The church distressingly finds itself losing influence on the youth of today, even children who have grown up under it’s seemingly protective roof. The church points it’s fingers at pornography, premarital sex, homosexuality, cheating, and other more commonly expressed sins of our day and says “Stop that!” They shake their heads and comment on how bad the world has become and act as if there remains no salvation for the young people of America. I want to suggest that these sins are not the foundational problem; rather, we let the problem in ourselves and are continuing to urge it on with our passive view of how this universe came to be.
My initial reaction to this topic years ago was one of little importance. I did not see how not having a clear foundation about origins would affect my life or those around me. I still believed that the Bible was true and even if we did not all agree about how the Earth was actually created that everybody still needed to accept Jesus as their Savior. As I read through Archaeology and the Old Testament by Alfred J. Hoerth, I realized that many others feel the same way. He states, “…theologically, it makes no difference whether the world is of recent or ancient creation or whether the process took seven days or billions of years. It is unfortunate that some view one’s position in this matter as a test of orthodoxy.” However, as I studied the topic last semester, I realized that it is vitally important to discuss and that if affects everyone.
The church, since the proposal of evolution in the 1700’s, takes various stands regarding the issue. Some accept evolution as valid and then attempt to make it fit with the creation story in Genesis chapter one. One of these efforts is called the gap theory; this idea claims that between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2, millions or billions of years took place. Another attempt, called day-age or progressive creation, accepts the big bang origin as evolution teaches and explains that the days of creation in Genesis were actually long periods of time. Others in the church regard all of the creation account in Genesis as simply a myth. Many other cultures have their own myths about how the universe came to be; the Bible just uses Genesis as its story. Lastly, Young-Earthers interpret Genesis literally and conclude that the Earth is six to ten thousand years old. They concur that the universe was formed in six twenty-four hour days, that Noah’s Flood provides the basis for geological formations we see around the world and that all death entered the universe as a result of Adam and Eve’s first sin in the Garden of Eden.
The outcomes of all the different church standings are various. The gap and day-age theories come to the conclusion that man must know more accurate information now and all the details are not properly given in the Bible. Science proves itself reliable and must be taken as fact while the Bible must be constantly twisted and distorted until it aligns with what the majority of science sees in the geological record. This analysis, along with the view that the creation story is simply a myth, creates distrust in the Bible. Because the Bible proves itself to be unreliable historically, can we really believe anything else it has to say?
On the other hand, the opposite reaction comes about from taking the Biblical Young-Earth view of creationism. Taking the Genesis account as literal without trying to impose any of man’s interpretations onto the text establishes trust in God’s account and builds a firm foundation in His Word. This foundation gives humanity not only a specific purpose, but also a moral standard. God created man for a relationship with Him and we live to glorify Him in all that we do. Decisions to determine right and wrong come from the moral law found in the Bible. Because humans are not a product of random chance, they rely on their God given conscience to help them make decisions not specified as black and white in His law.
Many Christians fail to see the importance of addressing such an issue and we are seeing the consequences of the compromise. Abortion, family breakups, racism, sexual immorality are all symptoms, but not the problem. Because the basis for absolute authority has been discredited, people are free to justify anything. Therefore, taking a stand on what God’s Word says about Creation becomes vitally important. If we teach that you cannot trust the first chapter of the Bible, then why in the world would we expect our young people to believe the Bible about its moral implications and even the redemptive work of Christ?
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