I was reading the results of a recent LifeWay Research survey in which 1000 American Protestant pastors were asked whether they believe that man is the product of creation or of evolution. They were also questioned as to whether they believe Adam and Eve are literal people, and whether or not the earth is approximately 6000 years old. This approximation of the age of the current earth can be arrived at by using a series of genealogies and life spans as recorded in the Bible.
This report really got my attention since those questions speak to how much pastors believe what the Bible says. Of course, I can’t address all three of these issues in the space I normally devote to a blog post. If you want to, you can click on the link above and read the results of the entire survey. I will limit my discussion to the subject of creation and evolution.
In the survey, the pastors were asked to respond to this question: “I believe God used evolution to create people.” To this statement, 73 percent of pastors disagree, 64 of them strongly disagree and 8 percent of them somewhat disagree. Twelve percent somewhat agree that God used evolution, another 12 percent strongly agree, and four percent are unsure.
Did I mention that those who were surveyed are American Protestant pastors? That means they are men and women who preach and teach the Bible. What they believe about the Bible greatly influences what their followers believe. Furthermore, all reputable versions of the Bible give but one explanation as to how the human race came about or how our world came about.
“In the beginning God created the heaven, and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). That’s the very first verse of the Bible. And every other passage in the Bible that addresses how our world came about is consistent with that very first verse of the Bible. Moreover, "God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them," the Bible declares" (verse 27).
Even though, according to the results of the survey, 73 percent of pastors either strongly agree or somewhat agree that God created people, I still see the message of the survey as unsettling. The findings speak to the authority—or the lack thereof—many pastors attribute to the Scriptures. And based on the survey, 27 percent, more than one out of every four American Protestant pastors, do not believe God created people or are unsure—even though the Bible repeatedly says He did!
According to the survey, about one in five pastors agree that most of their congregation believe in evolution. But—only about a third of pastors teach on creationism and evolution more than once a year. So there’s the catch 22: People need to hear about creationism in order to believe it, but pastors must believe it before they will preach it.
Copyright ©2012 by Frank King. All rights reserved.
3 comments:
The evolution theory is an irrational falsehood, zealously embraced by atheists, that is a phony conclusion of the 600+ million year fossil record. There is no “valid supporting data” for evolution. In a court of law, or in a public forum, the same evidence that evolutionists would use to try to “prove” the validity of that theory, I would utilize to reveal the truth of Genesis. In order to believe in evolution, you have to purposely ignore certain facts of reality. For example, when you see illustrations of primates being pictured as evolving into humans, it can be shown in a court of law that such a premise is impossible, because certain human and primate traits are different, and could not have ever been shared. The only “common ancestor” that humans and primates share is God Himself.
Current Creationism has refused to teach the truth of the Genesis text, and either teaches foolishness (young Earth), or false doctrines (non-literal reading of the text). Creationists thoughtlessly try to prove “Creationism”, rather than seeking and teaching the truth of Genesis. How can an untruth, ever prove another lie, to be in error? You can’t do it. That is why Creationism fails. It essentially is also a lie, and should be discarded, even by Bible believers.
The correct opposing view to evolution is the "Observations of Moses", which conveys the truth of Genesis chapter one.
Those that imply that God used evolution are infidels at worse, or clowns at best, that refuse to learn the truth of Genesis. The truth has been available for more than 18 years. Such a discussion is currently silly, and shows stubbornness against learning the truth of God's Word.
There are no "creation stories" in Genesis. In fact, about all of theology and creationism have no idea what Moses was writing about. You can't simply take an advanced book of math or science, and try to read from it on your own without personal instruction.
For example, Genesis declares that mankind has been on this Earth, in his present likeness, for more than 60 million years. The "male and female" in Genesis chapter one was not "Adam & Eve". Has modern science discovered that yet?
Herman Cummings
ephraim7@aol.com
Herman,
Thanks for reading my post and for your thought-provoking comment. You are right on it; we don't need to waste our time trying to teach on and explain creationism. We just need to declare what the Bible says, which is that God created the heavens, the earth, and all that is in them.
Blessings,
Frank
Yes, but we need to go much further than that. The truth of Genesis explains the 4.6 billion year history of Earth. Both "young Earth" and "old earth" creationism do not address that issue, along with Intelligent Design..., which is inept and a waste of time.
People must learn the truth about Genesis chapter one, not the junk that Creationism teaches.
Herman
ephraim7@aol.com
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