Top 30 Apologetics Books (#19): John C. Whitcomb Jr. and Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Flood
By Rob Bowman | Plus, Atheism and Life After Death
Note: Below, Dr. Rob Bowman continues his series on the 30 most important apologetics books in church history. See his earlier posts in previous weeks of our weekly emails.
#19: John C. Whitcomb Jr. and Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Flood (1961)
In 1953, Henry Morris (1918–2006), a professor of hydraulics engineering, presented a paper on “Biblical Evidence for a Recent Creation and Universal Deluge” to the American Scientific Affiliation meeting at Grace Theological Seminary. John Whitcomb (1924–), who had been teaching for two years there, heard Morris and changed his view of Genesis from the gap theory to young-earth creationism. Whitcomb did his Th.D. dissertation at Grace on “The Genesis Flood” (1957). He and Morris then teamed up to write a book with the same title, combining their theological and scientific interests to produce a defense of a global, catastrophic Flood in keeping with a literal reading of Genesis. Up to this point, the most significant defenses of this position had been written by Seventh-day Adventists, notably George McCready Price. The Genesis Flood, by a Grace Brethren theologian and a Southern Baptist scientist, enjoyed widespread acceptance among evangelicals, eventually selling over 300,000 copies. Although both Morris and Whitcomb were important Christian apologists, our focus here is primarily on Whitcomb, who laid the philosophical and theological foundation for the modern young-earth creationist apologetic.
Although Cornelius Van Til is not mentioned in The Genesis Flood, in later publications Whitcomb made clear that he based his view of the relationship between science and Scripture on a form of Van Til’s apologetic system. Like Van Til, Whitcomb emphasized the impossibility of scientific theories without religious presuppositions. He argued that both creationism and evolutionism should be seen as essentially religious in character. “Our conclusions must unavoidably be colored by our Biblical presuppositions, and this we plainly acknowledge. But uniformitarian scholarship is no less bound by its own presuppositions and these are quite as dogmatic as those of our own” (xxi).
For Whitcomb, the Bible speaks both more authoritatively and more clearly about such questions as the age of the universe than science should or can. “The instructed Christian knows that the evidences for full divine inspiration of Scripture are far weightier than the evidence is for any fact of science” (118). They do not say here what those weightier “evidences” are, but clearly, they cannot come from “any fact of science.”
The basic thesis of The Genesis Flood is that geological uniformitarianism was an unbelieving presupposition that had prejudiced most geologists and even many Christian scholars to the clear teaching of a global Flood in Genesis. In the first four chapters, Whitcomb defends the global Flood as the teaching of Genesis and argues against compromise views such as a global yet tranquil flood or a local flood. In chapters 5 through 7, which comprise about two-thirds of the book, Morris presents an interpretation of the geological evidence that he argues is consistent with Genesis, the heart of which is the principle of “appearance of age.”
The Genesis Flood is widely credited as having launched the modern creation science movement. Morris went on to establish the Institute for Creation Research, which for many years was the leading organization promoting young-earth creationism. It is certainly one of the most influential books in apologetics of the twentieth century.
—Rob Bowman Jr. is an evangelical Christian apologist, biblical scholar, author, editor, and lecturer. He is the author of over sixty articles and author or co-author of thirteen books, including Putting Jesus in His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ, co-authored with J. Ed Komoszewski. He leads the Apologetics Book Club on Facebook.
Atheism and Life After Death
Excerpted from Being Truly Human: The Limits of Our Worth, Power, Freedom and Destiny by David Gooding and John Lennox (Myrtlefield House, 2018), 240-242.
When . . . we raise the topic of human destiny, realism demands that we face the question that has confronted every generation that has ever lived on the face of the earth: is death the end? Is humanity’s destiny nothing but dust and ashes? Is it so that in spite of every individual’s rational superiority over the mindless forces of nature, and in spite of humanity’s increasing power over nature, mindless nature will eventually have the last word and consign everyone in every generation to mindless non-existence?
As usual when we ask questions like this, the answers given fall into two main groups: those from theists and those from atheists.
Let us listen first, then, to some typical statements on the subject from the atheistic point of view:
The Humanist Manifesto II: ‘As far as we know, the total personality is a function of the biological organism transacting in a social and cultural context. There is no credible evidence that life survives the death of the body.’
Bertrand Russell: ‘No fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling, can preserve an individual life beyond the grave.’
A. J. Ayer: ‘I take it . . . to be a fact that one’s existence ends with death.’
Ernest Nagel: ‘Human destiny [is] an episode between two oblivions.’
Humanist Manifesto II allows a certain ‘immortality’, but it consists solely in continuing ‘to exist in our progeny and in the way that our lives have influenced others in our culture’.
This last sentiment was widespread in the ancient pagan world. Parents took comfort in the thought that they would live on in their children. Emperors, kings, conquering generals and leading politicians had statues made of themselves to keep their memory fresh in the minds of posterity. Authors liked to think that their literary and philosophical works would be far more durable memorials than those made of marble or bronze.
All of this is clear enough evidence that there is an instinctive longing in the human heart for some kind of immortality. As atheists approach the end of life they understandably welcome the feeling that their lives have not been simply a few brief years of self-satisfying existence, but have contributed something of lasting good to someone. But it would seem to be poor comfort to be remembered when you yourself no longer exist to appreciate that you are being remembered.
This, then, is what atheists have to say about human destiny; and it is very little and very bleak. It is, moreover, an expression of their belief, not of proven fact.
Atheists will assert that there is no positive evidence for survival after death, and therefore theists’ belief in an after-life is simply wishful thinking. And maybe that is so. But it is not altogether certain that the atheistic denial of an afterlife does not sometimes have a strand of wishful thinking in it too. For any mature concept of life after death includes the emphatic assertion that the demands of morality and justice will prevail there as absolutely as they were meant to prevail here. Moral concerns do not end with death; but after death there shall come a judgment at which everyone shall give account of himself and herself to God, and that with eternal consequences. It is certainly possible, then, that some atheists, at least, might have reasons for wishfully thinking that this will not be so.
The ancient Roman poet Lucretius was an enthusiastic adherent of Epicurean philosophy; and in his lengthy poem on the subject he tells us what lay behind his enthusiasm. Epicurean philosophy allowed him to think that science had proved that men and women did not survive death; and therefore he would never have to face a final judgment. There could be others like him today.
Book Highlight
Being Truly Human: The Limits of Our Worth, Power, Freedom and Destiny is the first volume in the six-book series The Quest for Reality and Significance. In these volumes Christian scholars David Gooding and John Lennox examine six topics that are central to the Christian worldview and compare the biblical perspective to skeptical philosophies, past and present.
In Being Truly Human, Gooding and Lennox take up vital topics about the human person including the value of human life, the impact of the fall on humanity, the nature and basis of morality, and human destiny. These books provide a thorough introduction to the Christian worldview, while also defending it in contrast to competing perspectives.
“Clear, simple, fresh and highly practical—this David Gooding/John Lennox series is a goldmine for anyone who desires to live Socrates' 'examined life.' Above all, the books are comprehensive and foundational, so they form an invaluable handbook for negotiating the crazy chaos of today's modern world.”
— Dr. Os Guinness, author of Last Call for Liberty
“Written by two outstanding scholars who combine careers of research and teaching at the highest levels. David Gooding and John Lennox cover well the fields of Scripture, science, and philosophy, integrating them with one voice. To get all this wisdom together in this set was an enormous undertaking! Highly recommended!”
— Dr. Gary R. Habermas, Distinguished Research Professor & Chair, Dept. of Philosophy, Liberty University & Theological Seminary
“John Lennox and David Gooding are exemplary guides to the deepest questions of life in this comprehensive series. It will equip thinking Christians with an intellectual roadmap to the fundamental conflict between Christianity and secular humanism. For thinking seekers it will be a provocation to consider which worldview makes best sense of our deepest convictions about life.”
— Justin Brierley, host of the Unbelievable? radio show and podcast
Find Being Truly Human at Amazon, Christianbook.com, and 10 of Those (best overall price on the paperback) and other major booksellers.
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