1	Compromising Theories Dr. Heinz Lycklama heinz@osta.com www.osta.com
2	Compromising Theories Genesis 1-11 as our foundation Theistic Evolution Problems with Theistic Evolution Progressive Creation Day-Age Theory Gap Theory Other flavors … Conclusions
3	The Coral Reef Measurement The age of the earth has been tied to the rate of growth of coral for more than a century now In the March 1997 issue of Nature, three scientists reported on their work in measuring the growth of living staghorn coral located in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia Using a precision laser measuring device, they found that coral was growing at the rate of 1.25 inches per year Since some coral is more than 2000 feet deep, that leads to an age of the earth of at least 19,200 years old
4	The Coral Reef “Compromise” In 1862, James Dwight Dana presented in his Manual of Geology that coral grew at about 1/16^th of an inch per year, resulting in an age of the earth of at least 384,000 years old As a result of his studies, Dana vigorously promoted the idea that God took millions of years to bring about His creation Dana was instrumental in converting Yale University from its orthodox Christian foundation to a belief in evolution
5	Down The Slippery Slope Dana was a Yale professor, a respected Christian, and the leading American geologist of his day American clergy of his day were swayed by these “facts of science” and started to “correct false dogma in the theological systems.” Thus began the sweep of the popular notion of theistic evolution into the Christian mind-set Scientific results are only as good as the initial assumptions!
6	Which Foundation Do You Trust?
7	Genesis 1 As Allegorical Make the account figurative, a-historical, or supra-historical, and ultimately non-descriptive This treats the Genesis account as a demythologized poem, sung to the glory of the creator God Or a cosmology, like many other epic and legendary cosmologies of the day
8	Genesis 1 As Historical Accept Gen. 1 as a chronological account of something that actually happened in creation Gen. 1 and 2 offer us correct and satisfactory information concerning prehistoric time It goes beyond the reach of available historical sources and offers not mythical suppositions, not poetical fancies, not vague suggestions, but a positive record of things as they actually transpired
9	Compromising Theories Many people believe that God used evolution as His means of creating the universe and everything in it Numerous attempts have been made to reinterpret the Bible in order to make it compatible with the theory of evolution The problem is that of TIME! How to get a few billion years into the first chapter of Genesis?
10	Compromising Theories - 2 Dr. Duane Gish: “The concept of a frog being turned into a prince in an instant is a fairy tale, but the assertion that a frog, given 300 million years, can turn into a man, is considered science.” Many “Christians” are so convinced that evolution is true that they feel they need to harmonize the Scriptures with “science” Are we willing to change the Scriptures every time a scientific theory is debunked or modified?
11	Some “Harmonizing” Theories Religious-only theory - Genesis was written in religious terms Successive catastrophe theory - several catastrophes, each followed by a new creation Local creation theory - Genesis only refers to a small area of the earth which God re-created
12	Some “Harmonizing” Theories - 2 Day-age (divine-age) theory - each “day” in Genesis is a long geological age, thus interjecting millions/billions of years into the Genesis account Pictorial (or revelational) day theory - God revealed to Moses, through visions, what God had created. Moses then recorded each vision as a day Gap theory (creation/ruination/re-creation theory or restitution theory) - God created a perfect world, which was consequently destroyed (perhaps because of a war Satan had with God) and then re-created and re-populated
13	Some “Harmonizing” Theories - 3 Long chaos theory - “without form and void” may be very long, resulting in a very old earth Multiple gap theory - creation took place in 6 literal days, but separated by long periods of orthodox historical geology Modifications of the gap theory - Gen. 1:1 does not give a time reference, but that God spent a great deal of time in preparation before the actual 6 days of creation, e.g. all geological phenomena
14	Which Theory is Correct?
15	Various Creation Theories Two main types: Judea-Christian and Non Christian creationism Types of Judea-Christian Creationism include: Young Earth Creationism Old Earth Creationism (3 sub-versions) Gap Creationism Day-Age Creationism Progressive Creationism Evolutionary Creationism Theistic Evolutionism Flat Earth Creationism Geo-Centric Creationism
16	Young Earth Creationism Interprets Genesis literally as the basis for its model Earth is between 6,000 and 10,000 years old All life was created in six days (based on the same length of day we use now = 24 hours) Death and decay are a result of Adam & Eve’s fall Geology and geological phenomena are interpreted with respect to the Great Flood Earth is spherical and the heliocentric model is the accurate representation of our solar system
17	Evolutionary Creationism Creation did not happen in the sense of physical reality or time as we understand them now Adam and Eve’s Edenic existence and creation occurred on this transcendental plane of reality The fall from grace resulted in the formation of our material reality and universe Nature and all of its processes are a manifestation of God’s divine will Nature has no independent existence apart from the divine force behind everything
18	Theistic Evolution Creation by continuous evolutionary processes, initiated by God God revealed the fact of creation in Scripture, but left the method of creation to be worked out by scientists Attempt to accept the “fact” of evolution Recently approved by none other than the Pope! Sometimes referred to as “Biblical evolution”, creative evolution, etc.
19	Variations on Theistic Evolution Some see God deriving new forms of life from old ones Some see the hand of God intervening directly in the biology of organisms to create the new species Some accept the natural processes of evolutionary biology as explanatory, but believe that the system was preprogrammed to give rise to humans Some believe God intervened in human evolution at some point to bestow a soul (possibly around 30,000 years ago when we see the first clear signs of art & religion) The Pope, and the vast majority of working scientists in America are theistic evolutionists
20	Problems With Theistic Evolution Creation of distinct kinds precludes transmutations between kinds: Ten major categories/kinds identified in Genesis 1 (“after his kind”) 1 Cor. 15:38,39 “... one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts ...” No concept of evolutionary continuity Too many missing fossil links Mutations appear to be undirected Humans are modified animals, rather than created in God’s image
21	Theological Contradictions Theological contradictions of theistic evolution: God’s omnipotence - can create in an instant, does not need eons of time God’s personality - “man in His own image”, why wait until the tail end of “geologic time”? God’s omniscience - fossils indicate extinctions, misfits, and other evidences of “poor planning” God’s nature of love - “natural selection” is not loving God’s purposiveness - creation and redemption of man. Why waste billions of years? Grace of God - struggle for survival, fits with “humanistic” salvation by works
22	Why Theistic Evolution? People believe in this “popular” theory because of: An outright disbelief in the Bible A desire to be intellectually fashionable The mistaken notion that powerful proof favors evolution
23	Theistic Evolution Problems It is inconsistent with God’s nature Atheistic evolution has not been proven to be true: thus theistic evolution cannot No theistic statement which shows theistic evolution to be true Evolution implies atheism The Bible states that God created a fully grown and fully developed man and woman within one day, Gen. 1:27
24	Theistic Evolution Problems (2) Bible teaches the first man was Adam Cannot explain Eve Cannot explain where man acquired his soul Makes Jesus a liar Logically should be able to produce a greater than Jesus Christ Logically denies the fall [sin] of man
25	Theistic Evolution Problems (3) Man was created a moral being Evolution teaches that religion “evolved” Evolution teaches that faith in one God “evolved” Evolution teaches that the grave is the end Teaches that man had no awareness of God until that awareness “evolved” States that man evolved from lower animals
26	Other Evolutionist Viewpoints Deistic evolution God created life and the laws necessary for it to develop Then He left it alone to evolve Pantheistic evolution God is a cosmic force rather than a Person God is in everything God progresses with evolution Naturalistic evolution No supernatural All forms of life developed as a result of natural law
27	Progressive Creationism God created universe via Big Bang Over billions of years, our solar system formed, resulting in the formation of Earth Diversity of life on Earth is a result of God creating “kinds” of organisms sequentially Due to their sequential creation these various “kinds” of organisms appear in the fossil record in the order we observe The newer species still in existence were “specially” created and not genetically related to the older kinds
28	Progressive Creationism - 2 Semantic variant of “theistic evolution” God intervened on various occasions to create something new, i.e. evolution needed some help God placed an eternal soul in a humanoid form at the proper time Implies that God’s creative forethought was insufficient Involves discontinuous evolutionary processes initiated by God
29	Progressive Creationism - 3 “Sounds” better than “theistic evolution” (avoids use of word, evolution) Has same theological contradictions as theory of theistic evolution Appears to be more inconsistent with God’s character May seem less offensive to college board, contributing alumni or supporting churches
30	Day–Age Theory Attempt to accommodate Genesis to geology Interpret creation so that ages of geology correspond to the history of creation, i.e. days must correspond (more or less) to geologic ages Events occur in the same order as Genesis 1: Inorganic universe Simple forms of life More complex forms of life Man But time periods much longer than a day: 2 Pet. 3:8 “… a day is as a thousand years …”
31	Problems With Day–Age Theory Proves nothing because assumptions cannot be validated Must accompany “day-age” with “theistic evolution” or theory of “progressive creation” Unacceptable on exegetical or scientific grounds: Proper meaning of “day” and “days” [Hebrew yom] Contradiction between Genesis and geological ages Identification of geological ages with evolutionary suffering Variations of “Day-Age”
32	Proper Meaning of “Day”/“Days” Hebrew “yom” does not have to mean a literal day, could mean a “very long time” 2 Pet. 3:8, “thousand years as one day” Translated as “time” 65 times Translated as “day” 1200 times Plural translated as “days” 700 times Literal meaning is usually best Other meanings can be gained from the context Genesis 1 is written very carefully using words/phrases such as “first day”, “second day”, “evening and morning”
33	Proper Meaning of “Day”/“Days” - 2 When limiting numeral is used in OT (200 times), it always means literal day God called the light day, and the darkness night (Gen. 1:5) Precludes a geologic age Vegetation can’t survive for a geologic age without sunshine Gen. 1:14-19 -> divide day from night Ex. 20:8-11, fourth commandment “six days, ... seventh day ...” 2 Pet. 3:8 “a text without a context is a pretext”
34	Contradictions Between Genesis and Geological Ages
35	Identification of Geologic Ages With Evolutionary Suffering Evolution is random, wasteful, cruel Inconsistent with nature of God Geological ages provide framework for evolution Geologic systems and epochs are identified on the basis of fossils found in the rocks Evolution is the basis for interpreting the fossil record, and the fossil record is the basis for establishing and identifying the geologic ages An example of circular reasoning! God is not the author of confusion
36	What The Bible Says About Suffering God pronounced it all very good in Gen. 1:31 No death and suffering before the fall: Gen. 3:14-19 “... cursed is the ground ...” Rom. 5:12 “thru one man sin entered, ... so death spread to all men” Rom. 8:20-23 “... whole creation groans ...” 1 Cor. 15:21-22 “... by a man came death, for as in Adam all die ...” Rev. 21:4-5 “... no longer any death ...” No fossils before the fall
37	Variations of Day-Age Theory Literal days separated by large spans of time Makes “nonsense” Relativistic days – time varies according to theory of relativity – 6 days to God, but billions of years as observed by man Genesis creation days have morning and evening Days of revelation – 6 days representing 6 days of visions for Moses about the creation Nothing in the record suggests such a thing Days of proclamation in which creative commands are carried out over long period of time Genesis creation days have morning and evening
38	Gap Theory Gap between Gen. 1:1 and Gen. 1:2 Earth was populated long ago by organisms, that were destroyed and preserved as fossils Assumes that the geological ages occurred before the creation week Assumes that a cataclysm terminated the geological ages Gen. 1:2: “… the earth was without form and void …” After a long time, God then proceeded to re-make or re-create the earth in the six literal days described in Gen. 1:3-31
39	Problems With Gap Theory Death before sin Organic evolution produces death The fall of Satan after the geological ages Gen. 1:31 makes clear that Satan had not yet rebelled Scientific problems with the Gap Theory No evidence of a monstrous cataclysm Biblical problems with the Gap Theory Ex. 20:11, “… in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is …” Sun needed for life, but not created until 4^th day, Gen. 1:14-18
40	Progressive Creation, Day-Age & Gap Theories All three add information to the text of the Bible to force an interpretation All three indicate that it takes additional outside sources to understand the Bible All three adopt views from the evolution model to interpret the Bible All three deny the possibility that: God meant what He said God is capable of performing such a miracle as creation in six literal days
41	Summary Even professing Christians seek to harmonize Scripture with the assumed evolutionary history of the earth and man Theistic Evolution, Progressive Creation, Day-Age Theory and the Gap Theory all fall short of this goal Avowed atheists such as Isaac Isamov, who authored more than 500 books in the field of science was forced to admit in his later years that: “Emotionally, I am an atheist, I don’t have the evidence to prove that God doesn’t exist, but I so strongly suspect that He doesn’t that I don't want to waste my time.”
42	Summary - 2 Julian Huxley, grandson of Thomas Huxley, and a leading advocate of the theory of evolution today, spoke these words at the great Darwinian Centennial Convocation in 1959 at the University of Chicago: “Darwinism removed the whole idea of God as the creator of organisms from the sphere of rational discussion.” Some treat Genesis 1-11 as allegorical, liturgical, poetic, supra-historical These force one to reject Genesis as either scientific or historical Expunging Genesis 1-11 cuts out the foundation of the entire Biblical system
43	Genesis 1-11 As Literal History The style of these early chapters of Genesis does not suggest a mythical, allegorical, or poetical approach This is the view entertained by our Lord Jesus Christ The inspired writers of the NT not only referred often to the narrative, but made doctrinal arguments which depended upon the historical validity of the Genesis account The Bible teaches that the creation of the heavens, the earth, and the inhabitants thereof, was for the glorification of Almighty God
44	Genesis 1-11 As Literal History - 2 Genuine science has not, does not, and cannot discredit the Genesis version of origins Archaeological evidences uncovered within recent years tend to corroborate the historical reliability of the Genesis record Denying the historical accuracy of the Bible in the account of creation leads to a doctrinal position known as modernism One who doubts the Genesis account will not be the same man he once was
45	Genesis 1:1 Refutes Man’s False Philosophies