Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

creation

Young-Earth and Old-Earth Creationism vs. Naturalism

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In my view young-earth creationism is exegetically superior and scientifically viable and coherent. It’s possible, however, to err by overemphasizing the issue in a way that demonizes old-earth proponents and lumps them together with theistic evolutionists. The relative importance of something is extraordinarily important, and understatement can be much more convincing than overstatement. Some well-intentioned people use inflammatory rhetoric that overstates the importance of holding to young-earth creationism, and it needlessly pushes people away from the position.

Contrast how Paul Nelson and John Mark Reynolds, who write the essay for young-earth creationism in Three Views on Creation and Evolution (ed. J. P. Moreland and John Mark Reynolds; Counterpoints; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1999), conclude their rejoinder (pp. 100–102, emphasis in original):

It is obvious that a person who is generally committed to a traditional understanding of Christianity can be “old earth.” . . . Our disagreements on these points should not distract from the main topic. Philosophical naturalism is retarding science, philosophy, and theology. It seems to both of us that our reviewers agree in finding such a situation intolerable. To fail to unify with such people of goodwill in the assault on naturalism would not just be foolish; it would be intellectual treason. . . . [Read more…] about Young-Earth and Old-Earth Creationism vs. Naturalism

Gone Rafting

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I plan to leave today for an eight-day rafting trip through the Grand Canyon, so this blog will be quiet until July 18.

I’ve had several friends go on this same trip with Canyon Ministries in previous summers, and they all loved it. Some people who go on this trip are young-earth creationists, some aren’t, and some are undecided.

Here are some previous reflections on this rafting trip:

Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be

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From a funeral homily by Jack Collins:

On Saturday, I heard Jackie say, “No parent should ever have to outlive their own child.” I heard the same words from my father’s mother when my father died; and my wife and I said the same thing when we lost our first child. The pain is horrible; the loss is beyond our ability to describe.

When we feel this grief, we are feeling that it’s just not right for this to happen. We don’t want our loved ones to suffer; we don’t want to be separated from them by death. We want to be sure that they are happy, and we want to be able to enjoy their company always.

The Bible tells us that these feelings we have are right. Death and suffering are intruders in God’s good world; they don’t belong here. And the story of Adam and Eve, the first human beings, tells us how these evil things came in: When these, the parents of us all, disobeyed God, they opened the door to all manner of sin and evil, not only for themselves, but also for us.

You don’t need me to prove it; it’s all around us. It’s why we are here today.

But the Bible story doesn’t end there: instead it tells us about how God wants to help us, to heal us of what is wrong with us.

—C. John Collins, Did Adam and Eve Really Exist? Who They Were and Why You Should Care (Wheaton: Crossway, 2011), 136. [Read more…] about Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be

Theistic Evolution Is Incompatible with the Bible

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Wayne Grudem, “Foreword,” in Should Christians Embrace Evolution? Biblical and Scientific Responses (ed. Norman C. Nevin; Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian & Reformed, 2011), 9–10:

This is a highly significant book because it persuasively argues that Christians cannot accept modern evolutionary theory without also compromising essential teachings of the Bible.

It may at first seem easy to say ‘God simply used evolution to bring about the results he desired’, as some are proposing today. That view is called ‘theistic evolution’. However, the contributors to this volume, both scientists and biblical scholars, show that adopting theistic evolution leads to many positions contrary to the teaching of the Bible, such as these: [Read more…] about Theistic Evolution Is Incompatible with the Bible

Do the TGC Council Members Agree on the Creation-Evolution Issue?

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Andrew M. Davis, Creation (The Gospel Coalition Booklets; Wheaton: Crossway, 2011), p. 12 (numbering added):

The stakeholders of The Gospel Coalition are not on the same page with respect to all the details, but all of us insist

  1. that God alone is self-existing,
  2. that he is the creator of all,
  3. that he made everything good,
  4. that Adam and Eve were historical figures from whom the rest of the human race has sprung, and
  5. that the fundamental problem we face was introduced by human idolatry and rebellion and the curse they attracted.

The reasons for holding such matters to be nonnegotiable are bound up with many passages of Scripture, not just the opening chapters of Genesis. For example, Paul tells us that God “made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth” (Acts 17:26).

You can hear Andy Davis preach on Genesis 1–3 in his series on Genesis.