It has been said that the Creationist/Evolutionist debate is a petty one; it seems that quite the opposite is true.
By my observation, most Evolutionists seem to find creationism an insult to one's intelligence, while most Creationists find evolution to be an insult to one's faith. These are not petty issues, for they both speak to the matter of faith (Who or what do you place your absolute trust, if anything?).
At one extreme, you have people believing that the life forms that are here today are here as a result of natural selection, genetic drift, and gene flow . This is essentially a Deistic view, and as such see God as inactive in worldly activities. Their faith is based on reason and experience, and therefore, cannot be classified as Theists.
At the other extreme, we have verbal plenary inspiration, which essentially means that the very words in the Bible are God-breathed into the writers and onto the pages of Scripture. I could give these extremists enough discrepancies in the Gospels alone to blow their brains out. To hold the Bible in this view is to look at the backside of a tapestry and never see its true beauty or perfection.
Interpretation, in a Biblical sense, means to untie or loosen, as in a ball of string full of snags and knots (Heb. pashar). To interpret scripture is to untie a mystery so that one can see God's message to the reader in the text. In other words, the scripture is reading you. This day to day struggle with Biblical interpretation (individually or in groups) enriches our spiritual life and relationship with the living God.
Consider the following passage: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)
If your reading of the Bible is allegorical, you've got an allegorical Jesus. What does that say about salvation? Can anyone put their absolute trust in an allegory?--of course not.
So, say you believe that Jesus came to earth to die for your sins, and if you confess your sins, turn from your sinful ways and accept the pardon, your guilt will be lifted and you will be free to live a life like Christ did, carefree and loving, knowing that this life on earth is the only hell you'll ever know. Good for you!
Let's re-examine the evolutionary worldview regarding our world. The underlying assumption of this worldview is uniformitarianism. That means, for the most part, the forces that are at work on natural and geological phenomena on Earth are relatively constant. Things like sedimentary rock, canyons, and mountains are seen as a result of billions of years of natural activity (as opposed to any supernatural activity).
A supernatural explanation of these events would be attributed to catastrophism, meaning that much of the radical landscape that we see was caused by sudden or unusual events. A sudden flood, for example, can produce a thick layer of sediment in a few hours.
Fossils, in order to occur, must be covered by some sort of sediment in a short period of time, otherwise these would turn to dust. Considering the existence of massive fossil beds on every continent (eg: Karoo, Africa - 800 billion fossils, not to mention the huge concentrations of fossil fuels), as well as fossils being found on mountain tops, it is counter-intuitive to assume these fossils accumulated together over billions of years.
Massive erosion from flooding could also account for the formation of the Grand Canyon. People that live near Georgia, USA are aware of Providence Canyon. This canyon is a mile long and 150 ft deep and its features are indistinguishable from canyons geologists claim took billions of years to build. Providence Canyon was caused by heavy rainfall in 1846.
A massive flood would also explain the sudden volcanic activity that it would take to the twist and upthrust rock formations we know as mountain ranges (which show geological evidence of once being under the sea).
Finally, the dinosaurs--in the book of Job (the oldest book in the Bible) God describes a behemoth:
Look at the behemoth, which I made along with you and which feeds on grass like an ox. What strength he has in his loins, what power in the muscles of his belly! His tail sways like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are close-knit. His bones are tubes of bronze,
his limbs like rods of iron. He ranks first among the works of God,
yet only his Maker can approach him with his sword. (Job 40:15-20).
Job lived before Noah. A flood would have killed all the dinosaurs and preserved them as fossils like we find today. If these were not covered with tons of sediment, there would be no fossils to find.
Consider the firmament (atmosphere) above the earth as described in Genesis. It was thick enough to protect life from radiation so that humans lived to almost a 1000 years. It never rained. After the flood, the special atmosphere was gone and 120 years was given as the maximum life expectancy for humans. Deterioration and decay on earth accelerated at that point; and life forms that died before the flood would appear to be millions of years older (i.e. dinosaurs) than the post flood fossils. Any measurement of age based on rates of decay would be extremely unreliable, given the abundance of fossils and evidence of catasrophic activity on our landscape.
Does this mean that "evolutionary" events like natural selection, genetic drift, and gene flow don't happen?--of course not! But given a catastrophic model for radical earth formations, the contribution of these events are infinitesimal compared to a worldwide flood.
If you consider the evidence presented, a young earth view is not only plausible, but probable. Also consider that if creation "days" in Genesis were actually billions of years apart, the trees and plants created on day 3 would have no viable means of pollination, given that birds weren't created till day 5 and bugs didn't appear till day 6. Also consider the phrase, each was made according to their kind, implying anomalies such as genetic drift and gene flow were not present in this perfect, awesome world.
Finally, if you are a theist, you recognize that God is omnipotent. As such, God is more than capable of displaying to us the glory of the heavens millions of light years away by accelerating the speed of light.
By my observation, most Evolutionists seem to find creationism an insult to one's intelligence, while most Creationists find evolution to be an insult to one's faith. These are not petty issues, for they both speak to the matter of faith (Who or what do you place your absolute trust, if anything?).
At one extreme, you have people believing that the life forms that are here today are here as a result of natural selection, genetic drift, and gene flow . This is essentially a Deistic view, and as such see God as inactive in worldly activities. Their faith is based on reason and experience, and therefore, cannot be classified as Theists.
At the other extreme, we have verbal plenary inspiration, which essentially means that the very words in the Bible are God-breathed into the writers and onto the pages of Scripture. I could give these extremists enough discrepancies in the Gospels alone to blow their brains out. To hold the Bible in this view is to look at the backside of a tapestry and never see its true beauty or perfection.
Interpretation, in a Biblical sense, means to untie or loosen, as in a ball of string full of snags and knots (Heb. pashar). To interpret scripture is to untie a mystery so that one can see God's message to the reader in the text. In other words, the scripture is reading you. This day to day struggle with Biblical interpretation (individually or in groups) enriches our spiritual life and relationship with the living God.
Consider the following passage: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)
If your reading of the Bible is allegorical, you've got an allegorical Jesus. What does that say about salvation? Can anyone put their absolute trust in an allegory?--of course not.
So, say you believe that Jesus came to earth to die for your sins, and if you confess your sins, turn from your sinful ways and accept the pardon, your guilt will be lifted and you will be free to live a life like Christ did, carefree and loving, knowing that this life on earth is the only hell you'll ever know. Good for you!
Let's re-examine the evolutionary worldview regarding our world. The underlying assumption of this worldview is uniformitarianism. That means, for the most part, the forces that are at work on natural and geological phenomena on Earth are relatively constant. Things like sedimentary rock, canyons, and mountains are seen as a result of billions of years of natural activity (as opposed to any supernatural activity).
A supernatural explanation of these events would be attributed to catastrophism, meaning that much of the radical landscape that we see was caused by sudden or unusual events. A sudden flood, for example, can produce a thick layer of sediment in a few hours.
Fossils, in order to occur, must be covered by some sort of sediment in a short period of time, otherwise these would turn to dust. Considering the existence of massive fossil beds on every continent (eg: Karoo, Africa - 800 billion fossils, not to mention the huge concentrations of fossil fuels), as well as fossils being found on mountain tops, it is counter-intuitive to assume these fossils accumulated together over billions of years.
Massive erosion from flooding could also account for the formation of the Grand Canyon. People that live near Georgia, USA are aware of Providence Canyon. This canyon is a mile long and 150 ft deep and its features are indistinguishable from canyons geologists claim took billions of years to build. Providence Canyon was caused by heavy rainfall in 1846.
A massive flood would also explain the sudden volcanic activity that it would take to the twist and upthrust rock formations we know as mountain ranges (which show geological evidence of once being under the sea).
Finally, the dinosaurs--in the book of Job (the oldest book in the Bible) God describes a behemoth:
Look at the behemoth, which I made along with you and which feeds on grass like an ox. What strength he has in his loins, what power in the muscles of his belly! His tail sways like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are close-knit. His bones are tubes of bronze,
his limbs like rods of iron. He ranks first among the works of God,
yet only his Maker can approach him with his sword. (Job 40:15-20).
Job lived before Noah. A flood would have killed all the dinosaurs and preserved them as fossils like we find today. If these were not covered with tons of sediment, there would be no fossils to find.
Consider the firmament (atmosphere) above the earth as described in Genesis. It was thick enough to protect life from radiation so that humans lived to almost a 1000 years. It never rained. After the flood, the special atmosphere was gone and 120 years was given as the maximum life expectancy for humans. Deterioration and decay on earth accelerated at that point; and life forms that died before the flood would appear to be millions of years older (i.e. dinosaurs) than the post flood fossils. Any measurement of age based on rates of decay would be extremely unreliable, given the abundance of fossils and evidence of catasrophic activity on our landscape.
Does this mean that "evolutionary" events like natural selection, genetic drift, and gene flow don't happen?--of course not! But given a catastrophic model for radical earth formations, the contribution of these events are infinitesimal compared to a worldwide flood.
If you consider the evidence presented, a young earth view is not only plausible, but probable. Also consider that if creation "days" in Genesis were actually billions of years apart, the trees and plants created on day 3 would have no viable means of pollination, given that birds weren't created till day 5 and bugs didn't appear till day 6. Also consider the phrase, each was made according to their kind, implying anomalies such as genetic drift and gene flow were not present in this perfect, awesome world.
Finally, if you are a theist, you recognize that God is omnipotent. As such, God is more than capable of displaying to us the glory of the heavens millions of light years away by accelerating the speed of light.
