It’s about authority
In an article called 4th Down by David Harris, I read an interesting snippet, which I think is relevant to this thread. The article discusses the new changes to Wednesday night dorm worship at LSU, formerly called Rendezvous–now 4th Down. According to the article, Matt Burdette and James Murdock do a majority of the speaking at 4th Down. Harris makes reference to some controversial comments that were made by Burdette and Murdock:

Two miscommunications from the messages have arisen this quarter. The first happened during week one when J. said that he wanted to abandon the idea of being Seventh-day Adventists and become Seven-day Disciples. Murdock did not want to totally abandon the SDA faith. He just didn’t want people getting stuck in the mentality that worship is solely for Sabbath.

The controversy with Burdette involved the statement, “I don’t believe in the Bible. I believe in Jesus.” Matt did not mean to say that the Bible is not relevant or true; he was just saying that we should not put our faith in a book.

We’re not given any context for Burdette’s comment, so all I have to go off of is what is printed here. We wouldn’t know anything about Christ’s life without the Bible. The Gospel is would not be if it weren’t for the historicity of the Bible. The spiritual truths of the Bible are intricately linked with the events it depicts. Harris’ commentary isn’t very helpful either. I won’t attribute his reasoning to Burdette, but Harris’ explanation doesn’t do anything to bolster Burdette’s comment. I agree we shouldn’t put our faith in a book; however the Bible is not just a book. It was inspired by God.

It is this type of mentality that I think is becoming increasingly pervasive at LSU, especially amongst a few of the religion professors. Some say it isn’t inspired, others say it is. I would wager though that their view of inspiration would differ considerably from the church’s or even what the Bible teaches.

My point is there appears to be a chasm in our church about the authority of the Bible in relation to our lives and reality.

I can understand why Michigan Conference and Central California Conference do not recruit pastors from LSU.

It’s about authority
@Sean Pitman: I believe God gave us reason. In fact I would go so far as to say that if the biblical world view were not true, we would not expect there to be laws of logic. It is only under a biblical world view that laws of logic are possible. The same goes for uniformity in nature and absolute morality.

However, our own reasoning can only lead us so far. This is where the Bible plays important role because it gives us context. The Bible is self attesting. So I believe we have to accept it presuppositionally.

I’ll give Zacharias’ quote some more thought, but initially I don’t accept his assertion. Remember, the argument is not “The Bible is the Word of God because it says it is.” Rather, the argument is “The Bible is the Word of God because it says it is and any alternative leads to absurdity.” The Bible claims to be the ultimate standard by which all truth should be measured. The law of non-contradiction is based on the self-consistent nature of the biblical God (2 Tim. 2:13). The Bible cannot contradict itself. If it does, then it is self-refuting and thus implodes on its claims.

Islam and Mormonism both endorse the Bible (or at least portions of the Bible), but then they contradict it. For example, the Koran teaches that Jesus is not the Son of God (Surah 4:171), but was merely an apostle and that He was not crucified (Surah 4:157). This clearly contradicts the gospel accounts, yet the Koran endorses the gospel of Jesus (Surah 3:3).

The Bible provides lots of internal evidence for it’s claims, but also provides lots of opportunity to verify its claims externally.

If he’s trying to argue that we need reason, then I agree. To me this goes without saying. If we could not reason, we could not make sense of the Bible. If you’re only point was we don’t have to accept the Bible on blind faith, I agree. The evidence merely confirms the Bible though and does not prove the Bible. Otherwise the Bible would no longer be the ultimate measure of truth as it claims it is.

It’s about authority
Who or what is informing our interpretation of the Bible? When I come across evidence that appears to support an old-earth, do I reject what the Bible says in order to make it fit with my interpretation of the data?

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.