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Well, creation is literally the beginning of the story of the Bible.

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I mean, it begins verse 1, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, but

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it's theologically the beginning of the story of God's relationship to the world.

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Creation, fall, redemption, and the eventual consummation.

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So if one does not have a proper understanding of creation, you will not have a proper understanding

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of God, God's relationship to the world, what God is doing in the world, what our place

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is in the world.

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And so creation really is the bedrock or the foundation of theology.

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Well, the problem I see is not just the teaching of evolution, but the philosophical and even

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theological conclusions that they draw from it.

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Now they deny that they make any kind of philosophical or theological assertions from it, but they

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do.

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They teach materialism.

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They teach atheism.

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Even if they'll never use those terms, one finds that kind of teaching permeating all

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too often what is being done in the name of evolution.

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When we teach a materialistic evolution, what we've done is we've told a young man or young

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woman, there is no God.

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That means that there is no purpose for them being here.

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There is no goals in life in order to achieve, nor is there any accountability at the end

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of life.

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That can be nothing but destructive.

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Well, I think that creating unnecessary cognitive dissonance is always bad.

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And the young Earth position demands that we hold that the Earth is only 10,000 years old.

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Well, anybody that knows anything about astronomy knows that light from across the Milky Way took

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100,000 years.

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Light from the Andromeda galaxy took a million years.

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Why hold to an interpretation of Scripture that puts yourself at odds with understanding what

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God has created in nature?

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So what we find in Scripture is that the Bible does not necessitate a young Earth interpretation.

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And there are compelling reasons, as I gave in the talk, for understanding it in non-literal

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terms.

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Historically, Christians have understood it in non-literal terms.

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I'm thinking of those like Augustine, who was very clear.

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They didn't have a debate about how old the Earth was, but they did have a debate about

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literal 24-hour days or not.

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And there was a significant understanding in the early church that they were not to understand

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those in 24-hour terms.

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It's important, the issue is important because the young Earth position is a relatively recent

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phenomenon.

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Prior to 1961, the vast majority of evangelicals, not just Christendom as a whole, but the vast

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majority of evangelicals held to an old Earth view.

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It is in 1961 that Henry Morris' book came out, The Genesis Flood, in which it argued

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that one must hold to a young Earth view.

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Prior to that, most Christians held to either day age or gap theory or some other framework

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hypothesis.

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So I think that people need to understand just how new the young Earth position is, and that

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it is not the historical position of the church throughout the ages.

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As an informed theologian, as somebody who engages with scientists, I think that I don't expect

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evolution generically to go away any time soon.

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I do think that Darwinism, the Darwinian version of evolution, is in serious trouble.

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And so when Darwinism collapses, it will be interesting to see where the conversation goes.

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Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary has a website, so does the Bush Center for Faith

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and Culture, called The Intersect.

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It's part of The Intersect Project, and that is our webpage for our center, and there you'll

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find articles about creation and evolution and other apologetic and social issues.

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坎

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Southeastern Boston

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gelernt

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Southeastern Baptist exposed to Local

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Darwinism