READER'S EXCHANGE

 

The Christian Church and Church of Christ here are working toward friendship and fellowship. One used the other’s building for a special program and now are sharing in a film series. Plans are to do a VBS together. It is just a beginning, but it is exciting. —Dale Valentine, Hays,Ks.

Well, you’ve done it again! Your Nov. issue left my blood boiling because I consider the doctrine of reincarnation and universalism to be demonic deceptions straight from the pit of hell. —David Reagan, McKinney, Tx.

(The first sentence at least sounds like a Reagan! Wouldn’t it be something if Dave Reagan were the reincarnated Amos? Dave, of course, is a great and insightful student of the word, and I have the greatest respect for his opinions. Reincarnation may be wrong (probably is), but the fact that it has been believed by multiplied millions for centuries is reason enough to give it respectable consideration. An idea can be wrong without being demonic —and does every error have to come from the pits of hell? And might some things be partly right even when wrong? --Ed.)

I liked your recent article about “The Truth” very much. I’m glad that Jesus said that He is “the truth” so I won’t be deluded into thinking that I have “the truth” in my understanding of Scripture passages. But I must search the Scriptures constantly for what is true regardless of how many times I must change my mind. It has been said “If a man is honest he can not help what he believes, but his search for truth must never end.” —Elizabeth

What is a “Cosmic” Christ? Wow! Shades of Star Wars! Are you ever up-todate! - Chuck Dickens, Exeter, Ca.

(Since others have questioned my reference to our Lord as the cosmic Christ, I will suggest that while the term is not explicitly biblical, the idea is surely there if we allow cosmic to mean, as per the dictionary, embracing the entire universe (cosmos) and more, as in Eph. 1:10 where the Christ is referred to as “a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth,” and in Jn. 1 where the Christ as the eternal Logos is seen as not only identical with God but creator as well and the source of all life and light. Even now in heaven with God he is of two worlds or dimensions: being human, he is of the earth; being God, he is of heaven or the universe, cosmic. —Ed.)

Thank you for keeping us thinking. —Harold and Georgia Fritz, Waynesville, Mo.

We have a large class on Sunday morning for Restoration history with an excellent elder-teacher. I was pleased to hear him recommend your history book as his favorite. He says the subject has been a hobby of his for 20 years. Exciting things are happening these days! Such as Rubel Shelley being here. —M. Donat, Cujahoga Falls, Oh.

In Response to “The Six Days of Creation”

I would like to respond to Cecil Hook’s article entitled “The Six Days of Creation.”

He stated that he feels “well-meaning teachers do our children a disservice” by teaching that God created the universe in six literal days. He argued that such teaching puts a “scientific stumbling block” in the path of our children’s faith.

I disagree, and I think I can prove that Cecil is wrong. One of the members of the Board of Trustees of the ministry I serve is a research scientist for a worldwide oil company. He earned his doctorate in Geophysics from Stanford University, studying under five Nobel prize winners. He entered Stanford as an atheist. He graduated a believer in Jesus. The interesting thing is that his study of science not only led him to faith in Jesus, but it led him to accept the Genesis account of creation to mean exactly what it says —creation in six literal days. He believes that instantaneous creation in six literal days is a better scientific explanation of the universe than is the theory of creation by evolution over millions or billions of years.

Over two thousand other scientists agree with him. They are members of the Institute for Creation Research in San Diego, California. They have doctorates stacked on top of doctorates and see no scientific problem in accepting the literal nature of the Bible’s creation story and its attendant corollary of a young earth.

Cecil also states in his article that “whether God took a moment or billions of years is neither revealed or relevant. “ Again, I disagree. First the time He took is revealed in the Genesis account and then is reaffirmed in the presentation of the Ten Commandments, as recorded in Exodus 20:8-11. In that passage we are told that we are to work six days and rest one because “in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day.”

Second, the method of creation is relevant, for if God created through a lengthy process of directed evolution then He used a method that violates His character, for evolution is a cruel process of dog eat dog and survival of the fittest. Theistic evolution also violates the scriptures in that it postulates the existence of death in the world long before the fall of Adam and Eve. The Word teaches that the creation was perfect until the fall of Adam and Eve at which point death entered the scene and the curse was placed upon the universe.

Theistic evolution turns the Biblical process upside down. It postulates order evolving out of chaos. The Bible reveals a perfect creation which was subjected to the curse due to the sin of Man and which has been in bondage to decay ever since that time. In other words, the Bible pictures order disintegrating into chaos, with Jesus ultimately returning to redeem the whole creation by lifting the curse and liberating it from its bondage to decay. (Rom. 8:18-25)

Anyone who wants the scientific testimony on tape can get it by sending $4.00 and asking for the tape, “Science and the Bible. —David Reagan, P. O. Drawer K, McKinney, TX 75069