There has been some controversy regarding this post. I'll do my best to clear up any misunderstandings here at the beginning: The author of the blog (DefendingGenesis) I reference accused me of "enabling apostasy" by teaching an old Earth. He did not accuse me of apostasy. It was one of the commenters on that blog …
Category: Old-Earth creationism
Six bad arguments from Answers in Genesis (Part 5)
This is part five of a six-part series examining supposed evidences for a global flood that have recently appeared on the Answers in Genesis web site. The people at AiG are my brothers and sisters in Christ, and I share their love for the Lord Jesus Christ, their respect for the Bible as the Word …
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Reading — July 2009
I didn't get as much reading done in July as I would have liked, but here's the one book I did finish: The Reason for God, by Timothy Keller. The chapters address: The idea that there cannot be only one true religion The problem of evil -- how can a good God allow suffering? The …
J. Gresham Machen on the age of the Earth
John Gresham Machen was a professor at Princeton Seminary in the early 1900s, and was founder of Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. He is best known as a defender of Christian orthodoxy in the face of rising theological liberalism in the churches of his day. Perhaps his most famous book was Christianity and Liberalism, in …
Another fundamentalist for an old Earth
A commenter on this blog recently implied that I am just a "so called Christian" because I accept an old Earth and evolution. On a young-Earth blog that I have been commenting on, those who accept an old age for the Earth (including myself) have been accused of "listening to the serpent." I try to …
John Piper and the age of the Earth
To repeat a common theme of The GeoChristian blog: One can be a committed Christian with a very high view of the Bible, and yet hold to a 4.5 billion year-old Earth and evolution. John Piper is pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, and is a leading author and speaker within the Evangelical and …
The Reason for God — interview excerpt
One of the best new books on apologetics (the defense of the Christian faith) is The Reason for God by Timothy Keller. I haven't read it yet, but it has received good reviews from theologically conservative reviewers. Here's an excerpt from an interview of Timothy Keller from First Things which touches on evolution and the …
Death before the fall — an old-Earth Biblical perspective
The topic of death before Adam's fall into sin is a common area of debate between Christians who accept an old Earth and those who insist that the Bible requires a young Earth. Old-Earth creationists (whether or not they are theistic evolutionists) have to accept animal death before the fall. After all, the fossil record …
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Resolving the tension
A week or two there was a post on InternetMonk.com asking for comments from Christian scientists and science-educated Christians about how they had resolved the tension between science and faith. Here's my comment from that post, with a little editing: I am “The GeoChristian” that someone else referred to earlier. I have an M.S. and …
Internet Monk: Stories of science/faith resolution
Michael Spencer (a.k.a. The Internet Monk) has a post asking for comments from Christians who are scientists or trained in science. They are to answer the following question: How have you resolved the tensions in your own life and thinking between science and your faith? What has been your journey? What was particularly significant in …
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Conversations in progress
I've had a number of good comments in the past month on the following posts. Feel free to join in. Dr. Dino still in prison -- I consider the teachings of Kent Hovind ("Dr. Dino") to be anti-apologetics that has no place in our churches and Christian schools. Not everyone agrees. Augustine and Darwin -- …
Augustine and Darwin
Alister McGrath (DPhil in molecular biophysics, Doctor of Divinity) has an article at the Christianity Today website: Augustine's Origin of Species: How the great theologian might weigh in on the Darwin debate. St. Augustine (AD 354-430) was the bishop of Hippo, in what is now Algeria, but was then part of the Roman Empire. I …
Marcus Ross review of The Bible, Rocks and Time
Christianity Today has a review The Bible, Rocks and Time, the recent book written by Christian geologists Davis Young and Ralph Stearley. I've written about this excellent book here and here. The review is by young-Earth creationist Marcus Ross, who earned his PhD in geology from the University of Rhode Island a few years ago, …
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What is a day?
The blog Tough Questions Answered has a good five-part series addressing the question "What is the meaning of the word 'day' in Genesis?" The posts take a look at reasons why the six days of Genesis 1 are not necessarily six literal consecutive 24-hours days. Young-Earth creationists have much of the Evangelical world convinced that …
Fundamentalism and creationism
Young-Earth creationism isn't a necessary part of Christianity, even to those of us who have a very high view of the truthfulness and authority of the Bible. Here's another quote from The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, by Mark Noll: Despite widespread impressions to the contrary, [young-Earth] creationism was not a traditional belief of nineteenth-century …
Augustine: The Literal Meaning of Genesis
I recently finished The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind by Mark Noll, and will be sharing a few insights and quotes from this important book. The first quote is a long one from St. Augustine of Hippo, from his work The Literal Meaning of Genesis, written in about AD 415. Usually, even a non-Christian knows …
Vatican to sort of include discussion of ID in evolution conference
From AP/FoxNews: Vatican to Discuss, but Not Endorse, Intelligent Design VATICAN CITY — The Vatican will include discussion of intelligent design in a conference marking the 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species," officials said Tuesday. "The committee agreed to consider ID as a phenomenon of an ideological and cultural nature, thus …
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Darwin’s birthday #2
What drives more scientists away from Christianity, evolution, or young-Earth creationism? I don't know the answer, but I suspect that both have significant roles. Some forms of evolutionary philosophy drive scientists (and others) away from Christianity. The New Atheists, such as Richard Dawkins, claim that evolution makes it intellectually feasible to be an atheist. To …
Day-age time chart
One of the most prominent old-Earth creation organizations is Reasons to Believe, headed by astronomer Hugh Ross. Ross is an advocate of what is known as the day-age interpretation of Genesis 1-2. In the day-age theory, the days of Genesis 1 are not literal 24-hour days, but represent vastly longer periods of time. Ross advocates …
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