Creation Science Rebuttals

     Summarizing the chapter, Sheppard asks "why has the Bible lost its influence in our culture today?"  I feel this is is mainly due to young earth creationism.  More on that later.

    This chapter in the book is written by Stacia McKeever.  The author says "Sadly, the history as recorded in the Bible has been attacked by a culture that has become increasingly evolutionized and secularized."  I agree, but I see this as a result of young earth creationism.  Anyway, on to the seven C's according to McKeever.

Creation

     Naturally, she claims the earth is only 6,000 years old, as expected.  She claims that life was perfect and not yet affected by the curse, and that thorns were not part of the original creation.  The text of the Bible does not say this.  The text says the ground would yield thorns for Adam.  Unless God started creating again at the curse, the thorns must have already been created.

     It should be pointed out that the Garden of Eden was a separate location from the rest of the world.  There may have been no thorns in the Garden, but outside the Garden, there was thorns, death, disease, etc.  God created the special Garden to give Adam an idea of paradise, to show him what he lost in his sin, and to give us a hope for the future, to return to such perfection.

     She then moves on to the "kind" argument...all created things reproduce after their kind.  An ape reproduces, and another ape appears.  As a progressive creationist, I agree, and have no problem with this in an old earth framework.  Even theistic evolutionists have no problem with this.  Evolution does not happen overnight.  An ape does not reproduce a human in one generation.  It would take many.  Thus, reproducing after their kind is not an issue.

Corruption

     In this section she deals with the Fall of Man.  She says "Adam’s sin ushered death, sickness and sorrow into the once-perfect creation."  The creation was not "perfect."  God said creation was very good, not perfect.  However, from an old earth perspective, it was perfect.  It was a perfectly functioning ecosystem, complete with self-renewal (death/decay/renewal).  It worked perfectly. 

    One could refer to the Garden as being perfect, and this would be the more accurate way to refer to the creation.

Catastrophe

     The catastrophe is the flood of Noah.  As an old earth creationist, I agree with the Flood, and interpret it as a local event, wiping out mankind.  This is even possible with a literal interpretation of the Word.  The flood was universal in its effect (killing all mankind) but local in geography. 

     From other articles on this website and others, it is 100 percent clear that the Flood of Noah could not produce the rock record.  For more, see the series on Stratigraphy.

Confusion

     With confusion she is referring to the confusing of the languages at the Tower of Babel.  No problem here, as old earth creationists can accept this as history.

Christ

     Again, no problems here, as old earth creationists also look to Jesus Christ as our savior.

Cross

     Again, no problems here from an old earth perspective.

Consummation

     The final C word refers to our future in God's kingdom.  Again, no problems for old earth creationism, as we also look forward to God's kingdom.

     The author summarizes by saying "What is needed to combat our society’s evolutionary propaganda? For every Christian to have a worldview based on a proper understanding of the history of the world, as revealed in the Bible."  What she fails to mention is that you can be an Christian, accept an inerrant Bible, and believe in evolution.  Theistic Evolution presents no problems for the believer...no compromise of any doctrines.  It only compromises young earth creationism.

     While I agree with many of the authors' points, they do nothing to argue against old earth creationists.  Aside from the age of the earth, and the local flood, we can fully accept these seven C's of history.