Faith, Form, and Time: What the Bible Teaches and Science Confirms About Creation and the Age of the Universe

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 288 pages
• Published by: B&H Publishing Group September 2002
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0805424628
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0805424621
• Book Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Weighs: 14.2 ounces

Product Description
Darwinian theories of the universe, although mostly rejected by evangelical Christians, have still found their way into creation theology. A concept such as evolutionist creation has watered down much of the Bible’s teaching in order to reconcile with popular tenants of science. The whole controversy swirls around the age of the universe.

Dr. Kurt Wise, an associate professor of science and director of the Center for Origins Research and Education at Bryan College, shows from solid biblical teachings and scientific confirmation why young universe creation is correct. Beginning with God and His Word as the standard, Wise demonstrates how the biblical witness teaches that the age of the universe is not as old as Darwinian theory would contend. He also demonstrates how all issues raised by evolutionists can be answered not only by the Bible, but also by scientific data and research, nailing shut macroevolution’s coffin.

Reader Reviews
Kurt Wise is a "young earth" creationist with a Ph.D in paleontology from Harvard. Those credentials make him the jewel in the crown of contemporary creationism. That Wise managed to earn those credentials while remaining faithful to a straightforward reading of Scripture is almost miraculous. It shows a steadfast committment to the principle that the study of God's created universe must be subject to the truths revealed in God's Word. Interestingly, Wise's faculty advisor and mentor was none other than the late Stephen Jay Gould, who published so many popular books on science and natural history. Perhaps it was from Gould that Wise gained an appreciation of the need to occasionally write for the typical lay reader. In this book, Wise brings us up to date on what has been going on in creation science over the past twenty years or so, particulary with regard to the creationists' efforts to construct a comprehensive model of origins. Typically, creationists have limited themselves to criticizing the naturalistic model of origins, especially Darwinism. It has been much more difficult to construct a Biblical model of origins. This effort had to await the emergence of a cadre of well-educated young creation scientists. There still aren't many such people, but the few there are have proceeded with the development of a model of origins that is faithful to the Bible, yet scientifically rigorous. Wise begins with the fact that God was present at the creation. He is our Eyewitness to the origin of the earth and the universe. Therefore, what He tells us in his Word about those events is truthful and accurate. This truth is the foundation of all efforts to construct a Biblical model of origins. Wise is acutely aware of the theological problems that are created by acceptance of old age (mainstream geology)cronology. "Acceptance of old-age chronology requires a substantial revision of the biblical doctrine of God and His nature. . . . With the acceptance of old-age chronology, God is seen as responsible for introducing death, disease, and suffering into the creation hundreds of millions of years before man sinned." One of the things that creation biologists are working on, as an alternative to cladistics and other Darwinian schemes of classification, is a creationist systematics known as baraminology. The word "Baramin" was coined from the Hebrew words for "created kind." Creationists do not deny "micro-evolution;" they acknowledge that there has been much diversification and speciation within the created kinds of animals and plants. The aim of baraminology is to determine which living and fossil forms can be grouped together as having descended from a single created kind or "baramin." Another important development is the theory that there were floating forests in the pre-Flood seas. The types of plants and animals that we would expect to find in a floating forest are the same types we see preserved as fossils in the paleozoic strata. Assuming the Flood began in the pre-Flood oceans, the floating forest theory helps explain the fossil record of the paleozoic. (By the way, Wise calls the paleozoic the "primary" and the Mesozoic the "secondary," thus reverting back to the terms used by geologists before the uniformitarianism of Hutton and Lyell was adopted. It is probably a good idea for creation scientists to discard terminology that comes freighted with evolutionary meanings.) The piece of the puzzle that seems to have most impressed Dr. Wise is catastrophic plate tectonics. In the last half century, geologists have developed a theory of the earth known as plate tectonics. This theory elegantly explains many facts about earthquakes, volcanoes, volcanic rock, ocean floors, etc. Creationists have developed a variant of plate tectonics, known as catastrophic plate tectonics (CPT). This theory has the continental plates moving at meters per second, miles per hour, during the Genesis Flood. Wise reports that CPT explains everything explained by the conventional theory, and more. Among other things, CPT explains anomalies in mantle circulation, the mottled pattern of magnetical reversals preserved in the volcanic rock, flood basalts, and the extremely violent collisions of continental plates (thus generating the force necessary to raise mountains like the Himalayas). Wise's enthusiasm for CPT theory comes through in his writing. I confess that I'm too ignorant of geology to really appreciate CPT, but in future I will do some reading in this area to bring myself up to speed. My main criticism of this book relates to Dr. Wise's model of the Edenic and pre-Flood climate. He assumes that the water cycle in place before the Flood is very similar to the one in place today. He even volunteers that "just as lightning plays an important role in the maintenance of quality soil on the present earth, the lightning activity on the original earth was created to optimize early earth soils." Well, okay, but lightning also directly kills people by striking them and starts fires, thus indirectly killing people and animals. To say that it helps the soil seems like an extreme example of finding the silver lining of a dark cloud. I don't think that lightning or other natural phenomena like tornadoes, hurricanes, cyclones -all of which are integral and unavoidable parts of the modern weather regime-- were part of the original creation, and are unlikely to have been part of the pre-Flood world. I have no particular brief for a pre-Flood vapor canopy (which Wise rejects), but it seems to me that the pre-Flood climate differed from the modern weather regime in fundamental ways. Interestingly, Wise states that geological evils like earthquakes and volcanoes can be explained by CPT theory as legacies of the Flood, and biological evils like disease, death, and animal predation are results of the Fall of man. But what about meteorological evil -- tornadoes, hurricanes, the bad aspects of lightning? The origins model described by Wise doesn't seem to have an explanation for them. The other thing I don't like about this book is that it lacks an index. But these are minor quibbles with what is otherwise an excellent, even an indispensable book. Dr. Wise has done a great service for all Christian lay people who are interested in keeping up with developments in creation science.