perpetuated by atheistic scientists driven in pursuit of their own predefined goal, which is life without God.
In sum, I do not believe the present tenets of biological evolution are even remotely possible, but I do believe that the Earth is billions of years ancient. Have I painted myself into an indefensible corner? Well, a corner, perhaps. But perhaps not indefensible.
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