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Prologue

I must say it is somewhat awkward to write this report. Awkward because I am writing about my own lecture. I have the challenge of summarizing what I said since I have all the details of what I said. Neither can I write objectively since I am not writing from the audience point of view. My notes in rehearsal lasted one hour, however with a live audience and interjections of questions I actually spoke for an hour and 45 minutes, according to David Bassett. It didn’t seem that long to me, and, judging by the number of people who stayed after wards to ask more questions or to share their testimonies, I hope it did not seem that long to them either. On the way home, David was very enthusiastic about the lecture and I most certainly had fun in sharing, so I am going assume so did everyone else.

As I explained to David when he first asked me to speak, and as the audience saw, I did not give the usual power point presentation. I am an avid reader of internet marketing guru, Seth Godin, who wrote an ebook on power point presentation. He stated that most presentations are boring and redundant. Presentations should use images to enhance what is said, not put up in bullets what is already being said. With this intention I provided images to complement my lecture. Larry Grimes indicated that it worked extremely well. Larry, I will give you the graphics as you requested shortly.

My Testimony

The first point that I made is that the expression, “Creation Science,” is a redundancy since modern science began in the Renaissance with the assumption that the world was created by a God of order who had orderly laws that could be known and understood by men. Science has been hijacked by the secular community who wish to remove God from the equation. However, the Creation Science Community needs to be encouraged by remembering that lies need Truth to exist, for no one will believe a lie unless it is attached to truth, but Truth does not need lies for its existence because Truth is reality. So, the Creation Science community will always win in the long run as lies become more obvious as lies.

My lecture was a testimony on how Creation Science helped me in my personal quest for a biblical world view. A quest that was necessary since I was the product of an atheistic, socialistic, scientific family that had no God nor church upbringing. My parents were raised in Christian homes but had rejected God as adults. My father was a scientist, both as a biological researcher in Mt. Zion hospital, then later as a plant chemist for Philadelphia Quartz. He was also an avid rock hound who left an extensive mineral collection of the West Coast that was scientifically documented when he passed away in 1995. We donated that collection to Cal Berkeley.

Despite this background I found Christ when I was 32. Two great benefits to my life were imparted to me by my father. The first was the scientific methodology that “one must examine the primary object first without the bias of commentary or secondary opinion.” A methodology that I applied to my study of the Bible. I made a point not to read any commentary on the Bible for the first 5 years of my walk with Christ. Instead I read the book from cover to cover. The second boon that my father imparted to me was the love of learning. Despite my limited formal education, he had told me that all learning is self taught and that learning never ends, making it a life time pursuit. Because of that love I read many Creation Science books when I allowed myself to read commentaries on the Bible.

Faith Lost in the Bible

Reading the Bible gave me the ability to think critically. Prior to my salvation, I lived in great confusion because evolution provides no standard by which to measure anything. Vasts amounts of time make history almost meaningless. Random chance makes purpose to life nonexistent, so what is the point in making a purpose? But the Bible gives crystal clear measurements because it comes from eternity. It is absolute and unchanging because it is from the heart of God and reflects His unchanging character, even though it is clothed in the historical narrative of creation and mankind. Because of this no other book compares to the Bible and it remains inerrant and inspired despite the continuous attempts to destroy it. And the book of Genesis, in particular, has been the object of ridicule and intent of destruction. Yet I am convinced that if all the Bible were destroyed, but Genesis remained, God could still save the whole world through Jesus Christ and the testimony of Genesis.

Regrettably, we have a generation today in their 20’s and 30’s of Christians who no longer believe in the inerrant inspiration of the Scriptures. Ken Ham from “Answers in Genesis,” has a new book, “Already Gone,” which points out that kids leave church in their heart by Middle School because the Bible is presented only as a series of stories for moral lessons and not as the inerrant, inspired Word of God. Consequently many of these 20-30’s something that I just referred to have left the institution of the church and see other documents just as valuable to learn from as the Bible.

Secular History Versus the Biblical Narrative

Evolution frames all of secular thinking. Growing in the public schools without the Bible created a large amount of confusion in me that had to be reconciled to the biblical narrative. Since I know the reality of Christ and believe the Scriptures, I knew that whatever did not match the biblical narrative was error in the secular teaching. So I began my quest in gleaning what was true about history and creation. Long before I had gone to Bible school, I did my own math on the genealogies and realized that we are only 6,000 years from the creation of Adam and Eve. But if this is so, how does the prehistoric era and the ice age fit in the biblical narrative?

According to my research I had learned that the oldest historical documents that we have today are the Sumerian clay tablets. These tablets are estimated to be from about 2,200 BC. So anything that happened before that time is “prehistoric.” Confusion has come from the Gregorian calendar, which intended to honor Christ by making the year of His birth as zero and dating after His birth as AD or “anno domini ” or “year of dominion,” and all that occurred before His birth as BC or “before Christ”. It is regrettable that Pope Gregory did not adopt the Jewish calendar which marks time from the creation of Adam. That would have made everything easier. However, when one creates two time lines side by side of the Jewish and Gregorian reckonings, one discovers an interesting fact. The Flood occurred in 1656 according to the Jewish reckoning which would be 2344 BC on the Gregorian calendar. That means the Sumerian tablets are dated only 144 years after the Flood! The prehistoric era is only that 144 years after the Flood and the 1,656 years since creation! Not the hundreds of thousands of years secular history tells us.

The Scientific Disciplines that Create Further Confusion

Three secular scientific disciplines have greatly confused my understanding of the past that needed reconciling with the Bible. Evolutionary thinking is the foundation for these three disciplines: geology, anthropology and archeology. Creation science was instrumental in clearing up the confusion these disciplines created. They pointed out to me the circular reasoning of the geologic chart based on rock strata and fossil records. They also pointed out that fossilization requires a rapid process of water flushing minerals through organic matter to replace that matter with the minerals, otherwise decomposition results in that organic matter in only a few days. They showed me other geologic clocks such as river sediment and lunar dust that demonstrates a young Earth. They also showed the unreliability of carbon dating, having tested living organisms as thousands of years old.

Anthropology creates confusion in assuming that early man was stupid and brutish who has evolved into intelligence and supremacy. The biblical narrative shows man as perfect in creation, extremely intelligent and sensitive to the Spirit before the fall and has been degenerating ever since. We know King Og and Goliath were giants in the Bible and that fossil records shows that many creatures, such as the dragon fly which was 3 feet large, were gigantic in the past. Therefore it is a logical probability that Adam and Noah were gigantic men in comparison today. We know that life spans were long, up to almost a thousand years for the pre flood people and has been diminishing ever since. Anthropology presents the history of man backwards.

Archeology assumes vasts amounts of time, yet what artifacts that remain have to be from after the Flood since the Flood destroyed everything. The stone age artifacts are presented as proof of the stupidity of man and technology as proof of the evolution of man. However, after the destruction of everything on Earth by the Flood, it makes sense that post Flood societies would use whatever they had available for survival – rocks being in abundance, and caves providing natural shelter. Also, cultural priorities would dictate what technology they would pursue. Those bent on war would seek weapons of mass destruction, whereas peaceful societies would seek technology that benefit their agrarian pursuits.

The Ice Age is another area of confusion. Secular science presents this as something that occurred 500,000 to 9,000 years ago. Obviously this could not be. Dr. Baugh’s crystaline ice canopy model provides an sensible answer. If there was a thin ice canopy like a snow globe held up by the magnetic field before the Flood, and the fountains of the deep ruptured and melted this canopy, the ice would slide down the fields to the poles burying everything in those areas and freezing them instantly in ice. The melting of this ice would then be in process after the Flood and maybe lasted up to a thousand years.

What is a World View?

An explanation needed to be made as to what makes up either a secular or biblical world view. Seven questions are answered by the world view of choice.

1. What is the Prime Reality?

The secular answer is the material universe is eternal.
The biblical answer is God is the First Cause and is eternal.

When I understood what the eternal nature of God meant, I saw how that could not apply to the universe. Because God is eternal, with no beginning nor end, it is not possible for Him to change. This is what makes Him immutable. If the universe were eternal, then it would be impossible for it to change. Secular science claims that the current version of the universe came from a big bang that changed it from some other form. This is an impossibility. And because God is the First Cause, He is a Spirit, which makes the spirit world greater than the physical world.

2. What is the nature of the universe around us?

The secular answer is that everything in the universe is evolving and changing.
The biblical answer is that everything was created by God and is degenerating.

Secular science makes the statement that the laws of the micro world – quantum physics – is different from the macro world – physics. Christians make the same error in thinking that the spirit world is different from the physical world. But this is not so. The creation is integrated. The spirit world and the physical world are an integrated creation, and are one. Therefore, while the appearance of the micro world seems different from the macro world, it can not be, for it is one creation.

3. What is a human being?

The secular answer: only another animal.
The biblical answer: the unique creation of God that is in His image, and intended to be His family.

If man is just another animal, then his value is no better than any other creature. However, since we are made in the image of God, our value exceeds all others for God has placed greater purpose in mankind then He did in His other creatures.

4. What happens at death?

Secular answer: non existence.
Biblical answer: life continues and all people face God in judgment.

If we do not continue after death, there is no reason for morality since might makes right. However, being accountable to God for our lives puts ethical responsibility upon our shoulders.

5. Why is it possible to know anything at all?

The secular answer came from Rene Descartes, “I think therefore I am.” His conclusion makes man the final standard of judgment.

The biblical answer is faith in revelation. God is apart from us, thus becomes an objective standard separate from man. He enables us to know the truth by revelation. All understanding, whether one makes man the standard or God the standard, is based upon faith. Through faith we understand (Heb. 11:3). We always have some precept, assumption or premise that is believed and can not be proved. Through the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures we have the means to the truth.

6. How do we know right or wrong?

The secular answer is that right and wrong are determined by culture and situation.
The biblical answer is that right and wrong come from the character of the eternal God and do not, nor can not change.

7. What is the meaning of human history?

Secular answer: the chronicle of the evolving superior men conquering the weaker, inferior men.
Biblical answer: the fall of mankind from divine purpose and the restoration of mankind by divine intervention.

History becomes meaningful when one understands that God is involved with history and is working to accomplish His purpose with men. History becomes His Story in this view.

Challenge to the Creation Science Community

I gave my testimony, for the purpose that I understood from the Lord, to encourage the Creation Science Community to focus their efforts on edifying the body of Christ, and not to try and win the secular science community. They do not want to believe. As Jesus said in the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, “even if one were to come back from the dead, they would not believe.” They do not believe because they do not want to believe.

However, my walk in Christ has been enriched because of my reading of the Creation Science books. And as someone in the audience pointed out, there are many lost people who are not hostile to creation science, they simply do not know about it. The willing lost and the church are the ones who will most benefit from the work of Creation Science.  Reach out to them instead of the secular scientific world.

Furthermore, we have the Truth. Even though Creation Science is positing theories, their theories are closer to the Truth since they begin with a Scriptural premise. We are able to think outside the box because the Bible comes from outside the box of creation. We are in a better position to speculate on Utopia since we are given prophetic revelation regarding the future. To pursue scientific inquiry based upon what the prophets say about the future may glean beneficial discoveries for today.

The secular world has amassed a tremendous marketing campaign to sell the lies of evolution. We should do no less. However, the church today has a slave mentality that places pauper limitations on our resources. Scarcity is the mind of the world system because of death. We do not have scarcity. We have abundant life in Christ. However, we have scarcity when we think like the world and function like the world through the flesh. Abundance is when we let Christ live through us and we follow His will. God has all the resources we need to market Creation Science more effectively if we will follow His leading. The Creation Science community has done so in the area of research, but needs to see Him in marketing. He has a plan to win those whose heart will turn to Him. He knows who will reject Him, many of whom are in the secular scientific community. Let us win the confused lost and build up the body instead!