October 1963

PUBLISHED IN THE INTEREST OF AN EXCHANGE OF IDEAS BY THOSE WHO ARE CONCERNED WITH SCIENCE DEVELOPED FROM A FRAMEWORK IN HARMONY WITH A CONSERVATIVE VIEW OF THE BIBLE

This Newsletter is being mailed from Caldwell, Idaho. There is no subscription price. Contributions for expenses are welcome. It is our desire to distribute this Newsletter to whomever it will be helpful.

    RESPONSE IS GOOD
Response to the first Bible-Science Newsletter was good. Our thanks to those who sent in ideas or contributions. Many also sent in names, and addresses for our mailing list. A re-run of the first exchange was made to supply the demand. We shall try to keep faith with those who have so graciously supported this venture.

A letter was received from John C. Whitcomb Jr., who together with Henry Morris published the "Genesis Flood" in 1961. He has also prepared some excellent Bible Charts, giving the chronology of the Bible. These may be obtained by writing to him in Winona Lake, Indiana. Mr. Whitcomb is professor of Old Testament at Grace Theological Seminary.

Also writing was Mr. Walter Baden, a Lutheran school principal at Hanover, Kansas who has done extensive graduate work. He believes he qualifies for membership in the Christian Research Society.

He indicates the difficulty of being too definite on the genealogies. Using Usher's chronology he believes the Ice Age was between 2347 and 2342 B.C. He is preparing a paper on "Movements of the Earth, Including Movements of Air, Water and Ice" which we are anxious to read. University instructors have told him "You, as an elementary school teacher, go ahead and speak out against unscriptural and unscientific evol-ution. You have nothing to lose, but I, as a college professor can't afford to take this chance."

Strong encouragement has come from Dr. Walter Lammert, chairman of the Christian Research Committee.  In its last issue, the Lutheran Layman gave publicity to the Christian Research Committee.

Dr. Wm. J. Tinkle, secretary of this committee, commented on Mendel's Laws, indicating how Mendel in his lifetime received little credit, but now is being proved completely right. Tinkle finds much value in Nelson's book "After Its Kind". He sent a list of names for this exchange.

Fred Meldau of Denver sent a book "We Believe in Creation and Not Evolution" which we think is tremendous. It contains much research and gives a wealth of sound material with which to combat the uniformitarians.
We also heard from the Rev. Paul Otten of Hill City, Minnesota and from the Rev. Ken Filler of Delhi, Ontario, Canada, who also sent in names for the exchange. We received enthusiastic support from the Rev. Walter Sylwester of Everett, Washington. His father was formerly president of Concordia College at Portland, Oregon, and his son is doing graduate work at Stanford.

The Rev. Carl Hoffmeyer of Hamler, Ohio sent a list of names. The Rev. R. Goetjen of North Hollywood, California wrote to say he does not believe there are sound arguments for any kind of ice age. He feels the expression of the sun standing still in "Joshua" could be God accommodating Himself to man's way of thinking.
Word was also received from Dr. Faulstich of Los Angeles; from William C. Wright of West Allis, Wisconsin; from Willis Webb of El Paso, Texas; from Carl W. Linsemann of Midland, Michigan.

In the future we will not mention all names as it is our intention to make this an exchange of ideas to help us in promoting science from a completely Biblical framework. We are open to suggestions to help us to this end.
 

    A STUDY OF GENESIS 1:1
Because much of the conflict in Bible-Science relations centers around Genesis I we feel a study of this chanter will be helpful. We begin a verse by verse study and invite comments and opinions.

Some place "in the beginning" of verse 1 in the construct state in the Hebrew because there is no article. They translate "in the beginning of God's creating heaven and earth, then the earth was without form and void" etc. This more easily allows for a pre-world which some wish to find in it. This is not a natural translation and makes the sentence of unparalleled length. Since it is in its own class, the word needs no article. The Hebrew word comes from the derivation of "head" and means "at the beginning". The creation of time can be found here. The value of time is stated in Ephesians 5:l6 where it speaks of "redeeming the time".

The word for create comes from the root of "divide" or "cut". Here it clearly means to make something out of nothing and is so used in the Old Testament as in Genesis 1:27; 5:1; 6:7; Isaiah 43:1,15; Jeremiah 31:22; Numbers 6:30; Isaiah 65:18; Eccl. 12:l. We distinguish it from the Hebrew word for "form" or another one for "make".

The word for God is "elohim" and is in the plural. The verb "create" is in the singular. This indicates more than a mere majestic plural. It is a reference to the Trinity. The word itself seems to come from a stem meaning "be mighty" and refers to God as the Almighty One. We note the revelation of God in science does not reveal the Trinity, as Fred Meldau so aptly Points out, it cries at every step that there is a Designer, an invisible God, Who is powerful (Romans 1:20). It takes the Bible to teach us the Trinity and in the first three words of the Bible the Trinity is mentioned.

The word for "heavens" is plural. It has the accusative sign and is the accusative of product and not the accusative of material. In II Corinthians 12 we read Paul is caught up to the third heavens. We might think of the sky above us as being the first heaven, space as being the second heaven, and space to us seems limitless, and the third heaven is the spiritual heaven. The word has an article making it definite. It may seem infinite to us, but it is not infinite in itself as God is. The word derives from a root meaning "to be high".

The word for "earth" comes from a root of "being dry". It also has the article and the reference is to something definite. It means not only the dry land but the entire globe.

This verse militates against the uniformitarians who find that things now evident were made by laws now observable. This verse points out that God was before the world and made the world by laws which are not now observable. Even time had to be created by God as "in the beginning" shows.  Use of the word "create", to make something out of nothing, points out what we call special creation, to make something by processes we cannot now observe in our scientific observations.

We notice from the first verse of the Bible which in Hebrew contains only five words the attitude a Christian scientist should have. God reveals many things in nature, including the fact there is a God and that He is invisible and powerful. Only the Bible offers us the Trinity and salvation. Yet, what the Bible says which bears on science, is completely correct and reliable.

    BIBLIOGRAPHY
We direct you to books which treat science from the viewpoint of the Bible. These do not compromise with the uniform-itarian idea. We give you a list of some of these books, hoping our readers will evaluate them and send us more titles. We are making arrangements with our local bookstore to carry the better bocks and tracts and give us permission to take them out on consignment. We hope to do a little to counteract the vast amount of material which promotes crass evolution.

Here are some titles:

THE GENESIS FLOOD  by Henry Morris and John C. Whitcomb - Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, Nutley, New Jersey - We think this is a sound work and within the framework of Scriptures.

WHY WE BELIEVE IN CREATION, NOT IN EVOLUTION by Fred John Meldau -published by Christian Victory Publishing Company, Denver, Colorado. This contains a tremendous amount of information, showing the need of a Creator, a Designer, a God.

WITNESSES AGAINST EVOLUTION  edited by Fred John Meldau, with articles by others. This booklet may be obtained by writing Mr. Meldau in Denver, Colorado. It summarizes the wealth of material in Meldau's larger book.

WHY I ACCEPT THE GENESIS RECORD   by John Raymond Hand - published by Trawler, Oglesby, Illinois  (Also available in tract form.)

DARWIN, EVOLUTION AND CREATION
by Paul A. Zimmerman, now president of the Junior College, Ann Arbor, Michigan - Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, Missouri (paperback) Various authors contributed to this - it is very good.

A CATECHISM ON EVOLUTION   by Paul A. Zimmerman - also by Concordia Publishing House. A good tract for distribution.

THE FLOOD   by A.M. Rehwinkel, formerly of Concordia Seminary, now exchange professor in Brazil - Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis (paperback). Published in 1951, it is somewhat dated, but still good.

GENES, GENESIS, AND EVOLUTION  by J.W. Klotz, professor of Science at Concordia Senior College, Fort Wayne, Indiana - also published by Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis. This is dated 1955 and is good.

MODERN SCIENCE IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE by J.W. Klotz -Concordia Publishing House

CHALLENGE OF THE SPACE AGE   by J.W. Klotz -Concordia Publishing House (paperback)

CREATION, FACTS, THEORIES AND FAITH by Theodore L. Handrich, Lutheran school principal at Glencoe, Minnesota - Moody Press. Published in 1953. It is rather exhaustive and makes quite a contribution especially in the Bible genealogies.   It lists many compromising theories, but takes a sound position itself.

EVOLUTION, CREATION AND SCIENCE by Frank L. Marsh - Review and Herald Publishing Association, Washington, D.C.  Published in 1947. The author distinguishes between species and kind, and makes a parallel between the scholasticism of the Middle Ages and evolution today. He claims evolutionists have wasted generations looking for missing links. His own creation creed sets the age of the world at six thousand years, one kind cannot develop into another of itself, there have been thousands of changes and mutations within the kinds, that our present varieties come from a few kinds which were housed in the Ark, that the Flood explains many things which evolutionists claim took millions of years.

HOW DID THE WORLD BEGIN,  and
Q.E.D. OR NEW LIGHT OF THE DOCTRINE OF CREATION EVOLUTIONARY GEOLOGY, and
THE NEW CATASTROPHES - all by George McCready Price - the first two published by Fleming Revell of New York in 1942 and 1917.  The last published by Pacific Press, Mountain View, California in 1926. Price has many fine arguments, as usable today as ever.

AFTER ITS KIND by Byron C. Nelson - Augsburg Press in 1927. The author stresses that Mendel's Law destroys evolution. He is opposed to the compromise of some Christian scholars.

CAN THE SCIENTIST OF TODAY BELIEVE IN GENESIS I?  by Bernhard E. Keiser and the Lutheran Research Society, North Arlington, New Jersey. This is a mimeographed booklet. It is good.

THE PRIOR CLAIM - GOD OF THE ATOM - GOD OF CREATION - WINDOWS OF THE SOUL - DUST OR DESTINY - CITY OF THE BEES - HIDDEN TREASURES - MYSTERY OF THREE CLOCKS - RED RIVER OF LIFE - TIME AND ETERNITY
These are two-color booklets published by the Moody Science Institute, Los Angeles, California. These accompany their science films. Good for distribution.

FLYING WORMS - 1946 ; THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION AND THE FACTS OF SCIENCE - 1960; MODERN SCIENCE AND THE GENESIS RECORD - 1962 by Harry Rimmer.  Wm. B. Eerdmans, Publisher. Rimmer is a stimulating lecturer and his books are easy reading. He understands his subject and knows how to point up the weaknesses of the evolutionary theory.

In the first book the illustration of a worm becoming a butterfly is used. In the second he shows the weakness of evolution in biology, embryology, in paleontology, and the fatal deceptions in the various missing links. The last book is very complete. Rimmer, though staying with the Bible in general, finds a pre-world between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2.
 

    BIBLE-SCIENCE FILMSTRIPS
It has been our privilege to purchase nearly all of the Moody Bible-Science filmstrips which have now been taken off the market. Since they are no longer available on the market, we offer them on loan to those who care to use them. We can also supply a tape recording to accompany them. There is no charge, but again we rely on offerings to defray expenses.

The following are available:

HOUSE OF CLAY   Describing the wonders of the body (eye, ear, hand and heart)

ON THE BEAM   Describing the wonders of migratory birds, such as pigeons, plovers, and tern.

FLYING WONDERS    Describing wonders of the radar system of the bat.

FISH OUT OF WATER   Describing the grunions and how amazingly they lay eggs on the beach at the right hour for tide.

BACKYARD MYSTERIES    Describing wonders of flowers opening, seed growing, of photosynthesis of plants and trees growing toward the light.

EVERYDAY TREASURES    Describing wonders of salt crystals and other crystals, of stalactite and stalagmite.

INVISIBLE MIRACLE    Describing wonders of snow and rain.

GOD OF LITTLE THINGS    Describing Colpidia, Rotifer, Parmaecea, Amoeba, Volvox, Halizoanes, Diatoms, and the mining of Diatoms.

GOD'S BUILDING BLOCKS    Describing the atom.

POWER UNLIMITED    Describing atom blast, geiger counter, power in a glass of water, cyclotron, destruction of atom blast at Bikini,

FISH THAT TALK    Describing underwater life such as turkey fish, seahorse, eels, octopus, sunfish, a hydrophone and underwater sound.

BUSINESS IN GREAT WATERS    Describing various kinds of boats, fishing, skin diving, benthoscope, microorganisms in the sea.

GOD IN OUR GARDEN   Describing a worm (caterpillar) turning to butterfly.

DESERT TREASURES    Describing tiny desert flowers and how they fit the desert.
 

    GENEALOGIES IN THE BIBLE
Walter Baden has this to say about Bible genealogies:

"The genealogies of Genesis 5 and 11 are not necessarily a bibliography of time or a chronological time table. As proof, the omission of Cainan in Genesis 11 is generally given. Luke 3:36 lists Cainan. The listing is taken from Genesis 11, as given in the Septuagint, a translation written before Christ and approved by Him. By what authority may we cast doubts on the accuracy of Genesis 5 and 11, when Genesis 5 and 11 are so specific on the dates of birth and of death of whichever patriarch is listed as the representative of the next generation?

"Galatians 3:17 is very specific about the time from the covenant of circumcision made with Abraham until the giving of the law 430 years after. True, the martyr Stephen speaks of 400 years (round numbers, a common practice even in Bible days) of bondage while Abraham's seed sojourned in a strange land. Genesis 15:13 supports Stephen in the matter of 400 years of affliction in a strange land. Exodus 12:40 again is specific when saying 'Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was 430 years'. Clearly this 'who dwelt in. Egypt' was not thoroughly understood by readers of the Hebrew rendition of Exodus, or God would not have permitted the Greek Septuagint to add the words, and in the land of Canaan, following 'who dwelt in Egypt', to be picked up again by Paul as he by inspiration of the Holy Ghost wrote his letter to the Galat-ians (Gal. 3:17). The Bible is very specific that Abraham sojourned - owned no property in Canaan, except the burial plot. Neither did Isaac own property. Although Jacob claimed ownership of several pieces of land, the Bible tells.of his difficulties to hold titles thereto.

"Acts 13:20 gives us 'about the space of 450' from the possession of Canaan to the end of Judges (Samuel). I Kings 6:1 is precise, 'And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the Children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord.

"From the time of Solomon forward historians don't argue much about historical dates, because the Bible has so much supporting evidence from other written historical books and documents . ....

"From the listing of names and historical periods in I Chronicles 2 it is difficult to prove any positive genealogy. It appears that names in a family may have been repeated, or that there were multiple marriage unions, difficult to place in any specific order of genealogy.

"Joseph is credited with eleven generations during this 215 year period - by Nelson. I Chronicles 7:22-27."
 
 

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