WASC information removed

By Educate Truth Staff

Our original intent in publishing Larry Blackmer’s comments about WASC from March 7 at the Michigan education summit was to give encouragement to members that a leader was taking a stand for truth. We thought it commendable Blackmer said such things as Adventists have a right to teach Adventist values in their universities. However, it has come to our attention this information has caused much friction in Elder Blackmer’s work as Vice President of Education for the North American Division.

We want to support the Seventh-day Adventist leadership as much as we can, so we have removed the transcripts that were previously posted.

11 thoughts on “WASC information removed

  1. I have been following up on the current and recent situation with the teaching of Evolution (Macro) there at La Sierra. I have become more convicted to solidify within our students the need to seek out Biblical truth for themselves. Let them in their early years read God’s Word daily and develop a strong relationship with Him so when during their college years they are confronted with views contrary to what is said in God’s Word, they will not be afraid to confront it and meet it head on.
    I also teach Biological Sciences here at Monterey Bay Academy and show my students the wealth of Scientific evidence that support Intelligent Design. There is a wealth of Evidence in Nature that support not only the existence of God but how He created life with the intent for variation and complexity. Darwin himself said, ”If it could be demonstrated that any complex organism existed which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down.” Darwin had no idea of the complexity that exists within a living cell. Today we do. There are a number of chemical pathways that in turn cause a cascade of events to take place for cells to build key components. Tiny machines as Dr. Micheal Behe has discovered that is unlikely to have been put together by tiny successive events but was designed by a Designer. If one part of the machine is not there, the machine would not function and would render that part useless to the organism.
    The fossil record does not show evolution but extinction. It clearly displaces many of the animals away from the ecologies they lived in. Fossilization came about from rapid burial as in the case of a flood or landslide where details of facial expressions of fear have been captured in rock. Or where the act of one fish eating another.
    Another question that I ask is, “Is the age of the rocks the same as the age of those animals found in these rock layers”? How is it possible then to find soft tissue in a number of the fossils that are said to be millions
    of years old. Or how do scientists explain the trunk of a tree running through several layers of coal seams each radioactively tested to be millions of years apart.
    As a Seventh day-Adventist Christian I believe that God created the Earth and the life in it in 6 literal days! No human was there to observe the event as it unfolded. To say that it took a vast amount of time for life to evolve on our planet goes against the core of our belief in God’s Word. It is the root or foundation of our church. And brings to question the existence of God. If it took millions of years for the described first week of creation to occur then the issue of Sabbath as a Holy day becomes obscure. God does communicate obscurity but is precise and concise in His communication with us. Instead, words so clear as, “And the evening and morning were the first day…etc” clarify beyond any doubt what took place during creation week.
    There was a NSTA seminar that I attended in Philadelphia which was entitled, “Creation vs. Evolution will the controversy ever end”? I attended this seminar was given a chance to speak. I said that this controversy between evolution and creation will indeed end, when you see Jesus Christ coming on the cloud to gather His children from the four corners of the Earth. From Adam to this present generation all will know that God is Creator of all, “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him”.
    It is my job then as a Science teacher to teach what evolution is defined as and then to equip students with evidences that support the Biblical account of Creation. So no matter what university my students attend they will not be afraid to challenge this theory of macroevolution and be themselves founded upon God’s Word.

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  2. This is the revised version of what I submitted yesterday…
    I have been following up on the current and recent situation with the teaching of Evolution (Macro) there at La Sierra. I have become more convicted to solidify within our students the need to seek out Biblical truth for themselves. Let them in their early years read God’s Word daily and develop a strong relationship with Him so when during their college years they are confronted with views contrary to what is said in God’s Word, they will not be afraid to confront it and meet it head on.
    I also teach Biological Sciences here at Monterey Bay Academy and show my students the wealth of Scientific evidence that support Intelligent Design. There is a wealth of Evidence in Nature that support not only the existence of God but how He created life with the intent for variation and complexity. Darwin himself said, ”If it could be demonstrated that any complex organism existed which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down.” Darwin had no idea of the complexity that exists within a living cell. Today we do. There are a number of chemical pathways that in turn cause a cascade of events to take place for cells to build key components. Tiny machines as Dr. Micheal Behe has discovered that is unlikely to have been put together by tiny successive events but was designed by a Designer. If one part of the machine is not there, the machine would not function and would render that part useless to the organism.
    The fossil record does not show evolution but extinction. It clearly displaces many of the animals away from the ecologies they lived in. Fossilization came about from rapid burial as in the case of a flood or landslide where details of facial expressions of fear have been captured in rock. Or where the act of one fish eating another.
    Another question that I ask is, “Is the age of the rocks the same as the age of those animals found in these rock layers”? How is it possible then to find soft tissue in a number of the fossils that are said to be millions
    of years old. Or how do scientists explain the trunk of a tree running through several layers of coal seams each radioactively tested to be millions of years apart.
    As a Seventh day-Adventist Christian I believe that God created the Earth and the life in it in 6 literal days! No human was there to observe the event as it unfolded. To say that it took a vast amount of time for life to evolve on our planet goes against the core of our belief in God’s Word. It is the root or foundation of our church. And brings to question the existence of God. If it took millions of years for the described first week of creation to occur then the issue of Sabbath as a Holy day becomes obscure. God does NOT communicate obscurity but is precise and concise in His communication with us. Instead, words so clear as, “And the evening and morning were the first day…etc” clarify beyond any doubt what took place during creation week.
    There was a NSTA seminar that I attended in Philadelphia which was entitled, “Creation vs. Evolution will the controversy ever end”? I attended this seminar and was given a chance to speak. I said that this controversy between evolution and creation will indeed end, when you see Jesus Christ coming on the cloud to gather His children from the four corners of the Earth. From Adam to this present generation all will know that God is Creator of all, “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him”.
    It is my job then as a Science teacher to teach what evolution is defined as and then to equip students with evidences that support the Biblical account of Creation. So no matter what university my students attend they will not be afraid to challenge this theory of macroevolution and be themselves founded upon God’s Word.

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  3. BTW there is a really good site for on-line videos by Genesis believing scientists. It is http://www.nwcretion.org go to the Education pull down menu, Media, video, On-line It is an awesome site. Some material better than others. The older stuff even allows you to download their power points to use yourself. Very helpful for teachers and preachers and parents.

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  4. It seems mighty strange that a stand for truth, as you indicate Blackmer took, should be a cause for controversy in his circle of colleagues and supervisors. It’s very unfortunate that such action can occur within the SDA circle. What’s going on here?

    Liberal leaders seem to have the ability to say whatever they want and the more truthful statements from others cause grief. Why?

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  5. @Bob Nobuhara:

    It is my job then as a Science teacher to teach what evolution is defined as and then to equip students with evidences that support the Biblical account of Creation. So no matter what university my students attend they will not be afraid to challenge this theory of macroevolution and be themselves founded upon God’s Word.

    And for that we give thanks to God.

    We have seen a number of other SDA university faculty and friends post that this is exactly what Adventist science professors are doing.

    How sad then that the atheist-centric doctrines on origins so basic to the junk-science religion of evolutionism would ever be taught as “the right answer” by ANYONE in our SDA universities. Even one faculty member doing so would be very out of character with this denomination’s stand on this subject.

    in Christ,

    Bob

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  6. Our original intent in publishing Larry Blackmer’s comments about WASC from March 7 at the Michigan education summit was to give encouragement to members that a leader was taking a stand for truth. We thought it commendable Blackmer said such things as Adventists have a right to teach Adventist values in their universities. However, it has come to our attention this information has caused much friction in Elder Blackmer’s work as Vice President of Education for the North American Division.

    Blackmer may have been trying to have it “both ways”. He wanted to affirm LSU (as he stated in one of his “I find no problem with LSU” statements) and at the same time he wanted to affirm actual Seventh-day Adventist parents and students who he said “had the right” to expect Adventist education to support the Bible doctrine on origins and not the atheist-centric doctrines on origins found in evolutionism.

    As we all know – there is no “middle ground of neutrality” on that subject. One cannot affirm LSU’s science program (that is overtly dedicated to evolutionism as the right answer), or the explicit endorsement of evolutionism coming from their religion department’s Fritz Guy – – and at the same time applaud the fact that we are getting new science texts books that dump the pandering to evolutionism and admitting that SDA parents and students have the right to expect consistent Adventist belief supporting education.

    One or the other can be true – but both agendas at the same time is a self-conflicted strategy that would only appear plausible in the realm of politics.

    It would be nice to know which of Blackmere’s two positions he was getting pushback on.

    in Christ,

    Bob

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  7. @Bob Nobuhara

    Would you please post links to the research or articles concerning the phenomenon (specifically the one about the tree trunk running through several layers of coal dated millions of years apart)?

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