F.A.Q.
Comments and questions related to the subject matter reviewed within the Examining the Cosmos study should be directed to Apologist Randy Schumacher by clicking on the "Contact Us" link above. Randy will post Q&A's below that are of general interest to all the participants. “If Adam and Eve were both created mature enough to reproduce (i.e., created with age or the appearance of age), is it possible that the universe was created to appear with 14 billion years of age or the Earth was created to appear with 4 billion years of age?”
Response: Adam and Eve were created as grownups; they were the first of our species, humans. God also previously created many species, maybe the "originals" were also mature, that I do not know.
Question #1 Class member question posted on 09/05/08
I do believe that all interpretations of scripture must form a consistent whole. All of God’s revelations must be consistent with the rest of His revelations.
All of these verses are written after Adams' Fall. All of these things are proclaimed about the earth and the universe as we see them today. So, what do we know?
1. We know God has a passion for truth.
2. We know God has provided truthful testimony about Himself in His Word, and in His creation.
We are told in His Word to test everything. There are two important tests.
1. Truth, that which conforms to reality
2. Consistency- that which is not contradictory within the system
BOTH MUST BE PRESENT
That is why the "appearance of age" idea fails, it is not truthful, it is deception, it is only an appearance of age. We do not need this, we have the Truth. We can determine age, there is no need to deceive.
“In Session 2 we learned that science (nature) shows us that the universe is expanding and that expansion corresponds with bible verses that tell us that God stretched out the heavens in the past, and continues to stretch them out today. The bible verses you referenced only indicate the past, are there others that substantiate a continuing process?"
Response:
In each of these scripture verses the word stretches indicates an ongoing action.
Question #4 Class member question posted on 10/02/08
“Would not an old earth view undermine belief in the Bible? Can we hold to an inerrant, inspired Word of God and to a “scientific” view of the world at the same time?
Response:
Historically the term “creationist” has applied to anyone who acknowledges that a Creator is responsible for bringing the universe and life into existence. In that sense, it pertains to nearly half of all practicing scientists. Over the past several decades, however, in the face of emerging scientific challenges to traditional beliefs, the term has taken on a much narrower meaning. Today “creationist” typically refers to someone who believes that:
Several parachurch organizations have advanced this set of teachings, commonly referred to as “creationism” so effectively that many evangelical pastors, congregations, schools, broadcasters, ministry leaders, and missionaries adhere to them more or less by default and remain largely unaware, or distrustful of any alternative biblical view of creation. Most reporters, pundits, and secular scientists see these teachings as part of all evangelicals’ belief system.
However, the word “creationist” may occasionally be used with a qualifier to refer to someone who, by contrast, believes the biblical account of creation and gives credence to the findings of science. These individuals typically embrace both the truthfulness of Scripture and the scientific evidence for a multi-billion year history of the universe, Earth and life on Earth.
Genesis 1-11 speaks of the history of the universe, Earth, life on Earth, and of humanity’s’ origin and early development. With the help of many remarkable advances in astronomy, physics, geo-physics, chemistry, paleontology, biochemistry and anthropology, the words of the first eleven chapters can be subjected, point by point, to rigorous investigation. They can be verified or refuted with greater precision and to a greater depth than previous generations might have imagined possible.
Of course, not all biblical miracles can be subjected to scientific testing. But those that cannot be tested are not automatically invalidated. Rather, if the Genesis 1-11 miracles can be validated, they indicate the reality and availability of the power and the love attested to by these nontestable miracles; the virgin’s pregnancy, Lazarus’s resurrection, and the water’s transformation into wine, for example. While Mary, Lazarus, and the wine drunk at the wedding feast are not available for scientific analysis, the universe, Earth, Earth’ fossils, and living creatures certainly are, and they can be subjected to the degree of scientific, scrutiny needed to confirm or deny the creation, Flood, and post-Flood events reported in Genesis 1-2 and 6-11.
While discrimination against people must be avoided at all costs, failure to discriminate between truth and fiction represents a serious problem. All people are created equal, but not all truth-claims are equally valid. Tolerance among people who hold different beliefs about origins reflects an appropriate respect for diversity. However, not all beliefs or interpretations correspond equally well with physical reality. Some correspond well, some correspond poorly, and others flatly contradict.
Philosopher J.P. Moreland says, “Reality makes propositions true or false. A proposition is not made true by someone’s thinking or expressing it, and it is not made true by our ability to determine that it is true. Put differently, evidence allows us to tell if a proposition is true or false, but reality, (the way the world is) is what makes a proposition true or false”
Exploring the physical evidence related to the origin and history of the universe, life, and humanity can illuminate the strengths and limitations of a particular interpretation. Asking appropriate questions can help reveal which explanation most closely corresponds to facts. Does the Young Earth approach offer an adequate explanation? Is a conclusion of a recently created Earth and universe warranted either scientifically or biblically? Do human beings possess unique spiritual properties? Just as importantly—can a particular position withstand the testing afforded by new discoveries and new understanding? All credible evidence must be considered when determining how closely a particular explanation (or prediction) corresponds to reality.
In this healthy competition of ideas, tolerance and discrimination can and must be exercised in balance. Christian scholars ask their peers in the science community to demonstrate balance by a willingness to entertain the possibility of both natural and supernatural explanations for life’s origins and development. Theoreticians have already demonstrated that willingness in the arena of cosmology, the study of the origin, structure, and development of the universe. Meanwhile, the science community challenges Christians to demonstrate some balance among themselves by discriminating against interpretations and explanations that contradict established data
Discrimination is not to be confused with censorship. Major participants in the creation conflict have attempted to stonewall discussion of each others’ models. Thus, they have barred each other’s models and, consequently, have forfeited the benefits of evaluation, critique and testing. Such censorship benefits no one
For healthy, productive discrimination to occur, more models must be put on the table, models that can be verified or falsified, models that effectively predict future scientific discoveries. The model we are following, the Reasons To Believe creation model, emphasizes the model’s testable and predictive features. This model is offered in the hope of providing a viable, broadly integrative explanation for the universes and life’s origins and histories. It is offered in the hope of encouraging development of competing models more testable and predictively successful than currently existing ones.
To answer the above questions ~
Yes, it is possible to hold to an inerrant, inspired Word of God and to a “scientific” view of the world at the same time.
Response:
"How do we know that the atmosphere now is 80-100 times thinner than before the Mar's size planet hit the earth"? We know it was changed from opaque to translucent, but from where do we get the data to say it is thinner? Also, how thick is the atmosphere on Venus, which is similar in size to earth but did not have this collision experience. Do we have any data to indicate that the atmosphere on Venus is approx. 80-100 time heavier than on our Earth? "
We cannot, of course, directly measure the atmospheric pressure of primordial earth since, to quote the YEC, "We weren't there," but we can infer it from the theory of how planets form. This basically says that the larger a planet's mass and the further away from its star, the heavier the atmosphere will be. This follows simply from the laws of physics. The stellar winds within a newly forming stellar system will move the lighter molecules outwards at a higher rate, and so the further out a newly forming planet is and the bigger it gets, the more of these gasses it will accumulate and hold onto. Probes have directly measured Venus' atmosphere, and so we can measure it to be something like 100 times as dense as earth's. Thus, without some event to remove that dense atmosphere, earth's atmosphere would have been even thicker than Venus'.
Response:
In the Genesis 11 genealogy, about half way between Shem and Abraham you find "Peleg". More than 3,400 years ago, Moses wrote these words; "Two sons were born to Eber: One was named Peleg because in his time the earth was divided". Gen.10:25 The land bridges between Asia/America, (the Bering Strait), was formed about 14,000 years ago. The people in North East Russia made their way to Alaska approximately 14,000-13,000 years ago. These land bridges disappeared about 10,000 years ago; the land was once again separated. Thus the biblical time of Peleg approximately fits the scientific dates for the collapse of the world's land bridges. When Noah's descendants refused to "fill the earth", God intervened to scatter them far beyond Mesopotamia thousands of years later, that scattering reached the geographical limits of the eastern hemisphere. Approximately 14,000 years ago, passable land bridges formed from the eastern to the western continents. For a few thousand years the scattering of humanity into all the habitable land masses of the planet continued. When that scattering was complete, approx. 10,000-11,000 years ago the land bridges broke apart, preventing humanity from reuniting and repeating the sins of the pre-Flood and early post-Flood people. Approximate dates: Noah - 50,000 years ago Mesopotamia People in Kazakhstan- 40,000 years ago Europe - 35,000 years ago Asia and Russia - 35,000 years ago Alaska - 15,000 years ago North and South America - 13,000 years ago Another Thought: Complete genealogies (in Biblical usage) are extremely rare (or non-existent). that telescoping of genealogies was the norm, and that conservative Bible scholars believe that Biblical genealogies are generally no less than 10% complete. (One genealogy that is quite a bit less complete even than this is the one that begins Matthew's Gospel, "Jesus, son of David, son of Abraham.") For additional information please click here: The Genesis Genealogies
How do you reconcile species that some scientists say only appeared 5,000 to 40,000 years ago with your statement that no new species appeared after man was created. Speciation and extinction remained roughly balanced before the appearance of us human beings. Then speciation suddenly ended, becoming overwhelmed by extinctions, even apart from human encroachment or abuse. According to Genesis 1, the Creator actively and purposefully built life’s diversity as part of the preparation for humanity,(in six days or eras), of creation: but once humans arrived, He ceased making NEW kinds of life and no longer replaced extinct life-forms once the seventh day, or era of rest, came. He assigned humanity the task of managing Earth’s living creatures as well as its life-sustaining resources. However, I will concede that direct field observations by biologists reveal significant advance for several viral and bacterial species. Among ant and termite species with populations of more than a quadrillion individuals, advance remains debatable. For animal species numbering less than a quadrillion individuals, with average body sizes larger than one centimeter and generation time greater than three months, biologists have yet to observe ANY SIGNIFICANT change, other than extinctions. Ecologists Paul and Anne Ehrlich in their book “EXTINCTION” (New York: Ballantine books), wrote: “The production of new animal species in nature has yet to be documented. Biologists have not been able to observe the entire sequence of one species transformed into two or more”.
Response:
This question relates to your position that man is made up of three parts; body, soul, and spirit. I'm an advocate of man being a 'being' having 'material' and 'immaterial' aspects that is best described as body and spirit. This is consistent with the creation accounts having 'Image of God' and 'breath of life'. In the Old Testament 'soul' most commonly means either 'entire being' or 'spirit'. In the New Testament the Greek word for soul sometimes means spirit alone (heart/will) and sometimes means all immaterial aspects including rational thought, feelings, etc., and 'entire being' is rare. So my question is: If 'soul' is a third aspect, what are its characteristics and where is the scriptural basis for it.
The trichotomist view, namely that we are made up of three elements, Body, soul, and spirit refer to the following verses: However, there are many other verses that show that the soul and spirit are names for the same thing. These are often used to establish a dualistic view of man; two parts, body and soul/spirit. In the class I used the term “soulish” for animals not humans, really to distinguish them from us humans: We are the only ones God created “in His Image”, I agree with you, man is “material” and “immaterial”, and that immaterial is soul/spirit. However, God created Adam with a human spirit, distinct from the soul. The spirit is the God-conscious part of man; the soul, the self-conscious part; and the body, the world-conscious part. The animals were created with only NEPHES, which means soul-life, (Gen.1:30) but man was distinct in having a spirit (RUACH), as well. What is the evidence for distinguishing the human spirit from the soul? Those who don’t make this distinction base it upon the interchangeable use of soul and spirit in describing FALLEN HUMANITY. However, the nature of unfallen Adam and Eve is quite another question, and the nature of fallen man is not really direct evidence for the original condition of Adam and Eve or of REGENERATE BELIEVERS. Although the human spirit died in the fall, when we trust in Christ, our spirit is actually made alive and functional again, so that we can relate to God personally.
Response:
