Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Role of Faith (Todd's Blog ... Again)

Todd C. Wood, in one of his blog entries ( http://toddcwood.blogspot.com/2009/10/nature-of-faith.html ), brings in an important aspect to keep in mind when considering creation vs. evolution -- that is the role of faith (trust/confidence in God's promises).

To quote from Todd's blog, "... I think modern creationists would be much better served if we stopped coddling their every doubt and fear with new "evidence for creation" and instead helped to wean them off evidence altogether. A truly close Christian walk with Jesus should render evidence irrelevant."

Exactly.

I have seen many individuals place their reliance in evidences for Creation(ism) at a higher level than what God says through His Word.

In fact, you can make a rough estimate on how much reliance you are putting in evidences for Creation (as opposed to God's promises/Word) by asking yourself the following: What happens when one of the scientific evidences that I have used as support for Creation(ism) is suddenly shown to be in error by recent scientific findings? Do I sense a sinking feeling in my stomach? Do I question the gift of faith that God gave me? Do I question the sufficiency of the Scriptures? Do I try an justify the priority that I have placed on evidences for creation because such evidences are a (supposedly) necessary part of Christian apologetics? (I'll cover my opinion of the proper role of apologetics in another blog post)

If you have answered "yes," to any one of these questions, then you are putting too much reliance on evidences for Creation and not enough reliance on your Creator's promises to you through His Word (e.g., that His Word is Truth; that His promises are certain).

Like Todd C. Wood, I find far too often in Christian creationist literature that scientific evidences are prioritized to a level higher than God's Word. I cringe when I hear (listening to Ken Ham's presentation at ICC 2008), "if the physical things are not true, then how can we believe the spiritual and moral things." This type of approach leads Christians down a dangerous road that turns faith on its head. To make it clear to the reader of this blog, we (Lutheran Christians) believe the spiritual things (from the Bible) not because we find physical evidences for them but only because God says it they are true.

Personally, I find it very enjoyable to look at God's creation from scientific perspectives to see what He has done and to see how it can be described, scientifically. But that does not mean that the faith which God has given to me finds its basis in such scientific perspectives. This is so is because of 1) the nature of faith (i.e., it lays hold of God's promises to me rather than physical evidence that I apprehend; Hebrews 11:1ff) as well as 2) the nature of science (i.e., its truths and facts are always considered incomplete and therefore tentative).

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Todd's Blog

I need to finish up a number of articles which are still incomplete. In the mean time, I want to mention that I've been following another blog for a few weeks now ( http://toddcwood.blogspot.com ). What sparked my interest in Todd's viewpoint is his blog entry from Wednesday, September 30, 2009 ("The Truth about Evolution" found here: http://toddcwood.blogspot.com/2009_09_01_archive.html ). I find it interesting that he shares some of the same thoughts that I have in characterizing the evolutionary viewpoint.

Two points to summarize:

Even though the Scriptures leave no room for the possibility of universal common descent, it is still possible that some (many?) of the things that we see and observe might be interpreted as evidence for evolution.

In addition, even if there were no evidence for creation, I would still believe it for no other reason than God said it.