Memory, Meaning & Faith

The “Found” World of Genesis 1 Part II: How Does Science Inform Theology

By Nicholas Miller (Department of Church History, SDA Theological Seminary, Andrews University)

 

  

 

Sometime back, I examined the claims of Professor John H. Walton of Wheaton College to have uncovered the “lost” world of Genesis 1. There, I examined his argument that Genesis 1 was consistent with other Ancient Near Eastern literature in only concerning itself with functional origins, not material origins.Thus, he believed that the Genesis account was silent as to when the physical stuff of the earth, plants, animals, and even humankind was actually made.

This concern with functionality, Walton claims, allows for the teachings of evolutionary biology to remain largely unaffected by the Biblical account, as there is really no conflict between the two accounts, once they are properly understood. I argued that Walton’s arguments were problematic for Adventists, who see both a functional and material story in Genesis, and who also would have significant theological problems with their Great Controversy framework if God used suffering and death to bring about His good creation.

But given the topic, it would be remiss not to say something about science. Religious scholars believe that scientists do not take the Bible and theology seriously enough, and the opposite is also true. Scientists are often frustrated by the apparent lack of willingness to listen by their theologian colleagues. No doubt we all have much to learn and improve in the skill and art of listening.

"To everything there is a season..."

"... a time for every purpose under heaven: ... a time to keep silence, and a time to speak." (Eccl. 3:1+7)

 

In the broad sense of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, there is also a time for going light on blogging - as simply happens during summer, when many of our contributors are gone for study tours, speaking/teaching appointments or are busy with research that had to wait during the time of school. Or they are simply taking some time for vacation and visiting family. The "time of silence" will therefore be some days longer than usual...

 

In the meantime, please take a look at our extensive archives and the many interesting articles you might have missed. And stay connected to check out our new posts - either by peeking in every week or by subscribing to our email newsletter which will inform you as soon as the next article is up. Thank you!

 

To all our readers, contributors and their loved ones: God with you on your travels, during work and vacation. May He keep you safe this summer and bless you with many beautiful moments only this season can provide.

 

"Thou Shalt Not Kill": What Kind of Killing Is Forbidden? Is All Killing Forbidden? (Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17)

By Dr. James J. North, Jr.*

This study is an effort to establish what kind of killing is and is not included under the 6^th commandment. Based on views passed on from generation to generation, many Seventh-day Adventists (SDAs) have considered the Commandment to prohibit murder, killing in war, suicide, killing in self- and family-protection, etc . . .  We have used the commandment to frown on, if not to prohibit, the bearing of arms, guns, as instruments of war, of law enforcement, and of hunting. Many would not have a weapon/gun in their homes as an instrument of self and family protection for fear of a home intrusion that might cause them to kill the intruder. 

The commandment, “Thou shalt not kill,” is translated into English from the original Hebrew in two texts in the OT, Exodus 20:13 and Deuteronomy 5:17. They are both statements of the 6^th Commandment, given initially by God from Mt. Sinai (Exodus 20:1-17) and repeated by Moses (Deuteronomy 5:1-21).  

Reminders

The principal translation that brought the Bible and the Commandments in English to us is the King James Version, the translation authorized by King James I. of England, completed in the year 1611. The phrase, “Thou shalt not kill” is the 1611 (KJV) English translation of the original Hebrew language of the 6^th Commandment. 

So we start with a gentle reminder that the Word of God in English was preceded by and sprung from the Word of God in Hebrew. Thus the meaning of the English must be first and foremost interpreted by the meaning of the Hebrew.

A second reminder and beginning point in this study is that our understanding of Scripture is not static. A number of factors have caused and will cause us to adjust our understanding of the Bible—archeological discoveries, studies of the ancient languages, historical research, and systematic Bible study. “The path of the just is as a shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day” (Proverbs 4:18). (see JPST—“The path of the righteous is like radiant sunlight, ever brightening until noon.”). Difficult as it may be, we must be willing to adjust our understanding of Scripture when exegetical, historical, and contextual study corrects our views, even when these views have been handed down to us by revered leaders and writers.   This was the experience of our SDA pioneers, who grew as they studied and restudied Scripture. They learned and changed. This has been our history and it will be our future.

Are Children Born Sinners?

 By Edyta Jankiewicz, Ph.D. cand.*

 

Although Adventists reject a purely Augustinian conception of original sin, the official teaching of the church affirms that Adam’s sin “resulted in the condition of estrangement from God in which every human being is born. This estrangement involves an inherent tendency to commit sin.”[1] This must, of necessity, include children. Despite much discussion regarding the nature of humanity, however, little of the contemporary Adventist debate has pertained directly to children; thus, Adventism does not have a complete or systematic theology of the nature of children.

John Calvin on the Sinfulness of Children

By Edyta Jankiewicz, Ph.D. cand.*

 

 

“Even infants bear their condemnation with them from their mother’s womb; for, though they have not yet brought forth the fruits of their own iniquity, they have the seed enclosed within themselves. Indeed, their whole nature is a seed of sin; thus it cannot be but hateful and abominable to God.”[1]

 

Questions:

• Are children born as sinners, or with an innate tendency to sin, or both?
• Or are they born innocent, and only become sinners when they reach an age of moral awareness?
• If they are born innocent, and thus do not need baptism as infants, what is their status in the church?

---

[1] John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed. and tr. John T. McNeill and Ford Lewis Battles (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1960), 1311.

 

______________________________

*Edyta Jankiewicz, originally from Australia, holds a M.Min. (Family) from Avondale College, Australia, and is currently working on a Ph.D. (Religious Education) at Andrews University with a concentration in children's spirituality. She is married to Darius, and they have two daughters ages 10 and 12.

 

 

 

 

2011 Ellen White and Current Issues Symposium: "The Phenomenon of Prophecy and Role of Prophets in the Old Testament Compared with the Ministry of Ellen G. White"

Presentation

Jiri Moskala, Professor for Old Testament Exegesis and Theology at the SDA Theological Seminary at Andrews University, shared a paper about the characteristics and major roles of prophets in the Old Testament and whether these roles/tasks can be found in the ministry of Ellen G. White.*

Testimony. Dr. Moskala started with a personal testimony on how he had gone from a fearful picture of God to the picture a loving, a "smiling" God, who wants the best for everyone and who delights in His children. He found forgiveness, a new picture of God, joy of salvation and assurance of salvation in Christ. In this context, he found God as a loving savior also in Ellen White's writings, for example in Steps to Christ: "If you give yourself to Him, and accept Him as your personal Saviour, then, sinful as your life may have been, for His sake you are accounted righteous. Christ's character stands in place of your character, and you are accepted before God as just as if you had not sinned." (p.62) Actually, her writings had a big influence on Moskala's spiritual growth.

Phenomenon of Prophecy. Pointing to the dominant role of prophets in the Old Testament (OT), Dr. Moskala listed several prophets and the crucial points in salvation history in which they were called to their ministry: Noah (before the Flood); Abraham (starting point for a new ministry to all nations); Moses (Exodus from Egypt); Hosea and Amos (before Samaria's fall in 722 BC); Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel (before and during Babylonian captivity); John the Baptist (before Christ's appearing). Prophets also came often during a distinct time of crisis, Elijah and Elisha for example (Israel's idolatry).

Moskala quoted Abraham Heschel and said: "The God of the philosophers is a concept derived from abstract ideas; the God of the prophets is derived from acts and events." (Heschel, God in Search for Man, p. 213). After that Moskala gave an overview over the different kinds of prophets: starting with Enoch (first prophet, Jude 14) and his son Methuselah (prophetic meaning of name: "At his death He will send" or "When he is dead it shall be sent" - pointing to the flood which came in the year of Methuselah's death). Then Moskala proceeded to honorary prophets (Noah [Gen 6-9], Abraham [Gen 20:7], Moses [Deut 18:15, 18], Samuel [1 Sam 3:20] and David [Acts 2:29-30]) and mentioned also the different classifications of prophets in general (non-writing prophets [e.g. Enoch, Abraham, Elijah and Elisha] and classical writing prophets [major and minor prophets - number of 16]). Beside these there are, according to Moskala, also other special categories of prophets: those, whose writings were not included in the biblical canon (Samuel, Nathan, Gad [see 1 Chr 29:29; 2 Chr 9:29]) and prophetesses like Miriam and Hulda.

2011 Ellen White and Current Issues Symposium: "The Early Translation of Ellen G. White Books into Spanish"

Presentation

Glúder Quispe, currently a Ph.D. candidate in Adventist Studies at the SDA Theological Seminary, and a native from Peru, shed light on early translations of Ellen White into Spanish and the role Eduardo F. Forga played in this process.* He limited his research mainly to the years between the 1890s and 1915, the year in which Forga (as well as E. White) passed away. 

Translation from White's Books into Spanish from the 1890's to 1907. Quispe pointed to the important role that the literature work played in Adventist missions (Matthew 28:19-20 and Revelation 14:6) in every new global field. The first impulse to translate Adventist books into Spanish for the mission work in South America came from the European book committee. The first book published in Spanish was Patriarcas y profetas (Patriarchs and Prophets) by E. G. White in the year 1893. In the same year a group of missionaries arrived in Mexico and helped in the establishing of a medical mission and a school. In 1896 the first Adventist magazine in Spanish, El amigo de la verdad (The Friend of the Truth) with Dan T. Jones (1855-1901) as an editor, began to be published there. Articles by Ellen White and others started to follow soon. Other book projects were planned.

In 1897, G. W. Caviness (1825-1923) joined that group, after having worked as an SDA representative in an interdenominational committee to revise the Spanish translation of the Bible in Mexico City. After Jones' death in 1901 he became the next editor of El amigo de la verdad, and he worked  25 years in Mexico, translating also books and periodicals for the Spanish field.

2011 Ellen White and Current Issues Symposium: "Gift of Prophecy and the Church: A Biblical Perspective"

Presentation

Ranko Stefanovic, Professor for New Testament at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, traced origin, meaning, and function of the gift of prophecy in the Bible.* 

The Pre-Prophecy Period. After creation, still in Eden, God attempted to have an intimate relationship with Adam and Eve with straight face-to-face communication (cf. Gen 2:15-17). Since their disobedience and the fall caused a disconnectedness between them and God (Gen 3), the result was a disrupted relationship between Him and whole humanity as well as a destruction of their intimate communication with Him—which ultimately will not be restored until sin is totally removed (Rev 21-22).

Despite the fall God continued to communicate with humankind. According to Stefanovic, two phases can be traced in the Old Testament: a) the to-each-individual-communication and b) the through-prophets-communication. The first took place during the antediluvian/pre-flood up to patriarchal times where God spoke directly to individuals via theophanies or dreams. Examples for these periods can be found in Genesis, e.g., Noah (Gen 6:13-21; 7:1-4; 8:15-19; 9:1-19), Abraham (Gen 12-17; 22), Isaac (26:2-5, 24), Rebekah (25:22-23), Jacob (28:13-15; 31:3, 11-13; 35:9-12; 46:2-4), and also persons who did not belong to the godly line, for example Cain (4:6-15), Hagar (16:7-12; 21:17-18), and Abimelech (20:3-7). This list is not exhaustive and it also can be presumed, said Stefanovic, that God spoke to many others during this period, although they are not directly mentioned in Scripture.

2011 Ellen White and Current Issues Symposium: "The Captain Goes To Church"

Presentation

James R. Nix, director of the Ellen G. White Estate at the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, was the first presenter after the devotional. He took the audience back to a series of events that happened in 1899 and that were almost unknown for several decades.*

On February 15, 1899, the 33rd General Conference Session of Seventh-day Adventists opened in South Lancaster, Massachusetts. According to a letter of M. C. Wilcox to Ellen White nothing important happened during the first two weeks, but this should change soon with the arrival of Elder Frank H. Westphal and his accompanying guest, Captain Henry Norman. Westphal, a 41-year old missionary to Argentina and official delegate from South America, had met Captain Norman on a ship going from Southampton, England to New York City.

Immediately after their arrival, Captain Norman recognized Mrs. S. M. I. Henry who was sitting on the side of the GC Session platform. Conversing with each other he told her that he had seen her several years earlier at a series of her lectures for the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) in Washington, D.C.; she had been the national evangelist for the WCTU. After learning that she had been a Methodist before becoming an Adventist, Norman said that he had a Methodist background too, but was discontent already for years with his denomination. Mrs. Henry handed him a pamphlet of hers, "How the Sabbath Came to Me," and got to know from him that he considered the way of meeting Elder Westphal and coming to the GC Session as providential, because he felt like being in the presence of the people of God.

2011 Ellen White and Current Issues Symposium: Devotional

2011 Ellen White and Current Issues Symposium

Every year the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, in association with the Center for Adventist Research and the Ellen G. White Estate hosts an Ellen White and Current Issues Symposium in order to highlight current research and discuss new questions relating to her work and ministry. This year, on March 28, 2011, is the seventh such symposium (download the program (PDF) here). In the following days, Memory, Meaning & Faith will give summaries of the proceedings by our web editor, Angelika Kaiser*.

 

Devotional

Dwight K. Nelson, Senior Pastor of the Pioneer Memorial Church of Seventh-day Adventists, on the Campus of Andrews University in Berrien Springs, MI, opens this year's Ellen White Symposium with a devotional entitled "The Gift".

The Fruits. After reading Matthew 7:15-20, Nelson pointed to a survey by pollster George Barna on authors which pastors consider as most influential in their library and life. The surveyed pastors under 40 championed, among John Ortberg, Thom Rainer and others Ellen White as one of the most influential authors. - Just recently (March 17, 2011), USA Today published an article on "Adventist's back-to-basics faith" in which interviewed professor of Fuller Theological Seminary Daniel Shaw utters his astonishment on the growth of Adventism. - The Christian Science Monitor's article from November 15, 2010 entitled "For real education reform, take a cue from the Adventists" deals with the role, the Adventist holistic educational system could play as a model for educational reform. Nelson pointed to these examples as to "good fruits" of the ministry of Ellen G. White.

Miracles, Divine Action, and the Laws of Nature

By Martin Hanna, Department of Theology and Christian Philosophy,Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary.

 

In this blog, I share some reflections on miracles, divine action, and the laws of nature. In subsequent parts, I briefly survey how these issues are dealt with in a recently published book by John Walton (part 1), in the writings of Ellen G. White (part 2), and in the Bible (part 3). 

 

1. John Walton’s Perspective

Miracles and the laws of nature. In The Lost World of Genesis One, Walton writes that in the Bible, “there were no [supernatural] ‘miracles’ (in the sense of events deviating from that which was ‘natural’)” (20). God is “carrying out his purposes through the naturalistic operations of the cosmos” that “were decreed by the word of God” (117). “What we identify as natural laws only take on their law-like quality because God acts so consistently in the operations of the cosmos” (134). However, “we should not expect anything in the Bible . . . to engage in the discussion of how God’s level of creative activity relates to . . . the laws of nature” (20).

Miracles and the laws of evolution. Walton concludes that “everything that science discovers is another step in understanding how God [works]” (115). While “not promoting evolution” (165), Walton holds that the metaphysical perspective (117) of “biblical theology is compatible with” evolution’s “descriptive mechanism” (153). There are no “hard and fast lines of distinction between the scientific and the metaphysical. . . .[N]one of us has a worldview comprised of only one of them. Science and metaphysics blend together in life” (130-131).

Winfried Corduan on Miracles and the Laws of Nature

By Martin Hanna, Department of Theology and Christian Philosophy, Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary.

 

Levels of Divine Intervention and Types of Miracles

 

To identify an event as a miracle because it appears to be an act of God is . . . ambiguous. . . . We can point out three possibilities: 

    a. Providence. Believers may give credit to God in a situation in which nothing discernibly supernatural occurred. . . . 

    b. Direct nonmiraculous intervention. Believers may say that God has acted in answering a prayer, even when the answer to prayer followed completely natural and unsurprising processes. . . . 

    c. Direct miraculous intervention. Believers would probably say that a miracle had occurred if an event happened which could be best explained as a direct act of God.. . . .

Believers may explain why they regard a particular event as a miracle by pointing out that it seems to be a violation of a law of nature. But it is unlikely that they would do this in all cases. We can identify two instances in which a miracle might be said to have occurred.

    1. “Constellation miracles.” Sometimes an event can be explained in terms of natural laws, and yet believers may claim that it was a miracle. In many such cases, it is the coming together of certain natural events—their “constellation”—that makes the event unusual. . .This type of miraculous event is what R. F. Holland has called a “contingency” miracle. Norman Geisler refers to it as a “class two” miracle. . . . 

    2. “Violation miracles.” The label for this type of miracle refers to the idea that apparently a law of nature has been violated. We are here concerned with events that go counter to what is normally expected or considered to be plausible. . . .

 

The Necessity of Divine Agency

Both of these two [proposed] types of miracles have this in common: believers identify an event as a miracle when two features come together—the event is unusual enough to point them in the direction of expected divine agency, and (given their worldview) there is enough reason to believe that God has in fact intervened in this particular case.

. . . . [Going beyond the two types of miracles proposed above] Douglas K. Erlandson maintains that believers recognize a miracle primarily because they see God involved in an event as agent, not because the possibility of scientific explanation has been circumvented, but alongside all scientific investigations. Similarly, Robert Young states that “when a miracle occurs, God is an active agent-factor in the set of factors . . . which actually was causally operative. His presence (ceteris paribus) alters the outcome from what it (perhaps) would have been if, contrary to fact, he had not been present.”

 

Winfried Corduan, “Recognizing a Miracle,” In Defense of Miracles: A Comprehensive Case for God’s Action in History, eds., Douglas Geivett and Gary R. Habermas (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity, 1997), 103-106. 
 

Questions

• Are miracles rare events? Or do miracles happen every day? Does God work miracles which no one recognizes as miraculous? Or do miracles only take place when there is someone prepared to be surprised by them?

• Are God’s miracles limited to his actions within the framework of the laws of nature? Or is the creation of the laws of nature also a miracle of divine action? Is the sustaining of the laws of nature a miracle of divine action?