April 2019: Adam and Eve - More Evidence

In 2015 we posted an article entitled In Light of Genetics - Adam, Eve, and the Creation/Fall. Since that time theistic evolutionists have continued to ramp up their attack on Adam and Eve. Most noteworthy is the recent book Adam and the Genome – Reading Scripture After Genetic Science written by Venema and McKnight. This book is now being strongly promoted by the BioLogos organization and is systematically undermining the faith of countless Christians.

 

Dr. Venema is a Christ-professing biology teacher at Trinity Western University. He very forcefully argues that genetic science has now proven conclusively that humans evolved from apes, that Adam and Eve never existed, and that the Fall never happened. He goes on to argue that we now must update the Bible in light of these irrefutable facts (his “science” seems to trump the Bible and church history). He argues this will not make any difference to the church – Christians merely need to catch up with the modern world. In another venue, Venema argues that God simply made up the Adam and Eve story because he needed to accommodate the ignorant semetic people of that time.

 

Venema’s co-author, Scot McKnight, is a theologian who does not appear to have any scientific training. He opens his part of the book by asking the question; “What happens when the church…encounters the kind of science found in the first part of this book?” He answers his own question by concluding that in light of Venema, we all now need to re-work our understanding of the Bible. McKnight then re-builds his own theology on the foundation of Venema’s scientific claims - as if those claims were the gospel truth. He does not seem to be aware that Venema is not a particularly well-credentialed scientist, and that many of his arguments reflect shallow scholarship and even gross error. McKnight puts forward his own re-make of the Bible that conveniently turns Genesis 1-3 into vacuous abstraction. He then argues we cannot understand Genesis except in the context of co-existing pagan religions. Lastly, he casually brushes aside all the New Testament support for a literal Adam, a literal Eve, and a literal Fall.

 

Is it possible that Dr. Venema’s science is seriously in error? Is it possible that McKnight is subsequently also in serious error? What if exciting new genetic discoveries could strongly refute the ape-to-man story, and strongly support a literal Adam and Eve, and a literal Fall? MORE...