John H. Walton has written a series of books under the umbrella title The Lost World of... discussing how to understand the Ancient Near Eastern culture in which the Bible was written. The goal of Walton's books is to aid in interpreting the Old Testament in light of the culture in which it was written and to thereby help students of the Bible avoid imposing our modern point of view on the ancient texts of Scripture. Walton addresses Adam and Eve, the Genesis 1 creation account, the Flood, the conquest of Canaan, and related topics. He delves deeply, methodically, and carefully into issues of science and the Bible.
In the conclusion of the series' first book, The Lost World of Adam and Eve, John H. Walton addresses the question, "Why is all of this important?"
Walton answers with four main points for consideration: creation care, ministry, evangelism, and future generations of Christians.
Ultimately, the future is what Walton identifies as the most important concern, writing:
"Finally, and perhaps most importantly, whenever we misrepresent what the Bible says by positioning it as being in conflict with science, we force people to make a choice. Certainly we make a choice when we affirm that God is the Creator. But when we tell the young people reared in a Christian faith that there is a war between science and faith and that if they accept certain scientific conclusions, they will be abandoning the Bible, they often believe us. Then when they are confronted with a very persuasive presentation of an old earth or a case for common ancestors from the genomic record, they decide that the Bible must go. It is not because they no longer believe in Jesus but because they have been taught that believing in an old earth or believing some form of evolutionary theory is not compatible with believing the Bible. They have heard their revered pastors tell them that people who believe in evolution cannot be Christians. In repeated surveys of those who have become disillusioned with the church, this is listed as one of the primary reasons." p. 209, The Lost World of Adam and Eve
One of my daughters has a high school-aged friend who was raised in the church but is currently experimenting with a life guided by her own wisdom. She has said, "I believe in science, not the Bible." Some Christians, when they hear this, may feel re-enforced in thinking that science is the great enemy of Christianity. But I, along with John Walton, disagree.
I believe that the trap is laid when young people are not given the Scriptural and scientific knowledge necessary to see that God's revelation of Himself through His creation is in harmony with the revelation of Himself in Scripture. Furthermore, they are set up for a potential fall when they are taught that a great conflict has arisen between modern science and our ancient faith and that there is no resolution but to choose one or the other. Certainly there are many false philosophies in our day, some of which lean on hypotheses of modern science, but we do not have to shun science to silence bad philosophy.
To quote one of my younger daughters, "If Christians have a super bad case for creation and how the earth came into being and it completely doesn't match any of the scientific evidence, Christianity will seem super incredible."
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