The Selfless Gene

I recently read this book and was thoroughly disappointed.  The title and subtitle for this book is “The Selfless Gene:  Living with God and Darwin,” but I think the title should have been “Darwin: Living with God and Dawkins.”  Throughout this book Darwin and most of the times Dawkins is praised for the scientific work they have done, but in this book Foster belittles those that believe in a six day creation.  Ultimately, Foster believes that God did not create a morally perfect world and that when God said that everything was good that’s not what He meant for “how can light be morally good?”  Foster has a way of using the scripture he wants to and to twist it to his own desire and to also throw out those scriptures which would disagree with his position.  He even disregards some of Paul’s writings because he doesn’t know what Paul is talking about. 

He goes as far as to say there was physical death before the fall.  His view of God in creation is so misconstrued.  He misses the point of Romans 8:20-23 “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.  And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”  Yes, the world was affected by the fall, not just humans.  I would give this book negative numbers, but alas I cannot.  I do agree with him on one thing, he was angry in writing and I was angry in reading.

If you really want to buy this book (which I would not recommend) you can get it at Lifeway.

I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Creationism

This was a reply to a friend when she asked me about creationism.  I used a bit of a previous post from here, so you can skip over that part when you get to it.  

To begin with, I will be the first to admit I am not a scientist not do I believe that I know everything about science when it comes to creationism.  I do know what I have read in the Bible and what I believe to be true.  This blog post comes out of my own knowledge and what research I have done on the subject of creationism.  

People use 2 Peter 3:8 which says “But do not let this one {fact} escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.”  (New)  A problem by using this verse is the language of it.  To begin with this verse is, of course, written in Greek, the original is written in Hebrew.  One cannot use something written in one language to explain what another language says because terms can mean different things in different languages.

Another problem with using this verse as an argument for “Evolutionism Creationism” is that why would God say one thing meaning something entirely different.  On Stephen Archer’s blog he makes a fantastic argument against this and other arguments like this by saying, 

“Yes, it is possible, maybe even easier, to find the truth among blatant lies, but how can one possibly find truth among partial lies? How can a person, not ever hearing of the Bible, read the Bible and discern whether it is 100% true and 75% true? The answer is they cannot unless someone is there discerning for them. This is not how the word of God is.”  (Archer) 

He goes on to say,

“…God is all knowing, He cannot inspire something that is not 100% accurate. An old Yiddish Proverb says “A half-truth is a whole lie.” The same goes in this instance. Even if the Bible was 99.99999% accurate that would leave .00001% inaccurate and if it were even that inaccurate it cannot be inspired by God because God is perfect.”  (Archer) 

Another argument against this is the language in Genesis.  Genesis 1:5 says “God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.” (New)  Why would God take the time to separate the light from the dark, say there was evening and morning, the first day when He was outside and “has no concept of time?”  The answer is He was not outside of time when he was creating the earth. 

Another point worth looking at I the fact that the Sun had not been created.  The sun won’t be created for another three days.  Where was this light coming from?  It was coming from God Himself.  Which means God was not outside of time.  In fact this means God was time.  God was the light that the first three days talks about.  In these verses we also see that the earth was rotating which means that God was on one side of the earth while it was rotating.  God is not light and dark.  God is light. 

John MacArthur makes a fantastic point on his footnote for Ephesians 1:11 which says, “also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will.” (New)  His footnote for the phrase “who works all things” is, “The word ‘works’ is the same one from which ‘energy,’ ‘energetic’ and ‘energize’ are derived.  When God created the world, he gave it sufficient energy to begin immediately to operate as He had planned.  It was not simply read to function, but was created functioning.  As God works out His plan ‘according to the counsel of His will,’ He energizes every believer with the power necessary for his spiritual completion.

 

Works Cited

 

Archer, Stephen.  “A Literal Book?”  Online Posting.  18 Nov. 2008.  19 Nov. 2008.  <http://eliashib.wordpress.com/2008/11/18/a-literal-book/#comments>

New American Standard Bible:  The MacArthur Study Bible.  La Habra, Ca: The Lockman Foundation.  2006.