A Response to “What’s Wrong with Progressive Creation?”

 A Response to “What’s Wrong with Progressive Creation?”

 Thomas Allen

    The following is a response to “What’s Wrong with Progressive Creation?” by Ken Ham and Terry Mortenson, which appeared in Grace in Focus, September and October 2015, pages 17-23. The authors argue that the first chapter of Genesis should be understood literally. The Earth was created in six 24-hour days. It was created somewhere between 6000 and 12000 years ago. Also, the Noahic Flood was universal; it covered the whole planet. This Flood occurred around 2500 B.C. (My comments were neither replied to nor acknowledged.)
    If the description in Genesis 1 is literally true, then to be consistent everywhere else that the Bible describes the Earth or Universe must be literally true. Thus, we have a geocentric Earth where the Earth is flat, sitting on pillars, and where the sun, planets, and stars revolve around a fixed, stationary Earth.
    Based upon the following verse the Earth rested immovably at the center of the Universe. Because it was founded and fixed upon pillars, bases, and pedestals, the Earth could not possibly move. Moreover, the sun moves around the Earth instead of the Earth moving around the sun.
    1. Psalm 104:5 (“He founded the earth upon its bases, that it should not be moved for ever.”—alternative translation.)
    2. Psalm 24:2 (“For he hath founded it [the world] upon the seas, And established [or, fixed] it upon the floods [or, streams].”)
    3. Psalm 136:6 (“To him that spread forth the earth above the water. . . .”)
    4. Ecclesiastes 1:4, 5 (“One generation goeth, and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth for ever. The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasten to its place where it ariseth.”)
    5. Psalm 19:5, 6 (“. . . [the Sun] rejoiceth as a strong man to run his course. His [the Sun’s] going forth is from the end of the heavens, And his circuit unto the ends of it [or, to their uttermost parts]. . . .”)
    6. Psalm 148:4 (“Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, And ye waters that are above the heavens.”)
    7. Psalm 104:2, 3 (. . . Who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain; Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the water. . . .”)
    Many Biblical passages describe the Earth as flat, supported by pillars, surrounded by water, and covered by a solid dome. A literal interpretation would lead one to believe that either the Bible is false, and therefore, not inspired, or the facts of science are false.
    The following verses depict the Earth as round and flat and supported on pillars:
    1. Job 9:6 (“That shaketh the earth out of its place, And the pillars thereof tremble.”)
    2. 1 Samuel 2:8 (“. . . For the pillars of the earth are Jehovah’s, And he hath set the world upon them.”)
    3. Psalm 104:5 (“Who laid the foundation of the earth [or, He founded the earth upon its bases], that it should not be moved for ever.”)
    The following verses depict the earth as covered by a solid dome of the firmament supported by mountain pillars:
    1. Job 26:11 (“The pillars of heaven tremble And are astonished at his rebuke.”)
    2. Job 37:18 (“Canst thou with him spread out the sky, Which is strong as a molten mirror?”)
    The following verses depict the earth as surrounded by water:
    1. Genesis 1:6, 7 (“And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.”)
    2. Genesis 7:11 (“. . . were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven opened.”)
    3. Genesis 8:2 (“the fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped. . . .”)
    4. Psalm 24:2 (“For he hath founded it [the Earth] upon the seas, And established it upon the floods.”)
    5. Psalm 148:4 (“Praise him . . . ye waters that are above the heavens.)
    The following verse depicts the Sun, Moon, and stars as fixed or moving across the firmament:
    1. Psalm 19:4, 6 (“Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, . . . His going forth is from the end of the heavens, and his circuit unto the ends of it; and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.”)
    As these passages show the theory that the Earth is flat, supported by pillars, surrounded by water, and covered by a solid dome is easily supported by Scripture. The Bible supports this theory as well as, if not better than, the theory of creation in six 24-hour days, a universal flood, or Adam or Noah as the father of all races of men.
    Moreover, with rare exceptions, every six-day, and most other, creationists, whom I have encountered resort to evolution to explain the origins of the human races. These creationists do not call it evolution, but the description that they give is an evolutionary description, Darwinism. Most prefer the obfuscation of declaring that the races developed from another race instead of the more honest evolved from another race. Either God created the races, or they evolved. These creationists prefer evolution to giving God credit for the origins of the human races. The only real difference between creationist evolution and traditional evolution is that creationist evolution is accelerated (occurring over a few generations) while traditional evolution is gradual.
    Why did God have Noah bring onto the ark dinosaurs, giant mammals, and all other species that became extinct shortly after the Flood?
    Ham and Martinson write that God cannot lie. Yet He created a universe and earth that appear to be much older than a few thousand years. For example, according to universal-flood-six-day creationists, all fossil-bearing sedimentary rocks resulted from the Flood. If so, God has deceived (lied to) us with the apparent age of the Earth being much more than a few thousand years. There are igneous inclusions between fossil-bearing sedimentary rocks that are so massive that more than 100,000 years is required for them to cool.
    Moreover, God does not keep the promise that Jesus makes in Matthew 7:7: “Ask, and it shall be given you. . . .” Therefore, whatever one asks for, he should receive if God and the Bible mean what they say. Yet, cemeteries are full of unanswered prayers. Thus, theologians have developed all sorts of excuses for unanswered prayers, although Jesus tells us that we would receive whatever we ask for — there should be no unanswered prayers. When these excuses are applied to prayers for peace, they make God look like a bloodthirsty warmonger, and prayers for peace look like hypocrites who secretly lust for war. Thus, God is the God of war and not the God of peace as the Bible declares. Furthermore, excuses for unanswered prayers mean that one believes that the Bible should not be taken literally and that God does not mean what He says. Moreover, the truthfulness of the promise that Jesus makes in Matthews 7:7 can be tested in minutes. More often than not, this promise turns out to be a false promise — a lie! Or is the Bible written the way that a good shyster lawyer writes a contract: Grandiose promises made up front are voided by the fine print later. (If I am wrong, prove me wrong.) I suspect this unfilled promise has turned more people off from Christianity than the disputes between science and creation. (V. “Why Elijah Defeated the Baal Priests” for my commentary on prayer.)

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