Within the body of Christ, that what is required for salvation is placing faith in Christ, believing that He died on the cross for the sins of the world and rose again from the dead for the forgiveness of sins is without dispute amongst most professing Christians.
We all understand that when men first come to Christ that in most cases, their theological understanding is not going to be at the level of one who has walked with the Lord for a number of years.
It was that way with me when I first came to Christ. I understood enough to know that I was a sinner before God who fell short of His glory and in more ways than I could understand but that doesn't mean that all the lies that I had believed were immediately undone. That was a process that took place over time, but as I began to grow in my faith and in the knowledge of God's truth, the lies propagated by this present world system became undone.
I will admit, the first sixteen years of my life were spent under the deception of sin and the lies of this present world, but after receiving Christ, the rest of my life has been spent undoing those lies. One lie that was undone was that of Darwinism which is taught as being a scientific fact; it is an elaborate and cleverly devised falsehood that has deceived multitudes into denying the existence of a Creator before whom they must give an account someday and has caused the destruction of countless lives.
It was one day when I was, for the first time introduced to a scientific and reasoned defense for a young earth being created in six days as described in the book of Genesis that my belief in evolution ceased.
But even before then, the Holy Spirit had begun to open my eyes to the conflict between the truth of His Word through which I had received the Gospel of Christ and the theory of evolution. Before coming to Christ, I thought that evolution might have been a mechanism that God had used to create the world, but after coming to Christ, God showed me that what I had been taught as being science, even before being exposed to the young earth creation concept, was a lie.
I did not yet understand why evolution was a lie but yet somehow, I knew it to be a lie, but could not yet put my finger on why it was a lie. It was in the year of 1997 that it was revealed to me how the Darwinian doctrine to be an elaborate and sophisticated lie and how it could never be theologically compatible with scripture.
I thirsted for more knowledge of the young-earth creation position because I wanted to be strengthened in my ability to present a convincing case for the Gospel for I also knew that in order for the Gospel to be believed, scripture had to be believed as well.
My discovery of the young-earth creation movement instilled in me a passion for apologetics and my pursuit of the discipline also revealed to me other threats against the Gospel and posed by a number of heresies and false doctrines that had been brought into the Church leading people astray and overthrowing their faith in scriptural authority.
I had submitted myself to the truth of Christ and committed myself to abiding therein, but what I have found troubling are those professors of the faith who persist in clinging to doctrines contrary to the Bible and have been responsible for overthrowing the faith of many.
Mary Schweitzer, a paleontologist known for the discovery of a large Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil and then, the discovery of soft tissue within its leg bone is a professing Christian, [1] but persists in clinging to Darwinism. Her reasoning: According to Smithsonian Magazine, she sees science and religion as being two different ways of looking at the world:
For her, science and religion represent two different ways of looking at the world; invoking the hand of God to explain natural phenomena breaks the rules of science. After all, she says, what God asks is faith, not evidence. “If you have all this evidence and proof positive that God exists, you don’t need faith. I think he kind of designed it so that we’d never be able to prove his existence. And I think that’s really cool.” [2] But the Bible says that God has left evidence of His existence:
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard (Ps. 19:1-3)
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse (Rom. 1:20)
There was a time when men did not see science and religion as being necessarily in conflict with one another. Science was never used to disprove the existence of God as the secularists have claimed. It was simply the study of the current natural order of things and the workings of the natural laws and processes presently in motion. In fact there are thousands of scientists who testify of having been led to believe in a Creator just by an objective and unbiased examination of His creation.
So, what is Schweitzer's response to them?
Now the passion that she has for the discipline that she has pursued can be respected and admired, but if only her perception of science would be directed in the proper perspective: Not as being in conflict with God but rather a vindicator of Him as other scientists have been known to attest. And whose faith would not be strengthened and solidified by evidences of any sort supporting the testimony of scripture?
Has Schweitzer, and others like her, even taken the time to examine the Young Earth Creation perspective? To learn about the case they make for their position both from a scientific and theological perspective? If she did, perhaps she might understand why they interpret the data presented before them the way they do which also includes her discoveries. There is a common saying amongst creationists:
"We all have the same data and the same evidence, but the interpretation thereof based on one's presupposition."
In other words, those of the Darwinian and Uniformitarian persuasions will interpret their observations and discoveries from that perspective and a Christian who believes the Bible from beginning to end is going to interpret the same from that framework.
But how differently are things seen when one approaches the natural world without imposing a presupposition on what they observe be they a Darwinist or a young earth creationist but as to which view the observable evidence is most compatible is the where the debate about our history and origins is centered.
Mary Schweitzer admits that the discovery of organic tissue within dinosaur fossils that evolutionists claim to be millions of years old was a surprise to her as well as to others within the scientific community. After all, if fossils are slowly formed over millions of years, there should be no trace of any soft tissue within the bones right? How do those who insist that fossils can only be formed slowly over a long period of time explain that? Even their best explanations up to date fail to explain how something like red blood cells could be preserved for eons without being adequately preserved from all the factors and elements that cause decay after death apart from a rapid preservation process.
But for those that believe fossils can be formed quite rapidly via a catastrophic and swift burial process, the presence of organic tissue such as red blood cells is no surprise. A creature quickly buried is obviously not going decay at the same rate or in the same way that a creature that dies apart from a rapid burial process would. Therefore, in the case of death by a catastrophic event in which a swift burial process takes place, it should be expected that some traces of organic matter would be preserved within the remains of the creature that died by means of the catastrophe to which it fell victim and it is not beyond reason to expect to find such phenomena if the world had been subject to a global catastrophic event such as the worldwide flood as described in the book of Genesis.
Schweitzer is not the only one who ignorantly believes that religion and science cannot go hand in hand, but this has been the case with many professing Christians, even professing Christians within the scientific community. After all, science itself has become a religion of its own for some as though in their eyes it can be trusted and relied on to eventually provide answers for everything experienced and every phenomena, no matter how extraordinary or unusual.
For those who have made science into their religion, anything that cannot be scientifically explained or proven cannot be accepted as truth or fact, but instead must be disregarded as fable, myth, legend, superstition and even foolishness, being so blinded to the fact that science cannot explain everything.
It cannot adequately explain history, morality, virtues such as faith, hope, love, patience, courage, self-sacrifice, attributes such as creativity, the ability to innovate, emotions, conscience, why we dream when we sleep or if any of our dreams have any meaning behind them, or any phenomena regarded as being supernatural.
Science can only explain to us the present workings of nature. Nothing more, nothing less. There is a religion with which the scientific data and evidence observed and gathered are compatible but where around the debate centers is with which religion is the scientific evidence compatible? And every scientist of every religion has the tendency to interpret the scientific data he or she observes and gathers according to the beliefs to which they already hold.
Now there are things that have been observed, tested time after time, and accepted as fact that are without dispute by anyone regardless of their religious or philosophical adherence, but then there is that data that is not as clear cut as some would have us believe and is subject to interpretation and each one attempts to interpret that data according to their own presupposition.
But the problem, even with many professing Christians, is that they do not know the difference between the science that is without dispute and the science that is more subjective because of a blind trust in self-proclaimed credentialed carrying experts who advertise their interpretation of the subjective data as being undisputed fact and when any dare challenge their interpretation of the evidence and data in question, the established self-proclaimed experts in short, brand them heretical and crush within their ranks all dissent to their favored interpretation of the subjective data.
It is without a doubt that the favored interpretation of all the subjective scientific data is that which denies the existence of our Maker and teaches that the universe came about through unthinking random processes over a period of time. Anyone daring to challenge this interpretation is ridiculed at best and at worst, risks being expelled from the mainstream scientific and academic establishments.
And those scientists who are the most suppressed are those who would dare stand upon the authority of the scriptures and present a case for such even from a scientific perspective and what is worse, even those professing Christians who think they can follow both Darwin and Jesus join with the atheists and agnostics in ridiculing, castigating, and condemning those who accept the scriptures as being authoritative in all they speak of.
It is bad enough that they who place full faith in the Bible and in doing so, strengthen their faith in the Gospel are castigated and persecuted by the unbelievers but when those professing to be of the faith mock, criticize, and condemn those who place full faith in the authority of the Bible, I cannot help but wonder about how sincere their faith is.
It is one thing for Christians to adhere to a misleading doctrine out of ignorance, especially new believers, but as we mature in Christ, we are expected to abandon all things contrary to His truth, and yet people like Pat Robertson, Hugh Ross, Mary Schweitzer, William Lane Craig and others persist in holding on to the very lies that have caused many to turn away from the faith.
They have the audacity to claim young earth creationists are an embarrassment to Christianity and damage the credibility of the church when in reality it is the Darwin following/Old Earth doctrine adherents who are doing the damage and a disservice to the cause of Christ. It is they who are brining confusion to the body of Christ when it is the young earth creationists among us who seek to bring clarity and strengthen the faith of the believers.
To sum it up, the mission and purpose of the young earth creation movement is this: To restore confidence in the authority of the Bible for in doing so, faith in Christ is also strengthened for men are made to doubt any portion of scripture, they will eventually disbelieve the rest of it. Young earth creationists have at the very least been humble and honest enough to admit that not all things can be answered by science and eventually, events beyond the natural must be considered, but yet those professors of the faith who still follow Darwin and Uniformitarianism err in relying on science to verify all that God has spoken.
Most professing Christians will accept the recorded supernatural and miraculous acts of our God without question but when it comes to the week of creation as described in Genesis, many of them will deny that it means what it says and I cannot fathom such inconsistency and if they cannot be persuaded by any means to place as much trust in the account of creation as they do the rest of scripture, then what else is there that they doubt. What other heresies and false doctrines have they been adhering to and in turn misleading many with?
Our Lord says, "If I have told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?" (Jn. 3:12)
I do not wish to go so far as to say that those among us who may err in certain doctrinal matters will all be shut out of the Kingdom of Heaven, for as the scripture says, we only "know in part" (1 Cor. 13:9) and because we only know in part, it is possible for any of us to err in our understanding, but if they who hold to errant doctrines persist in such error when the truth is made known to them of the error they follow, even if they profess themselves to be followers of Christ, I fear that they will be among they who cry "Lord, Lord" and to whom He will say, "I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." (Mt. 7:23)
They who persist in doctrinal error are going to perpetuate the same to others and for which the scripture warns will be a harsh judgment. That is why those who are in a position of teaching and leadership need to be sure that what they are preaching is consistent with scripture, for as it is written, such will face a harsh judgment (Jas. 3:1).
Therefore I can only pray that the eyes of them within the body of Christ who follow errant doctrines may be opened that they may no longer perpetuate that which is in error but instead make sure that they are careful to speak only according to the Word that their rewards may be in abundance and that they not suffer loss. (1 Cor. 3:12-15)
I desire that all of us in Christ would strive for the highest honors that can be received of Heaven which is one reason why I write these things.
End notes:
1. Helen Fields, “Dinosaur Shocker,” Smithsonian.com, May, 2006
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/dinosaur-shocker-115306469/?c=y%Fno-ist
2. Ibid.
Scripture references:
1. Ps. 19:1-3
2. Rom. 1:20
3. Jn. 3:12
4. 1 Cor. 13:9
5. Mt. 7:23
6. Jas. 3:1
7. 1 Cor. 3:12-15
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