Posted on 07/22/2005 6:55:56 AM PDT by truthfinder9
For years Christianity has suffered what has been called the “scandal of the evangelical mind.” This has included the abandonment of the biblical principles of “testing everything” and being prepared to give an answer (apologetics). As a result, any new fad, book or movement packaged as “Christian” is often accepted without reservation.
One example of this is young-earth creationism promoted by Ken Ham, who is often featured in the Pittsburgh Christian. Young-earthism is based on the false assumption that millions of years equal evolution. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
Evolution doesn’t work in an old universe and old age (almost 14 billion years) is actually one of intelligent design’s strongest evidences. The universe was structured in such a way by God that life is constrained to exist in a particular narrow time frame. We are now living in that time frame. God left this obvious evidence for design for humanity. The young-earth view ignores such evidences because of the fear that life could evolve in millions of years. It cannot.
At best, young-earthism is a superficial interpretation of Genesis. Not he “literal” or “simple” reading they claim it is. A simple reading reveals contradictions and inconsistencies. A more in-depth reading finds the Hebrew unsupportive of young-earthism. I detail this in greater depth elsewhere.
The larger problem is how some of the young-earth leadership refers to old-earth Christians as “compromisers” or “apostates.” This is absurd. Some of the leading Christian apologists of our day, who defend the inerrancy of the Bible, are old-earth creationists. So are most of the leaders of the intelligent design movement. Most ruling bodies of the many Christian denominations have refused to make young-earthism official dogma. Yet young-earthers still believe everyone else is wrong.
It’s time Christians held young-earthers accountable for their “compromiser” claims and their emotional pleas. We need to demand solid biblical, historical and scientific scholarship. Not embarrassing claims of dinosaurs living with man. It’s claims like these that turn non-believers away. Young-earthism is featured in many books promoting atheism. Christians find it hard to defend against what are otherwise simple-minded attacks on Christianity because young-earthism has “unequipped” them.
Indeed, Christians need to review the biblical commands on critical thought and the intellectual side of faith. See Matthew 22:37-38, Romans 12:2, 1 Peter 3:15 , 1 Thessalonians 5:21, Job 34:4, Acts 17:11 and Revelation 2:2. The Bible lays out further guidelines for critical thought when it warns readers about being taken in by deceitful teachings (1 John 4:1), human traditions (Colossians 2:8, Isaiah 29:13), emotions (Proverbs 28:26) and believing in myths (1 Timothy 1:4, 2 Timothy 4:3-4, Titus 1:14).
This isn’t just about creationism, it’s about defending Christianity and being able to explain to the world why it’s true. This isn’t hard to do, but we all must do it.
Chuck Missler at www.KHouse.org often discusses ID as well as many other topics. He has a weekday radio broadcast on KWVE 107.9 FM / www.KWVE.com
Fascinating program.
A great number of people - today as always - adopt religious beliefs out of a desire to enlist the aid of God in smiting their enemies.
BFLR = bump for later reading.
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