The culture war and the sovereignty of God...

…when looking at the culture war today, we run smack into the face of the sovereignty of God. Let us look at what John Morris has to say about it.

Doxology to the King
by John D. Morris, Ph.D.
"Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen" (I Timothy 1:17).

In this stirring doxology to the One who allowed him into the ministry (vv.12,13), whose grace "was exceeding abundant" (v.14), who "came into the world to save sinners" (v.15), who showed mercy and longsuffering, and who grants "life everlasting" (v.16), Paul uses several majestic descriptive terms. Each deserves our attention.
The King eternal. God's sovereign kingship is in view here. The phrase literally translates, the "King of the ages." "But the LORD is the true God, He is the living God, and an everlasting King" (Jeremiah 10:10). He is the King, and we must stand in submission to Him.
Immortal. The Greek word used here implies more than mere exemption from death. A fuller meaning would include total incorruptibility; i.e., the inability to be stained by either decay or death. What a comfort to realize that the believer's crown in glory will be likewise incorruptible (I Corinthians 9:25) as will his resurrection body (I Corinthians 15:52).
Invisible. God is a Spirit, and as such cannot be seen. He has chosen to appear on numerous occasions, most notably as Christ, but is usually unseen, the primary meaning of the word. Christ "is the image of the invisible same word God, the firstborn of every creature" (Colossians 1:15). Seen or unseen, He merits our praise.
The only wise God. God is unique in His existence and wisdom, "God only wise" (Romans 16:27). He stands alone, solitary, apart from all others.
Surely to this eternal, incorruptible, unseen, unique, wise, sovereign King belongs "honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen." JDM

Clearly, God is in control. He is sovereign. He is Lord of all. All our wills bow down to the will of God! Check out this quote:

“[Evolution] is a general postulate to which all theories, all hypotheses, all systems must henceforth bow and which they must satisfy in order to be thinkable and true. Evolution is a light which illuminates all facts, a trajectory which all lines of thought must follow – this is what evolution is.” –Teilhard de Chardin

Wow! What a statement! Let us dissect this for a second. First, de Chardin claims that “all theories, all hypotheses, all systems must henceforth bow” to evolution “in order to be thinkable and true.” And we wonder why there is a culture war? This man just made the bold statement that evolution was, in fact, God!

Actually, he said even more than that. He basically stated that God must bow down to evolution! Talk about some “in your face” stuff. There it is. Out there on the table for all of us to see…God must be subservient to evolution. What an atheist! What a heretic! What kind of man could claim that even God, being only a hypothesis, must bow to evolution?! Read on…

Is this much different than Theistic Evolution? Is this much different than the Day/Age theory? Is this much different to the Gap Theory? Is this much different than Progressive Creation? I don’t think it is. Let me explain each briefly…

Theistic Evolution is basically a thought experiment to try to fit what secular scientists say about science into what the Bible says about Creation. Basically it goes as follows: The Earth is really, really old and God used evolution as the means by which he created everything. Ok, there you go! Biblically, this is easily debunked because God rested (ceased) from creating on day 7. Clearly, those that subscribe to this view have subverted God’s infallible Word (The Bible) for the apparently infallible word of secular scientists. It is a sovereignty issue! Who do these people view as sovereign? God? Or secular science? I think the choice is clear to whom these people bow…

The Day/Age Theory states that the days of creation were actually huge long eras of time. They claim that the word “day” in Genesis 1 doesn’t really refer to a roughly 24 hour period of time, but could possibly refer to thousands or millions of years. Obviously then it would be possible to cram the millions/billions of years of evolution into the first chapter of Genesis that way, right? The Hebrew word for day is “yom.” Yes, it can mean some length of time other than a typical (roughly) 24 hour period of time…except when it’s used in association with a number. Each and every time the Old Testament uses the word “yom” associated with a number, the context is quite clear that the author is referring to a roughly 24 hour period of time. Each time the word “yom” is used in Genesis 1 it is associated with a number and therefore means roughly a 24 hour period of time. Again, those that subscribe to this theory are subverting the sovereignty of God for the god of secular science… “Secular scientists say this so it must be true…how can I change the Bible to fit science…?” Wrong question!

The Gap Theory claims that there is Genesis 1:1, and then there are millions/billions of years of evolution passing, and then there is Genesis 1:2. Using hermeneutics one can infer that the context of the text does not imply a huge passage of time between these two verses. Again, subscribers to this theory are subverting God’s sovereignty and infallibility and setting up a different infallibility…one of secular science.

Progressive Creationists lay claim to the theory that God created new living things gradually over the course of millions/billions of years. Again, there is a blind acceptance (dare I say faith) in the millions/billions of years of age to the Earth. There is no such acceptance to the Word of God in His first book…the one that talks about the origins of living things.

All of these could not happen when looked at Scripturally. All of these involve death and dying for millions of years before the first sin. Scripture is quite clear that sin is the cause of death, and that the first sin was credited to Adam eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Therefore, all this millions/billions of years of death could not have occurred…that is if you accept that God is sovereign and in control and that His Word is truth.

But this is coming from churches, Christian churches, all over the world. Instead of standing up tall and proud for God’s Word and both Biblically and scientifically defending that stance with sound theology and science, many have decided to accept that millions/billions of years is acceptable to the Biblical account…it is not.

Can one be a Christian and still believe in evolution and an old Earth? Sure. I did! I have no doubts about my salvation. I have not doubts that my regeneration occurred whilst I was still an old Earth evolutionist. But eventually sound theology started me guessing as to whether or not my acceptance of the science was sound or not. And as I delved into the science of old earth evolution more and more over the years, I have discovered that there is so much evidence for a young earth and for creation that I can’t believe I ever didn’t believe it!!! But isn’t that how the story always goes?!

Our culture has been infiltrated and usurped by a minority of people that want to indoctrinate us with the belief that God’s Word is not sovereign and infallible. It takes hard work, every day, to be able to spot the cultural aspects of our commercials, our sitcoms, our movies, our news, our politics, our lives in general. And it takes harder work to read the Bible without bringing in millions/billions of years, naturalism, and uniformitarianism to God’s Word. Start noticing how the culture is twisting truth. Start noticing how truth is being eliminated bit by bit. “Shades of gray,” or “this is true for me but may not be true for you,” or notice the inordinate amount of interesting Jesus documentaries that only portray the human aspect of Him (and badly I might add) or some other common figure of speech. These sayings are barometers to the culture around you.

On an up note, I have noticed a huge percentage increase of people working in businesses that have said, “Merry Christmas” after our business was transacted. I personally think that’s awesome! People are starting to notice that the culture is eliminating God from every aspect of reality. Science is making discoveries that daily provide veracity to the Biblical account of Creation. The information age we live in has gotten the secular humanist/evolutionist/post-modernist in a twit. We are making a turn toward God in this day, and we need to keep turning toward Him!

The Biblical account of race verified by the most ironic of means…

…So do you remember Biology class? If you are, as I unfortunately am, a Gen X-er, then invariable you were taught about Gregor Mendel’s peas and those lovely Punnett squares, and words like homozygous dominant, homozygous recessive and heterozygous. You were also taught about a single page document written by two guys names Watson and Crick. And just to be fair to the fairer sex, these two guys stood on the shoulders of one Rosalind Franklin who used a technology called x-ray crystallography. All sounding familiar? No? You might not fit the Gen X age range then! Ha ha ha!

Anyway, James Watson and Francis Crick wrote a lovely little paper describing the structure of the DNA molecule (deoxyribonucleic acid), and thereby also postulating a mechanism for its being copied and passed on to future generations. This was a huge breakthrough!

One of those icons of modern genetics, James Watson, has been in some trouble as of late. The 79 year old scientist was dismissed from Cold Harbor Laboratory in New York recently after saying the following concerning his pessimism about African progress,

“all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours—whereas all the testing says not really.”

He then said the following about intelligence being evenly distributed amongst racial groups,

“people who have to deal with black employees find this not true.”

Interesting, but racist to the core. So where is the irony you ask? Keep reading.

See the following link, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article3022190.ece
to the article.

The bottom line is that James Watson’s genome is supposedly 16% of black, African decent. This would be an amount expected from “someone who had a great-grandparent who was African,” said Keri Stefansson of deCODE Genetics (the company that did the genetic analysis).

None of that really matters anyway…if you believe in a straightforward reading of the Bible. All of this stuff about “races” this and “races” that are nonsensical anyway. There is only one race of humans. Though there be differences in skin, hair, and eyes, we are all one blood. Check this out—the apostle Paul is speaking about God in the book of Acts chapter 17 and verse 26,

“From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.”

The modern notion of races is abhorrent, and quite unbiblical. From a Creation point of view, we (humans) are all descended from the first man, Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45), who was made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26). Therefore we, humans, are all in the image of God. We also, unfortunately, inherit the sin nature from Adam as well. All humans sin and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), and of course the wages (consequences) of sin are death (Romans 6:23)! Therefore, since we are all of one blood, we are all from Adam, all sinful, and all deserve death. Racism is quite unbiblical because there is no one that is good (Romans 3:10), and therefore no one human is higher than another. At least until Jesus.

Jesus became a descendant of Adam by being born of a woman. He was born of the tribe of Judah and was perfect because he was conceived by God’s will and not man’s will. He was sinless throughout life. Jesus died as payment for human sins. He was the perfect payment as only one of the same blood could properly atone for humans. The blood of goats and bulls was never sufficient to completely atone for our sins. Since we share a bloodline, in a since, with Jesus, his spilled blood was sufficient to atone for our sins.

Therefore, since Adam was created by God and directly had life breathed into his nostrils by God, and was the father of all humans, then all humans are, in fact, of the same blood. There are no races. Since there are no races, then racism is a pastime of ignorance. There cannot be multiple races, Biblically, for if there were, Christ would have had to die multiple times to atone for the different races since they would have been of different blood. This is not the case in Scripture. Jesus died once for all. We are all one race! And I thank God almighty and His son for that fact! For if we were not all one race, I would not have assurance of my salvation and place in Heaven.

So I guess it may be sort of ironic that the same guy that was denigrating blacks has 16% “black” DNA. However, that really isn’t the point at all. The point is that Biblically no human is better than any other human because we are all of one blood and all deserve death because of our sins, but because of God’s grace, we have a hope. This hope is Jesus Christ in whom we have faith. No racism, no “favored races” as Darwin’s book title stated, and no races...just us humans, created in God's image and saved by grace through faith-and that not of ourselves it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Ugh! The realization of just which generation I belong to has got me crazy...

…so like many things in my life, I have recently realized something that has been obvious to the multitudes for years: I’m a Gen X-er!!! How depressing!

My lovely wife and I were watching the top 100 songs of the 1990s when I found myself waxing nostalgic to “Creep” and “Black Hole Sun.” The kicker came when I found myself saying these words, “Time is like a piece of wax, falling on a termite, that’s choking on the splinters.” Iconic for that time period. And I knew it then as I know it now! One of the quintessential pieces of Gen X culture is the whole “grunge, I can do whatever I want whenever I want attitudes, and by the way life bites bigtime so maybe I should just die or do something to tick somebody off!” Yea, that! You know, “I’m a loser, baby, so why don’t you kill me?” I actually had to Google “Gen X” to see when it was…that was when I found out that I AM ONE!!

The nightly news comes on. We find out about a broken leg that gets Fred Taylor into the Pro Bowl for the 1st time in his career which spans 10 years and over 10,000 yards. And what do I find myself saying? “If I were Fred, I would turn down that Pro Bowl invite just tick someone off!” Did I actually say that…immediately after figuring out that I was a Gen X-er!? I was aghast! Of course my wife already knew it. My parents had big time first hand knowledge of it. I was the only one I knew that couldn’t see the forest because all those blasted trees were in the way! Man, how depressing…Yikes! Another symptom of Gen X! Not only did I show angst, but now depression!

I am proud to say that I basically married out of my generation fairly quickly (I married "up" by the way). I graduated from high school in 1991, and in 1994 I got married to my beautiful bride! God presented me with someone that I couldn’t be away from…that’s what happens when God does it. We got married and I still went to college full-time while playing baseball for 2 more years. “We” (notice the quotes) got pregnant in 1996, and in March of 1997 our firstborn came into the world! I matured out of my generation extremely quickly and found myself sliding backward into my father’s generation! In fact, I’m pretty sure I was born in 1945…

I thank God for my wife. I thank God for my sons (we had a 2nd son in 2001). The three of them combine to keep me mature as well as young! I can honestly say that I’m really not a Gen X-er…I just don’t fit the stereotype. I don’t have THAT kind of angst! And I definitely don’t smell like teen spirit (whatever that means!).

So what does a Biblical literalist/traditionalist who happens to be a Gen X-er do whilst in the midst of the post-modern era? Fight, that’s what I do! I preach Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Solus Christus, and Soli Deo Gloria, that’s what I do! I become counter-culture! I become a rebel to my generation!

No longer full of angst and begging for the black hole sun to come, or waiting for the Sandman to enter…I am not willing to embrace the eternal dirt nap as Boortz would call it. No, I’m a rebel with a message of hope now. And I don’t mean this mamby-pamby notion of hope that the English language bestows…I’m talking about the Greek term! I’m talking about elpis or elpo…a positive expectation, usually one of pleasure, of which you know is going to happen! Awesome! Jesus Christ is our hope…he is what we positively expect to see in the future…that’s Greek hope! But it only occurs in the body of believers. One must accept on faith that Jesus is who he said he is, and the he did what he said he did. Then, and only then, can one have that positive expectation called hope.

I am a science teacher. And as such, there are certain expectations placed upon me by the worldly system. I must embrace naturalism, materialism, uniformitarianism…if not, how am I to have faith in the nearly 20 billion year evolution of the universe, the galaxies, the solar systems, the Earth, living things, and humans? I embrace the Bible. I consume God’s Word. And because of that I’m a science teacher rebel…I’m a Gen X rebel for the same reasons. Think about it. Why the angst? Why the depression? Is it not because of their worldview that humans are nothing more than animals that can speak? And since that is the case, then there is no purpose? And if there is no purpose, then why continue to live? Self loathing is one of the hallmarks of a good Gen X-er. But to loathe the self is to loathe the image of the one after which you were created.

You see it takes a proper perspective of who God is, and who we are. God is the highest, the almighty, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And humans are not animals. Humans are made in the image of God. We are special. And with being special comes responsibility. Let us embrace our Lord God and obey his commands as Ecclesiastes 12:13 says,

"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man."

And what about that fear of God? It is reverence, it is awe, it is respect. See Proverbs 1:7

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline."

And again in Proverbs 9:10

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."

We are to fear the Lord because only with a proper fear of the Lord (respect, reverence, awe) can we gain wisdom and knowledge and understanding. This will guide our ethics in our science as we gain the ability to do things that maybe we shouldn't.

Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader...

...I have an elementary aged son. He loves science! If he is a "chip off the old block", then I guess I'm "the old block!" He asks wonderful science related questions, he comes up with interesting ways to solve problems, he loves watching The Science Channel, The Learning Channel, The Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel, Discovery Times, and others. When library time at school comes around he's been known, on multiple occasions, to check out field guides! He is definitely a science minded individual! He actually "invented" the hybrid engine 2 years ago, in 3rd grade, while mulling over how to decrease our dependence on foreign oil. Pretty smart kid, pretty science/technology oriented.

The only problem with having a science oriented son who loves watching the aforementioned channels is the worldview that is portrayed on those channels! Millions of years, humans as animals, evolution, naturalistic/materialistic explanations for the design we see in living organisms, death and destruction as the means for "creating" the living things we see today...All of this permeates the popular science programming on television. It is a very difficult, daily, struggle with my son. He is a good kid with a Godly spirit...but he is a child, and as such it is my duty to train him up in the way he should go. This involves daily instruction in God's Word, and His views of the world and universe!

The neat thing about my having to continually teach Biblical worldview to my son is that it allows me to reaffirm the Biblical account to my child on a daily basis. We talk about the "millions of years" comments made on these programs and discuss where they get these dates. We talk about how secular evolutionists view humans as animals. We talk about how if humans are viewed as animals then abortions are really ok. Yes, I speak of these things with my 5th grader! He takes it all so well. He knows that abortion is wrong...at any point in gestation. He knows this because he has both a proper view of the Biblical sanctity of life as well as a proper view of definitions of science!

We are taught the cell theory of life from early on in our science education...that in order for something to be considered "alive," it must be composed of cells. We also learn that as soon as the sperm (23 chromosomes from Dad) unites with the egg (23 chromosomes from Mom), the resulting zygote (46 human chromosomes) will develop into a viable human (barring any abmormalities). This fits the scientific definition of life (composed of one or more cells), and therefore also falls under the jurisdiction of the Biblical sanctity of life. My 5th grader understands this.

He also seems to have a proper understanding of the Dominion Mandate from the Genesis account. The Dominion Mandate does not give us free reign to do with the Earth as we will, but to be good stewards of the Earth as God has given it to us to use for His will! Yes, this means that plants and animals may be cultivated for our use...but what it does not mean is that we should squander our God-given resources. Trees are crops for our use. Corn is a crop for our use. Cows and chickens are crops for our use. We don't allow these to simply run out, do we?

So again, if we come to view this Earth as (1) not belonging to us, but to God, and (2) that we are to be good stewards of God's belongings, then we will have a proper perspective. That proper perspective will lead us toward conservation, efficiency, technological discoveries, etc. The ultimate goal of all of this is to allow the pinnacle of Creation, humans, to multiply and fill the Earth.

I suggest we all look at how we spend God's money, how we conserve God's resources given to us, and how we use technological advances allowed us by the grace of God to further His will. I suggest we get back to a 5th grader's mentality; the Universe and everything in it belongs to God, He has given us resources to use such that we can do His will. Let us keep our focus upon God as the Creator of the universe, the Giver of life, the Owner of everything, our Lord, and our Savior. Then we will have proper perspective on all issues.

So, being a science teacher is interesting these days...

...I do, however, have the luxury of teaching in a Christian school. This has been a tremendous blessing as I can teach what I love, science, and teach it under the worldview that I love, Biblical.

Many people today have the idea that science and Christianity are incompatible. I take a different view. It is my belief that as science makes continued discoveries, they will provide more and more evidence to support the Biblical account.

The culture of "the west" has been infiltrated with "millions of years" thinking, "separatist" attitudes that science and Christianity are mutually exclusive, and an "elitist" attitude that only secular science can properly seek and find "truth." It is a sad state of affairs.

The Bible is not a science textbook, and I'm glad it is not...science textbooks are constantly changing, morphing, updating theories and discoveries...the Bible is constant. However, the Bible does, in fact, brush up with science issues. It is when the Bible comes into contact with scientific issues that we should defer to the Bible and lean not on our own understanding.

Evolution cannot be proven to be either true or false. Special Creation cannot be proven to be true or false. It is the un-falsifiability of both which places them in the category of "Worldview." I have a Biblical worldview of nature, the universe, and all that is in it. Other people have a naturalistic/materialistic worldview of the universe. But to be certain, they are both worldviews which bring about their own set of biases and presuppositions. It is through these biases and presuppositions that we view operational science.

Therefore, it is with great joy that I, and the rest of the science staff at my school, teach wonderful operational science through the Biblical worldview of God's Word!