Compromise cripples those who borrow evolution patches for the Creator's own creation record. They risk fashioning a strange God, losing their self-image and life-purpose,
offering another Gospel, perverting relationships and more damage.
The solution:—Seek the truth, rather than borrow a creation view from some scholar we respect
The conflict between the Bible and evolution is obvious. Biblical creation is Supernatural, Sudden, Finished, Recent, Perfect, Designed and Intelligence-driven by an infinite, sovereign, all-good Creator. Evolution is self-making, slow, aimless, accidental, still-at-work, without design or purpose, driven by chance, over long ages, out of chaos. The difference is not a slight variation—the explanations and life-implications are polar opposite.
Following Darwin's 'Origin of Species,' (1859) came a wave of books showing Bible-believers diverse ways to force the Bible to accommodate evolution. After a century of Darwinism, (in the 1950's) came a new wave of books bringing to light contradicting evidence, scientific flaws, logical fallacies, exaggerated claims, polemic smokescreens, unwarranted speculations, philosophical motives, silenced opponents, deceit and propaganda that has been propping up evolution.
What is missing in this library? If we were searching man's knowledge for truth all this negotiation would be essential —but that is not the case. The Book at the vortex of the controversy claims to be God's revelation. Until that claim is disproved, all our negotiation is redundant rebellion. Otherwise, if God has told us what He did, then mere creatures need to listen with utmost respect. So where is the plea for the fair-hearing of the Book that remains a best-seller. We must challenge those who avoid this priority!
BORROWED EVOLUTION revives three forgotten issues.
BORROWED EVOLUTION examines the first issue first—Biblical Authority. No man-made knowledge can attain credibility equal to God's information. Heightened conflict should motivate Bible-believers to be true to God's Word and relevant to their world. The creation conflict is a stark reminder of the unmet need for truth among both Christians and pagans. "God said it, I believe it, that settles it!" is refreshing trust but selfish theology that helps no one else. Just as the artificial line drawn around the Bible that excludes everything except "faith and practice," these man-made one-liners tempt Christians to be irrelevant to their changing world.
BORROWED EVOLUTION downplays the high-profile tug-o-war over stones, bones and stars to elevate the deeper question —What life-meanings do evolution and creation dictate? The irresolvable evidence shouts that more is at stake than mere scientific correctness. Origins answer life's great questions: Where did I come from? Who am I? Why am I here? Every religion and philosophy tackles these driving questions. We non-experts must anddo resolve this life-guidance in spite scientists and theologians who wage war. Biblical creation does not hang for its life on literal meanings of a few words —it is the context for the rest of the Bible. The methods of the Creator defined the meaning and purpose for everything He made. His ways are not negotiable!
BORROWED EVOLUTION interrogates the evolution-Bible mixtures. Can Bible-believers accept evolution and not betray Biblical essentials? The author traced the source and motives that formed the Gap-Theory, Theistic evolution and other 'Creation views.' Surprisingly these mixtures came from conservative evangelicals who said they stood on the absolute inerrancy, authority and sufficiency of Scripture. Sola Scriptura! Their Biblical manipulations were actually mutilations —they must have been desperate. Why would they abandon the Scriptural approach they trusted for their destiny? Evangelicals scrambled to retain academic respect for their Bible at the cost of doctrinal integrity. They had to face the popularity of Darwin's new "science" without having 150 years of accumulated disproof available today.
Twisting word-meanings degrades their author. The Greatest Communicator ever, who gave man the power to communicate, and who requires our childlike faith in His words —is He unable or unwilling to record what He did, so plainly that even a trusting child can understand? Did God squander His best opportunity to explain how He used His infinite power and attributes to create, by telling some allegory? Or does the plain meaning of the Great Communicator's words tell us all what actually happened. Twisting word-meanings are still rejected by society. Education, science, government, courts, and the media still honor evolution and reject Biblical creation as a religious myth. They deny divine revelation. Truth cannot be separated as scientific and religious. All truth must agree.
Only t he inerrant, living, sharp-edged Bible can stop the evolutionary clamour in expensive periodicals and elaborate television productions.
Previously the Bible's plain meaning had been essential doctrine. We have paid a terrible price.
Through this breach the secular worldview first seeped and now floods the Christian community.
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God doesn't prohibit touching knowledge —as with everything He made —it is good if used as He intended. But knowledge is not nourishment. We underestimate how far the roots of fallen man's knowledge spread under us. When we stop believing God, firstly and fully, we begin an endless negotiation over what is truth. |
BORROWED EVOLUTION answers the question:
If the Bible were allowed to speak for itself, what would it say about creation?
A good conflict-resolving strategy requires each debater to correctly recount his opponent's view. Remarkably few antagonists can accurately report the creation view that comes from Scripture. What does the Bible itself teach about creation? Silence the shrill speculations from so-called experts who want to speak for the author of Scripture and give this defendant a fair hearing.
If the Author is a competent communicator who sincerely wants to reveal the truth then He has said what He means and means what He has said. In that case we can trust the plain meaning of the words He selected and we can trust the common, universally understood rules for non-literal language. Then if we have correctly understood the Author His account of creation events should resonate with every Bible doctrine. The Bible makes the outrageous claim of being the written revelation of a God who cannot lie. Such inerrancy is easily tested --all truth must agree, be it historical or scientific, spiritual or material, profound or simple.
If these presuppositions are correct then
Other Authors - Other Goals
I searched libraries and bookstores across this continent and elsewhere but could not find a book that begins from Scripture alone. Since I couldn't find one, I wrote one.
Other Origins Books contribute one or more of the following.
| 1. They show how physical evidence from the earth or sky supports a particular view, some creationary, some evolutionary but most, a mixture of both. 2. They articulate the many man-made views on origins, only one of which can be truth at best and maybe none are. 3. They defend the author's reasoning from evidence, a few Scripture verses, and footnotes quoting well-known scientists, theologians, apologists, skeptics and news reporters. 4. They expose the flaws in the arguments used to oppose the author's view (if he holds one). |
The glaring absence of a single book that firstly and fully draws out the plain meaning of all pertinent creation passages and verifies the position by testing doctrinal harmony within that entirely unified Book, while holding off the barrage of man-made static, should warn us of a serious omission in our pursuit of creation truth.
We Must Push Back the Clutter
To be impartial we must shut out the shrill voices. Naturalistic Science, ecclesiastical tradition, higher criticism, fallen logic, polemics and semantics all want their say. Apparently the Bible cannot stand on its own. Against this strong protest we push away the garbage piled on top of Scripture. It permeates Bible footnotes, commentaries and so-called expositions. It is residue in the Christian psyche. School, home, media and even pulpits we trust have dumped this on us. Many human concoctions have collected over the past two centuries: The Day-Age Theory, Progressive Creation, Theistic evolution, Evolutionary Creation, Creationary Evolution and all mixtures between.
Origins views have been formed in ignorance, apathy, heresy and sometimes-malicious deception, but almost always second-hand. Very few people search personally for the truth of origins first hand. Those who dislike my approach often admit and sometimes boast, that their view, if they have just one, comes from someone else. Everyone seems to trust another person to hold the truth. These in turn trust someone else. At the end of these trails I often found an atheistic evolutionary guru. Shouldn't we let the Bible speak in its own defense? Why do we first ask others what it means?
Scripture is Self-Supporting
With the rush to accommodate Darwin's new "science" somehow everyone forgot that the Bible managed to stand against critics and static for 1800 years without this "knowledge essential to its interpretation." Were pre-Darwin Bible teachers naive? Hardly! Creationists were the founders of empirical science. Furthermore this supernatural Book is going to be understood eternally, long after all the best man-made knowledge and all the physical evidence is burned up.
Archaeologists respect this book as the best history book ever written. No other book has so many copies as old or accurate. After centuries of skeptics denying the book it has proven trustworthy time and again. It has a remarkable record for good in every civilization that respected it. Those who claim there are errors have no older or more trusted records to stand on.
The Bible forces us to decide because it makes outrageous claims for itself. Inerrancy and authority in a book from the hand of fallen men is hard to believe. Human authors that claim divine inspiration make it more difficult. But that's the nature of the Bible –it polarizes. There is no fence sitting. We either believe all of it or none of it. It can't be merely a good book.
then it tells lies and can't be trusted anywhere!
When the Bible says, "In six days God created the heavens, the earth, the sea and all that in them is" disbelievers challenge. "But we can't be sure this is what the Bible means." "We don't know how long the days were." "We don't know how much time was between the days." "We don't know how much time preceded these days." "We mustn't make the Bible say more than it does." "Furthermore the six days may be fictional, fallacious, old-fashioned, fickle." "The six days may be true in a religious sense but not scientific."
What higher authority demands such skepticism?
"Your Hidden Paradigm is Ruling"
Everyone is quick to say that the Bible cannot speak for itself. We must use science, theology and tradition to interpret.
But I largely reject this contamination!
The Biblical creation view can stand as a credible account of history stated by the plain meaning of Scripture laden with spiritual meanings that can be tested for doctrinal harmony. If the Bible is the inerrant, sufficient, authoritative, inspired words of Holy God then no other source offers such value, regardless of how clever it sounds, how popular it is, how powerful the artist's conceptions, how pervasive the media impact. God wants to reveal Himself to the common man. The only requirement is to read and believe His words firstly and fully. Higher education, trendy science, church tradition, second-hand hermeneutics won't change the truth. We understand origins by faith alone and faith comes by hearing God's Words!
Conclusion
Somewhere in the creation-evolution debate we must recognize that the most troubling data source is not physical evidence but the Bible. If we are sincere, impartial and wise in our search for origins truth we must give this book a fair hearing. It makes the outrageous claim of being the Creator's own revelation. It contains a clear account of early earth history. We cannot ignore it. Yes it is religious, so what? It has the high regard of historians and archaeologists and has outlasted its many skeptics. It is raw, eternal, non-negotiable truth.