Cosmic Compromise

Matt Miles • July 22, 2022

     The amazing and beautiful account of creation in Genesis 1 answers the questions of origins. Details written about each of the first six days demonstrate order, design and purpose. There is an ongoing desire by many to not allow the simple reading of the text to trump all other documents on the subject of origins. One such compromise position comes from Wheaton College Old Testament professor, John Walton.

     Walton believes our understanding of Genesis 1 should be one of “functional origins”, not material origins. He argues that we must read Genesis in light of other ancient Near East literature and continually reminds readers to reference it for insights to how God’s people would have understood Him. When read in this manner with this comparison, Genesis poetically reveals how God moves into His “cosmic temple,” the universe, emphasizing how God interacts with His creation as opposed to how He actually created it.

     To say the least, this interpretation does not answer why the rest of scripture refers to Genesis 1 as a historical record and not a poetic allegory about what might have happened. Or why there is no reference anywhere in God’s Word that we should refer to other outside texts for more insight into what He needs us to know about Him. Walton’s interpretation smacks of Documentary Hypothesis underpinnings that question the very inerrancy of scripture and push its origin off to the influence of other cultures. It places a greater significance on outside sources that supposedly preceded the Scriptural texts for our understanding of God’s Word rather than on the author Himself. These are always compromising positions that we should be extremely cautious entertaining.

     Our desire and focus here at CTF will always be to show the trustworthiness of Scripture on its own, breathed out by the Author and Perfecter of our faith. Yes, we use outside resources at times to help us support what the text is teaching us, but those outside sources will never trump the Word of God. That the Bible is the great influencer of all, rather than it being affected by others, is of foundational importance in worldview development. If we cannot trust what the Lord gave to us in His revelation, then how do we know which of His promises are trustworthy? It’s all or nothing to me. We accept the Word of God as it is written, or we don’t. No other literature in the world was written with the same inspiration as the Bible, and much of it has been written in an attempt to explain the origins of the world without our Creator and Savior, Jesus Christ.

By Bob Dugas May 23, 2025
NS-29 Launch
By Matt Miles May 22, 2025
As many of you may know, I appreciate space. Not space around me, although the older I get the more I appreciate that as well. The things in the heavens fascinate me and have for a large chunk of my life. I love working with our telescopes, allowing people to see for themselves objects that the Lord made on the 4th day of history. When I was younger I followed our Space Shuttle program, and over the years I have had the opportunity to see a couple of those shuttles around the country. Now it is great to see all the renewed interest in exploring the heavenly creation. I know most of it is for evolutionary reasons, yet over and over again something is discovered that points to the trustworthiness of God’s Word. After all, we are to study His creation as Genesis 1:28 states. On a recent trip to El Paso, it occurred to me that Blue Origin’s launch facility is in west Texas somewhere. After some quick searching I realized we were within an hour and half of it, and there was a rescheduled launch window during the time of our meeting. So, with some persuading of my colleagues, we arose early one morning to make the launch. We made it with just minutes to spare. It was spectacular! The whole launch to just beyond the Karman Line (space boundary, 62 miles/100km) and return of the rocket and capsule is about ten minutes total. While Blue Origin is best known for its New Shepherd rocket that carries paying customers to space and back with the biggest windows ever in a capsule, this NS-29 launch was purely experimental with a payload of instruments to measure simulated lunar gravity. Even though it was not a Saturn V, Space Shuttle, Starship or Falcon launch, it was great to hear and feel a launch for the first time, from blast off to the sonic boom return. It has piqued my desire to see a bigger launch now. As I began to reflect on what I experienced, the Lord reminded me of His design. Earth, our home planet, is so well designed for life. There is literally nowhere in all the universe like it. Yet He gave us the ability to discover creation beyond it. The only reason we can launch rockets and do space exploration is because He set it up in an orderly way. Physics works because He established it to work in a predictable fashion. As much as we may never understand everything in the universe from our position here, it works on an ordered reality that is reinforced by God’s Word. This is what drove Sir Isaac Newton in his understanding of physics. He wrote, “The motions which the planets now have could not spring from any natural cause alone but were by an intelligent Agent.” Evolutionists may come up with theories about the origin of things in the heavens, but over and over again they are being shown through experimentation and observation to be wrong. The Lord set the order of everything in the beginning and sustains it by His Word (Hebrews 1:3). So as you look to the heavens tonight, gaze into the depths of space and observe the different facets the Lord placed up there for our eyes (Genesis 1:17). Peer through a telescope at the lesser light of the moon with marvel and anticipation of further human study in the coming years. Check out the amazing observations being made by the James Webb telescope from deep in space. All of these place a perspective of how awesome our Creator is and how much we depend on Him. Our design becomes more and more obvious with every discovery, yet in our universe we appear so minuscule and fragile. Thanks be to God that His infinite focus has, is and always will be here on us! Blessings.
By Ryan Cox May 22, 2025
Moses & History (part 2)
Show More