WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:08.500 Well, creation is literally the beginning of the story of the Bible. 00:08.500 --> 00:12.640 I mean, it begins verse 1, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, but 00:12.640 --> 00:17.120 it's theologically the beginning of the story of God's relationship to the world. 00:17.120 --> 00:22.400 Creation, fall, redemption, and the eventual consummation. 00:22.400 --> 00:28.200 So if one does not have a proper understanding of creation, you will not have a proper understanding 00:28.200 --> 00:32.580 of God, God's relationship to the world, what God is doing in the world, what our place 00:32.580 --> 00:33.740 is in the world. 00:33.740 --> 00:38.520 And so creation really is the bedrock or the foundation of theology. 00:38.520 --> 00:46.340 Well, the problem I see is not just the teaching of evolution, but the philosophical and even 00:46.340 --> 00:49.580 theological conclusions that they draw from it. 00:49.580 --> 00:53.740 Now they deny that they make any kind of philosophical or theological assertions from it, but they 00:53.740 --> 00:54.980 do. 00:54.980 --> 00:57.780 They teach materialism. 00:57.780 --> 00:59.700 They teach atheism. 00:59.700 --> 01:06.660 Even if they'll never use those terms, one finds that kind of teaching permeating all 01:06.660 --> 01:11.860 too often what is being done in the name of evolution. 01:11.860 --> 01:19.620 When we teach a materialistic evolution, what we've done is we've told a young man or young 01:19.620 --> 01:21.920 woman, there is no God. 01:21.920 --> 01:26.040 That means that there is no purpose for them being here. 01:26.040 --> 01:31.820 There is no goals in life in order to achieve, nor is there any accountability at the end 01:31.820 --> 01:33.380 of life. 01:33.380 --> 01:34.720 That can be nothing but destructive. 01:34.720 --> 01:42.300 Well, I think that creating unnecessary cognitive dissonance is always bad. 01:42.300 --> 01:47.600 And the young Earth position demands that we hold that the Earth is only 10,000 years old. 01:47.600 --> 01:52.980 Well, anybody that knows anything about astronomy knows that light from across the Milky Way took 01:52.980 --> 01:54.660 100,000 years. 01:54.660 --> 01:58.060 Light from the Andromeda galaxy took a million years. 01:58.060 --> 02:03.860 Why hold to an interpretation of Scripture that puts yourself at odds with understanding what 02:03.860 --> 02:07.580 God has created in nature? 02:07.580 --> 02:15.060 So what we find in Scripture is that the Bible does not necessitate a young Earth interpretation. 02:15.060 --> 02:19.940 And there are compelling reasons, as I gave in the talk, for understanding it in non-literal 02:19.940 --> 02:20.940 terms. 02:20.940 --> 02:25.820 Historically, Christians have understood it in non-literal terms. 02:25.820 --> 02:31.000 I'm thinking of those like Augustine, who was very clear. 02:31.000 --> 02:34.540 They didn't have a debate about how old the Earth was, but they did have a debate about 02:34.540 --> 02:37.440 literal 24-hour days or not. 02:37.440 --> 02:42.980 And there was a significant understanding in the early church that they were not to understand 02:42.980 --> 02:44.840 those in 24-hour terms. 02:44.840 --> 02:51.740 It's important, the issue is important because the young Earth position is a relatively recent 02:51.740 --> 02:53.280 phenomenon. 02:53.280 --> 02:59.520 Prior to 1961, the vast majority of evangelicals, not just Christendom as a whole, but the vast 02:59.520 --> 03:03.380 majority of evangelicals held to an old Earth view. 03:03.380 --> 03:08.760 It is in 1961 that Henry Morris' book came out, The Genesis Flood, in which it argued 03:08.760 --> 03:11.100 that one must hold to a young Earth view. 03:11.100 --> 03:17.820 Prior to that, most Christians held to either day age or gap theory or some other framework 03:17.820 --> 03:19.900 hypothesis. 03:19.900 --> 03:26.380 So I think that people need to understand just how new the young Earth position is, and that 03:26.380 --> 03:32.260 it is not the historical position of the church throughout the ages. 03:32.260 --> 03:39.940 As an informed theologian, as somebody who engages with scientists, I think that I don't expect 03:39.940 --> 03:44.260 evolution generically to go away any time soon. 03:44.260 --> 03:50.260 I do think that Darwinism, the Darwinian version of evolution, is in serious trouble. 03:50.260 --> 03:57.260 And so when Darwinism collapses, it will be interesting to see where the conversation goes. 03:57.260 --> 04:01.760 Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary has a website, so does the Bush Center for Faith 04:01.760 --> 04:04.760 and Culture, called The Intersect. 04:04.760 --> 04:09.860 It's part of The Intersect Project, and that is our webpage for our center, and there you'll 04:09.860 --> 04:14.860 find articles about creation and evolution and other apologetic and social issues. 04:14.860 --> 04:18.040 坎 04:18.040 --> 04:23.200 Southeastern Boston 04:23.200 --> 04:23.240 gelernt 04:23.240 --> 04:34.180 Southeastern Baptist exposed to Local 04:34.180 --> 04:36.300 Darwinism