Thursday, November 17, 2022

Days of a Dangerous Trend

"A dangerous trend exists in evangelical circles today: we seem to
have a growing number of evangelical scholars and leaders who are functioning as “popes.”
 
One not-so-subtle example of this trend is John Walton’s book, The Lost World of Genesis (IVPress, 2009). Here Walton, an Old Testament professor at Wheaton College, argues that God did not create anything in Genesis 1. Instead, He only gave pre-existing things a new function as a “cosmic temple” to dwell in. 
 
An appendix of frequently asked questions addresses the question, “If this is the ‘right’ reading, why didn’t we know about it until now?”
His reply (p. 171) is that until scholars of recent times learned the ancient Near-Eastern languages and pagan literature around Israel, we had no way of understanding Genesis. Earlier he stated that without knowledge of Hebrew or access to Hebrew scholarship, a lay person could not accurately comprehend Genesis (p. 39). 
 
The implication is “you can’t understand the Bible on your own, so let the scholarly experts explain it to you.” The result is that the supposed experts are in effect stealing the Bible from the people in the pew. 
 
Read and study your Bible faithfully and follow the example of the Jews in Berea. 
As they heard the apostle Paul preach, they were “searching the Scriptures daily” to see whether his words lined up with God’s Word (Acts 17:11)." AIG