Creation Compromises - Apologetics Press

438 Pages·2004·1.29 MB·English

APOLOGETICS PRESS
Apologetics Press, Inc.

230 Landmark Drive

Montgomery, Alabama 36117-2752

Second Edition © Copyright 2000
First Edition © Copyright 1995
ISBN: 0-932859-39-9
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any
form without permission from the publisher, except in the case of
brief quotations embodied in articles or critical reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication
Thompson, Bert, 1949 ­
Creation Compromises / Bert Thompson—second edition
Includes bibliographic references and subject, name, and Scripture indices.
ISBN 0-932859-39-9
1. Creation. 2. Science and religion. 3. Apologetics and polemics. I. Title
213—dc21 00-135278
Dedication
To Chad and Cody—
● Two sons whose lives have been a continual blessing to their
parents, a good example to their peers, a source of encourage­
ment to their friends, and an inspiration to all who know them
● In the hope that you always will love and defend the Truth, re­
gardless of the consequences
TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION: THE IM­

PORTANCE OF ORIGINS . . . . . . . . 13

The Implications and Conse­

quences of Belief Systems . . . . . 19

Evolution and Ethics . . . . . . . . . . 20

Evolution and Morality . . . . . . . . 22

Evolution and Hedonism . . . . . . . 23

Evolution and the Value

of Human Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

CHAPTER 2 ORIGINS AND ATHEISTIC

EVOLUTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Atheistic Evolution Defined . . . . 36

Is Atheistic Evolution Popular?. . 39

Why do People Be­

lieve in Evolution? . . . . . . . . . 40

Is Evolution a “Fact”

of Science? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

CHAPTER 3 ORIGINS AND CREATION . . . . . . . . . 73

Creation Defined . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Is Creation Popular? . . . . . . . . . 75

Why do People Believe

in Creation? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Is Creation a “Fact”

of Science? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

CHAPTER 4 VOICES OF COMPROMISE . . . . . . . . . 87

The Double Revelation Theory . . 90

Theistic Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Is Theistic Evolution Popular? . . 100

Why do People Believe

in Theistic Evolution? . . . . . . 102

Theistic Evolution and the

Voices of Compromise . . . . . 108

i
CHAPTER 5
“EITHER...OR,” NOT
“BOTH...AND”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

“Logical Illiterates, Scientific

Simpletons, Fools, and

Menaces” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

CHAPTER 6
GENESIS 1-11: MYTHICAL
OR HISTORICAL? . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Is Genesis 1-11 Mythical

or Historical? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Is Genesis 1-11 Mythical? . . . . . 136

Is Genesis 1-11 Literal?. . . . . . . 144

Are There Two (Contradictory)

Accounts in Genesis? . . . . . . 152

Stylistic Variations . . . . . . . . . . 153

So-Called Contradictions . . . . . . 155

The Real Explanation . . . . . . . . 158

CHAPTER 7
THE BIBLE AND THE AGE

OF THE EARTH—TIME,

EVOLUTION, AND BIB­

LICAL CHRONOLOGY. . . . . . . . . 163

The Importance of Time

to Evolutionists and Those

Sympathetic to Them . . . . . . 165

Does Time Itself

“Perform Miracles”? . . . . . . . 166

The Age of the Earth—

“Wait and See” . . . . . . . . . . 169

Chronology and the Bible . . . . 172

CHAPTER 8
THE BIBLE AND THE AGE

OF THE EARTH—THE

DAY-AGE THEORY . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Why the Need for the

Day-Age Theory? . . . . . . . . . 183

Is the Day-Age

Theory Popular? . . . . . . . . . 184

ii
Do All Those Who Advocate
the Day-Age Theory Believe
in Evolution? . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Is There Lexical and Exeget­
ical Evidence to Support
the Day-Age Theory? . . . . . . 188

Evidence Substantiating
the Days of Genesis as
Literal, 24-hour Periods . . . . 192

Objections Considered . . . . . . 201

“One Day is with the Lord
as a Thousand Years”. . . . . . . . 201

Too Much Activity on Day Six . . 205

God’s Sabbath Rest
Still Is Continuing . . . . . . . . . . . 211

CHAPTER 9 THE BIBLE AND THE
AGE OF THE EARTH—
THE GAP THEORY. . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Summary of the Gap Theory . . 221

The Gap Theory—

a Refutation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

CHAPTER 10 THE BIBLE AND THE
AGE OF THE EARTH—
BIBLICAL GENEALOGIES . . . . . . 247

CHAPTER 11 THE BIBLE AND THE AGE OF
THE EARTH—ADDITIONAL
CONSIDERATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

“From the Beginning of the
Creation”/“From the
Creation of the World” . . . . . 255

“From the Blood of Abel” . . . . . 258

How Long Were Adam and

Eve in the Garden of Eden? . . 258

The Doctrine of

Apparent Age . . . . . . . . . . . 264

iii
CHAPTER 12 MISCELLANEOUS COMPROMISES

OF THE GENESIS RECORD . . . . . 275

Progressive Creationism . . . . . 275

What is Progressive

Creationism? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Is Progressive Creationism

Theistic Evolution? . . . . . . . . . . 279

Is Progressive Creationism

Acceptable? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

The Modified Gap Theory . . . . 281

What is the Modified

Gap Theory? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

A Response and Refutation . . . . 286

The Non-World View

of Origins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

What is the Non-World

View of Origins? . . . . . . . . . . . 296

A Response and Refutation . . . . 298

The Multiple Gap Theory . . . . 299

What is the Multiple

Gap Theory? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300

A Response and Refutation . . . . 302

The Framework Hypothesis

[Artistico-Historical] Theory . . 303

What is the Frame­

work Hypothesis?. . . . . . . . . . . 303

A Response and Refutation . . . . 306

CHAPTER 13 WHAT IS WRONG WITH

CREATION COMPROMISES? . . . . . 309

The Error of Creation

Compromises. . . . . . . . . . . . 311

“The Blindness of Pre­

conceived Opinion” . . . . . . . 312

Turning the Savior

into a Liar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313

Making Man “the

Naked Ape” . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

The Problem with Eve . . . . . . . 318

iv
A “Soul-less” Naked Ape? . . . . 319

Did Man “Fall”—or “Rise”? . . . . 320

A Million Contradictions

—not a Million Years . . . . . . 321

Evolution and God’s Nature. . . 325

CHAPTER 14 COMPROMISE—PRELUDE
TO APOSTASY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

Compromise—Prelude
to Apostasy . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

Compromise is a Prelude
to Religious Liberalism
and Modernism . . . . . . . . . . . . 334

Compromise is a Prelude to
the Loss of a Person’s Soul . . . . 335

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

APPENDIX 1 THAT “LOADED” QUESTIONNAIRE . . 339

Introduction: History

of This Inquiry . . . . . . . . . . . 339

The Sears-Thompson Debate . . 342

That “Loaded” Questionnaire . . 344

APPENDIX 2 THE BIBLE, SCIENCE, AND
THE AGES OF THE
PATRIARCHS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357

Does the Bible Record of
of the Patriarchs’ Ages
Need to be “Fixed”? . . . . . . . 359

Suggested Methods for
“Fixing” the Ages of
the Patriarchs. . . . . . . . . . . . 365

Ages Determined by
Counting Years as Months . . . . 365

Ages Counted from Birth

of First Offspring . . . . . . . . . . . 367

Ages Represent Not Indi­

viduals, but Dynasties . . . . . . . . 367

v
REFERENCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
SUBJECT INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
NAME INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
SCRIPTURE INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
vi