A noted apologist exposed another indicator of the church's deteriorating morality and doctrinal integrity.
It is disappointing, but not unexpected, that the Christianity Today magazine awarded a book by Dr. William Lane Craig that challenges the authority of God's Word, theologian and Answers in Genesis leader Ken Ham remarked on Facebook on December 17.
According to Ham, if one accepts Genesis as true history, Craig seems to be ridiculing the Genesis narrative of the creation of Adam and Eve.
"Now the item states, 'But his project is not revisionary. Rather, he is seeking, with intellectual humility, boldness, and rigor, to walk the path of reason in the search of truth.' Well, he certainly 'walks the path of reason' as he puts finite man's word (fallible human reason) and academic pride in authority over the Word of God to revise it, which has become a plague in Christian academia and much of church leadership," Ham wrote.
Even yet, Ham disputes the legitimacy of Craig's pursuit for truth, considering how the former rejects the Genesis creation story.
"No, because he rejects the Word of the One who is Truth and exalts the fallible word of man. What Craig does is nothing new. He rejects the literal account of Genesis as he desperately tries to fit man's evolutionary beliefs from autonomous fallen reason into God's Word, thus compromising the infallible Word," he said.
Likewise, Dr. Terry Mortenson, who has both an MDiv and a PhD in the history of geology, published an essay in Answers in Genesis on October 19, 2021, in which he picked apart Dr. Craig's thesis.
According to Dr. Craig, who has written a book entitled "In Quest of the Historical Adam," Adam was both historically and mythically significant. That is, he believes that there was a real man called Adam, but that the specifics included in Genesis 2-3 about the genesis of Adam and Eve, as well as the nature of their fall into sin, are mythical representations.
Dr. Craig reportedly classified Genesis 1-11 as "mytho-history," saying that 'an ancient Near-Eastern audience' would not have regarded this passage as a genuine historical account.
Dr. Mortenson, on the other hand, was of the opposite opinion, claiming that Dr. Craig's "mytho-history" was not historically accurate in all of its specifics.
As an example, he mentioned the fact that the Bible does not state that the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil are "magical trees."
"I assume Craig believes that at least all these New Testament miracles literally happened as described. But, if so, he has no logically or biblically consistent basis to doubt the statements about the supernatural events, unusual trees, or ages of the patriarchs as described in Genesis," said Mortenson.
Thus, he believed that Craig was just selectively accepting or rejecting supernatural or extraordinary occurrences as historical truth, while accepting or rejecting the Bible's claims as fiction depending on the scientific majority's assertions. Mortenson wrote,
"But there is no mythology in Scripture, except the briefly mentioned myths that are exposed as false (e.g., the myth that Jesus' disciples stole his dead body: Matthew 28:11-16)."
While Craig possesses two PhDs (one in philosophy and another in theology), Mortenson stated in his conlusion that Craig has virtually totally disregarded what inerrantist, young-earth biblical, and scientific experts have to say concerning the literal reality of Genesis 1-11, and specifically Adam's role in these historical accounts of Scripture.
Mortenson also pointed out one major flaw that Craig, whom he called "brilliant," failed to include in his book- something that Christians should be careful not to overlook. Mortenson wrote,
"Because he has accepted the evolutionary idea of billions of years of cosmic and earth history, [Craig] has thereby accepted billions of years of animal death, disease, and extinction before Adam. This evolutionary story massively conflicts with the biblical teaching about the curse at the fall of Adam and the final redemptive work of Christ."
