Young earth creationism not only satisfies me intellectually as the most viable explanation of the evolution of life on the planet. YEC has solid theological roots that reach deep into the primary principles of Scripture. Some of the general theological themes that are the most important would be:

1) The aseity (utter independance) of God. Empirical testing of God would be as meaningless as it is impossible. The word used in the New Testament translated holyness (hagios) literally means seperation. To speak of God as holy is to speak of seperation from the entire creation. Our natural minds cannot fathom the things of God because they are spiritually discerned. To reach the conclusion of God acting in time and space requires direct revelation on a personal level because we are dead in sin. With the washing, renewal and rebirth of the Holy Spirit the things of God that were impossibly far away have been brought near, even into you very soul. As a result of the revelation and renewed spirit we do not close the distance of that seperation. We embrace the aseity of God by being seperated from the world, that is, in the world but not of the world.

I have other theological themes I would like to explore if anyone is interested.

Grace and peace,
Mark

Hi Mark,

I would very much be interested in other foundational insights you have!

Evolutionists love to quote Dobzhansky’s claim that “nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution”. While this is has been shown to be untrue, it made me think of something I believe is true:

“The Bible does not make sense except in light of a solid foundation in Genesis”.

Genesis is quoted more than any book of the Bible, with at least 165 New Testament references, 100 of which refer to Genesis 1-11. All major doctrines in scripture are founded in these early chapters, including moral law (Gen 2:17), why we have clothes (Gen 3:21), marriage (Gen 2:24), the first shedding of blood to cover our sins (Gen 3:21), God’s redemptive plan (Gen 3:15), etc. Jesus himself was a young earth creationist: “From the beginning of the creation, God 'made them male and female.'” (Mark 10:6) He also appealed to a global flood in Matt 24:39 (the word used for flood is kataklusmos, which is wide-scale, cataclysmic flood, other Greek words are available for local flood, but were not used).

A member of our local creation board said it best:

“Evolution destroys the foundation of the gospel: "Behold the [sacrificial] Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world."(John 1:29). "If the foundations be destroyed, what shall the righteous do?" (Ps 11:3) Trying to be a Christian without understanding the foundational truth of Genesis is like going to a movie in the middle (22). If you come "In the Beginning," you can understand the plot. If the Bible is not authoritative on matters of science and history, then it cannot be trusted on matters of salvation and eternal life (8).” - source

Fred

Darwin made it clear that his discussion of natural selection was one long argument against 'special creation' in On the Origin of Species. One of the things that keeps coming back to me is that Genesis related foundational accounts of redemptive history. Apparently, all it takes to be considered a creationist in this day and age is to suggest that things would have to be fully formed or to criticize Darwinian gradualism.

As a Christian I have had to give some thought both to the historical aspect of Genesis as well as the theology involved. Genesis is never spoken of as myth, metaphore, parable or any figurative language. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and of course Adam are all spoken of as actual people. That underscores the historical content but then there is the aspect of the theology which runs throughout the Scriptures. One of the things that distiquishes the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob can be summed up in one word, righteousness.

"But now apart from the law, a righteousness of God has been revealed, being testified by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all those who believe." (Romans 3:21,22)

I am seeing the central importance of the righteousness of God both in the Scriptures and in the creation/evolution controversy. I want to tie all of this together after a while but for now I would just like to discuss the central issue for Christian theism. We need to stay focused on what exactly it is that God has revealed to believers and why the world seems oblivious to the real evidence we have invested our faith in. I trust you will pardon the simplicity of what follows, there will be more to follow when I get the time to tie it all together.

Light has been scientifically identified as having properties, it is composed of 7 colors each of which can be identified and refracted. Darkness is simply the absense of light, the void. When we think about what sin is it is sometimes tempting to think in terms of the wrong we have done, offenses and transgressions of the law. What sin really is, is an absense of righteousness.

Righteousness is not something we achieve, it's something we recieve by grace through faith alone, in the person and work of Christ alone and revealed in the canon of Scripture alone. This being the basis of the Protestant Reformation laid the foundation in the Western world for what came to be known as the Scientific Revolution.