July-August 1964
Special Creation Literal Interpretation of the Bible Divine Design and Purpose in Nature A Universal Noachian Flood Christ; God and Man; Our Only Savior This Newsletter distributed to those who request it -- Also in Bulk. It is financed by contributors. -- Walter Lang, Grace
Lutheran Church, Caldwell.
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FINE DISTRIBUTION
The last issue of the Bible-Science
Newsletter received the largest distribution to date. Of the 4,000 copies
printed, about 900 were mailed individually. Nearly all of the rest were
distributed at the following conventions of the Lutheran Church -Missouri
Synod: Southern Illinois District, Northern Illinois, Ontario, Indiana,
Ohio, Western, South Wisconsin, Northwest, English, Eastern, and Alberta-British
Columbia. Copies were also distributed at the convention of the Evangelical
Lutheran Synod.
We thank all those who helped in the distribution. There was fine response from the Praesidium of the Missouri Synod and from presidents of the various Districts. Dr. Oliver Harms attending the Northwest District convention at Portland, Oregon, June 22-26, stated that he and the vice-presidents agreed with every word of Dr. Zimmerman's essay delivered at that convention. This essay was strictly creationist. Favorable reactions were noted from presidents of the Oklahoma, Southern Illinois, Southern Nebraska, Indiana, British Columbia and Alberta Districts. Dr. A. Nitz, a vice-president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, has strongly supported both the Newsletter and the Creation Research Society.
At the Northwest District convention in Portland we noticed that each copy of the Newsletter distributed on the first morning at each desk, was picked up and kept. None was tossed away.
We are beginning to have a wider distribution in libraries. Some libraries have asked for the Newsletter and many individuals have asked that the Newsletter be mailed to certain libraries.
BIBLE-SCIENCE
INSTITUTE IN LOS ANGELES
Negotiations are in progress between
the Southern California Lutheran Men and the Bible-Science Newsletter staff
to develop a Bible-Science Institute in the Los Angeles area. Spokesman
for the California group is Mr. Paul Haekstedde.
According to present plans, the Institute will be held November 9-13, at six different locations. Lecturers will go from location to location so that each location will have a different lecturer on each of the five evenings. Locations being considered are:
ALHAMBRA - Emmaus First Lutheran
Parish Hall
SAN FERNANDO - First Lutheran Church
ANAHEIM - Zion Lutheran Parish
Hall
INGLEWOOD - Good Shepherd Lutheran
Church
SAN DIEGO - Trinity Lutheran Church
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES - Church of
the Open Door
The following lecturers have been engaged:
Dr. George Howe, biologist
- Westmont College, Santa Barbara, California. "God Created
Plants". Slide lecture.
Professor Wilbert Rusch, M.S. -
Concordia Junior College, Ann Arbors, Michigan. "Science and the
Bible''.
Dr. Walter E. Lammerts, geneticist,
now retired. He will return from a four-month plant tour throughout
the Pacific in time for the Institite and will speak on the subject
of Mutations and God's Power.
Clifford Burdick, M.S., geologist
- Tucson, Arizona will speak on "Geology and the Bible".
Dr. Bolton Davldheiser, biologist
- Biola Institute of Los Angeles, speaking on Evidences of God in
Biology.
The Rev. Walter Lang of Caldwell,
Idaho speaking on "Genesis One and Two". This will be illustrated with
slides.
At times there will be two lecturers
in one evening. There will be a registration charge. All persons
in the Los Angeles area will want to reserve these dates. We feel this
Institute will be a success as was the Institute held in Caldwell,
Idaho last January at which Dr. Paul Zimmerman was the lecturer.
THE CHRISTIAN AND SCIENCE
by Dr. Paul Zimmerman
The essay was divided somewhat like this: Proper Areas of Activity for Science and Theology, Verbal Inspiration, What Evolution and Creation Do and Do Not Say, Theistic Evolution, Genesis Creation Account Compared to the Babylonian and Other Creation Accounts, Is the Genesis Account Poetical?, The Gap Theory, Progressive Creation Theory, The First Man from the Viewpoint of Paleontology, Can We Create Life and Scientific Theories of Origin of Life, A Consideration of the Terms "kind" and Creation "days", A Discussion of the Age of the Earth, Various Methods of Dating the Age of the Earth.
Proper Areas
of Activity for Science and Theology
First of all Dr. Zimmerman shows
that those who think the Bible can no longer be accepted literally because
of the advances of science, generally understand, neither science nor the
Bible. Science must be limited "in its investigations to the things that
are physical, the things which can be observed, measured, and subjected
to experimentation. Science has no way of dealing with the supernatural,
whether that includes the miracles reported in the Old and New Testaments
or the activities of evil spirits or whatever supernatural affairs may
be referred to in Scripture".
Zimmerman goes on to show the Bible does have something authoritative to say on origins. He quotes Dr. Stanley Beck from Dialog who says that evolution of the Darwinian type is proven as fact. Of this he says: "Actually Mr. Beck is making a statement which is more in the realm of propaganda than of scientific fact. It is not true that human evolution is no longer in contention. It is not true that evolutionary theory has been demonstrated experimentally".
Verbal Inspiration
Here Dr. Zimmerman points out that
some people today claim the Bible is not inspired in every word, that it
is full of errors, that its view of the world and its origins was borrowed
from myths. Because of the influence of theories of science, we have a
real problem.
What Evolution
and Creation Do and Do Not Say
In this section Dr. Zimmerman shows
there is change, there is change within the kind, and from species to species.
This might be called legitimate evolution. He indicates that what is often
called micro-evolution and the doctrine of creation are about the same.
When we speak of macro-evolution, where there is evolutionary change from
kind to kind, we find conflict. He points out the neo-Darwinian theory
of evolution is no proven fact. He quotes Dr. G.A. Kerkut of England and
a Swedish botanist, Heribert Nilsson, who show the weaknesses of this theory.
He continues by quoting Dr. Walter E. Lammerts and Dr. J.J. DeWitt of the
Republic of South Africa. He then indicates how the Bible states man was
perfect and degenerated and how Darwinian evolution has man evolving from
a lower level and gradually developing his moral responsibility.
Theistic Evolution
"Theistic evolution is the entire
evolutionary theory modified only by insisting that God was behind the
process and used evolution as his means of creating." Zimmerman quotes
Dr. Kirtly Mather in "Science Ponders Religion": 'When a theologian
accepts evolution as the process used by the Creator, he must be willing
to go all the way with it. Not only is it an orderly process; it is a continuing
one. The golden age for man - if any - is in the future, not in the past
... Moreover, the creative process of evolution is not to be interrupted
by any supernatural intervention". He then shows how theistic evolution
is against our confessions and against the Bible.
Genesis Creation
Account Compared to the
Babylonian
and Other Creation Accounts
In this section Zimmerman shows
the vast difference between the Babylonian and the Biblical accounts and
how the Biblical account could not have been derived from the Babylonian.
The Genesis account states God created matter; the Babylonian account
claims matter is eternal. In Genesis God speaks, and it is so.
In the Babylonian myth, chaos opposes God. The Babylonian account is heavily
polytheistic. The stars are gods. Genesis is strictly monotheistic.
Genesis has seven days in its account. In the Babylonian account seven
occurs merely as the number of tablets on which the story is written. Finally,
in the Babylonian 'Enuma Elish' epic the purpose is clearly to prove the
world belonged to Babylon, Marduk, the city god, displaces Ea, the god
of wisdom, as creator.
Is the Genesis
Account Poetical?
This is the common contention of
neo-orthodoxy today. Zimmerman has a good bit to say on this point.
He admits there is poetry in the Bible, even in Genesis, but this does
not make it less factual. He speaks of the anthropomorphisms present in
Genesis One and Two and quotes Dr. Ed. J. Young: "The words 'and
God breathes' may be termed anthropomorphic, but that is the extent to
which the term may be employed. The man was real, the dust was real,
the ground was real as was also the breath of life. To these elements of
the verse the term 'anthropomorphism' cannot legitimately be applied."
He further quotes Young: "For that matter even the presence of figurative
language or schematic arrangement taken by themselves do not warrant the
conclusion that the days were not chronological".
Zimmerman shows that Roman Catholic
scholars can allow for evolution, though not all do. They speak of
the parallelism of the days; where day one deals with the creation of light
and may be much longer than twenty-four hours; where day four deals with
light bearers that parallel to day one; where day two deals with the firmament
and the dividing of the waters and day five is parallel and deals with
the filling of waters by animal life; and where day three deals with dry
land and day six with the filling of dry land with animals and man. He
then shows how this parallelism does not hold out. This does not prove
the account is Poetical, because Hebrew poetry is poetical.
Young is further quoted to show
that characteristics of Hebrew poetry are lacking in Genesis One and Two;
that the story is divided into paragraphs, not into Hebrew poetical strophes,
that these two chapters are a prelude to a severely historical book which
is labeled geneological. Young concludes this is sober history.
The Gap Theory
Dr. Zimmerman also spends
some time speaking on the gap theory which says that the world was first
made in Genesis 1:1, then destroyed with the fall of angels, Genesis 1:2,
and then restored in six days in Genesis 1:3. He states that the proponents
of this theory generally are good Bible scholars, they believe in verbal
inspiration and in the days of creation as being twenty-four hours. Zimmerman
himself does not accept the gap theory.
Progressive
Creation
Zimmerman also distinguishes between
the theistic evolution theory and progressive creation. Progressive creation
allows the millions of years and development from one cell. It contends
God created from time to time, when necessary, but over long periods of
time. It answer to this he shows how vital the doctrine of creation is
to the entire Bible and how often the Bible refers to it as stated in Genesis
One and Two, hardly allowing any of the long periods of time the progressive
creationists demand. Dr. John Klotz is quoted to the effect the proposition
that two individuals were selected out of a race of anthropoid humanoids
to become the first man and woman is not at all satisfying scientifically
nor is it indicated in any way in the Book of Genesis whether Genesis is
regarded as poetry or as prose.
The First
Man from the Viewpoint of Paleontology
Here Dr. Zimmerman goes into discoveries
in East Africa and quotes from J.J. DeWitt and from William Laughlin in
SCIENCE magazine to show that no matter how far back we go, we still have
man, Homo Sapiens. There is change, there is variation, but man is always
man.
Can We Create
Life? Scientific Theories of Origin of Life
Here Dr. Zimmerman is on home ground
as chemist. He demonstrates that it is virtually impossible to create life
because of the tremendous complexities in the cell, in the genes, and acids
which form the basis for the cell and life. He indicates we can take the
components of a virus and somewhat restore it. Viruses are not life cells,
but rather feed on them. This is still a long way from creating life.
A Consideration
of the Terms "Kind" and "Days"
The difference between species
and kind is shown. There can be development of species, and scientists
generally point to this to try to prove evolution of kinds. Kinds remain
fixed. If kind meant species, Noah's ark could not have held the hundreds
of thousands of species of various types of animals and birds. However,
it could have contained all the kinds.
Of "days" Zimmerman says: "Moreover, interpreting these days as periods of time does not really solve the problem. For the plants come before the sun, and vegetation precedes animal life. Neither of these factors fit into an evolutionistic scheme". He shows the natural meaning of "day" to be twenty-four hours; that evening and morning fixes this as twenty-four hours, that the use of a cardinal number as first, second, etc. in the Bible is always a day of twenty-four hours. Exodus 20:11 also fixes these days as twenty-four hours.
A Discussion
of the Age of the Earth
On this point Zimmerman states
we should insist the earth is a young earth, but we should not try too
hard to fix an exact age. He says the Bible does not fix exactly the age
of the earth and neither should we. He himself does not place the limit
at a specific figure. He indicates some of the problems with genealogies
upon which basis Ussher fixed the date of 4004 B.C.
Various Methods
of Dating Age of Earth
A good bit of time in his essay
was devoted to the various radioactive methods of dating the earth. He
explained their processes and showed how they vary and how little we know
what God actually put into the world when He made it. Since these processes
are used widely today to support an old earth, we should be familiar with
the processes and their weaknesses.
Conclusion
In conclusion Dr. Zimmerman indicates
we should know the weakness of science, know the Bible does not tell us
everything, that faith in the Bible and in Christ should not be shaken.
There is an excellent bibliography at the end of the essay.
CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AS AFFECTED
BY
EVOLUTIONARY THEORY SINCE
1859
This is a class paper written by John Ellingson. This Newsletter assisted him in finding sources. 1859 is the date when Darwin published his "Origin of the Species". The material is divided into that which rejects evolution, that which reconciles to it, and that which accepts it.
These works
reject evolution:
Bettex - "The Six Days of Creation"
(1924)
Wm. Bryan - "In His Image" (1922)
Francis Brunner - "The Evolutionary
Theory ... Unsupported ..." (1900)
Jessie W. Gibbs - "Evolutionary
and Christianity" (1930)
Theo. Graebner - "Evolution: An
Investigation and a Criticism" (1922)
John Klotz - "Genes, Genesis and
Evolution" (1955)
Meldau - "Why We Believe in Creation,
Not in Evolution" (1955)
Henry Morris - "The Twilight of
Evolution" (1963)
Byron C. Nelson - "After Its Kind"
(1952)
George McCready Price - "The New
Geology" (1913)
A.M. Rehwinkel - "The Flood"
(1951)
B.N. Watts - "The Incomparable
Book" (1946)
Whitcomb and Morris - "The Genesis
Flood" (1961)
Zimmerman - "Darwin, Evolution
and Creation" (1959)
Ellingson
lists the following works as attempting
to reconcile
Christianity with evolution:
Barth - "Dogmatics in Outline"
(1959)
Beecher - "Evolution and Religion"
(1885)
Bixby - "The Crisis in Morals"
(1891)
Derlodot - "Darwinism and Catholic
Thought" (1922)
Dwight - "Thoughts of a Catholic
Anatomist" (1912)
Goldsmith - "Evolution or Christianity,
God or Darwin" (1924)
Grebstein - "Monkey Trial"
(1960)
Hodge - "What is Darwinism?"
(1874)
Lever - "Creation and Evolution"
McCosh - "The Religious Aspect
of Evolution" (1888)
Mixter - "Evolution and Christian
Thought Today" (1959)
Mivart - "On the Genesis of the
Species" (1871)
Nogar - "The Wisdom of Evolution"
(1963)
0'Brian - "Evolution and Religion"
(1932)
Richardson - "The Bible in an Age
of Science" (1961)
Woodrow - "Evolution" (1884)
Wright - "Some Analogies Between
Calvinism and Darwinism" (1880)
Zahm - "Evolution and Dogma"
(1896)
The following
are listed by Ellingson as accepting evolution:
Abbott - "The Evolution of Christianity
(1892)
DeChardin - "The Divine Millieu"
(1960)
DeChardin - "The Phenomenon of
Man" (1959)
Darrow - "Through Science to God"
(1925)
Drummond - "Natural Law in the
Spiritual World" (1884)
DuNouy - "Human Destiny"
(1947)
Fiske - "Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy"
(1874)
Frothingham - "Religion of Humanity"
(1872)
Gray - "Natural Science and Religion"
(1880)
Hauret - "Beginnings: Genesis and
Modern Science" (1955)
Johnson - "What is Reality?"
(1891)
Lack - "Evolutionary Theory and
Christian Belief, the Unresolved Conflict" (1957)
Messenger - "Theology and Evolution"
(1949)
Munger - "The Freedom of Faith"
(1904)
Powell - "Religion as a Factor
in Human Evolution" (1895)
Savage - "Evolution and Religion"
(1886)
Shailer - "Contributions of Science
to Religion" (1924)
Smyth - "Old Faiths in New Light"
(1879)
Storr - "Development and Divine
Purpose" (1906)
White - "A History of the Warfare
of Science with Theology in Christendom" (1897)
(The on-line presentation of
this issue and those
following contain only excerpted
sections and contents.)
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