The Chicago Statement, ICBI, Walter Bradley & Henry Morris (Pt. 2)

The inerrancy movement led to the Chicago Statement generated by the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy (ICBI).  To get the background read Part 1.

Walter Bradley, former Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M, wrote a very influential paper “The Trustworthiness of Scripture in Areas Relating to Natural Science” which abandons Creation In Six Days (CISD), Young Earth Science (YES) and the Global Flood.  Unfortunately, Bradley claimed in another work (Three Views on Creation and Evolution) that bacteria death is a problem for traditional creation.  Not so, as Andrew Kulikovsky explains:

However, this is a straw-man argument. To be frank, it is common courtesy to learn what people actually teach before criticizing them (but to be fair, the choice of creationist spokesmen might not have given him the chance, at least as far as the book was concerned). The major creationist organizations like Answers in Genesis and the Institute for Creation Research have never taught that plants, microbes or individual cells didn’t die before the Fall, but only nephesh (soul) creatures.

Our review of Three Views on Creation and Evolution can be found here.

The companion book to the Chicago Statement on Hermeneutics was Hermeneutics, Inerrancy, and the Bible (1984).  In that book, Bruce Waltke states, "... many Evangelicals err egregiously against the text [Gen. 1:1 - 2:3] by reading it as a scientific treatise. ... it is not history in the proper sense of that term because no man was present to record the events at the time of creation." [1]  This is not a real stumbling block for Orthodox Protestants who take Genesis as Historical Narrative (OPGHN, "opgane").  God was present and active during Creation Week.  The Lord communicated with Adam in the cool of the evening (Gen. 3:8). [2]  Furthermore, it's very reasonable that Adam himself wrote the early part of Genesis with Moses as editor.  In 2001 Waltke said this,

The days of creation may also pose difficulties for a strict historical account.  Contemporary scientists almost unanimously discount the possibility of creation in one week, and we cannot summarily discount the evidence of the earth sciences.

Now we can clearly see that the Slippery Slope Syndrome is real.  Bruce Waltke (formerly at Reformed Theological Seminary - Orlando) now favors theistic evolution and warned evangelicals that rejecting evolution earns the label “cult.”

Once believers see that the Deluge really happened, a young earth is obviously the best option.  Consider these timely words from Henry Morris:

... the whole geological-age system is based squarely on the philosophy of uniformitarianism ... the actual data of the geologic column can be explained at least as well in terms of recent catastrophism ... [3]

Morris also points out that widely accepted dating methods deserve closer scrutiny:

... the few physical processes that seem to point to an old earth (e.g. uranium decay) in terms of the uniformitarian assumptions on which they are based will show that these assumptions are not only unproved but are also untestable and unreasonable.  All the real history we have (that is, written human records) goes back only a few thousand years. [4]

YES - Young Earth Science is a great book that defends a youthful planet from History and Science.  This work documents numerous natural processes that indicate a young earth.

A Biblical WorldView requires us to take a strong stand on Genesis because Jesus did as well (Mk. 10:6, Mk. 13:19, Lk. 11:50,51).  Genesis and true Geology do not contradict! 

Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. ... It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones" ... In the last time there will be mockers ... But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit ... And have mercy on some, who are doubting ... (Jude vv. 3, 14, 18, 20, 22)

If you have not read The Genesis Flood by John Whitcomb and Henry Morris, I highly recommend it!

Notes:

1) Hermeneutics, Inerrancy, and the Bible ed. by Earl Radmacher and Robert Preus (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, 1984), p. 108.

2) Bing Crosby even sang a song about it, "Shore! said the dinosaur."

3) Radmacher and Preus, p. 345.

4) Ibid., p. 346, emphasis in original.

The Chicago Statement, ICBI, Walter Bradley & Henry Morris (Pt. 1)

Harold Lindsell (d. 1998, Ph.D., D.D.) was the editor of Christianity Today for over a decade.  His book The Battle for the Bible, which came out in 1978, rocked the evangelical world as it took a strong stance on inerrancy.  Journalist Larry Witham (Where Darwin Meets the Bible) makes a connection between the battle for the Bible and the inerrancy movement which led to the Chicago Statement generated by the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy (ICBI). [1]  Observe Article XII (Chicago Statement on Inerrancy, emphasis added):

We affirm that Scripture in its entirety is inerrant, being free from all falsehood, fraud, or deceit.  We deny that Biblical infallibility and inerrancy are limited to spiritual, religious, or redemptive themes, exclusive of assertions in the fields of history and science. We further deny that scientific hypotheses about earth history may properly be used to overturn the teaching of Scripture on creation and the flood.

One would think this was written by a traditional creationist (creation in 6 days, Global Flood, young earth).

The companion book to the Chicago Statement on Hermeneutics was Hermeneutics, Inerrancy, and the Bible.  Walter Bradley, former Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M, wrote a very influential chapter:  “The Trustworthiness of Scripture in Areas Relating to Natural Science.”  It is available online here.  We responded to this work in 2007.  This same volume has a 12 page response to Bradley by the father of modern creationism, Henry Morris (d. 2006).

Henry Morris predicted that, “… unless the ICBI can somehow become convinced of the foundational importance of strict creationism for maintaining a consistent belief in inerrancy, its efforts will likely prove of only ephemeral effectiveness.” [2]

Morris made this comment on The Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics:

The statement finally adopted by the council was so innocuous on the subject of origins that it would not even exclude evolution as an acceptable interpretation.  That was the reason I could not sign their statement on biblical hermeneutics. [3]

Morris further warned of the slippery slope syndrome:

Progressive creationism … has already, for well over a hundred years, served as the camel’s nose by which theistic evolution and eventually full-blown religious liberalism have come in and taken over … the reason why most laymen … reject the Bible is because they have been taught evolution and the great age of the earth, and they know that this presumed “fact of science” contradicts the Bible’s very first chapter. [4]

Bruce Waltke resigned from Reformed Seminary after making remarks about evolution in 2010.  Waltke makes it clear that the slippery slope is genuine:

I am not a scientist, but I have familiarized myself with attempts to harmonize Genesis 1-3 with science, and I believe that creation by the process of evolution is a tenable Biblical position, and, as represented by BioLogos, the best Christian apologetic to defend Genesis 1-3 against its critics.

Waltke wrote a chapter in Hermeneutics, Inerrancy, and the Bible and according to Norman Geisler, “all the writers are in agreement with the ICBI stand on inerrancy.” [5]

Affirm the truth of Genesis 1-11 and fight Old Earth Fallacies (OEF’s).  Consider the analogy of Daniel's diet (Dan. 1:8-20).  He and his comrades were tested for ten days by eating vegetables.  He refused to compromise – we too should dare to be a Daniel!  Also notice that it was 10 days, not 10M years.  Ancient veggies don’t taste good.  Biblical authority starts with a conservative Biblical hermeneutic applied to Genesis.  Biblical inerrancy matters.

… the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.  What if some were unfaithful?  Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?  By no means!  Let God be true though every one were a liar .. (Rom. 3:3,4, ESV)

A new book defends a young earth from Philosophy, Geology, History and Biology.  A shortcut to the site is  TotalYouth.us  >> “for TOTAL truth, support earth’s YOUTH.”

You can go to Part 2 here.

Notes:

1) Where Darwin Meets the Bible by Larry Witham (Oxford Univ. Press, NYC, 2002), p. 51.

2) quoted in Already Compromised by Ken Ham and Greg Hall (Master Books, Green Forest, AR, 2011), p. 29.

3) Ibid.

4) Hermeneutics, Inerrancy, and the Bible ed. by Earl Radmacher and Robert Preus (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, 1984), pp. 346, 347.

5) Ibid., p. ix.