Hi Chuck,
Herewith a somewhat belated response to your posting of Tue, 23 Jan.
which, you may remember, ran as follows:
> Vernon,
> You wrote, "I believe the whole terrestial scenario was changed at the
> time of the Flood and, to a lesser extent thereafter. You have to
> remember that God was in control of the operation. I therefore suggest
> that it should not beggar the belief of the Christian that such events
> might well proceed at supernatural rates. (Ater all, who can assess
> the magnitude of the forces that were unleashed when He 'created the
> stars also'!). In other words, as I have previously intimated, when
> God is directly involved in a process, it would be foolish to rule
> miracle 'out of court'."
> This was in response to my question to you about the "gigantic forces"
> that were required to move continents over thousands of kilometres in
> the space of a few years. I had expected an answer that would be
> scientifically satisfying but you now shift the ground from under our
> feet by pointing to miracles. That gets us right back to a deceiving
> God who would not only suspend the natural laws by allowing continents
> to move at breakneck speed but who would also, very cleverly, disguise
> what he did by laying down strips of basalt on the ocean floor with
> alternating magnetic signatures.
> You've raised the spectre of miracles. Now, pray tell, what is God
> trying to show us by disguising his handiwork? Would it not have been
> much more convincing if he had not tried to disguise things by not
> laying down those strips of basalt and by not placing radiogenic lead
> in uranium deposits and Ar-40 in K-feldspar?
> Please enlighten me.
My response:
Let me first say that whilst my acceptance of the Scriptures as the
Inspired, Inerrant and Infallible Word of God has never been based upon
the remarkable numerical phenomena found associated with Gen.1:1, with
the Creator's name, and with the riddle of Rev.13:18 (for my awareness
of these truths came much later), they nevertheless encourage me to
reach out to others with tangible evidence of the truth of what I
believe. Any Christian in my position cannot but be a YEC - as I shall
now endeavour to explain from 'first principles'.
(1) In a NT reading list recently suggested by George Murphy (Fri.02
Feb) we find, in the J.B.Phillips translation, "As the Lord's prisoner,
then, I beg you to live lives worthy of your high calling...We are not
meant to remain as children at the mercy of every chance wind of
teaching, and of the jockeying of men who are expert in the crafty
presentation of lies. But we are meant to speak the truth in love, and
to grow up in every way into Christ, the head." (Eph.4:1, 14 and 15)
The Apostle Paul is here touching on a highly significant matter - one
which the Christian must ever keep in mind, viz the essential nature of
post-Edenic man, forcibly expressed elsewhere in the words, "The heart
is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"
(Jer.17:9). The Lord Jesus was, of course, well aware of this mortal
defect for we read "(He) needed not that any should testify of man: for
he knew what was in man." (Jn.2:25) The Scriptures further make clear
the fact (if it were not already apparent from our experience of the
world - and ourselves) that man is, by nature, an enemy of God (eg
Ps.2). Here, in these clear statements, we find the raison d'etre of
Incarnation and Cross.
It may be readily inferred from the foregoing indictment of man, (a)
that the Bible will ever be a primary object of attack from many
quarters - its opening chapters, in particular; clearly, if these can be
rubbished or suitably 'interpreted', then the whole will have been dealt
a significant blow, and (b) that with respect to origins, the
extrabiblical observations, interpretations and opinions of such
obviously fallible creatures as ourselves can never be fully guaranteed
to be truthful or unbiased.
Chuck, I suggest this is the reality that we have to live with.
(2) GM further draws our attention to Romans 4 where we read "Abraham
believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness." (v.3)
Clearly, this principle is central to the Gospel of Christ! It is
important, therefore, that, as Christians, we make ourselves aware of
what it was that Abraham believed concerning God. I find no evidence to
suggest that it was anything less than a wholehearted acceptance of His
Being and Sovereignty, accompanied by a ready obedience to do His will.
Is it really conceivable that such a God would have the Apostle Paul
instruct Timothy thus, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God,
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect,
thoroughly furnished unto all good works." (2Tim.3:16,17), if this were
untrue? For me, this one verse ratifies the whole of the Bible and
vindicates the YEC position. Those who wilfully ignore such a clear
message - or seek to 'interpret' it to their own advantage - are merely
providing further confirmation (as if any more were needed) of man's
sorry condition. On the other hand, if we believe it to be true, we are
on a collision course with modern ideas concerning origins.
Those Christians whose principal concern appears to be that of appeasing
the high priests of science are open to the sober warning "...they could
not enter in because of unbelief." (Heb.3:19) - the writer drawing a
parallel between those who, having left Egypt, were unable to enter the
promised land, and those Christians who, through lack of faith, fall
short of the mark. Further, the Lord himself comments, "He that
overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall
be my son. But the...unbelieving,...shall have their part in the lake
which burneth with fire and brimstone..." (Rev.21:7,8).
Chuck, where do you stand in respect of these observations? You appear
to be numbered among those who are selective in what they believe. Can
you please outline the principles underlying the operation of your
'biblical filter'?
(3) Following the pattern established by our Lord, we pray "...lead us
not into temptation..." (Mt.6:13) What is surely implied is that God
might well lead us into temptation! Our prayer is that He will not do
so. To reinforce our understanding of this truth, we read in Gen.22:1
that God tempted Abraham (to protest and question the seemingly
illogical demand that he sacrifice his son Isaac - sole heir to the
promises). As we know, Abraham meekly obeyed (Heb.11:17-19); he was
prepared to do just that! Again, concerning Job: here was a man -
described as leading a devout and blameless life - as righteous a life
as any man could lead, yet, suddenly, his comfortable world
disintegrates. Understanding God to be Sovereign, he knew that his
misery was directly attributable to Him. Thus, we can well understand
that he must have been tempted to think and say "How unjust He is! I
have lived a good life - better than most! Why should such things happen
to me, of all people!?" Job instead - realising that all things work
together for good to them that love God - accepts his reduced
circumstances as being somehow necessary for his eternal well-being.
Many Christian believers today are tempted to believe what others claim
to be watertight truths - 'truths' that compromise the Word of God. As
lovers of truth, by definition (Jn.18:37), we are each committed to
carefully examine and weigh all such claims. Inevitably, they will
involve assumptions. For example, man pretends that his knowledge of the
inner workings of the atom is so complete that he is justified in
believing radioactive decay rates to remain constant over deep time.
Surely, such an article of faith - for it is scarcely anything less -
cannot be allowed to dictate the manner by which we read and understand
the Word of God!
(4) Rather than God 'deceiving us' with 'appearance of age' constructs,
it is we who deceive ourselves. In a biblical 'ex nihilo' creation it is
surely logical that we accept the principle of 'apparent age'. To accuse
God of being somehow underhand in the matter is to deny all reason.
Thus, concerning those layers of the earth's crust which are accessible
to man, and which provide evidence of earlier forms of life, we may well
(and do) interpret them in a manner which suggests that it is wrong to
read the early chapters of Genesis literally. We are thus 'tempted' to
disbelieve Paul who says 'All scripture' is inspired by God. Is God
really incapable of providing every generation with the truth regarding
this matter? After all, he has provided us with an account of origins;
the fact that we decide to ignore this, and look elsewhere for an
explanation, is surely no fault of his!
Chuck, you have drawn particular attention to 'strips of
basalt,...radiogenic lead in uranium deposits and Ar-40 in K-feldspar',
implying that God has behaved deceitfully - putting these in place to
lead us to believe the earth is older than it really is. Has it not
occurred to you, (a) that such structures might well fulfil some other,
necessary, function in the divine scheme of things and, (b) that any
deceit there may be lies with us in that the platform of assumptions
from which we interpret such data is built on sand?
(5) To conclude this defence of my YEC stance, I here reproduce 'Echoes
of Eden: a word of caution for Christians' - prepared some years ago for
adult Bible study:
"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden
thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof
thou shalt surely die." (Gen.2:16,17)
"...and he (the serpent) said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye
shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the
serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden: but of the
fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye
shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the
serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:..." (Gen.3:1-4)
"And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast
done?" (Gen.3:13)
Every age has raised its own echoes of the serpent's lie, but none more
so than our own. It is clear that for many Christians nowadays
interpretation of Holy Scripture has taken the place of the simple
literal acceptance of what God has to tell us. Man's 'Eden' experience
is wilfully ignored, as too are the stern warnings of 2Tim.3:15,16 and
2Pet.3:16. It is therefore pertinent to ask why so many are persuaded
that, poetry and parables excepted, the Bible is not to be understood
literally? Indeed, the onus is surely upon them to explain to us why
they behave so.
Is it perhaps the voice of the 'old man' from within that overrides
God's word? The Lord has provided us with the unpalatable information
that "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked -
- - ." (Jer.17:9). Are we able to bear this? Is it not so obviously
true, now that we are the Lord's? Will we then trust our heart to rule
on matters of eternal truth and falsehood? Heaven forbid!
Or maybe it is a voice from without. The voice of a David Attenborough,
or of a Charles Darwin, or some scientist whose theories change from one
year to the next. But these too are mere mortals, and subject to the
same divine stricture. Will we trust these (many declared atheists) to
tell us what is or is not true? Heaven forbid!
My dear brother, can you not see that we follow in the tradition of Eve
when we give our attention to the voice that says "Yea, hath God said -
- - ?"? Will we really indulge in a recapitulation of the error that
provoked God's intense wrath upon man and severed his relationship with
Him? Dare we doubt the word of God? In view of the debacle of Eden,
dare we believe that He will not, one day, put the same question to us:
'What is this that thou hast done?'?
Chuck, you've accused me of raising the 'spectre of miracles'. I have,
in fact, done more! I've demonstrated a miracle! However, few seem
willing to acknowledge the fact or, indeed, have the 'bottle' to attempt
a rebuttal of my claim. Should I be surprised? Hardly!
Sincerely,
Vernon
Vernon Jenkins MSc
[musician, mining engineer, and formerly Senior Lecturer in Maths and
Computing, the Polytechnic of Wales (now the University of Glamorgan)]
www.otherbiblecode.com
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