Posted on 06/18/2009 11:31:01 AM PDT by mnehring
A new book from Answers in Genesis, titled "Already Gone," proposes the idea that compromising Christians, who accept long ages for the creation account, have greatly attributed to the decline of the church in today's world.1 Ken Ham is recommending his followers to use this book to educate churches to the dangers of compromise.
While obviously written from a young earth perspective, it falsely puts the blame on compromising Christians. In reality, the reason people leave the church is not because of compromise, but because of the teachings of young earth creationists. If Ham wants to see why people are leaving the church, he needs to look in the mirror.
The message of young earth creationism (YEC) is that the Bible teaches the earth was created in a six day period (24-hour days), 6,000 years ago. However, science affirms that this is not true. The YEC message to our youth is that either 6,000 years is correct (and the Bible is right), or it isn't (and the Bible is wrong). When youth look at science, and determine that the earth is old, they have a choice...either YEC is right, or science is right, but not both. So they leave the church.
Compromisers, as Ham calls us old earth believers, teach that science and the Bible are both right. The world is billions of years old, and the Bible's account of creation actually covers billions of years. In fact, billions of years fits into the creation account, even if you hold to a literal interpretation of Genesis. Indeed, there are millions of old earth believers, both progressive creationists and evolutionists, who are devout Christians.
Suppose for a minute that we could eliminate young earth only teaching from the church. If our youth had been taught that you can accept a billions of years old earth, and the Bible, then much of this tragic departure from the church that Ham describes would have been averted. It is only with the teaching of a young earth only doctrine that this exodus occurs.
Ham claims that "Already Gone is an alarming wake-up call for the church." I agree. It clearly points out that young earth creationists are leading the church down a path of destruction. The teaching of YEC will continue to erode our churches, and unfortunately, young earth creationists are blind to the fact that they are the cause of this destruction. Although Ken Ham thinks that he is doing good, he has probably done more harm to the church than anyone else in the past decade.
The world looks at science, and sees a billions of years old earth. Then they look at the church, many of which teach a young earth. They cannot reconcile the two. My fellow old earth creationists, the responsibility for saving the church is up to us. We must be the light of the world, educating the public that you can believe in both science and the Bible.
ping
‘dangers of compromise’? That’s certainly taking an open-minded view of things...
That said, this does look like and interesting book.
Those who are afraid to test the limits of their faith with the intellect God created them with are fundamentally afraid of what they might find. Those whose faith is strong revel in the added glory and beauty found in a more intricate Creation.
In the Last days....
Good gravy what a lot of finger pointing! People get so into argument (about anything and everything) that they forget what the message is.
It is the essence of modern politics.
Misdirection, Smoke and Mirrors.
frankly it is above my pay grade, but I think when i am thru looking thru this dim glass I might know a few more things. thanks
People who believe in a young Earth really confuse me. They're looking for the fingerprints of God. He didn't leave any. It's simple to prove.
Consider light from the farthest star that we can see. How long does that light take to reach Earth? Let's just say 1 billion years. If the Universe is only 6,000 years old, we'd only be able to see that star if God created the star and all of the light that would have come from the star. This is a very important idea and you need to stop for a minute and think about it. Ponder... God created a star AND light that would have come from that star even though the light didn't come from the star. He didn't create something and set it in motion. He created something that was already in motion.
So if the Universe is young, God not only created the Universe, but also the backstory to support the Universe He created. He didn't leave any fingerprints! So expecting to find evidence of a young Earth in the ground is just plain silly. He would have created a backstory to support His creation.
Revelation 22:18-20: “I warn everyone who hears the words of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.’”
If the universe from all various attempts to observe and measure it appears to be X number of years old, and even if God did create it 5 minutes ago with all the backstory perfectly intact, then it is pointless to argue the “true age” of the universe since it is indistinguishable from the observed age.
Neither opinion affects the basic important concepts of Christianity like how we treat each other.
I don’t see the word “evolution” anywhere in that article.
So scientist, who were not present at the creation of the universe are better able to tell us how it all began that The Creator God who was there, and made it all happen. Sure!
Oh, whoops. It is in there indirectly. But the article is about the age of the universe, not evolution.
Using that logic I ask you this: Were you present for the writing of the Bible? Did you watch Him write it in His own hand?
I prayed on it and God told me the universe is old, just like He has done for so many old earth Christians.
Trouble with the issue you raise is that there still isn't time for the matter to get where it is to emit the light, even with an x-Gyr old universe ( the "horizon problem" ).
The stock answer to the horizon problem is that space "expanded" with the matter in it, and the stuff really didn't have to approach lightspeed to get where it is today. Well, we now know that space and time are interdependent. If space could be expanded, why not time?
To use ancient starlight as a disproof of a young earth, you must assume that time is always and everywhere the same: that is, a year here is exactly coterminous with a year on 3C273. This assumption, while seemingly obvious on our limited scale, does not necessarily translate to cosmic distances and high relative velocities.
If you allow stretching space to fix the horizon problem, you can't assume that such a process left time unaffected.
I have to agree it is a destructive false dichotomy. I've not heard it put quite the way this article does it.
Actually, the creation account is in the book of Genesis, not the Book of Revelations.
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