Darwin Hegemony

David Brooks wrote an amazing article called the Age of Darwin; Brooks wrote "it’s clear we’re not a postmodern society anymore" and described how truth is now defined by Darwinism; Philip Johnson agreed that we've returned to a Hyper-Modernism. A poignant expression is Theodosius Dobzhansky maxim, "Nothing in [biology] makes sense except in the light of evolution."

Brooks is right because Darwinism is everywhere; this week, Time Magazine had an article describing how Fatherhood was an evolutionary relic. This is so wrong because the father is symbolic of God who is our Father we would not exist if He did not sustain us. Show me a family without a good father-figure, and you'll show me a family who is suffering and horribly dysfunctional. Darwinists seem to prefer a father figure who is an alpha-male animal that has sex with as many women as possible to spread his seed without obligation and only weak men would stay with one women. Darwinism praises our carnal, animalistic life styles and denies the idea that we ravaged by the Fall.

Brooks article has a poignant example of museums exhibiting a philosophy of history rather than true history. This was interesting because of all the protests against the newly opened Creation Museum and this came to full fruition in yesterday's Chicago Tribune cover-story titled: New Field exhibit takes on Darwin detractors. The article's uses all the idioms associated with Jesus Christ to give Charles Darwin's biography in the atypical evolution-religion fashion. It retells Darwin's altruistic journey away from theology into enlightenment in evolutionary theory, and how he overcame the murderous Christian haters and was even willing to give up his wife and his own life for science, and then the article lauds the Field exhibit's video confessions of Christians who abandoned their faith for a syncretism between Christianity and Darwinism, and reminds us that Darwin was "very human" implying that not everyone can become like the rest of the "intellectuals" who abandoned their faith like Darwin.

There are many "grand theory of everything" books that reinterpret the world in Darwinism style, and everyday I see someone on the CTA reading titles like "Guns, Germs, and Steel" by Jared Diamond or "Freakonomics" by Stephen Dubner. Instead of realizing the world was designed that the Gospel would easily spread throughout the world after Jesus Christ's epiphany, Diamond's book thinks that Eurasians were destined to rule the world because of the same arrangement of resources, diseases and geography. Instead of seeing the intrinsic value of life in unborn babies and how God loves the helpless, Dubner thinks that aborted children inevitably would have become criminals and that abortion prevents criminals from being born because insignificant people should be eliminated, not saved, for the sake of the humanity. I feel like Dubner ignored Machiavelli epilogues on how no strategy will prevail against God's favor and how God purposely uses the weak to show He is strong. Ravi Zacharias often reads Steve Turner's poem called the Creed as a satire of the worldly wise man.

It is very unpopular to disagree with the Scientific Community because they say "only the ignorant or unintelligent" don't see it their way. True science supports the fact of Jesus Christ and only the worldly philosophy of science denies God. I write these blogs because people are mocked for following their convictions to follow God and the real reason is that the world wants to follow its passions and does not want to conform to God's will. So think about all the Darwinian explanations for life and see how they are sweet in our mouth but sour in our stomach and then follow God and feel the fruition of the Holy Spirit.

Deuteronomy 10
12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good? 14 Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. 15 Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day.

Originally posted at Wyatt's Haven of Bliss: http://www.havenofbliss.com/cgi-bin/columns.cgi?writer=0&entry=20070614184328

The Noachin Flood

I want to visit the Creation Museum that opened on Memorial Day near Cincinnati. I've had a renewed confidence in Young Earth Creationism after reading "The Genesis Flood" by Morris and Whitcomb. The book's purpose is to discredit Uniformitarism Geology and Darwinian Evolution by showing that the world was formed by Catastrophism, and uses North America geology as evidence of a universal flood.

The book analyses the story of Noah in Genesis, and then uses several theological arguments to explain why the Deluge must have been world wide and not local. The most convincing for me was in 2 Peter 3:3-7 that describes how people ignore the Deluge so they can continue living in sin and then reminds us that the world will be destroyed by fire in the same way that it was once destroyed by water. The author reminds us that Jesus regarded the scriptures as inerrant and factual, and as I study the bible, I've seen how even the smallest words of Adam and Noah and Abraham were perfectly formed and that it is illogical to dismiss the events of Noah's Ark. The book then reviews the ancient Sumerian and Babylonian flood epics like Gilgamesh that support the Noachin Flood, and even discusses flood legends among the Native Americans! After a hundred pages of background, the book moves into very thick geological discussions of North American geography.

The author makes a keen observation that any evidence contrary to Uniformitarism Geology and Evolution is largely ignored, rather than disproved, only because it is disagreeable. There were some interesting quotes from Naturalists who have finally "freed themselves from the burden of Noah and Moses." It seems that Naturalists have been so indoctrinated by secular theories from youth that anyone who disagrees is ridiculed. I have read half way through the large book, and the author has undeniable examples of how the world has been dramatically affected by a global flood.

Most people seem to struggle with the same basic questions about the Deluge. The first is "there isn't enough water to cover the earth," and the second is "how did anyone breath at such a high altitude", and then the third is "how did all the animals fit on the ark," and the last one is "how did all the animals get to the ark and then return to their environments." I was going to answer them, but these questions have very easy answers if you take a moment to think about it. I then remembered that this is the same reason people don't believe in the Deluge because they don't consider if the evidence supports the theories.

It's a fact that North America was once underwater, and that the climates of the worlds were much different in the past. There is an interesting anecdote about a fossilized palm tree found in Wyoming. The Great Plains were formed by flood deposits too. The book talks about how Radiometric Dating is dependent on assuming that the earth is billions of years old, and that many things that are only a hundred years old give Radiometric dates of millions of years. Its more circular reasoning for support. I think most everyone knows that there are no transition fossils between species too. Evolution itself is not supported by paleontology, and many species found today are almost identical to ones found 250 million years ago. Almost all of the index fossils of long extinct animals from millions of years ago have turned up living in remote areas.

The book has excellent observations of what happens to landscapes when they are flooded and undeniably shows how the land is permanently changed. I think people believe that the Deluge was tranquil and that the earth looked the same after the waters went away, but the book showed examples of how small and short floods had demolished cities. After the Tsunamis, the before-and-after satellite pictures circulated the Internet showing how one wave completely washed away everything in their path.

I think I was initially inspired to read this book because of the submerged city discovered five years ago off the coast of India near Gulf of Cambay; It is the oldest discovered civilization dating to 9,500 BC, and since no other cities this size have been found so long ago, it is evidence that there was once a mass population on the earth that was destroyed by a flood. It has caused a big stir because it is evidence supporting Noah's flood.

Originally posted at Wyatt's Haven of Bliss: http://www.havenofbliss.com/cgi-bin/columns.cgi?writer=0&entry=20070602112602

Heilsgeschichte (Salvation History)

I'm fascinated by Heilsgeschichte, which is German for the "Salvation History" and refers to the redeeming acts that God has progressively done to give salvation to Man (or the elect.) I always flip between Dispensationalism and Covenant Theology but it is clear that God has revealed himself in portions whether it was with covenants or with dispensations (government, law, grace, etc.) or gradually like in John 5:17: Jesus said “My Father is working until now, and I am working,” and reminds me that God is conforming everything for the Heilsgeschichte.

Despite the overwhelming evidence of "Salvation History," people still struggle to believe God exists. Someone said to me, "you can't prove that God exists," which I replied, "and you can't prove that you exist either." Most people who've had Philosophy 101 will prove their existence by quoting Descartes' statement "Cogito, ergo sum (I think, therefore I am,)" or the reduction "I am." The irony is that Descartes was a Christian, and this prove for self-existence was modeled after the most holy word for God in Hebrew: "I AM." It was so holy, that it was only written and not spoken, and is known today as the Tetragrammaton or YHWH (Yahweh.)

Christ Jesus created the world in the beginning and pointed to nature as evidence of God's existence and said that even flowers and birds are a valuable part of Heilsgeschichte, therefore Man is much more valuable in contrast. This idea is throughout scriptures and even the first verse I memorized agrees: Psalms 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

I work in the city and everything I see is Man made, and its easy to be blinded by philosophy of Materialism that ignores how everything initially came to be and only concerns itself with what is immediately around us. I still struggle to understand how I didn't exist at all 30yrs ago, and looking at the rat race downtown Chicago I see that most everyone ignores that they will no longer be living in 100yrs from now. G.E. Ladd's book has been an excellent reminder of all the intermediary steps between Jesus' birth and the Material world around me, and how everything has been effected by it.

"Show me evidence of God's existence," is another common question by those ignorant of Heilsgeschichte. I have to be patient because this same person cannot prove their own existence without an ontological argument (that also proves God's existence) - so I have patience and point to the myriad churches. I say, "there's a church on every church corner for a reason, how did it get there?" Studying the Heilsgeschichte reminds us why there are churches, why we have a bible, and why Christianity is everywhere. According to Materialism, we only look at the here-and-now and ignore why we are here and now.

Before I give up, I also enjoy explaining St. Thomas Aquinas's Five Proofs for the Existence of God: 1. The argument of the unmoved mover (ex motu). 2 The argument of the first cause (ex causa). 3. The argument of contingency (ex contingentia). 4. The argument of degree (ex gradu). 5. The argument of design (ex fine).

Lately, I've been most fascinated by the idea of kerygma, which is a Greek word that refers to the different teachings about Jesus Christ. Since Jesus didn't write anything himself (like Socrates), we must look at him through the witnesses who wrote about him. It's amazing that so many witnesses wrote such detailed histories and first-hand accounts that are harmonious and accurate! If it weren't for the implications for Jesus' teachings, no one would doubt anything he said. G.E. Ladd compared the two witness of Socrates (Plato and Xenophan) and commented how superior the kerygma compare to them.

I would love to talk more about Heilsgeschichte and the events leading up to Christ, but I'll leave this work unfinished...

Original posted at Wyatt's Haven of Bliss: http://www.havenofbliss.com/cgi-bin/columns.cgi?writer=0&entry=20070518165637

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