{"id":572,"date":"2015-01-23T18:00:08","date_gmt":"2015-01-24T00:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/?p=572"},"modified":"2015-01-25T08:29:35","modified_gmt":"2015-01-25T14:29:35","slug":"an-apologetics-facepalm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/?p=572","title":{"rendered":"An Apologetics Facepalm"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I had the very special privilege to hear a fairly well known apologist recently. \u00a0He was speaking on the reasons behind why the church is losing its youth and young adults. \u00a0After the first presentation she was asking about material for kids. \u00a0As is my wont, I suggested the book Living Loud by Norman Geisler and Joseph Holden. \u00a0This is an outstanding book written for high school age kids, though my 5th grade son is able to understand and process the ideas it presents.<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright  wp-image-583\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Pillars-of-Creation.jpg?resize=348%2C196\" alt=\"Pillars-of-Creation\" width=\"348\" height=\"196\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Pillars-of-Creation.jpg?resize=300%2C169 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Pillars-of-Creation.jpg?w=620 620w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 348px) 100vw, 348px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>For those who don&#8217;t know, Norman Geisler is one of the most brilliant Christian apologists alive today. \u00a0His book Christian Apologetics is a standard text at University and Seminary. \u00a0His in a skilled debater often on the front lines defending the faith against skeptics and atheists. \u00a0Yes, he had that unfortunate feud with Licona, but his scholarship in apologetics is nevertheless brilliant.<\/p>\n<p><em>So what is the facepalm in this?<\/em><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The response to my suggestion by the questioner was, &#8220;Oh, but he believes in an old earth.&#8221;  <\/p>\n<p>Pardon me?<\/p>\n<p>What does that have to do with the question of whether God exists? \u00a0Or the problem of evil? \u00a0Or the resurrection of Jesus? \u00a0Or His divinity? \u00a0Or&#8230; Or&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>The presenter&#8217;s display of grace when he heard the young earth reply was truly amazing, though I could see the inward cringe.  One of the golden rules\u00a0of apologetics goes something like this: &#8220;In essentials, unity. \u00a0In non-essentials, liberty. \u00a0In all things, charity.&#8221;  The speaker had charity well on display that evening. <\/p>\n<p>People! \u00a0The age of the earth is a very secondary question compared to these issues. \u00a0Based on that criterion we would have to throw out Augustine. \u00a0After all, he believed in an instantaneous creation. \u00a0Cyrus Scofield (as in the Scofield Study Bible) and Clarence Larkin were old earth proponents of the Gap Theory. \u00a0If you&#8217;re going to\u00a0base orthodoxy\/heresy upon a secondary issue, you better be ready to empty your library. \u00a0There are plenty of Young Earth believers who are friendly and open to those holding an Old Earth view. \u00a0Most prominent among these are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Josh McDowell (Ok, he only\u00a0<em>leans<\/em> towards a young earth &#8211; his words)<\/li>\n<li>Adrian Rogers (Committed to Young Earth, but nevertheless respectful to Old Earthers)<\/li>\n<li>R.C. Sproul (very congenial towards Old Earthers; actually he says, &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.thegospelcoalition.org\/blogs\/justintaylor\/2012\/05\/04\/science-scripture-and-the-age-of-the-universe\/\" target=\"_blank\">I don&#8217;t know<\/a>&#8220;)<\/li>\n<li>Dr. Jay Wile (writer of the Apologia science curriculum)<\/li>\n<li>Ravi Zacharias (Though his ministry will not take a position and has people of both positions)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Then there&#8217;s the list of those supporting the Old Earth perspective:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Gleason Archer (The greatest Old Testament linguist of modern times)<\/li>\n<li>F. F. Bruce (brilliant commentator and proponent of biblical inerrancy)<\/li>\n<li>William Jennings Bryan (from the Scope Trial)<\/li>\n<li>John Ankerberg<\/li>\n<li>John Battle<\/li>\n<li>Michael Behe (actually, the Darwin&#8217;s Black Box author is an evolutionary creationist)<\/li>\n<li>James Boice<\/li>\n<li>Walter Bradley<\/li>\n<li>D.A. Carson<\/li>\n<li>Jack Collins<\/li>\n<li>Paul Copan<\/li>\n<li>Chuck Colson<\/li>\n<li>William Lane Craig (one of the greatest living apologists and on the front lines debating atheists)<\/li>\n<li>Michael Denton (the author of Evolution: A Theory In Crisis)<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0James Dobson (pitch those Focus on the Family tapes)<\/li>\n<li>William Dembski<\/li>\n<li>Robert Godfrey<\/li>\n<li>Guillermo Gonzales (author of The Privileged Planet)<\/li>\n<li>Norman Geisler (one of the greatest living apologists)<\/li>\n<li>Billy Graham (Now <i>that<\/i> was a surprise)<\/li>\n<li>Wayne Grudem (How many of you have his Systematic Theology?)<\/li>\n<li>Hank Hanegraaff (The Bible Answer Man was at one time YEC, but has shifted to the OEC view)<\/li>\n<li>Mike Horton (from the White Horse Inn broadcast)<\/li>\n<li>Jack Hayford<\/li>\n<li>Fred Heeren<\/li>\n<li>Charles Hodge<\/li>\n<li>Walter Kaiser<\/li>\n<li>Kenneth Keathley (Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Molinist proponent)<\/li>\n<li>Rebecca Keller (author of the Gravitas science curriculum)<\/li>\n<li>Greg Koukl<\/li>\n<li>C.S. Lewis (Better burn your Chronicles of Narnia!)<\/li>\n<li>Paul Little<\/li>\n<li>J. Vernon McGee<\/li>\n<li>Stephen Meyer<\/li>\n<li>Patricia Mondore<\/li>\n<li>J. P. Moreland (the one and only)<\/li>\n<li>Robert Newman<\/li>\n<li>Greg Neyman<\/li>\n<li>Mark Noll<\/li>\n<li>James Orr<\/li>\n<li>Nancy Pearcey<\/li>\n<li>Perry Phillips<\/li>\n<li>William Phillips<\/li>\n<li>Arthur Pink<\/li>\n<li>John Piper<\/li>\n<li>Mike Poole<\/li>\n<li>Bernard Ramm<\/li>\n<li>Jay Richards<\/li>\n<li>Pat Robertson (of the 700 Club &#8211; cause quite a stir, as I remember)<\/li>\n<li>Hugh Ross (Ok, so this one&#8217;s a no-brainer)<\/li>\n<li>Francis Schaeffer (the great crusader in the Culture War)<\/li>\n<li>C.I. Scofield (Hope you don&#8217;t have his study bible)<\/li>\n<li>Chuck Smith Jr.<\/li>\n<li>David Snoke<\/li>\n<li>Lee Strobel (yes, The Case for Christ author is Old Earth)<\/li>\n<li>Ken Taylor<\/li>\n<li>Frank Turek (well known apologist and lecturer)<\/li>\n<li>John Walton<\/li>\n<li>B. B. Warfield (proponent of biblical inerrancy, one of the writers of The Fundamentals)<\/li>\n<li>Phillip Yancy (wrote the notes for the NIV Student Bible, among other things)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I&#8217;m sure there are many names here that you don&#8217;t recognize. \u00a0I&#8217;m just as sure there are many more that you do. \u00a0I am also sure that you probably have more than one of their books in your library. \u00a0I have a very strong feeling that this list is\u00a0<strong><em>far<\/em><\/strong> from complete (but thanks to Reasons to Believe, Answers In Genesis and a thorough scrubbing of the internet for help in compiling this list).<\/p>\n<p>Let the book burnings begin&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I had the very special privilege to hear a fairly well known apologist recently. \u00a0He was speaking on the reasons behind why the church is losing its youth and young adults. \u00a0After the first presentation she was asking about material for kids. \u00a0As is my wont, I suggested the book Living Loud by Norman Geisler [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"An Apologetics Facepalm: the young earth, old earth debate taken to foolishness. http:\/\/wp.me\/p5ymfK-9e","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[64,16,20,23,65,62,67,66,63],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ymfK-9e","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=572"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":593,"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572\/revisions\/593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thechristiangeek.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}