What are Nazarene Students Being Taught?

Well, those who are or have been students at Eastern Nazarene College (Boston) who came under the teaching of ardent evolutionist Karl Giberson, would not only have been taught evolution as fact, but sadly, probably came under such teaching below which Karl Giberson endorses as the co-president of the BioLogos Foundation:

Belief in a supernatural creator always leaves open the possibility that human beings are a fully-intended part of creation. If the Creator chooses to interact with creation, he could very well influence the evolutionary process to ensure the arrival of his intended result . . . . Furthermore, an omniscient creator could easily create the universe in such a way that physical and natural laws would result in human evolution . . . .

God planned for humans to evolve to the point of attaining these characteristics . . . . For example, in order to reflect God’s Image by engaging in meaningful relationships, the human brain had to evolve to the point where an understanding of love and relationship could be grasped and lived out. God’s intention for humans to have relationships is illustrated in the opening chapters of Genesis, where many fundamental truths about God and humankind are communicated through the imagery of a creation story. After placing Adam in the Garden of Eden, Genesis 2 describes God’s decision to provide Adam with a partner . . . . The Image of God also includes moral consciousness and responsibility. Humans did not have a fully formed moral consciousness prior to the time of Adam and Eve . . . . However, general consciousness must have already evolved so that a moral consciousness and the associated responsibility were possible . . . . When Adam and Eve received God’s image, they had evolved to where they could understand the difference between right and wrong. It seems that Adam and Eve first demonstrated their new moral prowess when, using their free will, they chose wrong by eating from the forbidden tree of knowledge of good and evil. Adam and Eve then knew the difference between right and wrong in a more personal way than before, having experienced the guilt and shame that accompanied their decision (see Genesis 3:1-13) . . . . When Did Humans Receive the Image of God? . . .

We cannot know the exact time that humans attained God’s image. In fact, it may be that the image of God emerged gradually over a period of time. Estimates of the historical time of Adam and Eve are varied . . . . While some literalist interpreters of Genesis argue that God created Adam and Eve in their present form, the evidence of DNA and the fossil record establishes that humans were also participants in the long evolutionary continuum, and God used this process as his means of creation . . . .

We also do not know if humanity received the image of God by the immediate onset of a relationship with God or by a slower evolutionary process. In either case, this development occurred before the fall of Adam and Eve, since moral responsibility and a broken relationship with God are both involved in the story of the fall. Perhaps God used the evolutionary process to equip humankind with language, free will and culture, and then revealed God’s will to individuals or a community so that they might then enter into meaningful relationship with God through obedience, prayer and worship. In this scenario, the evolutionary process is necessary but not sufficient to encompass the biblical teaching on the image of God . . . .

This is just a small amount of the teaching Giberson endorses—certainly not consistent with orthodox Christianity.

Giberson was the co-author recently of an opinion column that appeared on the USA TODAY website and in the print edition. The piece began:

We believe in evolution — and God   Nearly half of Americans still dispute the indisputable: that humans evolved to our current form over millions of years. We’re scientists and Christians. Our message to the faithful: Fear not.

And of course they attack the Creation Museum (and why not Liberty University and Bryan College at the same time?):

“The "science" undergirding this "young earth creationism" comes from a narrow, literalistic and relatively recent interpretation of Genesis, the first book in the Bible. This "science" is on display in the Creation Museum in Kentucky, where friendly dinosaurs — one with a saddle! — cavort with humans in the Garden of Eden. Every week these ideas spread from pulpits and Sunday School classrooms across America. On weekdays, creationism is taught in fundamentalist Christian high schools and colleges. Science faculty at schools such as Bryan College in Tennessee and Liberty University in Virginia work on "models" to shoehorn the 15 billion year history of the universe into the past 10,000 years.’

Oh, and of course, why not bring up the children’s fun area with the small dinosaur model with a saddle so the kids can get their photographs taken (I’ve dealt with this before on my blog) in an attempt to poke fun at the Creation Museum and portray this as some kind of cheesy exhibit—though any observant or thoughtful person knows this dinosaur is not a part of any exhibit and is just a fun place for a photograph opportunity for young children!

What many parents don’t realize is that Giberson (like many others) doesn’t just teach students evolution—it is much worse than that.  Re-read the section above from the BioLogos website—this is just a tiny sample of the incredible attack on the authority of Scripture such teachers are imparting to students while the unsuspecting parents think they are doing a great thing in paying thousands of dollars for the children to be educated in a Christian school—but educated against the Bible!

In the USA TODAY article, Giberson (and Falk) state:  “We have launched a website to spread this good news (www.biologos.org) and — we hope — to answer the many questions those of faith might have…The project aims to counter the voices coming from places such as the website Answers in Genesis . . . .”

By the way, the “good news” includes the statements above from the BioLogos website, as well as such things as:

The Everyman Reading of the creation story provides a very different metaphorical take on the text. This view understands the Fall as an allegorical story representing every human’s individual rejection of God. In this light, the Fall was not a historical event but an illustration of the common human condition that virtually everyone agrees is deeply flawed and sinful. In this view, it does not matter if Adam and Eve were historical figures. Their deeds simply represent the actions of all humans and remind us of this troubling part of our natures.

. . . where did the wife of Cain, Adam’s son, come from? The only possibility is that she was Cain’s sister, but this conflicts with later Biblical commands against incest. Even more problematic are the people whom Cain fears when he is banished from his homeland for killing his brother Abel..is highly implausible that the people Cain fears are also offspring of Adam and Eve; the text certainly does not suggest this. The people trying to kill Cain would have to be his extended family — siblings, nieces, nephews and so on — all united in trying to kill him. Along the same lines, Genesis mentions the city that Cain built and named after his son (Genesis 4:17). Who would populate this city or help to build it?  The scientific evidence suggests a dramatically larger population at this point in history. Recently acquired genetic evidence also points to a population of several thousand people from whom all humans have descended, not just two . . . .”

So, no literal Fall, no literal Adam and Eve—so much for Christianity!  And all people have descended from several thousand people, not just two—which means the apostle Paul in Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15 is wrong concerning the gospel!  And, if that’s the case, then Jesus didn’t even tell the truth in Matthew 19 when he quoted Genesis and built the doctrine of marriage on the literal history in this account . . .

There is so much more on the BioLogos website—I encourage to read all their questions and answers. If you stand on God’s infallible Word, you will be shocked at some of the things you read. The trouble is most people in our churches (and in Nazarene churches where Giberson has a great influence) do not know the reality of what is being taught at these colleges and through the books and websites!  “Giberson has been on the faculty at Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy, Mass. since 1984, where he teaches interdisciplinary honors seminars and the history of science. He is also the director of the Forum on Faith and Science at Gordon College in Wenham, Mass., codirector of the Venice Summer School on Science & Religion and a fellow of the American Scientific Affiliation.”

May God have mercy on us when one considers this is the shocking state of the majority of seminaries and Christian colleges in this nation.

You can read the entire USA TODAY article at: http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2009/08/we-believe-in-evolution-and-god-.html

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying—and pray much for this nation and its seminaries, Christian colleges, and Bible colleges—pray for Christian leaders to stand against the rampant compromise and vehement attack on biblical authority that is a helping to destroy the Christian fabric in this  nation and greatly weaken the church.

Ken