JD Greear, Christianity Today & the Six Day Apocalypse

J.D. Greear is the pastor of The Summit Church in North Carolina and the President of the SBC.  He was recently on an Ask Me Anything (AMA) podcast hosted by Matt Love.  Unfortunately, Greear waffles on the First Six Days:

I know godly, biblically faithful theologians who believe in the inerrancy of the Bible and who think that the timetable of Genesis 1 was not a literal week (which, by the way, isn’t a new interpretation, but is a position that has been around since the first few centuries of Christianity).

He mentions Augustine in the podcast.  Augustine actually held to a young earth.  In general, the Early Church Fathers held to creation in six days and a young earth. [1]

Thankfully, Greear opposes theistic evolution (Theo-Evo).  One wonders if he has read Theistic Evolution: A Scientific, Philosophical, and Theological Critique by Moreland and Meyer et al.  One chapter by Christopher Shaw is on "Pressure to Conform Leads to Bias in Science."  I think many preachers are influenced by the culture more that Scripture.

The Summit Church has this on their "Beliefs" page:

We believe the Bible to be God’s Word, a true and fully accurate account of God’s love for us. Its purpose is to teach us how to have a relationship with him, worship him, and bring him glory.Psalm 19:7-10; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21

Is it not loving that the Lord gives us a day of rest?

For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy (Ex. 20:11, cf. Ex. 31:16,17).

Both Muslims and Jews agree that the earth is younger than mainstream science claims.  The traditional Jewish calendar states that Creation Week was 5780 years ago. [2]  Maybe Greear should read Is a Young Earth Possible? to get the deep info that favors a youthful planet.  

Where does the apocalypse come in?  That's the slippery slope - once church leaders compromise on Genesis, this often leads to other errors.  Harold Lindsell was at one time the editor of Christianity Today and died in Laguna Hills in 1998 (I've been there).  His book The Battle for The Bible exposed the trend towards theological liberalism.  Lindsell took a very strong stand for the Historical Adam.   

Who's the editor of Christianity Today now?  Daniel Harrell is, former senior minister at Colonial Church (MN) and before that the pastor of the famous Park Street Church in Boston.  Here's Harrell's conclusion on the creation/evolution controversy:

The Bible says six days, but there's no way that's right unless astrophysics and geology are patently false.  ...The scientific evidence is too strong in evolution's favor to reasonably deny its occurrence.  You can refuse to believe it, but that still won't make it untrue any more than denying God exists proves that he does not exist.

Harrell even wrote a book supporting Darwin - Nature's Witness: How Evolution Can Inspire Faith (2008).  Yet, in a talk in 1992 at Park Street Church, he admitted that evolution can't be proven and went further to say that Darwinism is not strictly science since it can't be disproven either.  Did Harrell's position on origins evolve?  He even mentioned Phillip Johnson, the father of the Intelligent Design (ID) movement in a positive light.  Johnson seems to lean towards the young earth view and has visited the Creation Museum in Kentucky.  Has Harrell done the same?

Now let's look at the theological connection.  Park Street Church has a very streamlined "Statement of Faith" including points on the Father, the Son and the Spirit, the authority of the Scriptures, salvation by grace through faith etc.  In contrast, Colonial Church has "Five Core Values" where we find this ...          

Immerse in Sacred Spaces & Rhythms: There are places, traditions and particular practices of faith and worship wherein we tangibly encounter the holy and living God.  Regular immersion in such places and practices forms and reforms us in line with the good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:1-2).  In these transcendent places and moments, we experience realties larger than ourselves and realize the fullness faith in Christ makes possible.

Jesus surely favored a youthful world ... shouldn't that end the argument (Mk. 10:6, Mk. 13:19, Lk. 11:50,51)?  Please check out TotalYouth.us for more powerful young earth evidence. 

   >>  for Total truth, support earth's Youth  <<

Notes:

1) Coming to Grips with Genesis ed. by Terry Mortenson and Thane Ury (Master Books, Green Forest, AR, 2008), pp. 23-51.

2) Is a Young Earth Possible? by Jay Hall (Institute for Catastrophism and Tectonics - iCAT, Big Spring, TX, 2019), p. 339.