Most people know about Pixar's beloved film, WALL-E. Released in 2008 and directed by Andrew Stanton, this film has captured the hearts of many with its charming protagonist WALL-E or Waste Allocation Load-Lifter: Earth-Class. A few years ago I taught a Sunday school class on the topic of man's labor in the context of our... Continue Reading →
Many of my Facebook friends and those that follow my blog may not be aware that I am a PK (preacher’s kid). I know how difficult a pastor’s life can be. It’s a tough job with high expectations, where everything said from the pulpit to the Sunday afternoon put-luck (or more theologically accurate, pot-providence:-) lunch... Continue Reading →
The satire site, The Babylon Bee, published a fiction piece earlier this year in which Ken Ham claimed that Mike Trout's amazing baseball abilities are the best evidence we have of intelligent design. The Bee’s clever satire got me thinking about the nature of God’s contingent actions in the world which have traditionally been identified... Continue Reading →
What was the ecological state at the beginning of creation? Were perfectly suited plants and animals created for a perfect world, did these plants and animals adapt to a fallen world, or were they all created in a way that anticipated a fallen world? Put another way, did animals physically adapt to a postlapsarian (after... Continue Reading →
Answers and Genesis finds itself at the epicenter of an evangelical surge, but despite calls by Ken Ham for a modern reformation - including a return to taking the authority of the Bible seriously - it is possible that the calls for reformation are not to a serious exegesis of God’s Word but rather to a trite and superficial saccharine form of evangelicalism. It is a movement that claims to be true to God’s word while suffering the very problems that Luther and the other reformers were so worried about. Acknowledging biblical authority without understanding that authority will not result in true reformation. To make followers of Christ, the foundation must not be only a respect for Biblical authority but a right understanding of His Word.
Ken Ham would have us believe that the modern reincarnation of the young-earth creationist movement, which he claims began only 55 years ago, is the real deal this time. Unlike previous attempts over the past 300 years to create a history of the Earth with a recent global flood as a centerpiece, this time his para-church apologetics... Continue Reading →
Evangelical Christianity, broadly defined, has seen a number of science and faith battles over the past 50 years. For most of those years the debate has focused on the age of the earth and the closely – though not universally - associated debate about the extent of Noah’s Flood. Today, the age of the Earth... Continue Reading →
I've been reading the book God and the Cosmos: Divine Activity in Space, Time and History by Harry Lee Poe and Jimmy H. Davis and in their introduction they used the following quote from John Calvin: If we reflect that the Spirit of God is the only fountain of truth, we will be careful, as... Continue Reading →
The PCA (Presbyterian Church of America) General Assembly includes a number of seminars on a wide variety of topics each year. This year one talk received considerable attention prior to the meeting because of the subject matter and the presenter. I made the 6 hour drive to Louisville, KY to hear the talk as... Continue Reading →
What is the relationship of Genesis 1 and 2? Where was the Garden of Eden and what does Genesis 1 tell us about Eden? Continuing our series on the Historical Creation view of John Sailhamer proposed in Genesis Unbound (1997 and 2011) we ask about the nature of the Garden of Eden. The relationship of... Continue Reading →
PART 5: GENESIS 1 WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF THE PENTATEUCH AND COVENANTS Summary: Genesis 1 is all about the covenant with God's people and the land he promised them. In the future I will be presenting the views of a number of natural historians/theologians and pastors from the late 17th and early 18th century... Continue Reading →
I can't go into all the issues that Sailhamer interacts with but I will try to hit some of the ones that are most important in distinguishing his ideas from some others. Most of these will be explored in separate posts over the next few weeks. 1) What is the meaning of the phrase "tohu... Continue Reading →
Perspicuity, Exegetical Populism, and Tolerance: A Reply to G. I. Williamson - Reformation21 Blog. by William B. Evans Double posting today only because I thought this short article was worth receiving more press. Below is a small portion from this article linked above that discusses Christian liberty and the tolerance of different eschatological views withing... Continue Reading →
John Sailhamer calls his interpretation of Genesis 1 and 2 Historical Creationism. He distinguishes it from the Scientific Creationism which he sees as starting with the assumption that "modern science holds the answer to the meaning of the biblical text." A: Overview A brief summary of the Historical Creationism thesis of John Sailhmer is... Continue Reading →
The questions we are faced when we seek to interpret Genesis 1 and 2. Before diving into Sailhamer’s book, Genesis Unbound we need to lay out a list of some questions concerning the meaning of Genesis 1 and 2 that any consistent interpretation of this text must be address. This is far from a comprehensive... Continue Reading →
Naturalis Historia 