The general point is sound

2,000 year old Bible fragments found (great) with a 10,000 year old basket (bad)

photo credit: SHAI HALEVI / ISRAEL ANTIQUITIES AUTHORITY

Archaeologists have found some fragments of OT prophets written in Greek which they dated back 2,000 years. In the same location a 6,000 year old skeleton was found (a young child carefully buried in their blanket) and a 10,000 year old basket. Guess which date is accepted cheerfully by literalists and which two are rejected as a conspiracy?

For a more detailed post about the extensive ancient history of Palestine see this great article by another Christadelphian website.

How to turn people away from God

Christadelphians initially were staunch old earth creationists, which nearly worked to reconcile 19th century observations with traditional Bible interpretations. But now complete conspiracy theory stuff like dinosaurs existing alongside humans is circulated and promoted. It even gets used for bible classes! This is the natural fruit of ‘anti-science creation at all costs’ thinking. Great witness to God. Great way to put stumbling blocks in front of youth.

“The Way” was open to facts and new readings of Scripture – are we?

We all imagine we have arrived.  We talk about “The Truth” as if we have arrived.  Yet the Bible shows discipleship means growing and sometimes obtaining new insights into God.  Practical experience, cold hard facts sometimes prompt these insights.  Like we know humans have continually existed longer than 6,000 years.  We see this growth based on fact in Acts.

God creates all things naturally

Drawing a distinction between natural processes and God’s activities is a modern approach rather than a scriptural one.  Scripturally, natural processes are owned and operated by God.  They are simultaneously “mechanical” and divine.  Psalm 139 is a classic example of a divine creative act and a natural process being combined.  The criticism of creationists that evolution takes God out of the picture ain’t necessarily so.

Ancient earth science links Cornish tin to the Bible

Christadelphians traditionally claim Tarshish in the Bible is England, using Cornwall’s tin deposits to underpin the assertion. Now geology and chemistry have proven the link. This excellent article at Biblical Historical Context explores the whole story. So Tarshish = England or young earth? Regardless, read the article!

Phenomenological language (Creation Day 2020)

This mouthful means language describing how things appear to be. It’s a complicated idea used by creationists to avoid uncomfortable truths. Eg the Bible says the sun rises. They will claim the Bible is using phenomenological language – it is correctly recording what is relatively right only in the ill-informed & limited perspective of a human observer who is unfortunately technically wrong. How do they know it is phenomenological? Because science has shown the earth rotates. The Bible never teaches the actual facts about the planet and sun. But that’s ok – it’s phenomenologically absolutely accurate in it’s inaccuracy.

Should ancient sites be destroyed if they contradict creationist narratives?

An Australian mining company remains under fire for destroying a 46,000 year old sacred site at Juukan Gorge WA. The site was used continuously, including through the ice age 12,000 years ago. Perhaps the miners should ask creationists to defend them…of course they won’t though because, well, facts….

Creationist predictions repeatedly fail (part 3)

What a Creation predicts?	What we find
Fossil records should show all life appearing within 72 hours, so no stratification	Simpler life forms deeper in time and very complex life later
A genetic bottleneck in humanity 6,000 years ago	We can see bottlenecks in other species older then 6,000 years ago but not in humans
Mitochondrial DNA would show a common female ancestor 6,000 years ago	The maths says 100,000 years ago
Maximum human diversity in Middle East and reducing as humans move out	Maximum human diversity in Africa
Functional design	The onion has more DNA than humans
Human genetic diversity should be low enough to enable drug free organ transplants	Unlike other species where there ARE 10,000 year old genetic bottlenecks, we need anti-rejection drugs.

If the literal creationist model was right there would be some great benefits. Dead easy organ transplants for example – like we see in cheetahs. Alas the facts reject the creationist hypothesis.

Creationist predictions repeatedly fail (part 2)

A literal creation predicts:	But what we find is
Stars were made 6,000 years ago	Red shift enables us to date star formation and it is much older.  The light from some stars reaches us after a billion years
Seasons started 6,000 years ago	Varve layers (one example) show 45,000 years of continuous life and seasons
6,000 years ago there were no trees	Tree rings show continuity of life for 11,600 years
Lifeforms no older than 6,000 years old	Single gene organisms and coral formations are older than this.  DNA also shows ongoing old life

Some things logically follow from a literal reading of Genesis 1-3. Yet they cannot be reconciled with simple facts. As Deut 18 says, false predictions come from false prophets. The proof is in the pudding. And a literal reading is unsustainable on the facts.