Comment on Board requests progress reports from LSU administration by Shane Hilde.
The Bible indicates that all life, as we observe it now, originated with the animals that came off of the ark. I believe the account of Noah and the ark is a historical fact.
I disagree that the plethora of species all around the world is a problem for creationists.
Why is it tough to say all life as we see it today originated from the animals on the ark roughly 4,000 years ago? You presume some difficulty that I fail to see.
Lamas and camels are very different from each other and even live on different continents. However, they are able to breed together. Other animals (or plants) that can be mated are zebras and horses; tigers and lions; or even potatoes with peppers.
Based on modern rates of change, new species should quickly loose their ability to interbreed with other species. So modern species that interbreed must have formed recently and rapidly. The question though is how these changes occurred so rapidly. We don’t observe such wide spread change today. Biologists are unaware of any natural process that can create the biological information for such changes.
I believe the Bible may have the answer to this question. We know from the Genesis 1 that God created each animal according to its kind.
Breeders of domesticated animals and plants have known for quite some time that plants and animals possess a great reserve of information that has the potential for great variation. For example, most modern dogs came from a handful of breeds in the 1600s. The range in these dogs is incredible. This variety of information within dogs can be found in other domesticated animals and plants also.
So it makes sense that the non-domesticated animals on the ark would have a similar, more likely greater, resource of information. Thus two cats could very well produce a great variety of cats within a short amount of time (4,000 years).
Evolutionists are working backwards in comparison. They believe organisms evolved from simple to more complex. With this presupposition I can see how it would be difficult to understand how there could be such variety today in only 4,000 years. But God created a huge amount of information within each kind.
So given the four possibilities for animal migration around the world:
1. natural raft
2. Human agency
3. land bridges
4. walking (crawling etc.)
I see no difficulty or challenge to the biblical account of the flood.
How could you possibly calculate how much time would be required for the various animals, plants, insects, and birds to migrate around the globe?
So while it may sound unreasonable for all life as know it to have originated from the ark, on what basis is there reason to be skeptical of this fact? I think your presuppositions about the original of life would have to be different.
Shane Hilde Also Commented
Board requests progress reports from LSU administration
@Bravus: God did speak to them in a language they could understand, and it’s a language we can understand too. Besides, Moses was a very educated man. There is no textual evidence to support the idea that the story of creation that Moses recorded differs from what Adam would have most likely known. The facts of the creation week are set in pretty clear language. There is nothing ambiguous about it other than our lack of knowledge of how it all worked.
But we do know for certain that certain things were created on each day, and that there were six days and that God rested on the seventh day. These are core truths of the genesis account. We’ll have to speculate on the rest for God did not relate the rest.
Board requests progress reports from LSU administration
@Bravus: I think in light of the current controversy this isn’t a bad idea. While it may be missing “literal” or “recent past”, the meaning is implied. Some differ, but for me there is no debate on the meaning of belief six, but due to the confusion others are causing by the absence of certain clarifiers I think it’s a great idea to have a changed.
Keep in mind though that this change, were it to occur, would not be changing the position of the church. It would be making it more clear.
Board requests progress reports from LSU administration
@BobRyan: I must interject. The current discussion is a futile and pointless. Bravus has been upfront about his beliefs and you have been upfront. There’s no need to go back and forth about this.
Recent Comments by Shane Hilde
Elder Graham: “Why I Support La Sierra University”
@MLB: The article was written before Ted Wilson was elected. Despite personally knowing his views on creation from conversations with him, I’m disappointed that he’s taken this long to mention them. Perhaps he has published them else where and I am unaware.
I like what he says here:
As constituents of this union, you deserve accurate information.
That’s exactly one of the reasons Educate Truth exists, because LSU is being dishonest about their biology department.
And they are committed to making whatever adjustments might be necessary to provide the best Seventh-day Adventist Christian education possible.
Really? How can he say that when LSU has done absolutely nothing to address what is happening in the biology classroom? Even their attempt with the biology seminar class was a utter failure.
If his his two goals are all we are to expect then the board will have accomplished virtually nothing. There should be more than respect and support for the biblical creation account. It should be taught and promoted.
If anything happens at LSU to address the situation, it would not surprise me if it was because of out side intervention. The Board isn’t addressing anything.
La Sierra University Continues Deceptive Spin Tactics
Maybe the solution is for two streams of thought to be taught: conventional biology and creation science. Allow the existing professors to teach evolution and bring in creation scientists to teach the latter. That way there is no need to fire anybody or sanction LSU.
What do you think of that idea.?
Sean may give his own answer but I would like to jump and share what I think are some key points in regard to your suggestion.
We’re not dealing with preferences, flavors, likes, or dislikes. The SDA Church believes that what the Bible says is the truth. So when when LSU biology professors “only discuss” (new word from LSU) the theory of evolution as the truth, then we have a big problem. Teaching both world views is not the answer, because it is allowing plurality on a foundation issue. If you don’t stand for anything, you stand for nothing and that’s essentially was plurality boils down to.
The theory of evolution should be taught, but not as the truth. We don’t believe it’s the truth so why would we pay professors to teach it as such.
If the professors do not want to be supportive of the Church in this particular issue by promoting the biblical creation account, then there really isn’t any other alternative, but to fire them or ask them to resign.
Andrews University statement on creation
First of all, we’re not asking that the theory evolution not be taught. You have been misinformed on this point. The problem is how it is presented. They teach it as the truth. This is misrepresenting the church’s postion and contradictory to the Bible.
This statement from the LSU biology department is nothing but misleading and bordering being an outright lie. It boggles my mind how they can claim not to promote the theory of evolution when it’s the only world view that is presented as truth. Absolutely no evidence has been found or presented by LSU that demonstrates that the church’s position is favorably promoted, if at all, in the biology courses taught. Yes, the theory of evolution is discussed, but many times as if it were true. This has been documented for over a year. When the professors believe the theory of evolution is truth and exclude promotion of the biblical world view as being true, then they are in fact promoting the theory of evolution. Unless they can show that they are promoting a recent, literal six-day creation, they are promoting the theory of evolution when they exclude other world views as being “lunatic” like one professor labeled those who believe in the biblical creation.
Keep in mind that many of the biology faculty personally believe in long ages of life on earth and common ancestry. This is not a secret. They also do not believe that Genesis 1 & 2 depicts literal events that occurred in the recent past. This is why we have never seen statements from the department saying we believe and support the church’s position in a recent, literal six-day creation. All they can say is that they believe God the Creator is the source of all life.
This is nothing more than a continuation of LSU’s deceptive advertising practices.
Dr. Geraty clarifies his “Challenge” to literal 6-day creationism
This statement from the LSU biology department is nothing but misleading and bordering being an outright lie. It boggles my mind how they can claim not to promote the theory of evolution when it’s the only world view that is presented as truth. Absolutely no evidence has been found or presented by LSU that demonstrates that the church’s position is favorably promoted, if at all, in the biology courses taught. Yes, the theory of evolution is discussed, but many times as if it were true. This has been documented for over a year. When the professors believe the theory of evolution is truth and exclude promotion of the biblical world view as being true, then they are in fact promoting the theory of evolution. Unless they can show that they are promoting a recent, literal six-day creation, they are promoting the theory of evolution when they exclude other world views as being “lunatic” like one professor labeled those who believe in the biblical creation.
Keep in mind that many of the biology faculty personally believe in long ages of life on earth and common ancestry. This is not a secret. They also do not believe that Genesis 1 & 2 depicts literal events that occurred in the recent past. This is why we have never seen statements from the department saying we believe and support the church’s position in a recent, literal six-day creation. All they can say is that they believe God the Creator is the source of all life.
This is nothing more than a continuation of LSU’s deceptive advertising practices.
Mrs. White: “Don’t send your children to…”
@Adventist in High School: You’re missing the point. The Seventh-day Adventist Church believes that God created the heaven and earth in six days, within the recent past (about 6,000 years). They believe Genesis gives an accurate depiction of this event. So the problem isn’t that our youth are merely being presented with a false theory, it’s that they’re being presented the theory as if it were truth. I would also add that the biblical/church position is not promoted at all, if it’s even mentioned at all.
These professors are taking our money and misrepresenting our faith to hundreds, thousands of students. When an employee finds that he can no longer uphold the beliefs of the institution and teach them properly, he should consider teaching for an institution that is more conducive with his belief system or be fired.
