How Adventists Became Creationists
Adventists and creation go together like jam and bread, but things were not always this way.
Adventists and creation go together like jam and bread, but things were not always this way.
Christians believe in the biblical creation described throughout the Bible, yet a great need exists to be better educated about the creation. In response to this need, and also to share the creation with those not yet Christian, the North Pacific Union Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America (NPUC) has initiated a Creation Study Center outreach service. This center is led by…
Published in Jiří Moskala, ed., Meeting with God on the Mountains: Essays in Honor of Richard M. Davidson (Berrien Springs, MI: Old Testament Department, Seventh-day Adventist Theological Society, Andrews University, 2016), 683-718.
Since its establishment in 1863, Adventism has believed in biblical protology, but valued both the positive outcomes of the Enlightenment and Scriptural authority. The purpose of this essay is to trace how Adventists have maintained their belief in biblical protology since the inception of the church.
In the contemporary scientific academy, as is well-known, the word “creationism” derisively refers to a worldview irrevocably rejected by the secular scientific community in general. What may be less well-known is that there are contrastive worldviews generally subsumed under the term “creationism.”
Creation and Sabbath provide key rationale for the continued necessity of earth care. In the biblical theology of conservation, we cannot dismiss care for animals and care for the environment by reasoning that the earth will eventually be “burned up” (2 Pet. 3:10). All living creatures are co-inhabitants on the earth, and as they also depend on its ecosystems for survival, the Bible holds humankind responsible for the preservation of the earth and the care of all living creatures.
Why would a creationist be interested in science, when the dominant voices in science deny any divine action in nature? Published in Origins, n. 63.
The last few years have shown that there are a number of views on creation within the Adventist Church. Not all of them can be right. Should theistic evolution become more and more accept ed, we will be in danger of losing the biblical foundation for the Sabbath and our understanding of salvation.
The world is not divided into the good creationists and the bad evolutionists. Many scientists have never had opportunity to see reasonable alternatives to a materialistic evolutionary process. Many scientists, though convinced by the evidence for evolution, are unwilling to give up on God and/or are searching for some meaning in life. Do we want to draw these people to us or drive them away?
Darwin’s view of God is contrary to the biblical view of God and should give Christians pause before buying into Darwin’s naturalism and attempting to wed it to the supernatural in a theistic evolutionary synthesis.
This paper examines exegetically the Hebrew text of the biblical Creation story, paying close attention to its sounds, rhythm, words, syntax, literary structure in relation to its parallel text, and its literary genre and style, without ignoring its literary extrabiblical environment. Published in Origins n. 55.
Creationism is a robust paradigm, fully capable of undergirding the scientific enterprise in the new millennium. Wider acceptance of creationism by the scientific community in the future will depend, in part, on how well theologians can convince scientists of the priceless value of revealed information.
Seventh-day Adventist schools and colleges were founded by a church concerned to provide an education that did not alienate its children from their Biblical beliefs and Christian worldview. I believe that Adventist educators must become evangelists for Biblical theism.
How can a teacher present Christian values to students. Can a Philosophy of Science teacher reveal Christ in an enviromnent of academic pressure, secularism, and an indifference to the Christian worldview?
The purpose of this paper is to identify and assess five elements of a Christian philosophy of science implied in the verse "worship Him who made the heaven and the earth, and sea, and the springs of waters" (Rev 14:7) which is so central to mainline Seventh-day Adventist theology.
The doctrine of Creation occupies an important place in Seventh-day Adventist message and mission. The reason for this is twofold: First, Adventists believe in a fiat Creation; and second, they are committed to the proclamation of the three angels’ message of Revelation 14.
Long ago, the Psalmist recorded a gem of inspiration: "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands." Nature calls us to recognize its Creator and nature invites us to probe its mysteries. Within the context of that call and that invitation, there need be no conflict between biblical Christianity and science, between faith and reason. A scientist can indeed be a Christian.
A review of the book, Abusing Science: The Case Against Creationism. The book gives responses to criticisms of evolutionary theory by creationists, and presents several criticisms of creation theory. Published in Origins v. 12, n. 2.
This book is one of the few recent attempts to present both sides in a logical, understanding manner so the reader can be informed on the issues, regardless of the position for which he opts. Published in Origins v. 5, n. 2.
Review of the book, The Creation-Evolution Controversy. This may be the best comprehensive treatment of scientific creationism that has become available prior to mid-1977. Published in Origins v. 5, n. 2.