Feedback archive → Feedback 2018
Biblical creation isn’t a salvation issue, but it is a Gospel issue
David M. from Australia wrote in response to the article Where was Eden? Part 2:
Hello, I appreciate the effort that has gone into the article and it was very interesting. However, do we need this sort of information to understand our ‘Salvation’? We just don’t need to know where Eden was, just what it teaches us. Of far greater importance would be articles on the historicity of biblical statements giving details of why we can accept such statements as ‘Truth’. Thank you and keep up the good work.
Lita Sanders, CMI-US, responds:
Thank you for writing in with these thoughts. Of course articles about biblical history are important, and we often publish them. However, our Where was Eden? articles make the point that Genesis was intending to make a historical statement regarding pre-Flood geography. This is important, because some theologians argue that Eden is the biblical equivalent of ‘Neverland’—a mythical place that wasn’t intended to be taken literally. That is precisely why we showed that the statements intend to talk about real places, albeit in a geography that doesn’t exist today, post-Flood.
Having a correct view of the first chapters of Genesis lays the groundwork for the rest of the Bible. If we view Eden as “Neverland” and Adam as Everyman, the first chapters of Genesis become completely archetypal. But how can a historical Jesus fix a problem caused by a mythical Adam? How can we really look forward to a restored creation if Eden was only Neverland?
Of course we need to know what Eden teaches us. But what does it teach us? The answer to that question is different depending on whether you take a historical view of Eden or not. Thus, while we don’t need to know where Eden was as far as its coordinates, we do need to know that it was a place on the real, physical earth where our first parents lived and rebelled against God.
These articles are important because they defend Genesis as history, not as poetry, myth, or allegory. We have seen over and over again how people become more confident in their faith and in witnessing to others when they find they can trust Genesis from the very first verse. Even more amazingly, kids who are taught this in their churches are far more likely to hold onto their faith when they go to college, as shown in our short video Fallout! People also send in comments like the following:
I have used the information in your magazines many time in witnessing. After reading one of your magazines over 17 years ago, I was so pleased that I no longer had to interpret the chapters in Genesis in light of the theory of evolution. Now I just believe what I read. Thanks for all the interesting articles from space to science. I really appreciate your ministry.–Steve M.
I love the articles, they are inspirational and shed such a powerful light and balance into some very spiritually dark corners in the evolutionary and atheistic worlds. Your whole ministry is such a blessing, so a heart felt thank you.—Neil D.
A given article on creation.com may not be your ‘cup of tea’ (even we as writers and staffers at CMI have our favorites). But I hope you can see how these articles contribute to a full defense of Genesis as history, and thus as a foundation for the Gospel.
Readers’ comments
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