I recently posted on Facebook a short article I wrote titled "
An Uncertain Sound" because
I'm concerned about the uncertain sound coming (
1 Corinthians 14:8) from the church in regard to
God's Word beginning in Genesis. That's because there is so much compromise with
evolution and millions of years from Christian academics and Christian leaders.
I want to bring to your attention another example of this uncertain sound, this
one coming from a recent article series.
"At what point in the evolutionary process did humans attain the 'Image of
God'?" That question was recently addressed in the Southern Baptist Voices essay
series put out by none other than … BioLogos. This organization claims it wants
to have dialogue about Genesis and the issues of evolution and millions of
years, but in fact, they really tolerate all views except those who are adamant
(as we are) about six literal days, young earth, no death and disease of man or
animals before sin, etc.
In an attempt to have what they say is "dialogue [that] will bring greater
clarity to the issues at hand," BioLogos has invited
Southern
Baptist professors to write essays on various aspects of theistic evolution, to
which BioLogos then writes response essays.
Dr. John Hammett is the author of the most recent essay in the series, titled
"
Evolutionary Creationism and the Imago
Dei." Dr. Hammett is the professor of Systematic Theology and
associate dean of Theological Studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological
Seminary (Wake Forest, North Carolina).
The question Dr. Hammett attempts to answer in his essay is actually at the
heart of the issue of adding evolutionary ideas and millions of years to
Scripture.
Genesis 1:26 says, "Then God said, 'Let Us make
man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the
fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the
earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.'" Genesis
establishes clearly that we are made in God's image-He
created us in
His image. We did not evolve into beings in His image.
But Dr. Hammett, unfortunately, does not stand on the authority of Scripture
in Genesis and does not speak authoritatively about the importance of making
God's Word our starting point.
Instead, he writes, "In the area of science, to call me a novice would be a
kindness, so to question their [BioLogos's] evaluation of the scientific
evidence for the evolutionary process would be inappropriate for me."
What are the problems with Dr. Hammett's statement? First, he implies that
only a scientist can make judgments about evolution, which is a belief
concerning the past. However, God's Word in Genesis is a true record of origins,
and any Christian can use what it clearly teaches to judge man's evolutionary
beliefs.
Second, he gives up the authority of Scripture and tries to argue using man's
ideas as his basis. Finally, Dr. Hammett, I believe, implies in the article that
Christians cannot even understand or trust Genesis as an accurate record of
historical science.
As Dr. Hammett continues his short essay, he writes, "It is at this point I
wish to question whether or not it is possible for the image of God to be
produced through the evolutionary process apart from the special intervention of
God." Dr. Hammett doesn't state his position on Genesis. He may claim as a
scholar he is just answering a "what if" question. But the very fact he would
agree to argue this way, in my opinion, could be interpreted as allowing for the
idea of evolution and millions of years. Regardless of his actual position, this
is an "uncertain sound" indeed.
I have become increasingly concerned about the church (and our seminaries and
Bible colleges) as I've read more about professors and church leaders. These are
the people who are training our current and future generation of leaders and
pastors-who are willing to compromise on Genesis and not take an authoritative
stand on the clear words God has given to us in His Word. Such dialogue for the
sake of unity, as BioLogos's article series would seem to be encouraging
believers to do, is not acceptable from a biblical standpoint.
Really, BioLogos
wants unity in regard to man's fallible ideas about origins. But what we should
be doing is ensuring we have unity on God's Word and what it clearly teaches,
and then judging man's beliefs accordingly-not dialoguing about how the human
soul could come about if evolution were true!
I want to challenge you to read my article, "
An Uncertain Sound." In
light of the compromise that is happening among Bible scholars and the church,
we need more people speaking out boldly about the truth of
Scripture-authoritatively, unashamedly, and without compromise.
We need to
engage those who compromise God's Word and challenge them concerning the truth
of Scripture-not dialogue for the sake of supposedly tolerating various views
but dialogue for the sake of correcting wrong beliefs!
Thanks for stopping by and thanks for
praying,
Ken Ham
Steve Golden assisted in research for this blog.
ROYAL HEIR
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