Posted by
ValiantForTruth on Tuesday, November 03, 2009 7:29:08 PM
As one who holds to the apostle’s view of the preeminence of Jesus Christ, I am concerned that the church today is giving “modern science” preeminence in defining its view of Genesis.
Why does “modern science” demand long ages?
Are long ages not required to support the view that the fossil record is the evidence of the macro-evolution of life from common descent? But Genesis 1 stands as clear testimony against the doctrine of common descent. The phase ‘after its kind’ is used 10 times in that chapter to describe the reproduction of plant and animal life. The discovery of the RNA/DNA genetic system reveals the genius behind the creation of self-replicating life forms. And again, Genesis 6 stands as clear testimony of the catastrophic event that produced the fossil record and confirmed by apostolic testimony...
‘by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water’ [2 Peter 3:5-6]
So why again should the church accommodate the long ages demanded by “modern science”? Rather, in this case, it is the church that should be instructing a science community that has lost its way.
The Copernican heliocentric model of the solar system is an example of why the church should listen to the scientist. But there is another way to view this incident in church history that may be more appropriate for our time.
The geocentric view was adopted by the church based on the word of pagan philosophers. Good science made a correction to the unbiblical influences on the church. Today the church is again listening to vain philosophy, but this time disguised as “modern science”. If the church is not careful, she will fall into the same error, only this time the truths at risk are at the heart of the gospel.
What is Christ’s view of Genesis?
‘From the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female’ [Mark 10; Matthew 19]. ‘And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also at the coming of the Son of Man [Luke 17; Matthew 24]. Christ quotes from Genesis and holds to the establishment of the marriage covenant from the ‘beginning of creation’. And He holds to the account of the Genesis Flood, relating His own coming again to Noah’s day.
The church must guard the foundational truth that death is the result of Adam’s sin. For just as Adam represented all men as their head when he fell into sin, so also is Christ, as the second Adam, the head of all men that are in Him. The implications from Biblical Theology are clear. There can be no long ages of death and suffering before Adam, because these things are the result of the fall of man into sin.