Bryan College in Dayton, Tennessee, recently added a sentence to its statement of faith that has sent the Christian school into an uproar.   No problem when the statement declared, “The origin of man was by fiat of God.”  But when they added Adam and Eve “are historical persons created by God in a special formative act, and not from previously existing life-forms” — BOOM!

School and many board members argue the addition will help stop the erosion of Christian values and beliefs they see in the country.  Critics claim it assaults personal religious views.  It’s another battle in the ongoing war between creationism and evolution, between Scripture and science, between “neanderthals” who interpret the Bible literally and contemporary, “open-minded intellectuals” who insist Science (a capital to note deification) has the final word.

Sorry for the cynicism.  I know the issue demands respectable, honest debate.  In a recent post I argued (I hope respectfully) for the historicity of Adam and Eve (see “Adam–Really?”)  I also recommend reading the little book, Seven Days That Divide the World–the Beginning According to Genesis and Science, by John C. Lennox (available from Amazon).  In it Lennox writes, “We think that, since God is the author both of his Word the Bible and of the universe, there must ultimately be harmony between correct interpretation of the biblical data and correct interpretation of the scientific data.”  Amen! (“correct” is the operative word here)

Why, then, are some professed Christians so quick to throw the Bible under the bus for the sake of “science”?  Take one person who commented on the debate this way (grammatical mistakes his, not mine)
. . .

The Hebrew Bible or as the Christian community calls it the Old Testament was never meant to be a historical or science based books. It was written by people of faith trying to communicate through stories how God interacted with humanity. The stories were not based upon historical people. The stories were meant to teach larger truths. Be it the story about Job and his suffering, the story of Joseph and the rescue of his family and the nation of Egypt from famine, were not to be taken in the literal sense as history. The stories taught like in the story of Joseph the youngest child can be the hero of the clan. Like Job we are all tested by adversity. The thing is often our adversity is caused by outside forces not by us.

To look at Adam and Eve and the creation story as a real historical event is not the point of the story. Evil exists. Evil has been around since creation. The issue in the story is as we grow up which Adam and Eve were doing we need to know that evil exists. How we deal with evil or not deal with evil shapes our future for good or for ill.

Pardon me.  ” . . . the Old Testament was never meant to be a historical . . . [book]”? “It was written by people of faith trying to communicate through stories how God interacted with humanity”?  “The issue in the story is as we grow up which Adam and Eve were doing we need to know that evil exists”?  “How we deal with evil or not deal with evil shapes our future for good or for ill”?  This writer is claiming that the entire Old Testament isn’t historical.  Not only Adam and Eve, but Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David were just characters created for stories to teach us moral lessons!  The Old Testament is just a Hebrew Aesop’s Fables!

I’m making light of this respondent’s opinion, I know.  But it’s no light matter.  Clearly the Scripture contains metaphors, similes, hyperboles, proverbs, etc.  Correct interpretation demands we recognize them.  But when we start interpreting what the Bible presents as history as being nothing more than a fable, where do we stop?  Was Jesus really God in human flesh?  Was his death really propitiation for believers’ sins against the holy God?  Did Jesus really rise from the dead?  Is Jesus really returning for us?  Can we really look forward to a new heavens and earth in which righteousness dwells?

As I noted in “Adam-Really?” the New Testament refers to Adam and Eve as real historical persons.  Here is one place, which, as you can see, stands at the very heart of the Gospel.

Therefore, as one trespass (Adam’s) led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness (Christ’s) leads to justification and life for all men.  For as by the one man’s disobedience (Adam’s) the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience (Christ’s) the many will be made righteous (Romans 5:16-19).

Fable to teach morality?  Or historical events that lead to eternal death or eternal life?  If an apparent conflict exists between Scripture and science, hold science lightly but Scripture tightly.  It is, after all, God’s Word.  While it requires careful interpretation, it also requires  humble reverence.  Science may make us stand in awe, but God drives us to our knees in joyful worship, because it is his works that science is exploring.  And thankfully his Word goes far beyond moral fables; his Word is life-saving Gospel.