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5/23/89
Evangelical Beacon
To the Editor:
Because you printed Dr. Lindquist's "Creation: We Do Not Have All The Answers Now..." (5/15/89) to balance a previous article, it may seem inappropriate to continue the discussion. Yet there are more answers "now" than Dr. Lindquist indicates.
Creation/evolution is a critically important area of Satan's attack on the gospel and yet warm hearted Christians may disagree on the nature of the issue. Satan gains both from error and from discord. Therefore we must speak the truth in love, recognizing that we are members of one another but that there there is a right and a wrong side to the question.
Evolution has made atheism seem intellectually respectable. Yet Paul writes in Romans 1:18-20 "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to
them. Ever since the creation of the world His invisible
nature, namely His eternal power and deity, has been clearly
perceived in the things that have been made. So they are
without excuse; for although they knew God they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened." (RSV)
To state that naturalistic evolution may be the way God created the universe would make Paul and the Holy Spirit liars because the unbeliever could say, "You postulate a God, but I find the concept unnecessary." How would Paul fortify young minds against this attack on their faith? I think he would show how the truth is being suppressed.
I was a Theistic evolutionist until I began to really examine the data and discovered that the scientific evidence clearly
favors creation. There is design in life that cannot be
accounted for by chance. I was anxious to share this information with scientific colleagues, both believers and
unbelievers. To my astonishment, most just brushed off my
arguments. They could not really answer them but basically
ignored them.
It is understandable that an atheist would find it difficult to muster intellectual honesty to recognize the fallacy underlying his world view. To be precise, it would take a miracle of the Holy Spirit to break down the walls of deception around him.
But why do Christians fail to acknowledge these matters? It
is my conclusion that the strong anti-supernatural bias of the scientific and academic establishments makes it nearly impossible for an outspoken maverick to rise in the ranks. There are good examples of degrees withheld from creationists,
and of positions and tenure denied. I have felt some of this persecution but as an M.D. I am not completely dependent on the good will of the academic community for my livelihood. Still,
it appears that some warm hearted Christians have taken on protective coloration to survive, and then feel obligated to defend that view.
Am I accusing Dr. Lindquist and others of dishonesty? It is not deliberate when it occurs. I have been guilty of it myself and realize the difficulty of detecting one's own blind spots.
Much evidence has been uncovered since Dr. Lindquist was first troubled as a college student by the conflict of science
and faith. In addition to the unassailable arguments from
probability and thermodynamics, a detailed consideration of the fossil record does not favor evolution. There are also many bits of data that devastate scientific orthodoxy and therefore are ignored or given feeble explanations that sound reasonable only to superficial examination. The presence of fossil pollen grains in the lowest levels of the Grand Canyon has been
rigorously reconfirmed by the Creation Research Society. This
destroys the evolutionary timetable, yet it has not been given
attention by the mainstream scientific community. These
referees control the flow of information to most of the public who then conclude there is no case against evolution.
It took me longer in my own pilgrimage to see the evidence for a young universe than to see the case for creation, yet it is there in force. Some items are: the presence of comets (the "Ort Cloud" is an imaginary construct to produce a fresh supply of these slowly evaporating bodies), the presence of space dust, the pressure of oil in the rocks (it would have oozed out in millions of years, the shrinking sun with no evidence of nuclear fusion and all of its power output accounted for by gravitational shrinkage, not to mention the radiohalos described by Dr. Robert Gentry in his book, Creation's Tiny Mysteries.
There are also special problems with the "broad minded view" for the Bible believing Christian. For if Theistic evolution is
true, then death entered the world before sin. It would be
necessary to spiritualize a number of key Biblical doctrines.
I challenge Dr. Lindquist and other like minded dear brothers and sisters in the Lord to examine their own hearts as well as the evidence that is not available in the orthodox scientific literature and have the courage to change their stand where necessary and to acknowledge the truth whatever the cost.
In Christ,
Ross S. Olson MD
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