Review – The Fool and the Heretic

The Fool and the Heretic by Todd Charles Wood & Darrel R. Falk, Zondervan, 2019. Are young-Earth creationists intellectual fools? Are theistic evolutionists heretics? More fundamentally, can two Christians, one who is an ardent young-Earth creationist, and the other a committed theistic evolutionist, learn to respectfully dialogue and even love one another deeply as brothers …

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Review — The Genealogical Adam and Eve

Swamidass, S. Joshua, 2019, The Genealogical Adam and Eve: The Surprising Science of Universal Ancestry, IVP Academic, 246 p. There have been many books written on origins, most of which don’t have anything new to say. The Genealogical Adam and Eve by S. Joshua Swamidass is a book that has some new things to say …

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Book review — Friend of Science, Friend of Faith

Davidson, Gregg, 2019, Friend of Science, Friend of Faith: Listening to God in His Works and Word, Kregel Academic, 297 p. Gregg Davidson, a Christian, is Chair of Geology and Geological Engineering at the University of Mississippi. Friend of Science, Friend of Faith opens with the story of Riley, a Christian college student working toward …

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Review – Understanding Scientific Theories of Origins

Bishop, R.C., Funck, L.L., Lewis, R.J., Moshier, S.O., and Walton, J.H, 2018, Understanding Scientific Theories of Origins: Cosmology, Geology, and Biology in Christian Perspective, Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 659 p. https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Scientific-Theories-Origins-Christianity/dp/0830852913/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1547601156&sr=8-1&keywords=understanding+scientific+theories+of+origins Understanding Scientific Theories of Origins is authored by five professors from Wheaton College. Wheaton is an Evangelical institution with rigorous admissions standards, and therefore …

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Norm Geisler: “The Young Earth view is not one of the Fundamentals of the Faith. It is not a test for orthodoxy.”

Norm Geisler has been a prominent defender of the Christian faith for a number of years. He is the author or coauthor of several important books on apologetics (the defense of the faith), including I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, and Christian Apologetics. Dr. Geisler recently contributed an article to …

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A more detailed survey indicates that most Christians are somewhere in the middle on the topic of origins, and that most don’t hold to their position all that strongly

Simplistic surveys can be very frustrating. For instance:Of all the colors of the rainbow, which is your favorite, Blue or Yellow?If your favorite color is green, and that is not an option in the survey, then there is no way for the survey to accurately assess your opinion. Nor does this simple survey assess how …

Continue reading A more detailed survey indicates that most Christians are somewhere in the middle on the topic of origins, and that most don’t hold to their position all that strongly

John Walton, Evangelical Old Testament scholar: Neither Ham nor Nye got the Bible right

Of the numerous analyses of the Ken Ham vs. Bill Nye debate earlier this week, one of the best is that of Old Testament scholar John Walton that was published as part of a larger review on the Biologos website (Ham on Nye: Our Take). Walton, author of The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology …

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A few additional thoughts on Ham vs. Nye

I've had another 24 hours to think about the Ham vs. Nye debate, and I have a few additional thoughts: I'm struck by how little evidence Ken Ham presented in his main presentation or in his rebuttals. He briefly mentioned a few standard YEC arguments for a young Earth, such as woody material dated at …

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Ken Ham vs. Bill Nye post-debate analysis

On February 4, 2014, Answers in Genesis President Ken Ham debated Bill Nye (“the Science Guy”) on the topic of “Is creation a viable model of origins?” I cannot say that I was disappointed with the debate, because I had very low expectations for it in the first place, and it was about what I …

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Debate pre-game prognosis: What Ken Ham could learn from Duane Gish in order to “win” his debate against Bill Nye

In March of 1987, young-Earth creationist Dr. Duane Gish came to Washington State University to have a creation-evolution debate with Dr. Grover Krantz, an anthropology professor at WSU. Gish's style in his frequent debates was a rapid-fire overload of facts from a wide variety of fields, most of which were outside of his opponent's area …

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Around the web 10/16/2013 — the latest Jesus conspiracy theory and YEC attacks on old-Earth Christians

AN INVENTED JESUS? -- The media has started giving publicity to the latest Jesus conspiracy theory: Story of Jesus Christ was 'fabricated to pacify the poor', claims controversial Biblical scholar: Christianity was a sophisticated government propaganda exercise used to pacify the subjects of a the Roman Empire, claims scholar. So, the Romans invented a story in …

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More on the Answers in Genesis 4th grade dinosaur quiz

Last week I wrote about A 4th grade quiz on dinosaurs that the teacher would have given me an “F” on. A Christian school in South Carolina had used an Answers in Genesis quiz entitled "Dinosaurs, Genesis and the Gospel," and the atheist and skeptic blogs were abuzz about how goofy this quiz was in their …

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A 4th grade quiz on dinosaurs that the teacher would have given me an “F” on

Here is a quiz on "Dinosaurs: Genesis and the Gospel" given to fourth graders at a South Carolina Christian school: The quiz was based on material from Answers in Genesis. Atheists and skeptics, of course, have made much of this quiz since it was first posted on the internet a few weeks ago. Christians are …

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A Christian geologist tells his story

Many Christian geologists I know began their undergraduate geological training as young-Earth creationists (YECs). They entered their studies having been equipped by reading YEC classics such as The Genesis Flood and Scientific Creationism, had a whole stack of Institute for Creation Research Acts & Facts "Impact" articles, and were certain that they would set the …

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The Old-Earth Christian homeschooling vacuum

At times it seems like the young-Earth creationists have a virtual monopoly on science curriculum materials for the Christian homeschool market. There are popular homeschool magazines that ban advertisements from curricula---secular or Christian---that teach an old Earth or biological evolution. The same goes for homeschool conventions and curriculum fairs. At the extreme in the homeschool …

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Six bad answers from Answers in Genesis are still six bad answers

Back in 2009, I posted a six-part review of a series of young-Earth creationist (YEC) articles on "Six main geologic evidences for the Genesis Flood." The YEC articles appeared in "Answers" magazine, which is published by Answers in Genesis. As part of my "blog recycling program," I am providing links to my posts: Six bad …

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Best of the GeoChristian — updated

I have updated the "Best of the GeoChristian" link up at the top of the page. There is a good variety: posts on Christianity, geology, creationism, the environment, atheism, apologetics, and more. I would be interested to hear if there is a post that has been especially meaningful or helpful to you, or one that …

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Nathaniel Jeanson of the Institute for Creation Research in Montana, part 5

This is the fifth post in a multi-part review of a young-Earth creationist (YEC) presentation given by Dr. Nathaniel Jeanson of the Institute for Creation Research in Billings, Montana in November 2012. Part 1-- The Relevance of Genesis (I was in complete agreement with Dr. Jeanson). The YEC version of the scientific method. Part 2 …

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Nathaniel Jeanson of the Institute for Creation Research in Montana, part 4

This is the fourth post in a multi-part review of a young-Earth creationist (YEC) presentation given by Dr. Nathaniel Jeanson of the Institute for Creation Research in Billings, Montana in November 2012. Part 1-- The Relevance of Genesis (I was in complete agreement with Dr. Jeanson). The YEC version of the scientific method. Part 2-- …

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