God willing I will be a guest on the Knowing the Truth Radio Progam on Tuesday 17th November.
The host Pastor Kevin Boling will be asking me about the issues raised in the book Risking the Truth: Handling Error in the Church. You can get more details here. The broadcast is at 1pm Eastern Time, so that's 6pm here in the UK. There is also a phone in during the show.
By all accounts it is the most listened to Christian Talk Radio Program in the South East US and recent guests have included R.C. Sproul, Albert Mohler, D.A. Carson, J.I. Packer, Jerry Bridges, Joel Beeke, Ligon Duncan, Steve Lawson, Russell Moore, Richard Phillips...
4 comments:
...and now Martin Downes!
That's scraping the bottom of the barrel for you!
You might say that, MD. I couldn't possibly comment.
Mr. Downes,
I called into the radio station today. Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to discuss your book. Kevin is a very gracious host! His show is very popular.
How is it that you can write a book on how to deal with heresy and not deal with the hottest of hot buttons in the church today: origins. It would be hotter, but too many pastors, professors and bloggers shy away from it. How did this one slip through the editorial cracks? Is it because "the scholars" think the issue is settled, so discussion closed?
I am curious. Have you read any of the following books:
1. The Genesis Flood by Drs. Morris and Whitcomb
2. Scientific Creation by Dr. Henry Morris
3. H.C. Leupold's Commentary on Genesis
4. The Genesis Record by Dr. Henry Morris
5. In Six Days edited by Pipa and Wortman
6. Refuting Evolution 1&2 by Dr. Jonathan Sarfati
7. Refuting Compromise by Dr. Jonathan Sarfati
8. Coming to Grips with Genesis edited by Mortenson and Ury
9. The Great Turning Point by Dr. Terry Mortenson
10. The Battle for the Beginning by Dr. John MacArthur
These are arguably ten of the "must reads" for young-earth creation and refutations. In college and in seminary I had to read very many of the "old-earth" materials.
I've been at this for 30 years. It has been my experience that old-earth creationists are very uninformed (ill-read) or misinformed on the issue. Mostly, it's been uninformed.
When you say that the length of the days is not essential, nobody believes you. "The scholars" know its critical mass exegetically and epistemologically. You can't just pick up with the creation of Adam as essentially historical and dismiss everything prior as secondary or non-essential. We know it in the pews. Sadly, the unbeliever in the street has more "faith" in Genesis 1-11 than the run-of-the-mill Reformed theologian, professor and pastor.
When will the "suits" in our seminaries and colleges figure it out?
What about the flood of Noah? Was it global or regional? Are the details of the flood of Noah not essential to the gospel? Jesus, Peter and the writer of Hebrews thought the details were essential. Old-earth creation, by definitioin, runs counter to a global flood. What do you do with the evidence of animal death in the fossil record which supposedly occurred before the Fall? Must we explain away the flood, as well?
So, in an effort aimed at not risking the truth, I ask:
#1. What books from the list (or others, if none from the list) have you read that explain and promote literal, Biblical creation?
2. What do you do with the flood of Noah? Global or local? Does it account for most of the fossil record and present geologic features?
3. How do you deal with aniimal death before the Fall?
4. When were Adam and Eve created? How do you deal with the supposed antiquity of man in the fossil record?
Sadly, very few Chrisitan old-earth creationist theologians and scientiss discuss these issues. Even fewer are willing to engage in a civil fashion and in an open forum. Why is that, you reckon?
Zealous for the Truth,
Jon O. from the USA
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