Exposition by Max A Forsythe
Today we will consider three biblically based views of Creation. These include:
1. theistic evolution,All three of these theories summarize the endeavors of sincere Christians to bring their scientific studies under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. This is the responsibility of every Christian who ventures into the field of science. Certainly, there are many variations on these views and there are antagonisms between these schools of thought. Some Christians hold that failure to agree with their view is tantamount to being heretical. This is unfortunate, because the more we learn about origins and the creative process the more complex the subject becomes.
2. the gap theory,
3. progressive creationism.
This week I was reading in the scientific magazine Discovery about a researcher in Texas who has claimed to have come up with what scientists have been seeking: a Grand Unified Theory. In his discussion of string theory, super symmetry and twenty-five dimensions, this average scientific reader quickly gets the feeling that God's creation is ever so much more complicated than we ever believed! The pieces of the puzzle are incredible in their complexity. Imagine if you will, a gigantic cube puzzle with countless layers and pieces which must inter-relate in all dimensions. You can begin to understand why we should be humble in our assertions about what we know and how that relates to what other people may understand that we do not!
Francis Schaeffer says it best: "We are considering here matters which lie far in the past and concern cosmic events. That raises a question: Can we really talk in any meaningful sense at all about them? ... when all of the facts are taken into consideration, the Bible gives us true knowledge although not exhaustive knowledge." He goes on to point out that everything that is knowable may not be comprehensible to our finite human mind!
Scientific theories come and go with increasing rapidity. Years ago the Big Bang Theory was developed to explain the beginnings of our known universe. Recently I read that there is strong new evidence to undercut the major assumptions of that theory. In a certain sense scientific knowledge is changing and expanding almost as quickly as Imalda Marcos changes shoes! With this rapidity of change and challenge in mind, let us briefly consider the three views before us.
We will begin with the minimalist theory of theistic evolution. Several respectable Christians believe that there exists some true evidence in scientific evolution and that properly understood God may have used this method to a limited extent. Pierre Teilhard De Chardin in this century and B.B. Warfield in the last would be examples of Christian thinkers whose personal sympathy was in this area. Scientist John Wiester in his book The Genesis Connection explores a concept of what is called punctuated equilibrium which is a fancy way of saying that every once in a while there was a rapid evolutionary burst which on the basis of growing evidence brings science closer to the unchanging biblical pattern.
There are however certain biblical limits to theistic evolution. Both Boice and Wiester agree that scientific puzzles or gaps in knowledge occur precisely in those theological areas where Genesis precisely tells us that God specifically created something. Boice lists the origin of matter, the form of matter, the emergence of light and the appearance of personality as being divinely appointed. Wiester's list specifies the essential beginning of the whole process, the creation of light, the separation of lands and waters, the relationship of light and photosynthesis, the Cambrian explosion of new life in the oceans, and the explosive adaptive radiation of mammals. While some of those exotic terms may be scarcely understandable, let me summarize the argument of this school in this way. Christian evolutionists must affirm that God is in control of the process of creation. Evolution in their understanding may have been part of His method in spinning out the countless variations in species to fill the earth.
Our second theory is the Gap theory of creative action. Respected theologians Thomas Chalmers, A.W. Pink, C.S. Lewis, M.R. DeHaan, and Donald Grey Barnhouse have all shared an interest in this theory. Even Francis Schaeffer is sympathetic to points of their argument. But perhaps the most important member of this school is the one who popularized it widely: C.I. Schofield. Yes, he is the author of the notes to the Study Bible of the same name. Now, some of you will appreciate the next fact with more humor than others because of our ongoing discussion of application of such notes. In the Masoretic text of Genesis, ancient Jewish scholars attempted to incorporate "indicators" or notes to guide the reader in proper pronunciation and interpretation of Hebrew text. Following verse one in their text is a small mark known as a rebhia which serves to inform the reader that there is a break in the narrative at this point. Thus, the Gap theory so popularized in Schofield's study Bible was itself the result of one of the very first Jewish Study Bibles published in antiquity!
There are of course some textual points in translation which could justify this sincerely popular understanding. If there is a significant gap of thousands of years between verse one and verse two of Genesis One, then what we have in verse two is not about creation but about a reconstruction of a world gone chaotic. This theory, like theistic evolution does allow for the apparent extraordinary length of geological ages.
Our third theory is a relatively new theory. The progressive creation scholars believe that God created the world directly and deliberately, but over long periods of time roughly corresponding to the geological ages of popular science. Robert C. Newman, Herman J.Eckelmann, and Davis A Young are a few of the many Christians in scientific fields who hold this position. The Progressive evolution theory attempts to solve some of the sequencing problems in the ordering and increasing complexity of creation. Thus, they would argue that when God began to create plants on the third day, he continued that into later days. They allow for overlap in the creation process from day to day.
Also, as in theistic evolution, the word day is not strictly applied as a twenty-four hour period of time. Moses' words from Psalm 90: 4 are quoted in support of this understanding: "For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night" Psalm 90: 4 How very well I know that verse from public schooling the early sixties, when God's word could still be quoted and applied to a vague evolutionary compromise with biblical texts. You all have to appreciate that is was not until recent years that there has been any really intellectual challenge to atheistic evolution. As they developed, all three of these positions are sincere attempts to understand science within a biblical perspective.
Now there are problems with all three of these theories just as their are problems with the final theory that I will advocate next week. The pieces of the scientific and theological puzzle that we are working with are incredibly complex. I also think that God has a sense of humor in his method of letting us subdue His earth as we come more and more to understand what we see and know about creation. I remember hearing a family story about some help one of my Aunt's used to get in pursuing her hobby of putting together gigantic puzzles. It seems that another one of my ornery relatives would regularly go by the card table and pick up at random a dozen or so pieces. Several days later, these would be returned and others removed! Once, to make things interesting, pieces from an entirely different puzzle were dropped into the mix.
In the same way, just when scientists think they have their act all together, something new pops up to let them know that God's wisdom and creation are far greater than we can ever completely comprehend. Just as enlightened thinkers have known for centuries, the more we learn and know, the more we have to admit how little of the sum total of God's wisdom and knowledge we really understand. May that complexity of God's work of creation continue to bring us to our knees in awe and worship as we bow before Him to offer the praise He so richly deserves.
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