Anglican Bishop appalled, according to Anglican News (Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn, Australia) March 2007, p2.
In a response to Richard Dawkins’ book The God Delusion, Bishop George Browning writes: “Like you (Richard Dawkins) I am appalled by the teachings of creationism and of intelligent design. My reason for taking the teaching seriously rather than dismissing it as irrelevant, is that I am afraid children will either grow up as bigots, or will throw away the treasure of their faith altogether, as you would wish them to do.”
He goes on to say: “All serious scholars accept the first 11 chapters of Genesis as pre-history more akin to the dreamtime of our own aboriginal people, or the pre-history of many other nations. To call these stories myths is not to say they are untrue but to say their written style encourages the reader to enter truth which could never be conveyed in a literal story (in the same manner Jesus teaches through parables).”
Later in the article the Bishop writes: “While I understand some evangelicals teach a substitutional theory of the atonement which is probably as embarrassing to me as it is offensive to you, when taught as the main insight into the nature of God: I accept the Cross as the ultimate standard of love, sacrifice, humility, forgiveness and self-giving.”
Editorial Comment: Bishop George is consistent in his thinking. By rejecting the reality of the early chapters of Genesis he has rejected the fact that God made a very good world with no death, and that one man Adam, brought sin and into the world, and physical death is the penalty for that sin. Therefore, the Bishop does not understand that the innocent Jesus Christ, who didn’t sin, died to pay the penalty for sin that the one guilty man Adam brought into the world and which we have all inherited. Jesus did not die just to be an example of “love, sacrifice, humility, forgiveness and self-giving.”
The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned” and in I Corinthians 15:21-22, “For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.”
Many evangelical Christians claim that it doesn’t matter what you believe about Genesis, as long as you believe that Christ died for your sins. However this view is inconsistent, and sceptics like Richard Dawkins know it and exploit it to pour scorn on Christians. The current generation is being brought up to believe that death and struggle were always in the world, there is no such thing as original sin, and man is a rising creature who can save himself from the mess the world is in. Therefore, it is easy for them to reject the Saviour. Anglican
Theological colleges such as Moore in Australia and others world wide, that refuse to teach the historical reality of Genesis should not be surprised that a sceptical world is rejecting the reality of salvation by Christ’s death and resurrection.
Evidence News 14th March 2007
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