Christianity Today has a brief interview with philosopher Alvin Plantinga regarding his recent book entitled Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism. The main points of the interview are: The alleged conflict between theistic religion and science is superficial. There is a deep harmony between theistic religion and science. Part of the reason …
Continue reading Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism
Karl Giberson: Creationists Drive Young People Out of the Church Here is a quote: In a recent piece titled "Nine Year Old Challenges Nasa," [Answers in Genesis president Ken] Ham blogged proudly about "Emma B" who, when told that a NASA moon rock was 3.75 billion years old, asked "Were you there?" The suggestion that …
Continue reading Creationists drive young people out of the church — Karl Giberson
I have been involved in an online discussion regarding whether or not the geologic column (Cambrian-Ordovician-Silurian-Devonian...) is real, or some sort of figment of geologists' imaginations. Dr. Jay Wile, on his Proslogion blog, has written a post entitled Yet Another Failure of "Geological Column" Reasoning. Please note that I consider Dr. Wile (author of the …
Continue reading The stratigraphic column — not a figment of geologists’ imaginations
From Christianity Today -- Survey of Evangelical pastors convictions regarding the age of the Earth and human evolution: Self-identified evangelical pastors on whether the earth is 6,000 years old: No answer: 13% Strongly agree : 29% Somewhat agree: 19% Somewhat disagree: 12% Strongly disagree: 27% Self-identified evangelical pastors on whether God used evolution to …
Continue reading Evangelical pastors, the age of the Earth, and human evolution
"There is nothing that has been created without some reason, even if human nature is incapable of knowing precisely the reason for them all." -- John Chrysostom (c. 347-407, Archbishop of Constantinople), Homilies on Genesis 7.14
This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of The Genesis Flood, by Henry Morris and John Whitcomb. This was, perhaps, the most influential young-Earth creationist book of the twentieth century, and was listed at #22 on Christianity Today's Top 50 Books That Have Shaped Evangelicals. Morris (a hydraulic engineering professor at the time) …
"So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." -- Romans 10:17 ESV I became a Christian through the proclamation of God's word. The Law was proclaimed and I was convicted of my sin and need for a savior. The Gospel was proclaimed and I was drawn to the Lord Jesus Christ, …
Sometime back in May or June, The GeoChristian had its 500,000th page view. I don't completely understand what WordPress counts as a "hit," and I know that many of these hits are from people who spend about three seconds on the site and decide it isn't what they were looking for. But still, I am …
Ken Ham is an Evangelical Christian and is perhaps the world's most prominent anti-evolutionist and advocate of young-Earth creationism. Richard Dawkins, author of the best-selling book The God Delusion, is perhaps the world's most prominent proselytizer for atheism. The two men are worlds apart on a number of important issues, but they seem to be …
Continue reading Ken Ham and Richard Dawkins agree with each other, but they are both wrong
From Christianity Today: Creation Museum Founder Disinvited from Homeschooling Conferences Ken Ham, founder and president of Answers in Genesis, was disinvited from several homeschooling conferences after he criticized a fellow speaker at two Great Homeschool Conventions conferences and on his blog. "The Board believes that Ken's public criticism of the convention itself and other speakers …
Continue reading Ken Ham, home schooling, and theological orthodoxy
A week ago I blogged about the possible link between creationism, home-schooling, and apostasy. I am the first to admit that my hypothesis that there is a link between creationism and apostasy (falling away from the faith) was anecdotal, and I am pleased that there are many home-schooled kids raised on young-Earth materials come out …
Influential Reformed blogger Tim Challies recently interviewed the popular pastor and radio Bible teacher John MacArthur (5 More Questions with John MacArthur). One of the questions had to do with creation, evolution, and the age of the Earth: One pressing issue in the church today is that of creation and evolution. Do you believe that …
Continue reading John MacArthur on the age of the Earth and theistic evolution
Young-Earth creationists commonly assert that until the 1700s, the almost universal interpretation of Genesis 1 was six consecutive literal 24-hour days about 6000 years ago. They say that the only reason that Christian scholars since then have suggested alternative interpretations was because they have sought to impose science on Scripture. Justin Taylor, on his Between …
Continue reading The doctrine of creation before Westminster and before Darwin
The ESV Study Bible is a theologically conservative Evangelical work, and is certainly one of the most comprehensive study Bibles ever produced. It has been out for only three years, but it looks like it will be a highly influential reference work for decades to come.One potential positive impact of the ESVSB relates to its …
Continue reading The ESV Study Bible on creation — Dinosaurs in Job?
Warning: the following statement is anecdotal and not the result of any sort of formal research: Christian kids who are home schooled all the way from pre-school through high school are only about fifty percent likely to retain their Christian faith once they finish high school. As I said, this "statistic" is not the result …
Continue reading Creationism, home schooling, and falling away from the Christian faith
Romans 14 is primarily about how Christians should handle differences over "disputable matters" (v. 1, NIV 1984). In this chapter, the apostle Paul writes about issues that were important to the church of the first century A.D., such as dietary questions and observance of special days, such as the Sabbath. Paul urged the believers to …
Welcome readers from Skepchick. I invite you to look around; a good place to start would be my Best of The GeoChristian page, which is only partially complete.There are newer posts beneath this one. Ever since eighteenth century geologists suggested that the Earth might be older than 6000 years, Biblical scholars have attempted to reconcile …
The ESV Study Bible is a theologically conservative Evangelical work, and is certainly one of the most comprehensive study Bibles ever produced. It has been out for only three years, but it looks like it will be a highly influential reference work for decades to come. One potential positive impact of the ESVSB relates to …
Continue reading The ESV Study Bible on creation — Noah’s flood
The following item was originally posted on The GeoChristian in November 2009, and I have added it to my blog recycling program. Because I have new readers of The GeoChristian, I will occasionally go back and re-use some of my favorite blog entries, with some editing. I am re-using this post about the ESV Study …
Continue reading The ESV Study Bible on creation — Genesis 1
In the beginning... -- Blogger Joe Carter (at FirstThings.com) finds Stephen Hawking's cosmology as expressed in The Grand Design to be a bit "drab and nonspecific." Carter rewrites Hawkings to make it a little more of a "creation story for young atheistic materialists." In the beginning was Nothing, and Nothing created Everything. When Nothing decided …
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