Stumbling Blocks And Foolishness 11-8-09
The source of a great deal of consternation for believers in the Biblical account of creation (called “Young-Earth Creationists”) is radiometric dating, known colloquially as “carbon dating”. From this radiometric dating, we are often given ages of objects (usually fossils or sedimentary rock formations) as being millions of years old. The cause for dismay for Bible-believers is, of course, that if something is millions of years old, then the Earth had to have its origin more than 6,000 years ago. Adding to this is the bandwagon of the compromisers (called “Old-Earth Creationists”) that uses this info to claim “see, we knew the Bible was figurative and not literal!” So we have two groups (who despise each other, by the way) who unite and tell us that the Bible is wrong about creation: the atheists and the “Old-Earth Creationists”.
The atheists look at the world and claim that “things have always been thus” and therefore assume that when they examine the radiometric dating experimental results they can accurately assume that conditions prevalent today have always existed; these atheists we will call the “Greeks”. They believe that there is no God (or that if there is one, that God is not a factor in creation) and thus all creation must have come about through purely natural methods. They also believe that, since those methods are natural, they must be unchangeable laws similar to gravity. They also assume that when they date a rock, the amounts of the isotopes they are measuring (for example: Argon and Potassium) are solely produced by radioactive decay (in this case, Potassium decaying into Argon) and no other forces (such as water leeching Potassium in or out, or Argon gas escaping) are acting upon the equation. It is these assumptions that allow for absolutely hysterical anomalies, such as wood dated by the Carbon method at 45 thousand years old having been buried (and charred by) a lava flow dated by the Potassium-Argon method at 45 million years old!
The “Old-Earth Creationists” believe in science as believed by atheists, and are therefore embarrassed by the Biblical account of creation and so work to redefine the Bible so that their understanding of it is in accord with secular beliefs; these we will call the “Jews”. They want to appear learned and respectable, and they view the Biblical account with scorn and derision. They think, “obviously the Earth cannot be only 6,000 years old, because the rock layers and other evidence tell us it is older.” But it is not the evidence that tells us anything of the sort, but rather it is the secular interpretation of those views that tells us anything about age. The facts are simply facts: there are layers of sediment all over the Earth, containing fossilized remains of animals and plants that once were alive and now are dead. But they (these “Jews”) want to identify with the secular worldview, and so they believe in millions of years and God-directed evolution, heedless of the theological implications (such as death being the result of God’s work instead of the result of man’s sin).
So how do Bible-believers cope with this unholy union? By doing what we do in all situations: look to the Bible.
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength. (1 Corinthians 1:18-25 NIV)
We believe that Christ died for the ungodly, to take upon himself the penalty of sin (death) and to free us to become the Children of God. Christ did not go to the cross to defeat God’s plan! But if you believe (as the “Jews” do) that God directed evolution, then millions of years of death existed (such as several mass-extinctions) because God made it so! No, the Cross remains a stumbling block for the new “Jews” just as it was for the old. And as for the “Greeks”, they are the same in viewing it as foolishness. But for us, those called by God, the Crucified Christ is still the wisdom and power of God!
-Charles Peterson