At the beginning of Genesis we have a story that is presented to us
as literal. That is the language that is used and it is what the writer
intended. Yet, there are many, many people who call themselves
Christians who are taking on this idea that evolution, as explained
by Darwin (meaning evolution from one species to a different species)
is acceptable and that God started the process and here we are today.
And they are a lot of them. On a Christian forum recently, I read a
thread about evolution and outside of the guys in my band, there was
only one person who believed in the Creation Story as written in Genesis.
And these were all supposedly Chrisitans.
If someone comes to you and presents a story to you about an event
as fact, and you do not believe them, then you are effectively calling
that person a liar. Or at the very least, misinformed. Since MOST Christians wouldn't say that God is misinformed then the only
conclusion is that they feel God is a liar. What they will say is that
they don't trust the people who wrote Genesis or the people who have
translated it over the years. But God guarantees the keeping of His
Word and that His Word is true so again we get back to calling God
a liar.
They will bring up the existance of coal and oil as examples of the
earth being millions if not billions of years old. (I will not attempt to
disassemble every evolutionary argument, just that this one is used
often by Christians and applies to God specifically) But what they are
really saying is that while God is powerful enough to create the
universe and the planet and maybe even life, there is no way He could have created oil or coal in its present form. That is assinine. If we take Genesis at its word then everything that God created was in a certain state of developement to begin with. Adam, years into developement, likewise Eve. Plants and animals and the earth as a whole developed enough to sustain them.
Here is the crux of the issue. When a Christian starts out by saying
that the VERY FIRST story in the Bible is a total lie, then the rest of
the Bible becomes highly suspect and the judge is no longer God but
the reader. And when the reader becomes the ultimate authority,
then you have humanism/satanism. I am going to be so bold as to
say that Christians who beleive in the theory of evolution, regardless
of how they want to include God in the process, are actually worse
than humanists or satanists because these "christians" are not only
believing a lie but lieing to themselves about what they really believe. At least humanists and satanists are being intellectually honest about what they believe. They will say "I am on the throne of my life." but a "christian" will lie and say "God is on the throne of my life." when the things they espouse as truth prove that God isn't on the throne but they are.
If, somehow, someday, we find out irrefutably that evolution is true,
then that is the day I no longer believe in God and I throw the Bible
in the trash, for the two are not compatable with evolution. But I
am firm in my belief that day will never come, rather, the day will
come when all these "christians" will find out that God isn't a liar and
they will bend their knees and bow and then be met with the words
"I never knew you. Away from me you evildoers."
Then we will know who the REAL liar is.
3 comments:
Nicholas,
It appears from your blog that because I believe in evolution you do not even consider me a Christian; and one day God will say to me "I never knew you. Away from me you evildoer." because I apparently called God a “liar” by believing in evolution.
Well, I’ll save my salvation by faith in Christ and not by a particular intellectual understanding of theology for another time. Besides, I am confident that I know and am known by God.
In regards to the book of Genesis, first let me say that I believe that the book is 100% true. However I do I have to disagree with your very first statements; you wrote, “At the beginning of Genesis we have a story that is presented to us as literal. That is the language that is used and it is what the writer intended.” The creation story in the book of Genesis was written in primeval symbolic language consistent with the symbolic style of writing for the time. I believe that the creation story is truth told in symbolic form.
I was first introduced to this idea at Nazarene Bible College years ago where we were introduced to other primeval writings that were in the same style and symbolism as the biblical creation story. There is no way that the author could have imagined ideas such as evolution and he was not writing to address this issue. (I do not mean that I believe that God could not speak inspiration into the passage to make it relevant today or even speak to the issue of evolution to us today even if the author had no idea that it was God was doing. By the way, both the biblical creation story and evolution agree that man was formed from the earth- dirt.) The author did have specific issues he was probably writing to for his day; mostly countering other beliefs about God that were also commonly told in primeval symbolic language.
Other stories of the day had things like the gods creating man because they were lazy and man being created to do the things that the gods were not interested in doing. Some stories had mankind being created from a great battle of the gods and the blood of the fallen gods created man. Some of these stories even had elements that we are familiar with from biblical account like a tree or a garden. The biblical creation account was an inspired story told in the same language and format the people of that day understood, told to correct some wrong assumptions about God. First that there was one almighty God and not many gods, and then that God made mankind in His image and for relationship and not because He needed people to do work for Him; in fact the biblical inspired account tells us that God is the one doing the work.
Even though the story uses symbolic language here are some of the things the point of the story told the readers of that day and tells us today that is absolutely true: (This list is not comprehensive but just some highlights.)
• There is one almighty God and not many gods
• God made mankind (both men and women) in His image and for relationship and not because He needed people to do the work
• Mankind has a unique relationship with both God and all of God’s creation.
• God’s intent for man was to have unbroken relationship with Him but our sin broke that relationship.
• God describes what living in a world of sin is like.
• God shows Himself to be a God of love and mercy and promises to restore what sin has broken.
Ok, so there is my brief summery that explains why even if evolution is true this does not mean that the first story of the bible is a “lie” and that the rest of “the Bible becomes highly suspect.” This belief in no way shows that God is not on the “thrown of my life”. I do believe that God inspired and protects the scriptures as a true revelation that points us back to God and the Word/Christ. I also love scripture enough that I will not throw it in the trash if it turns out that the way I read, interpreted and understood one part of it turned out to be in error. If the truth found in scripture depends on just how I read it and I can not change my mind in light of new information than I truly am acting as the judge of all truth rather than God. No, God is the author of truth not me. There is nothing about science and evolution that contradicts the truth in scripture so there is nothing to be afraid of; unless ones own personal dogma and interpretation is threatened by it.
James
James, Thanks for the comment!
I wouldn't say that salvation is based on a particular understanding of Theology, rather, that the particular understanding of Theology possibly reflects the status of salvation.
A few questions for you; Where does the "symbolic" language of Genesis change to a literal reading? Why name the two humans involved and refer to them by name in later Scriptures? Why do later references to this story treat it as literal? How do you derive at what parts of this story should be held as truth and what should be discarded as fantastical fluff? What evidence is there for evolution?
We must make note of the difference between evolution that is witnessed in adaptations WITHIN a species and the evolution that asserts changes from one species to another.
The first is completely compatable with Christianity, the second is not.
There is scientific evidence for the first, and none for the second.
Adding the factor that the humans, who evolved from slime (not dust), evolved into the image of God, Himself, makes the chances of that randomly happening even more impossible.
I would agree that nothing in science contradicts Scripture but I would propose that everything in science, to date, contradicts Darwinian evolution.
So I side with Scripture and with Science.
Discussion about the questions raised would be great!
Thanks!
Nicholas
The exact date of creation began on October 23, 4004 B.C. making the universe 6004 years old. This fact is clearly stated throughout the Bibles Old and New Testaments. In spite of this evidence, scientist have claimed the universe is 13.7 billion years old. This absurd and blasphemous number is based on the so called science of modern physics using mathematically calculated radiometric dating methods. It is the process of estimating the age of rocks from the decay of their radioactive elements. The belief that the universe is 13.7 billion years seems to conveniently support the evolutional timeframe that all species are formed. Mans crude attempt to accurately date rocks and artifacts using science, logic and fact is simply unfounded.
On the other hand, the Bible was written by God. In the 14th century B.C., 2,604 years after God created the heavens and the earth, He spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai. Moses used the spoken word of God to write the first book of the Bible, Genesis this explained Gods universe for us. Subsequently, God authored the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges etc. completing the Old Testament of the Bible. Scholars have often mistaken the Bible to contain literary devices such as metaphor or the imaginative language of poetry to inspire thought. This was not the intended purpose, instead the Bible should be taken as a literal work. In recent times, it has been scrutinized for its integrity based on the ridiculous idea that its current message has been distorted from the many translations since its inception. It was originally written in Hebrew, then Greek, German and finally as you and I know it, English. Gods original message has been delicately preserved in spite of these interpretations. It is the de facto history of the universe.
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