Big Bang Confessional
This is a a post that I wrote in 2015. After some editing and updates, I am sharing this on Earth Day 2021 in the hopes that we would make space for our differences in theology, and praise God from whom all blessings flow. May we be faithful and earnest stewards of the gifts that we have been given.
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During my first pastorate in Indiana, I had a dear friend and mentor named John. He was a retired minister with an incredible knowledge of God’s word, theology, philosophy, and music to go along with a brilliant machinist and engineering mind.
At first, John was a bit intimidating to me. I imagined him to be one that would take notes on my sermons and refute me on every point. John was a burly man with a loud, booming voice who didn’t have a hard time confronting someone whether it was over incorrect theology, politics, etc.
John and I struck up a good friendship over many breakfast visits. I don’t know if he was just taking it easy on me, but even when he disagreed on a sermon point, he would often hear my rebuttal and then find some way to point out our common ground.
John became one of my biggest supporters while ministering there. He went to be with Jesus in 2015, but I will never forget him and I hope to one day be the same kind of influence on a young minister.
One morning at breakfast, while talking about the wonders of creation, John began to slowly begin a confession, as if I was a priest and the booth we were sitting in was a confessional booth. He was very slow with his words and hesitated to even say it. He confessed that at one point in his life, he vehemently defended a view of creation that believed the earth was 6,000-10,000 years old. He confessed to reading many science magazines and periodicals and had settled on the opinion that the earth was millions of years old, and the universe billions of years old and that there were no inconsistencies with that belief and the creation account in Genesis.
I was expecting a confession of another kind. Something of a darker nature. Something including tears.
He admitted this new theological position cautiously, almost as if he was committing some act of heresy or denouncing Christianity altogether.
I was admittedly relieved that he held such a position because I was beginning to question my own life-long belief that the earth could only be thousands of years old.
I grew up hearing from good and faithful Bible teachers that the only view a Christian could hold concerning creation was one where Genesis chapters 1 and 2 were understood literally.
In High School, I loved biology, and earth and space science classes. On tests, I would write the answer that I knew the teacher was looking for, and then in the margins, write down the “Sunday school answers.”
Honestly, I thought that if I deviated from a belief of a literal 6 day, 24 hour creation period, I would go to hell. That is more of a product of the religious environment and mentality that I grew up around than any individual Sunday School teacher or my parents telling me I would go to hell for such a thought.
John cautioned me about being too vocal about believing in an “old earth” and just preach the gospel.
I couldn’t agree more.
Years later in Bastrop, while teaching the adult Sunday School class, I outed myself as no longer believing that a right view of creation (whether young earth or old earth) is an essential view by which we draw lines of what makes one a disciple of Jesus.
Oftentimes, it is said of those who believe in an old earth, that they can’t possibly take the Bible seriously if Genesis 1 & 2 is not literal. But in truth, the belief by Christians that the earth is millions of years old is not new. The consensus of the church through the ages on this matter is not as conclusive as some would have us believe.
At the end of the day, this is where I stand. Genesis chapters 1 and 2 is about WHO, not HOW.
Let me leave you with this quote from www.biologos.org, a website of committed and faithful Christians who whole-heartedly confess the Lordship of Jesus, his death on the cross, and resurrection while also holding the view that God created the universe and earth over millions and billions of years,
“While Christians differ on their views of the age of the earth and evolution, we all agree on the essentials of the faith: that all people have sinned and that salvation comes only through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We agree that the God of our salvation is the same God we see in the wonders of his creation. Whether we ponder the intricacy of DNA, the beauty of a dolphin, or the vastness of the Milky Way, we can lift our hearts together in praise to the divine Artist who made it all.”
Billy Graham. Remember him? Listen to his words on creation.
“The Bible is not a book of science. The Bible is a book of Redemption, and of course, I accept the Creation story. I believe that God did create the universe. I believe that God created man, and whether it came by an evolutionary process and at a certain point He took this person or being and made him a living soul or not, does not change the fact that God did create man. … whichever way God did it makes no difference as to what man is and man’s relationship to God.”
The Apostles Creed, the earliest statement of belief by Christians that was recited by new Christians before their baptism simply says, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth.” It is the WHO of creation that we believe in and confess. The rest of it, whether young earth or old earth, we can stand back in awe every time that we see Christ in creation. Christ is all and in all. Amen.
I am open to correspondence. Email me at blhitzy@gmail.com for further discussion.
Grace & Peace,
Ben
Sources
Collins, F. S. (2007). The language of God: A scientist presents evidence for belief. New York: Free Press.
http://biologos.org/common-questions/christianity-and-science/biologos-id-creationism