Divided We Fall

                                                                                            Divided We Fall

By Allen Epling

Christians today are overwhelmed by the abundance of terms used to describe what began as a simple movement 2000 years ago. As a result of the attack of science on religious doctrine and beliefs begun 200 years ago, Christians have reacted, not as a group unified, but fragmented into a myriad of different outlooks competing with each other over the method to combat the science community, which they see as atheistic and bent of destroying their faith.

There are the YEC's, (Young Earth Creationists), OEC, (Old Earth Creationists), Theistic Evolutionists, Preterists, Amillennialists, Premillennialists, Postmillennialists, Extreme Right Fundamentalists, Conservative Theistic Evolutionists, Intelligent Design, and many others, all thinking they have the correct way to look at the Bible. I was recently called a "semi Theistic Evolutionist, semi Old-Earth Creationist. I don't know whether that was good or bad.

My point here is that we are bickering about terms and theology when the enemy is surrounding the camp.

Science has always been my favorite subject of study from my earliest recollection, yet it has never caused me to waver in my faith in God and His Word. I have heard strong arguments from the extreme left against a belief in God, based on science, but I have always been able to counter those arguments with better science and the fact that all arguments against God's existence are based on outdated, centuries old physical science that looks for Him in the physical realm, when He is spiritual.

I am very encouraged by the latest developments in fields of science that show that there is room for unexplainable "effects" that would have previously been classified as "supernatural". No one in science can offer an explanation for Quantum "entanglement" which defies the laws of physics as we know them, or deny the existence of other "universes" and "extra dimensions" predicted within String Theory. All of these signal to me that science, true science that seeks only the "TRUTH", is coming closer to confirming the Bible as God's Word.

We cannot fight against Truth using arguments that are outdated and proven to be misinterpretations of the original Bible, the Hebrew Bible as presented to Moses by God. This is the 21st century and Christians are going to have to recognize that we haven't discovered all there is to know about God , OR His Word. There is still much room for growth and understanding. We can stay in the fight against atheism by using the same tools against them that they have used in their arguments against the existence of God. There are ways of interpreting the Bible that fit with what we know to be true in the world of science.

Just because someone discovers evidence that something that we believed since childhood, and was taught to us in Sunday School, is not exactly correct, doesn't mean that the existence of God is threatened. It means that we were incorrect in how we read His Word and need to change that view.

That is not CHANGING THE BIBLE.

The problem is that just because someone lacks the imagination to see an alternative meaning to a passage, we assume that one doesn't exist. There are always alternatives if we look for them, that will preserve our faith and prove that God was right all along. This was amply demonstrated when Christians were faced with the "shocking" realization 2 centuries ago that THE EARTH WAS ROUND, NOT SQUARE!

The problem is that there are so few who look for those alternatives, and so many who want to go on trying to change other Christians instead of changing the world as Jesus called us to.

For the book from which these thoughts were taken, visit

http://www.beyondgenesis.com