Week Five – Critical Essay Reaction Paper
Kimberly Willis
Eastern Nazarene College
CP325 – Epoch Making Events in Science
BAM 067
October 7, 2014
Critical Essay Reaction Paper The debate over evolution and creation is ongoing, and the author of I Love Jesus & I Accept Evolution, Denis Lamoureux’s views, are very much part of this very long debate. Over the last twenty years he has wrestled with these origin issues and has had just about every position on the spectrum, from atheistic Darwinism, to young-earth creationism, to progressive old-earth creationism to his current position of evolutionary creationism. As the title of his book indicates, his aim in, I Love Jesus & I Accept Evolution, is to show that evolutionary creationism is not just a rational view, but ultimately the only reasonable position for Christians who are committed to the Bible and the natural world. Evolutionary creationism is the belief that the Christian God used evolution to create life on Earth. This theory says that God designed the natural processes that guide evolution, and provided Mankind with a soul. Contrary to fears of many Christians, evolutionary creationism is not incompatible with Christianity. It does not rule out the existence of an Adam and Eve, the Fall of Man, or the need for the saving power of Jesus Christ, because according to evolutionary creationism, the creation story in Genesis was not intended as a literal account of Earth's origins, but only to illustrate the fact that God created the world.
Lamoureux’s claim that God created the world does not compel us to any particular view about how God created it. It does not prove or disprove that creation is compatible with evolution. Lamoureux is concerned that most evangelicals combine scientific views with biblical errors and in so doing creates an unnecessary obstacle to accepting evolution. His leading claim is that the Bible itself rejects scientific views, thus giving the impression that his main concern is for us to submit ourselves to God’s Word. In reality his argument is that the Bible makes numerous scientific assumptions and statements that we now know to be false. Nevertheless, this does not make God a liar, Lamoureux insists. We need to take an “incarnational approach” to the Bible, recognizing that God accommodated his revelation to the “ancient science” of the biblical authors. In his wisdom, God chose to use outdated scientific ideas to express his “Messages of Faith”.
His statements raise many questions. What about original sin? If Adam never existed than obviously no human could have inherited a sinful nature. Are Paul’s accounts in the bible false? They offer both a clear theological explanation for universal human sinfulness and a profound parallel between Adam and Jesus. Are these accounts purely mythical?
If God is the creator of all things then God surely would understand science and all things involved. Why then did he decide to explain his stories in error of scientific facts? I am not convinced
