Creation Science Evangelism

A:   In September of 2000 I was privileged to debate the well-known, self professed "progressive creationist" Dr. Hugh Ross for 3 hours. The debate was aired on the John Ankerberg (www.ankerberg.com) show nine weeks in a row starting in September of 2000 and is now available by special arrangement with Dr. Ankerberg from our ministry, CSE, www.drdino.com for $78 as a video series. This debate was my first encounter with Dr. Ross and I look forward to debating him again any time in the future if he is willing. I believe Dr. Ross is a sincere man who is convinced he must blend scripture with the theories currently being taught in science class. As any discerning Christian should know, sincerity and being a nice man has nothing to do with having correct doctrine. Some of the prophets of Baal were probably nice people also. Some of Dr. Ross's doctrine is heretical in my opinion (and the opinion of scores of other Christians) and needs to be exposed before it does further damage to the body of Christ. Rom. 3:4 "yea, let God be true, but every man a liar;"

Many major ministries have endorsed (to varying degrees) Dr. Ross such as:
Bill Bright -- Campus Crusade for Christ
R.C. Sproul -- Ligonier Ministries
Norman Geisler -- Southern Evangelical Seminary
Harold Lindsell -- former editor of Christianity Today
Don Richardson -- author of Peace Child and Eternity in Their Heart
Ralph D. Winter -- US Center for World Mission
Earl Radmacher -- former president of Western Conservative Baptist Seminary
Walter Kaiser -- Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and editor of Christianity Today
Stan Oakes -- Christian Leadership Ministries, Campus Crusade for Christ
Jim Barney -- InterVarsity Christian Fellowship of Canada
Ted Martin -- International School of Theology, Campus Crusade for Christ
John Ankerberg -- The John Ankerberg Show
James Dobson - Focus on the Family
Scores of pastors and leaders of churches across America

The fact that so many Christians have been taken in by Dr. Ross's obviously unscriptural teachings is a sad indicator of how the evolution propaganda of the last 200 years has infiltrated modern Christianity. To refute the many doctrinal errors of Dr. Ross in detail would require a huge book and others have already done this job well so I will only reprint some of their comments adding a few thoughts of my own.

Many people have argued that Hugh Ross is such a nice man and remains calm in the face of criticism. Based on my brief experience with him I would agree, and these are great qualities to have, however, I would like to point out that being a nice man has nothing to do with having correct doctrine. Many "nice people" have founded cults and were reported to be humble, considerate and intelligent yet they had wrong doctrine. Many mean spirited people such as Elijah who slew the prophets of Baal had right doctrine. It is important to constantly keep in mind, "thus sayeth the Lord" in this debate and not be swayed by a person being "nice" or sounding "intellectual".

Some have asked why I would debate Hugh Ross since he is a fellow Bible believing Christian. I know he claims to be a Bible believing Christian but his doctrine does not match the scriptures. Isaac of old was deceived because he went by the feelings (the wool on the hands of Jacob) and not the word (the voice of Esau). Many today fall for the same trap. It is always right to oppose error even if found in a brother.

Having read much of Dr. Ross's material, I must join many others in their observation that he may have only a head knowledge of Christianity having accepted the Bible intellectually but has not come through the door of repentance. See. John 10:1-14. Paul (Saul) had many "Christian" qualities but was lost. Phil. 3:4 "If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless."

Dr. Ross's testimony, in his own words is quite revealing. After telling us how he read through the Bible finding that it supported the big bang theory and what he was learning in his university courses he says,

"How could I not trust this book's message and the One who sent it with such supernatural precision through human messengers? With some delays and more than a little wrestling with personal pride, I did make a transfer of trust, inviting God, the Creator of the vast cosmos, to be my God, and Master of my destiny, through Jesus Christ, His Son." The Genesis Question p. 18.

As I read this it seemed to not tell of genuine repentance, turning from sin and placing saving faith in Jesus blood to pay for sins but rather pride and self-reliance. I hope for his sake that I am wrong in my evaluation. James tells us that the devils believe and tremble, James 2:19.

Dr. Ross's ministry is called Reasons to Believe. Having studied his teachings, I have joined the host of others who ask, "Is it reasons to believe the Bible or reasons to believe Hugh Ross?

It has often been the responsibility of followers of God to expose false doctrine. There is no way to do this and still appear to be "nice" people as the following examples show:

In Mk. 4:2 Jesus told us the key to all parables is the parable of the sower. Mt. 13 - The wheat and the tares grew together and looked alike, but one was not right. Many who name the name of Christ will hear, "depart from me. I never knew you." (I am told that tares look like wheat but are poison and refuse to "bow their head" as wheat does when it is ripe.)

Romans 16:17 warns us to: "mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine, which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple." I feel this applies to Dr. Ross. His doctrine has cast a stumbling block before many (Rev. 2:14) and caused much division in the church and God hates it.

Azariah the priest withstood King Uzziah when he went beyond the bounds and offered a sacrifice in II Chron. 26:19. Hugh's doctrine goes beyond scripture and needs to be withstood. Paul withstood Peter in Gal. 2:11 when Peter was wrong. Alexander the coppersmith caused harm to the gospel in II Tim. 2:14. Jesus instructed us to beware of false doctrine even from religious people like the Pharisees in Mt. 16:12.

I Kgs. 18:26 "And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made. And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked. And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them. 40 - And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there."

Elijah did not look very tolerant of the beliefs of others that day, did he?

Pro. 6:16 - "These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:" 17 - "A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood," 18 - "An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren."

Gal.2: 11 - "But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed."

Acts 18: 24 - "And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus." 25 - "This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly." [Dr. Ross is certainly eloquent also but his doctrine in wrong.]

I Sam. 15: 22 - "And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." 23 - "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king." 24 - "And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice."

Matthew 15:6-9 - "Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. 12 - "Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying? But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch."

Sadducees - Mt. 22:23 - "The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him," 24 - "Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother." 25 - "Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother: 29 - "Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God."

[KH] Below are the miscellaneous notes I collected before my encounter with Hugh Ross. Scores of people have contributed to this section. I especially appreciate Dr. Danny Faulkner and James Sundquist for allowing me to use their many insightful comments. I will try to edit out duplicate comments and edit this section down as time permits, but I felt getting this information available now in any form was better than waiting. So many have been and are being deceived by Dr. Ross's doctrine. Please forgive the disconnected thoughts below and glean what you can.

Miscellaneous Notes

Local Flood?

One of Dr. Ross's false teachings is that the flood of Noah was only a local event. If he admitted the flood was world wide as the Bible teaches, it would have wiped out any evidence of the "billions of years" he believes in. If the flood were just a local event, why would God tell Noah to build the huge boat and stay in there for a year with all the animals? Why not tell Noah to move? Why didn't the people migrate all over the world if the penguins made it to South Pole? Did others survive so that we are not all descendants of Noah's family? Gen. 9:19 "These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread."

1. He says that God did not alter physics of his Creation. This is an amazing statement, because every time a miracle was performed, God dramatically altered the physics on earth. Example, when he cursed the earth, He changed the physics. The Israelites in the Wilderness wore shoes and clothes that NEVER wore out. When he turned the water to wine, he changed the physics. Regarding life. The Bible states that life is in the blood.
Plants don't have blood, so they don't have life. And as you stated, God destroyed everything wherein there is the breath of life. Plants also don't have breath. Finally, Genesis states that Eve is the mother of ALL living. Doesn't all mean all? Therefore, there were NO living humans born prior to Eve (Adam was not born but created). One more point. If Christ is the last or second Adam, then Adam must be the first man. Once again, Adam could not have antecedents. If he did then Christ is the 3rd Adam...or 4th...or millionth.

Most early Church Fathers did take Genesis literally and believed the days to be normal days. Some "Christians" of that day like St. Augustine wrote that the six days were not literal six days. But St. Augustine was WRONG not only about the Creation Week, but he also spiritualized away all of the Book of Revelation and Paul's Scripture in Romans... that the literal promises for Israel now applied to the Church. This kind of theology paved the way to the Holocaust.

- Hugh Ross (born 1945) is president and founder of Reasons to Believe, Inc., a Progressive Creationist ministry located in Pasadena, California. Yet, Reasons To Believe claims to be "an organization dedicated to showing how the latest scientific discoveries point to the God of the Bible, the Creator. Reasons To Believe was founded in 1986 with the desire to reach the secular scientific community with the truth of the Gospel. Today Reasons To Believe has 20 full time staff and 60 volunteers dedicated to sharing the joy of Christ through the latest scientific discoveries" (Reasons to Believe Internet web site--7/16/96). Ross has a Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of Toronto, and is the former Minister of Evangelism at the Sierra Madre Congregational Church. Ross has authored three books, two of which have become very controversial, The Fingerprint of God (1989) and Creation and Time (1994).

- Dr. Ross is a professing Christian currently in full-time, non-denominational ministry dealing with apologetics, especially Bible and science issues. Ross is perhaps the most visible spokesman for Progressive Creationism, a belief which opposes both atheistic evolutionism and historic Christianity's understanding of Biblical creationism. At best, then, Ross is a theistic evolutionist. He has become increasingly well-known as he has appeared on many "Christian" radio and television programs and spoken before numerous audiences (see list above). Ross packages his beliefs in a way that appears Biblically conservative and evangelical; thus, Ross prominently displays endorsements of his books from many respected evangelicals (so-called) (see list above).

- Few people (even pastors) have the time or background necessary to deal effectively with Progressive Creationism's/Ross's claims. Many have felt intimidated and confused by the scientific claims of its supporters and their insistence that the Bible supports their view. But Ross's views contrast sharply with those of fundamentalist, evangelical Christians who accept a literal, six-day Creation and a young Earth. Moreover, in some cases, Ross's stand on foundational Biblical issues is heretical at best and neo-orthodox at worst (see numbers 2, 4, and 11 below). The following documented listing of Ross's teachings has been compiled from the work of a variety of Bible-science organizations:

1. Origin of the Universe (the Big Bang). Dr. Ross teaches that the universe is 17 billion years old, plus or minus 3 billion years. He maintains that the universe began with a God-engineered "Big Bang," and that the stars and planets evolved into their present form and positions during these billions of years--eventually resulting in the formation of Earth approximately 5 billion years ago.

Ross claims that the Big Bang Theory has been "undeniably" proven, and he has taught the theory so strongly that if it were abandoned by the majority of scientists, as one day may be the case, it will be a major embarrassment to his ministry. [See: Creation and Time , pp. 91-118, 129; The Fingerprint of God , first edition (1989), pp. 158-159; Hugh Ross, "Why Big Bang Opponents Never Say Die," Facts & Faith newsletter, Vol. 4, No. 4 (Winter 1990-91).]
[NOTE: God's Word provides lists of generations between Adam and Jesus Christ. Even if there were a few gaps in the lists, it would be absurd to accept insertions of tens of thousands (or even millions) of years in the genealogy. Actually, the great majority of scientific age estimation methods indicate a young earth. See Creation Science Evangelism video tape #1. Dr. Ross's bias is apparent in his willingness to accept only those scientific methods that agree with his belief in billions of years. In the final analysis, none of man's scientific age estimation methods can be considered foolproof, young or old. We would prefer to stick with the testimony of the only eyewitness, God.]

2. Origin of the Stars and Planets (order of creation). In contrast to Scripture, Dr. Ross teaches that the sun, moon, and stars were created even before the first "day" (i.e., "in the beginning"), rather than on the fourth day as stated in Genesis. He says that most of the stars existed long before Earth's creation; i.e., that approximately 10-15 billion years of stellar evolution occurred prior to the Creation Week. (Note: Thus, he claims that not all of the heavens and earth were created in six days as the Bible plainly states in Ex. 20:11.) Dr. Ross claims that Genesis 1 describes Creation from the point of view of one standing on the earth, and that the sun, moon, and stars did not become visible until the fourth day. He believes the stars were not created instantaneously, but they evolved by the physical laws of nature put into place by God: "This entire process of stellar evolution is by natural process alone. We do not have to invoke Divine intervention at any stage in the history of the life-cycle of the stars that we observe." According to Dr. Ross, many stars had long ceased to exist by the time of Adam's creation: "The planets and life-essential elements are the burned-up remains --i.e., ashes--of [the Big Bang's] hydrogen gas." [See: The Fingerprint of God, first edition (1989), pp. 158-159, 165-169; Creation and Time , pp. 52, 131, 148-151; Hugh Ross, "Why Big Bang Opponents Never Say Die," Facts & Faith newsletter, Vol. 4, No. 4 (Winter 1990-91); Hugh Ross, "Species Development: Natural Process or Divine Action" audiotape, (Reasons to Believe, 1990).]

3. Creation Week (not days, but billions of years). Dr. Ross teaches that the Creation of the heavens and Earth took place about 4.6 billion years ago during six long, partially-overlapping periods, not 24 hour type days. [See: The Fingerprint of God, first edition (1989), pp. 146-155.] "Based on scientific dating records, each of God's creation days is several hundred million years long." [Hugh Ross, Genesis 1: A Scientific Perspective, Revised Edition (Sierra Madre, California: Wiseman Productions, 1983), p 11.] Dr. Ross teaches that we are currently in the 7th Day--a day that began after God made Adam and Eve, and which will not end until the beginning of the New Heavens and New Earth. [See: Creation and Time, pp. 59, 91-118.]

4. Origin of Death (not a result of sin). Dr. Ross strongly teaches that the existence of physical death in our world is not due to Adam's sin. He claims that death was created by God as a basic part of earthly existence since the beginning of life, and that physical death and animal predation existed for billions of years throughout the world prior to Adam's sin. (Note: Would not this belief cause the doctrines of sin and salvation to fall? If death and bloodshed preceded Adam's rebellion against God, then what are "the wages of sin" and how did the entrance of sin change things? And if death proceeded sin, then death is not the penalty for sin, and Christ's death on the cross accomplished nothing! Thus, any scheme that places death prior to man's sin is a False Gospel! ) [See: The Fingerprint of God, first edition (1989), pp. 153-155, 159-160; "Reasons to Believe," 90-second radio spots No. 47 & 48 (February 1991); Hugh Ross: "Focus on the Family" radio program, April 18, 1991.]

5. No Original Paradise. Dr. Ross does not believe the Garden of Eden was free of death, pain, suffering, or degeneration--a world created in perfection. According to Dr. Ross, there was no original paradise, except in the sense that Adam walked with God, experienced less pain than we do, and experienced no sin initially. He believes that death and degeneration existed in the beginning and have continued for millions of years. He also teaches that neither the fall to sin nor the Flood resulted in significant physical changes in Nature. Dr. Ross claims that our planet has always been subject to catastrophes and violent predation. He says that long before Adam, there were supernovas and collisions with meteorites that wiped out millions of animals and caused "mass extinction." There were floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, harmful mutations, and diseases of all sorts. In other words, God used "random, wasteful, inefficiencies" to create the world into which Adam was placed. [Creation and Time, pp. 55, 65-69, 88; Hugh Ross, "Species Development: Natural Process or Divine Action" audiotape, tape 2, side 1 (Reasons to Believe, 1990).]

[NOTE: According to the Bible, death (both physical and spiritual) entered the world through man's sin (Gen. 2:17; 3:19, Rom. 5:12; 6:23; 1 Cor. 15:20-23). The Bible indicates that our world is very different from the one which God created and pronounced as "very good." The Bible clearly says animals were not created carnivorous; God originally commanded them to eat plants--see Gen. 1:29-30, etc. Because of sin, God cursed the ground and physical creation (Gen. 3:17).

Scripture says the whole creation has been affected by man's sin, causing it to groan as it awaits freedom from bondage to decay (Rom. 8:20-22). The global Flood judgment changed earth even more (Gen. 8:21). One day God will restore paradise. Once again the lion will lie down with the lamb. (Is 11:6)]

6. Origin of Species: Progressive Creations (amoeba to man). Dr. Ross defines Progressive Creationism as "the hypothesis that God has increased the complexity of life on earth by successive creations of new life forms over billions of years while miraculously changing the earth to accommodate the new life."

[Quote is from "Dinosaurs and Hominids" audiotape, Reasons to Believe (1990).] In fact, Dr. Ross accepts a history of life very similar to that outlined by Evolutionist Stephen Jay Gould. Gould's Punctuated Equilibrium theory describes slow progress by natural means, interspersed with mass extinctions and sudden, rapid advances. For Dr. Ross, the advances are the result of a multitude of Divine miracles. He seems to accept far more miraculous creations ("hundreds of millions of species of life") than most Progressive Creationists when he claims to "deny any significant biological evolution over time scales long or short."

Elsewhere, Dr. Ross seems to have a different attitude when he says that "many of the changes that take place within the biological arena [are] by natural process, natural selection, mutational advance." He teaches that for billions of years before Adam, major disasters befell the animals, including supernovas, asteroid impacts, etc. As a result, animals frequently became extinct, never to be seen by man. God stepped in many times to create replacements or improved models--sometimes completely abandoning entire groups of animals, changing the previous course of life on earth.

Eventually, God created Adam and Eve from the dust, but after the majority of the earth's history had already taken place. The order of creation was from amoeba to man. Thus, for Progressive Creationists, creation was an extremely long process interspersed with numerous miraculous events, which produced new forms of animals and plants. [See: Hugh Ross, "Open Line" radio program (Moody, April 1994); Creation and Time, p. 83; "Species Development," audiotape; "Dinosaurs and hominids," audiotape (Reasons to Believe, 1990).]

7. Hominids (man-like creatures ). Dr. Ross: "Bipedal, tool-using, large-brained hominids roamed the earth at least as long ago as one million years. New evidence indicates that the hominid species may have gone extinct before, or as a result of, the appearance of man. Starting about 2 to 4 million years ago, God began creating man-like mammals." Although some of these creatures looked completely human (e.g., Cro-Magnon, Neanderthal), "used tools, buried their dead, and painted on cave walls," they were actually animals and "had no spirits." He has stated that the major difference between men and hominids is that humans were "the first spirit creatures." [See: The Fingerprint of God, first edition (1989), pp. 159-160; "Genesis One, Dinosaurs, and Cavemen," (Reasons to Believe, 1989); Creation and Time, p. 88, etc.

8. Origin of Man. Dr. Ross teaches that man was created by God from the dust of the Earth, but not on the last of six 24-hour type days, as the Bible teaches. Humans were created somewhere between 6,000 and 60,000 years ago-- after the majority of Earth's supposed history had already taken place, and after billions of years of animal life and death. [Note: The Bible says that "from the beginning of the creation (not 17 billion years after the beginning) God made them male and female." (Mark 10:6)] Dr. Ross: "If the time since the creation of the universe were scaled down to a single year, the whole of human history would be less than one minute." [See: The Fingerprint of God, first edition (1989), pp. 159-160, 178-179; Creation and Time, pp. 140-141; Hugh Ross, "Open Line" radio program with Chris Fabry (Moody, April and May, 1994).]

9. Pre-Flood World. According to Dr. Ross, the pre-Flood world was basically identical to the post-Flood world--same geology and paleontology, no significant environmental changes. He claims that rain began during the second Creation Day, when the modern atmosphere was created billions of years before the creation of Adam. (Note: The Bible specifically says there was no rain until at least the sixth day, which for Dr. Ross would be billions of years after plants and animals had first been created.) Incredibly, Dr. Ross has also claimed that before the Flood "probably at least 19 out of 20 people were dying a death of murder. That's what was keeping the people from living a long period of time." (Note: To the contrary, the Bible indicates pre-Flood lifespans were generally very long. The average for the patriarchs was 912 years. In addition, such violent conditions would cause people to scatter all over the world--a problem for Dr. Ross, because he teaches the Flood was local, not global.) [Hugh Ross, "The Flood" audiotape (Reasons to Believe, 1990).]

10. Noah's Flood (regional, not global). Dr. Ross teaches that the Flood of Noah's day did not cover the entire planet nor all Earth's mountains of the day. Rather, Noah and animals floated on a shallow, temporary inland sea (22 feet deep), somehow covering the Mesopotamian region; thus, it was a regional flood which destroyed all mankind except Noah and his family). He believes that the Flood did not destroy animals outside of man's sphere of influence; death was basically limited to those "livestock, poultry, game animals," and any other birds and mammals that had contact with man. [See: Facts & Faith, Reasons to Believe's quarterly newsletter, multiple part article on the Flood, 1989-91, especially parts 7 and 8 (Fall and Winter 1990); Hugh Ross, "Noah's Floating Zoo," Facts & Faith news letter Vol. 4 (Fall 1990), pp. 4-5; Creation and Time, p. 73; Hugh Ross, "The Flood," audiotape (Reasons to Believe, 1990).]
[NOTE: Dr. Ross claims that earth's entire human population was limited to this Mesopotamian region. Yet, the Bible clearly states that every land animal and bird on the face of the earth was wiped out (Genesis 6:7; 7:21-23). Dr. Ross teaches that most of the animals of the world were not affected, only those animals in Mesopotamia. Of course, few, if any, of these animals were unique to the region. According to Dr. Ross, all of today's land animals and birds are not descended from the creatures on the Ark. In other words, God required Noah to consume 120 years of his life building a huge boat to save representative animals which really didn't need to be saved. Most, if not all, of these animals were alive and well in other parts of the world. In Dr. Ross's scenario, dry land is just over the horizon all along. Despite the lack of necessity, God keeps Noah trapped in this boat full of animals under these strange circumstances for over a year.]

11. "Dual Revelation" Theology. Dr. Ross frequently says that Nature is "the sixty-seventh book" of the Bible; he tends to treat Nature as equal in authority to the written revelation of God (the Bible), and that neither is "inferior or superior" to the other. Dr. Ross believes that Nature provides an accurate understanding of God and His plan for history. They are simply "different, just like the content of Ezra is distinct from that of Romans" (Creation and Time, p. 57). He proceeds to accept most of the interpretations of secular science while attempting to maintain the doctrine of Biblical inerrancy. He has accused young-earth creationists of believing in "Single-Revelation Theology" and denying "physical reality." He holds the unorthodox theological view that, "The plan of salvation as stated in the Bible can be seen through observation of the universe around us." For example, he teaches that Job "without the aid of scriptures discerned all the elements of 'the gospel,' the good news of how man can find eternal life in God." [See: The Fingerprint of God, second edition (1989), pp. 144-145, 163-164, 179-181; Creation and Time, pp. 11, 41, 55-57, 123; Hugh Ross, "Creation Days," audiotape (Reasons to Believe, 1990); "Hugh Ross's Apologetics Hot Line," Christianity Today (March 11, 1991), p. 23.]
[NOTE: It is important to understand that: (1) Nature has no speech or voice (Psalm 19:3). Therefore, Nature is subject to Man's misinterpretation, as the history of science has repeatedly demonstrated; (2) Man is particularly limited in his ability to know the ancient past with certainty. We have no time machines to travel back and examine actual events. Secular scientists, who describe in great detail ancient animals and environments are guessing, making assumptions, and hypothesizing; (3) The world and the universe have changed since their creation.

The Fall and the global Flood of Noah greatly marred the perfection of God's creations. What we have now is different in many ways from what God originally created; (4) We humans are quite ungod-like in our abilities and understanding. We are sinful, finite creatures with an enormous inclination to believe in lies. Earth is under the dominion of the Father of Lies, Satan. Our understanding of this universe is very incomplete and fallible. Scientific opinions are often biased and change regularly, sometimes radically. Dr. Ross even goes so far as to make the strange claim that "in addition to the words of the Bible being 'God-breathed useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness,' so also are the words of God spoken through the work of His hands " (Creation and Time, p. 56). Dr. Ross elevates the message of creation beyond its natural limitations. On many matters, it is naive, pompous, and exceedingly dangerous to rate sinful man's incomplete and changing understanding of this degenerating universe as equal in clarity with the written Word of God! Such views have led to dreadful errors. The Bible has demonstrated its beautiful accuracy again and again, in contrast to the "scientific" pronouncements of men which have frequently been wrong and often dominated by blinding bias.]

Dr. Hugh Ross by Bolton Davidheiser
Ph.D., Zoology

Speaking the truth in love!
Copyright September, 1993

Published by Logos Publishers
P.O. Box 9264, Canoga Park, CA 91309
(818) 718-7319

PUBLISHERS' NOTE

September, 1993.

Dear Friend:
Greetings in the Lord. We are pleased to print Dr. Davidheiser's booklet entitled "A STATEMENT CONCERNING THE MINISTRY OF DR. HUGH ROSS." This is an honest assessment of Dr. Hugh Ross.

Dr. Ross is a fine Christian. However, his views on the Bible and science need to be evaluated and exposed. Dr. Davidheiser did just that.

We believe that this book will enlighten this generation concerning the ministry of Dr. Hugh Ross. Dr. Davidheiser have studied most of Dr. Hugh Ross's materials and tapes and found that Christians need to know the exact position of Dr. Hugh Ross. Dr. Davidheiser wrote: "I have no desire to hurt him personally, and doing so is the one thing that makes me somewhat reluctant, but it seems definitely much more important to warn potential pastors who would have him at their churches."

In fact, Dr. Davidheiser sent a copy of the draft of this booklet to Dr. Hugh Ross for comments. Dr. Davidheiser said that "I think that the honorable thing to do is to send it first to Dr. Ross to ask if he finds any errors of fact on my part. I sent him a copy of the first edition and he had found no fault. He seems to think people criticize him because they do not know what a fine person he is and would not criticize him if they know him personally...."

Christians have to be informed about the exact position which Dr. Ross takes. This is the only reason why you should read Dr. Davidheiser's paper on "A STATEMENT CONCERNING THE MINISTRY OF DR. HUGH ROSS."

If you have any comments or reviews of the booklet, we would be happy to hear from you. Please write to us.

With God's Blessings,
Chris Chui, Ph. D.

A STATEMENT CONCERNING THE MINISTRY OF DR. HUGH Ross

BOLTON DAVIDHEISER
PH.D., ZOOLOGY
BOX 22
LA MIRADA CA 90637

When writing or speaking in defense of the Bible, several things should be kept in mind. Honesty is imperative, and gives us the advantage, for as John the disciple said, "Thy word is truth" (John 17:17). False information or inaccurate statements may impress the naive, but sooner or later someone will recognize them for what they are. The main damage in this is that it will further antagonize knowledgeable unbelievers and it becomes more difficult to reach them. Presentations should be well researched to eliminate error, but all of us are fallible, and when we make a mistake we should be ready to admit it.

Dr. Hugh Ross has a worldwide ministry. His mission is to affirm the scientific accuracy of the Bible. He has a large following of enthusiastic believers who are impressed with his personal testimony and his scientific information.

He is a "Big Bang" enthusiast. In fact, he is so strongly attached to this theory that if it is ever replaced by another, such as the plasma theory presently accepted by a minority of scientists, it will be embarrassing to his ministry.

To those who do not know what the Big Bang is, it is the theory that at some time in the past, now generally believed to have been about fifteen to twenty billion years ago, all the matter in the universe was concentrated into a single mass, which exploded with a "big bang."

The idea began with a Belgian astronomer, Georges Edward Lemaitre. According to Isaac Asimov, Lemaitre conceived this mass to be "no more than a few light-years in diameter." At the very least, that would be two light-years or about twelve trillion miles. By 1965 that figure was reduced to 275 million miles, by 1972 to 71 million miles, by 1974 to 54 thousand miles, by 1983 to "a trillionth the diameter of a proton," and now, to nothing at all! A singularity! It exploded, producing hydrogen and helium and perhaps some lithium. Time became the hero and multiple billions of years, later it had produced everything in the universe, including Lewis Carroll's famous "shoes and ships and sealing wax and cabbages and kings."

Two aspects of this theory have made it attractive to some religious leaders and their followers. First, it resembles the Bible in having matter come into existence at a certain definite time instead of existing eternally in the past. Second, it proposes matter coming into existence from nothing. However, the multiple billions of years involved are not in accord with Biblical chronology and the manner of development of galaxies, stars, planets, etc., is through natural forces instead of by divine fiat.

YOUNG EARTH VERSUS OLD EARTH

Dr. Ross published a statement which sounds very good, "We affirm that Genesis [chapters] 1-11 is factual, as is the rest of the book. We deny that the teachings of Genesis 1-11 are mythical and that scientific hypotheses about earth history or the origin of humanity may be invoked to overthrow what Scripture teaches about creation." But there is an inconsistency between a multiple billion year old earth and a Biblically recorded time of only 1656 years from the creation of Adam, the first man, to the flood. Anyone can figure out this interval of time in a few minutes from Genesis 5 and 7:6. The record is presented as a straightforward father-to- son genealogy with no gaps, but even if there were gaps the calculation would remain valid because time is given from the birth of one person to the birth of the next one mentioned.

Dr. Ross told me the solution is that some scholars interpret Hebrew cardinal numbers differently than other scholars do. I asked what Hebrew scholar I might consult for confirmation of this. He named one, a Hebrew scholar whom he quotes in his book The Fingerprint of God to uphold the idea that the days of creation were longer than twenty-four hours. I wrote to him about the matter, enclosing return postage, but received no reply. However, a difference of opinion about the interpretation of these numbers should not be so great as to make a significant difference between Biblical chronology and the much greater scientific time.

As a Big Bang enthusiast, Dr. Ross needs lots of time for the formation of the world and its contents. Naturally, he considers the days of creation to be long ages. As is to be expected, and as is common practice among those who espouse long ages of cosmic and geologic time, he brings up the matter of the Hebrew word yom, used for "day" in the creation account of the opening chapter of Genesis. As in our language, this word can refer to a day of twenty-four hours or it may represent a long period of time, as "In the day of Charles Darwin." The question is: What does it mean in the account of creation? A common procedure in such cases is to refer to authorities for an answer.

Dr. John R. Howitt, a personal friend of mine, now deceased, wrote a pocket-sized booklet of nearly a hundred pages with 230 references to works of science, which he titled Evolution, "Science Falsely So-Called" He wrote anonymously because he believed he would lose his job if it became known that he was the author. Dr. Howitt wrote to appropriate professors in nine leading universities, asking, "Do you consider that the Hebrew word yom (day), as used in Genesis 1, accompanied by a numeral should properly be translated as (a) a day as commonly understood, (b)) an age, (c) either a day or an age without preference?" Oxford and Cambridge did not reply but the professors at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Toronto, London, McGill, and Manitoba replied unanimously that it should be translated as a day as commonly understood. Professor Robert H. Pfeiffer of Harvard added, "of twenty-four hours" to his reply. 4

Dr. Ross also supplies a list and his list of authorities interpret the creation days as long periods of time. In his book he writes, "Many of the early church fathers and other biblical scholars interpret the creation days of Genesis 1 as long periods of time. The list includes the Jewish historian Josephus (1st century); Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, apologist and martyr (2nd century); Origen, who rebutted heathen attacks on Christian doctrine (3rd century); Basil (4th century); Augustine (5th century); and, later, Aquinas (13th century), to name a few. The significance of this list lies not only in the prominence of these individuals as biblical scholars, defenders of the faith, and pillars of the early church (except Josephus), but also in that their scriptural views cannot be said to have been shaped to accommodate secular opinion. Astronomical, paleontological, and geological evidences for the antiquity of the universe, of the earth, and of life did not come forth until the nineteenth century."

However, Flavius Josephus, famous Jewish historian of the first century, wrote about creation in the first chapter of Book One of his Antiquities of the Jews, "..God commanded that there should be light: and when that was made, he considered the whole mass, and separated the light and the darkness; and the name he gave to one was Night, and the other he called Day; and he made the beginning of light and the time of rest the Evening and the Morning; and this was the first day...." There seems to be nothing comparable to the length of a geological age here or for the other days of creation as he described them.

Josephus also said, "On the fourth day he adorned the heaven with the sun, moon, and other stars " Rather clearly he put the creation of the sun on the fourth day and did not have it formed at the start of creation, as does Dr. Ross and also Dr. Scofield in his famous Bible notes, to become visible on the fourth day due to the removal of a cloud. Furthermore, Dr. Ross says the seventh day, the day of rest, following the six days of creation, "is not closed out," and continues to the present time.

Thus he says that all the time of recorded history, including our own time, is included in the seventh day of rest. Contrary to this, Josephus wrote about acts of God going on in time "after the seventh day was over." Furthermore, the Bible tells that God did work aft* the seventh day of rest. Referring to miracles, Jesus said, "My Father worketh hitherto and I work" John 5:17). Also it is to be noted that there were special acts of creation after the completion of the six days. During a famine, a widow at Zarepath had left only a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oil in a cruse. But because she befriended the prophet Elijah, the meal and the oil were replenished as used and the barrel and cruse did not become empty during the remainder of the famine (I Kings 17:8-16). There were two occasions when the Lord fed multitudes by multiplying a few loaves and fishes (Matthew 16:8-10, etc.). At a wedding in Cana He turned water into wine instantly John 2:1-10). After referring to Josephus, Dr. Ross cites examples of heroic "early church fathers" who believed in long periods of time for the days of creation.

Origen held so many erroneous views that what he thought of the length of the days of creation may be dismissed as of little if any value. He spiritualized Biblical statements, seeking hidden meanings instead of accepting literally what the Bible says, including the resurrection of Christ from the tomb.

He contended that the literal sense is not that for which the Holy Spirit gave the Scriptures to Christians and said, "The Scriptures are of little use to those who understand them as they are written." He believed the task of commentators is to penetrate alleged allegories of Scripture in order to find the true meaning. This method opens the way for private erroneous interpretations, as is characteristic of the cults.

Origen believed that rational beings were created as spirits and as they became negligent in their adoration of God they fell varying amounts into different categories, some becoming angels, some human beings, and some demons. Jesus Christ, the Logos, was the exception. He did not fall at all. But still this makes Him subordinate to the Father, being at first on the same level as created beings. For this Jerome, among others, considered Origen to be the precursor to the Arian heresy, which in our day is expressed in the theology of the Unitarians and the Jehovah's Witness cult.

Denying hell, Origen reasoned that humans, demons, and even Satan can, and in the end will, be reconciled to God, anticipating the Universalist heresy. He said there is to be "a purging baptism of fire," and thus he anticipated the idea of purgatory, which became a doctrine of the Catholic Church at the First Council of Lyons in 838 A.D.. and affirmed at subsequent councils.

Then there was Augustine. Professor Paul Amos Moody of the University of Vermont, in his college textbook, introduction to Evolution, third edition, wrote, "Wise churchmen like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas [another on the list of Dr. Ross] early recognized that these chapters [Genesis 1 and 2], while expressing important religious truths concerning the Creator, should not be considered as literal history."

In another college textbook, Principles of Organic Evolution, Arthur Ward Lindsey of Dennison University, wrote, "...several of the church fathers expressed ideas of organic evolution even though the trend of ecclesiastical thought led more readily into other lines of reasoning." He said that Gregory of Nyssa, Basil, Augustine, and Thomas Aquinas (all on Dr. Ross' list), "expressed belief in the symbolic nature of the Biblical story of creation and in their comments made statements clearly related to the concept of evolution." This being the case, it is only natural that they would have to accept long periods of time for evolution to proceed.

The famous evolutionist Henry Fairfield Osborn of Columbia University and the American Museum of Natural History wrote that Augustine "sought a naturalistic interpretation of the Mosaic record... and taught that in the institution of nature we should not look for miracles but for the laws of nature."

Eldon J. Gardner of Utah State University wrote, "St. Augustine... favored an allegorical interpretation of the book of Genesis in the Bible and openly promoted an evolutionary concept as opposed to special creation." 9

W. R. Thompson, Ph.D., Catholic creationist, professor and director of the Commonwealth Institute of Biological Control at Ottawa, Canada, is probably most well known for his challenging fourteen-page introduction to a 1955 edition of Darwin's Origin of Species. He wrote a paper (date not known) in which he said, "As early as 1921, Canon H. de Dolodot in La Darwinisme, issued under the auspices of the University of Louvain, cites St. Augustine as holding as certain the theory of absolute natural evolution of living beings to the human body itself." He is saying that Augustine accepted the evolution of living things up to and including the bodies of human beings.

The point of all this is that liberals and evolutionists are expected to advocate long periods of time for the origin of the world and its contents. They have to. Large amounts of time are necessary in evolutionary theory.

Irenaeus is left among the people listed by Dr. Ross as advocates of long periods of time for origins. How his name got on the list is not dear, for in the writings of Irenaeus I have not been able to find anything indicating that he believed in long intervals of time for creation. It seems he was an outright creationist. Here are some quotations from his writings:

"God is supreme ruler over all things, for they are His own creation; with His Word (the Son) and His Wisdom (the Holy Spirit) He made all things." "His own Word is both suitable and sufficient for the formation of all things, even as John, the disciple of the Lord, declares regarding Him: 'All things were made by Him and without Him was nothing made' John 1:3). Now among 'all things' our world must be embraced. It too, therefore, was made by His Word, as Scripture tells us in the book of Genesis that He made all things connected with our world by His Word.

David also expresses the same truth [when he said], 'For He spoke, and they were made; He commanded, and they were created' (Psalms 33:9, 148:5)." "God is a Spirit, and so fashioned everything by His Spirit." "But man He fashioned in His own hands." "But God Himself brought a trance upon Adam and put him to sleep.... And God took one of Adam's ribs, and filled up the flesh for it, and built up the rib which He took into a woman, and brought her in this wise to Adam."

THE ORDER OF EVENTS IN CREATION

The first chapter of Genesis records the chronological order of events as they occurred during the creation week. Dr. Ross lists thirteen creation events and says the probability that Moses could have put all of them in the correct order, if he arranged them by chance and not by inspiration, is only one chance in six trillion (13 factorial = 6,227,020,800, or about six billion). But he says Moses did arrange them in the correct order. Except by faith, how is there any way of knowing whether Moses recorded the events in the right order or not? The only other basis for standardizing seems to be by comparing them with the order offered by "science," that is, using as a standard the order give by evolutionary scientists in their textbooks. Actually, this is putting the authority of the evolutionary scientists above the authority of the Bible.

In the first place, the general reader of the Bible would conclude that the original light upon the earth did not come from the sun because the sun was not created until the fourth day. But the science textbooks say the sun was formed before the earth, and thus light upon the earth first came from the sun. Therefore the general reader would conclude, based upon modern science, that this was the first mistake of Moses in recording the order of events in creation. To accommodate Genesis with science, Dr. Ross, and before him Dr. Scofield in his famous Bible notes, teach that the sun really was created at the start but did not appear until a dense cloud was removed on the fourth day. But without this explanation, the general reader, following the scientific view, would believe that Moses had erred.

On the first day, when God said, "Let there be light," it was not necessary that the light be sunlight. In fact, if it had been sunlight there would have been no occasion for God to separate the light from the darkness, as the opacity of the earth would have done it. In the New Jerusalem, in the future eternity, there will be no need for the sun, for the glory of the Lord will illuminate it (Revelation 21:23. See also Isaiah 60:19, 20). As there will be no need for the sun then, there was no need for the sun in the beginning, before the fourth day. Eventually the sun will burn out if the Lord does not intervene, as the Bible says He will.

Green plants were created on the third day. For the general Bible reader, not influenced by Dr. Ross or Dr. Scofield, this would be before the creation of the sun on the fourth day. If the days were long periods of time, plants could not survive without light for photosynthesis. As an explanation, Dr. Ross postulates two clarifications of the atmosphere, a partial clarification before the third day to make the cloud translucent so photosynthesis could function and a complete clarification on the fourth day, when the sun, moon, and stars became visible. The general Bible reader would not know about these explanations and if accepting long "days" in the creation account, would consider this the second mistake made by Moses.

Created on day five were fish, birds, and whales, followed on the next day by "creeping things" and mammals, including man. The Hebrew word here translated "whale" is not specific and can refer to an indefinite large sea creature. But the general reader would understand the reference to mean whales. As to the "creeping things" created on the sixth day, the authoritative Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament says for Genesis 1:25, "Remesm [asculine] a reptile, collect[ively] reptiles." According to science, "creeping things," meaning reptiles, and even if thought also to include insects, came before birds and whales and not after. This would be considered Moses' third mistake.

EARTH'S EARLY ATMOSPHERE

On a tape Dr. Ross says, "Science and the Bible totally agree concerning the initial condition of planet earth, that the earth began with an atmosphere dominated by ammonia and methane." Where does the Bible say that?

He also says that the darkness which was "upon the face of the deep" Genesis 1:27) was caused by the ammonia and methane in the atmosphere. Actually, since the early 1980s the Oparin-HaldaneUrey-Miller concept of an early atmosphere dominated by ammonia and methane is being replaced by a theory that the earth's early atmosphere was dominated by nitrogen and carbon dioxide, formed by outgassing from the earth's interior through volcanic action. Dr. Joel Levine, of NASA, found by computer analysis that an ammonia-methane atmosphere at the earth's distance from the sun would be chemically unstable and last only a very short time. For a popular presentation of this, see Science Digest 91:5:42, May, 1983. Oxidized iron in what are considered ancient rocks leads some to think the early atmosphere had considerable oxygen.

The very latest on this may be seen in the August, 1993, issue of Scientific American. It is reported that Dr. William Schopf of the University of California at Los Angeles found supporting evidence for the formation of the modern atmosphere about three and a half billion years ago.

Scientists can change their minds but Dr. Ross said the Bible agrees that the earth's early atmosphere was dominated by ammonia and methane.

Dr. Ross further said the difficult problem was to remove the ammonia and methane from the atmosphere and into space so light could get through to the earth and still retain the water vapor in the atmosphere. -lo accomplish this was a delicate operation, he said, requiring considerable precision because the molecular weights of methane, ammonia, and water are so close, being respectively 16, 17, and 18.

Concerning the possibility of gases being lost into space from the atmosphere, he mentions-five factors. 1. The greater the mass of a planet, the stronger the gravitational attraction, and thus the greater the difficulty for gases to escape the atmosphere. 2. The smaller the size of a planet (for the same mass), the more difficult the loss would be. 3. The temperature of each layer of the atmosphere. 4. The temperature of the sun. 5. The kinds and amounts of materials between the earth and the sun. Furthermore, he says that all of these five factors would need to be held within a variation of not more than one or two percent for billions of years, and that the probability of this, putting it conservatively, would be something like one chance in a billion.

What phenomenon, under these highly improbable conditions, could have brought about the separation of ammonia and methane from the atmosphere, with the retention of water vapor? He says it was the separation of the moon from the earth in the early days of their formation! "When the moon was cast off [from the earth] its mass was sufficient to bring about some changes. The sun became gradually a little warmer because of the advancement of its position along its evolutionary track. The changed parameters caused the atoms [of the atmosphere] to lose enough temperature and pressure to allow it [the atmosphere] to become transparent." (As already mentioned, he says that for the sake of plants needing sunlight to carry on photosynthesis, the atmosphere already had become translucent previous to this.)

CONCERNING THE MOON

George Darwin, son of the famous Charles Darwin, was the first to consider mathematically the relationship between the moon and the tides. He believed that at one time the moon was a part of the earth. Presently the moon is slowly receding from the earth, and knowing the rate at which it is doing this, it might seem to be an easy matter to calculate backward in time to find when the moon was here as a part of the earth. But it is not that simple. For example, knowing the rate at which people are leaving California because of taxes and earthquakes, one can figure when no one will be left in the state, but that won't happen.

Although the moon at present is slowly receding from the earth, it does not necessarily follow that at one time it was here as a part of the earth. Of current astronomical books consulted, six favored the theory that the moon developed at the same time as the earth from similar nebular material, six mentioned a separation-from-the-earth theory and said it had to be abandoned, and one said Darwin's theory "cannot be excluded." The general opinion is that at this time there is no satisfactory theory for the origin of the moon. How then can Dr. Ross dogmatically say to his audience, "We know for certain that the moon came from the earth"?

According to Darwin's theory, the earth was spinning at a terrific rate and was still soft at the time the moon separated from it, and so there was no problem as it passed through the Roche limit, which would break up a solid body the size of the moon because of the differences in gravitational attractions on the side toward the earth and the side away from the earth. But Dr. Ross does have this problem, because he assumes that the moon was split from the earth as a solid and so would be shattered as it passed through the Roche limit. He gives evidence, altogether unnecessary, that gravitation was working at that time and so he concludes the only way out of the dilemma, that the moon did not shatter, is to believe its passage through the Roche limit must have been a miracle!

Furthermore, if the moon had been expelled from the earth as a solid entity and if somehow it had gotten through the Roche limit intact, either it would have fallen back to earth again or would have gone off into space. It would not have gone into orbit around the earth. In order to get artificial satellites to orbit the earth, the rockets that carry them must be directed to change course after liftoff. If the moon somehow could have come from the earth, in accordance with Darwin's theory and gone into orbit, it would be expected to follow the earth's equator, which it does not. However, it is reported that an attempt is being made to revive the Darwinian explanation. 15

Dr. Ross says that the bed of the Pacific Ocean is the scar left upon the earth that shows where the moon was removed. (The volume of the moon is more than thirty times the present volume of the Pacific Ocean.) However, he also explains it another way. He says, "The Bible tells us that God somehow allowed or created an indentation in the earth..." Where does the Bible say that? He continues, "and since water flows downhill, all the ocean water flowed into that hole and dry land appeared on the other side, and that's how come we have both oceans and continents." He tells that this landmass broke into continents and "the continents are moving to fill in the Pacific Ocean .... We know there is a hole in the Pacific Ocean and the continents are moving to fill it in. The Atlantic Ocean is getting bigger and the Pacific Ocean is getting smaller."

The most picturesque evidence of the separation of continents by continental drift is the jigsaw pattern of the South America-Africa complex. These continents appear as though they fitted together. Geophysicists say South America is moving toward the Pacific Ocean at the rate of about four-fifths of an inch per year because of the rising and spreading of matter at the mid-Atlantic ridge and not because of a Pacific Ocean sink that is drawing these continents apart. The evolutionary authors of an article in Scientific American, April, 1992, say the Atlantic Ocean is nearing its maximum width, in contrast to the continued Westward Ho! of South America envisioned by Dr. Ross. They consider it a repeat performance, with a single supercontinent forming and breaking up every five hundred million years or so.

In all the books I have seen which discuss continental drift, India is pictured as an island near Antarctica, but instead of drifting toward the Pacific Ocean, it went north and bumped into Asia, raising up the Himalayan Mountains.

ORIGIN OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Dr. Ross says astounding predictions can be made from the time future planets still circulated as nebulous rings around a central mass, which became the sun. He said, "As a matter of fact, this not only predicts the distance of each planet from the sun, it predicts the size of that planet, also predicts the constitution of each planet, what atmosphere it begins with, the initial condition of that planet, how many moons that planet will have, how big those moons will be, how far away they will be, and precise all the way down the line...." An astronomer assures me this is equivalent to hogwash. Dr. Ross continues this sentence, "not only for our solar system but for the six solar systems we can see besides our own." There is no other solar system that we can see, much less six!

Dr. Ross says the prediction for the earth's moon was that it would be about ten miles in diameter, and he says it was! But during the catastrophic splitting off of our current moon from the earth and its miraculous passing through the Roche limit, our original ten-mile moon was destroyed.

Then he tells about a planet between Mars and Jupiter. (Remember Bode's Law?) He says that as our moon was being pulled out of the earth, leaving the bed of the Pacific Ocean as a witnessing scar to confirm the event, the planet between Mars and Jupiter got too dose to Jupiter- within its Roche limit and was broken up, and that is the source of the asteroids. For emphasis he repeats this several times, not as a theory but as a fact. Checking astronomical books in libraries, I found the following: Seven authors hold that the asteroids came about because the gravitational field of Jupiter prevented hunks of matter in the original nebula from coalescing into a planet. Three say it was unlikely that a planet broke up. Two say that maybe a planet broke up, admitting the possibility of what Dr. Ross says. One agrees with Dr. Ross and one says the idea that the asteroids resulted from a broken up planet must be abandoned. How, then, can Dr. Ross speak so dogmatically as though he is stating a fact, when this idea is outvoted by modern astronomers?

GRAVITY

He tells that the chance of the law of gravity not working is one chance in 10 power of 200 Newton's law of gravitation, no doubt, is the most inclusive generalization ever made: Every object in the universe attracts every other object in the universe with a force proportional to its mass and inversely to the square of the distance between them. What would cause this not to work?

However, gravity may appear not to work when a magnet lifts a paperclip from the top of a desk, but it is working. Gravity might even appear not to be working when a ball is thrown upward, but of course it is. Also gravity might appear not to work if a predominance of the randomly moving molecules in an object happened by chance to be moving upward in synchrony and the object levitates for a brief moment. But gravity still would be working. Furthermore, the probability of this happening would not be a definite number but would depend upon the size and weight of the object. It would not be the same for a grain of dust as for a freight locomotive.

THERMODYNAMICS

The second law of thermodynamics is one of the basic laws of science. It states that in a dosed system, that is, without an outside source of energy, randomness tends to increase. (Actually, in nature there is no dosed system available for observation except the universe as a whole.) A hurricane going through a lumberyard and a hardware store can randomize things but it will never construct a house.

When liquids of different temperatures are mixed, randomization may not seem as obvious but the molecules will become randomized and the mixture will be warmer than the cooler component and cooler than the warmer one. Equilibrium will be established when the temperature equals that of the environment. Here is what Dr. Ross tells his audience about the second law of thermodynamics. "Let me tell you about the second law of thermodynamics. If it doesn't work, then the water that you're drinking could cause your blood to boil or freeze. The second law describes how heat flows and we depend upon that heat flow with our lives. If I was concerned about the second law of thermodynamics, I'd be very much afraid of my blood boiling or freezing. But I'll tell you something. I don't lose any sleep over it." (Laughter from the audience.)He says that the probability of the second law not working is one chance in 10 power of 80. He does not say how he arrived at this but it would not be a fixed number. It would not be the same for water at room temperature rising one degree above room temperature as it would be for the same water causing blood to boil when ingested. But both would violate the second law. In the taped talk Dr. Ross tells the audience that the probability of thirteen Biblical prophecies, selected out of thirty-five hundred, coming true strictly by chance, is one chance in 10 power of 138. He does not explain on the tape how he arrived at this number, but it is by attributing very large odds against each one of these prophecies coming true, and the total number of prophecies from which the sample was selected is irrelevant. If the probability for each one of these thirteen prophecies coming true is taken as one chance in a million, the chance that all of them will happen is one chance in 1078. If the probability for each happening is reduced to one chance in a billion, the probability for all of them coming to pass is one chance in 10"7. This is still short of his 10 power of 138 figure by a factor of 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. With his figure of 10 power of 58 he concludes that this "means that the Bible, based on these thirteen predictions alone, is proved to be 10 times more reliable than the second law of thermodynamics"(10 power of 138/10 power of 80= 1058). Flaunting figures like this impresses the naive, especially when the figures are used to uphold the Bible.

DNA AND RNA

To an audience Dr. Ross said, "Now by protein molecules I mean those twisted double helices called DNA and RNA.... Without these protein molecules, DNA and RNA, life would be impossible." DNA and RNA are not proteins. They have a quite different chemical composition and structure. In fact, some of the evolutionary scientists who discuss the origin of life argue over the question which came first, protein or nucleic acid. According to Sidney Fox, prominent origin-of-life scientist, the protein-firsters have won because, he says, amino acids contain their own instructions for their own sequences," in forming proteinoids. " It is through particular proteins that the genes of heredity- portions of the DNA molecules- are able to carry on their functions. DNA and proteins depend upon each other. How could either have come first?

APPARENT AGE

This brings us to the matter of "Apparent age at creation." Dr. Ross considers this under the heading "Gosse's 'appearance of age' theory." 18 In a nineteenth century book, Philip Gosse proposed such extreme views as: The earth's strata were created with the fossils already embedded and the first trees were created with deceptive rings of annual growth. Although Gosse always seems to be brought into discussions of apparent age at creation, no present spokesman for creation considers his views as significant. But Dr. Ross says, "Of late, however, Gosse's 'appearance of age' idea has seen a revival." 19 He refers to the Institute for Creation Research and to the book The Early Earth, by Dr. John C. Whitcomb Jr. 20 Dr. Whitcomb, of course, repudiates Gosse and mentions that if "appearance of age" be denied, New Testament miracles also must be denied. For example, when Jesus turned water into wine at Cana, the people assumed it had been produced from grapes that had grown slowly on vines, which in turn had matured during growing seasons in a vineyard. It had just been produced miraculously from water but it had the appearance of age.

In his leaflet ##P8906, Glossary of Science and Theology Terms, Dr. Ross has for the entry Appearance of Age, "The hypothesis that God created the universe, the earth, and life with (false) indicators of a nonexistent past. If this hypothesis were true, scientific measurements of great age conceivably could be reconciled with a recent creation interpretation of certain Biblical passages." Instead of accusing God of giving false indicators of a nonexistent past, creationists question certain assumptions evolutionists make in their measurements of time.

Actually, how could anything be created without appearance of age? Even if trees had been created as seeds, the seeds would have the appearance of age. If the first birds were created as eggs, the eggs would have the appearance of age. It would seem impossible for anything to be created without the appearance of age. The appearance of age is irrelevant to concepts of the time of creation.

In the same glossary he describes Ussher's chronology as a hypothesized calendar of Biblical events based on the assumption that no generations were omitted from the genealogies and that the numbered days of the Genesis creation account were consecutive 24-hour periods." Suppose fifty or a hundred generations were omitted from the Biblical chronologies (and it is not so), there still would be no significant change in the difference between Biblical chronology and the vast expanse of time required by the Big Bang scientists.

THE TEACHING OF EVOLUTION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Dr. Ross says he knows evolution is still being taught in the schools. This may be the understatement of the decade. He says this is so " in spite of the fact that biochemists, physical scientists, and astrophysicists have long abandoned this theory as totally unworkable." (Now it seems that creationists have support from an unexpected source!) He shows the audience a high school textbook which he says pushes Darwinian evolution, but says he does not wish to criticize the book too strongly. He says that Darwinian natural selection and evolution are not the same, and indeed they are not. For nearly a century evolutionists have been saying the same thing, but also they have been saying just the opposite, whichever suits their purpose at the moment. A number of times and for various reasons evolutionists have been saying they might give up Darwinian natural selection as the mechanism of evolution, but nothing better can be found than neo-Darwinism- natural selection plus mutations and a few other things.

However, when the evolutionists spoke of giving up their faith in Darwinian natural selection as the mechanism of evolution they did not wish the public to think they were giving up their belief in evolution itself, so they tried to make dear the difference between natural selection as a theory and evolution as a fact.

According to Stephen J. Gould, natural selection triumphed in the 1940s as the important mechanism of evolution. 21 But now evolutionists are engaged in a highly emotional conflict, even with name-calling, in reference to Darwinian natural selection versus the "neutral" theory, in the finer details of evolution at the molecular level.

To show that natural selection is not evolution, Dr. Ross (correctly) uses the very same example that evolutionists use (incorrectly) to tell the public that natural selection is evolution. This is the highly touted case of the light and dark peppered moths (Biston betularia) in England.

Before the industrial revolution the moths were all essentially the light variety. As they rested on the trunks of trees in the daytime, they blended with the background and predatory birds had difficulty seeing them. The dark variety contrasted with the background and thus these moths were easily seen and captured by birds. Hence the population consisted almost entirely of light moths.

However, with the industrial revolution, contaminants darkened the trunks of trees and the situation with the moths reversed. Now the light moths were more easily seen and captured by birds. As would be expected, it did not take long until the population of moths in the industrialized areas consisted almost entirely of the dark variety. [This entire story has since been proven fraudulent- see seminar tape #4]

This is an example of natural selection but it is not an example of evolution (though the evolutionists use it as an example to convince the public that it is evolution and that therefore they must believe in evolution). The light and dark moths are merely varieties of the same species and they are not evolving into anything else. Actually, color varieties among butterflies and moths of the same species is not uncommon. But a scientific journal hailed this as "The most striking evolutionary change ever witnessed by man." 22

Evolutionists use the case of these moths and similar examples to convince the public that evolution is a fact. Having done this, they switch definitions and tell the public that since these moths prove evolution to be a fact, they now must be consistent and believe that phenomena that really would be evolution also are factual. Here is their logic: Birds catch more dark moths from a light background and more light moths from a dark background, therefore fish evolved into amphibians, amphibians evolved into reptiles, and reptiles evolved into birds and mammals, including man.

By the way, when environmentalists cleaned up the contamination and the tree trunks became light again, the population of dark moths soon was replaced once more with light moths. Is this then evolution in reverse?

In his discussion of the peppered moths, Dr. Ross tells his audience they are butterflies, which they are not. He says they originally were green, which they were not. (Apparently he thinks they were protected by blending with green leaves.) Then he says that as the green ones disappeared, both the light and dark ones were protected. How could 60th contrasting types be protected? By spending a short time in any public library he could have gotten the facts straight.

Dr. Ross says to an audience, "The average eyesight in this room is about three times more precise than it was in the time of Christ." How could this be known? Concerning the improvement in human eyesight, he says, "That was simply brought about by natural selection. It had nothing to do with the changing of our genes or chromosomes." Natural selection is based almost entirely on mutations of genes and chromosomes. To what else could it be attributed? Hybridization and polyploidy may have a minor role in natural selection but from an evolutionary point of view they are dead ends. The difference between the light and dark moths is due to a single mutation.

Explaining natural selection and eyesight he says, "It's simply a fact that those with poor eyesight had a greater chance of being killed in battle... that's all." It may be pointed out that anyone with such poor eyesight that he could not discern a man on a horse coming at him with a spear or a combatant attacking him with a sword, would be left at home and not be in the battle in the first place. Thus natural selection would be expected to preserve at least from death in battle, those in the population with very poor eyesight.

Concerning the evolution of the horse, long the showcase example of evolution through the evidence of the fossil record, he says the inaccuracy of the textbooks is that the gaps in the diagrams are attributed to missing links. He says instead that the gaps represent extinctions instead of missing fossils in a continuous series. As to the alleged extinctions he says that for years astronomers have been trying to tell biologists that about once every twenty million years or so a star explodes so close to the earth chat it showers the earth with gamma rays, killing all advanced forms of life.
(Modern evolutionists generally attribute large extinctions to catastrophic hits upon the earth by asteroids or large meteorites.)

Dr. Ross explains that in this manner our planet is regularly cleansed of advanced life. "This is true of every advanced form of life, whether it be the pig, the horse, the sheep, or whatever," he says. According to him, what is considered the earliest horse did not evolve into a higher form. Little Eohippus, the "dawn horse," now called Hyracotherium, "dine beast that looks like a hyrax," the coney of the Bible (Proverbs 30:26), was wiped out and replaced by the next form. Thus he seems to be saying that Eohippus (Hyracotherium) was made extinct and after its extinction was replaced by Orohippus, which after its extinction was replaced by Mesohippus, which in turn was replaced by Merychippus and then by Pliahippus and finally by Equus, the modern horse.

This would be a lot of extinctions and replacements during a long sixth day of creation. If each genus lived about twenty million years, the time between explosions of nearby stars, and at its extinction was immediately replaced by the next genus, that would come to about one hundred twenty million years, beginning well within the age of the dinosaurs and long before the expansion of mammalian species from rodent-sized creatures.

MAN

As to man he says (Leaflet #8909), "Starting about 2 to 4 million years ago, God began to create man-like mammals or 'hominids.' These creatures stood on two feet, had large brains, and used tools. Some even buried their dead and painted on cave walls. However, they were very different from us. They had no spirit. They did not have a conscience like we do. They did not worship God or establish religious practices. In time, all these man-like creatures went extinct. Then about 10 or 25 thousand years ago, God replaced them with Adam and Eve."

As to the Neanderthals (spelling commonly modernized to Neandertals), here are some excerpts from my book Evolution and Christian Faith 23 In 1956 a symposium was held in commemoration of the one hundredth anniversary of the discovery of the Neanderthals. In preparation for this symposium William J. Straus Jr., eminent anthropologist of the Johns Hopkins University, and A.J.E.. Cave of the Department of Anatomy at St. Bartholomew's College in London, were permitted to examine the remains from which Marcellin Boule had made the original description.

This was the basis for the subsequent descriptions of the Neanderthals as inferior beings with bent knees and head thrust forward, widely circulated in textbooks ever since. Straus and Cave, of course, were familiar with the literature on the subject and they knew that the specimen was pathological, but they said they "were somewhat unprepared for the fragmentary nature of the skeleton itself and for the consequent extent of restoration required." 24 After a thorough investigation of the skeleton they concluded, "He cannot, in view of his manifest pathology, be used to provide us with a reliable picture of a normal, healthy Neanderthalian. Not withstanding, if he could be reincarnated and placed in a New York subway- provided he were bathed, shaved and dressed in modern clothing- it is doubtful whether he would attract any more attention than some of its other denizens." 25

They conclude that "there is no valid reason for the assumption that the posture of Neanderthal man... differed significantly from that of present day men... there is nothing in the total morphological pattern to justify the common assumption that Neanderthal man was other than a fully erect biped when standing and walking." 26

Two other anthropologists, C. Arambourg and E. Pattie, independently published their views at about the same time as Straus and Cave. They came to essentially the same conclusions, opposing the former view that Neanderthal man walked with knees bent and head thrust forward. 27

Another contributor to the symposium, Clark Howell, reported that in bones other than the skull, differences between the Neanderthals and modern populations are "much less marked than some writers in the past have been led to believe." He concluded that the skeletons of Neanderthals are basically modern and former views to the contrary are untenable. 28

Well-known anthropologist M.F. Ashley Montague wrote, "Neanderthal man walked as erect as any modern man, he did not have a bull neck, and he was not knock-kneed. And it has long been proved by many independent scientific investigations that the form of the brow or of the head has nothing whatever to do with intelligence. As a matter of fact, we have very good reasons to believe that Neanderthal man was every bit as intelligent as we are today." 29

Bringing the matter up to date, in a highly acclaimed book published in 1993, Erik Trinkaus, Professor of Anthropology at the University of New Mexico and author of more than a hundred articles on the Neanderthals, states, "Anatomically, the Neandertals are quite similar to ourselves, having a skeletal arrangement identical to ours, brains as large as ours, and - to the best of our knowledge, the capability to perform any act normally within the ability of a modern human."

The Neanderthal brain capacity on the average was larger than ours. They apparently buried their dead and left food and offerings and flowers with the bodies. Formerly classified as Homo neanderthalensis, the Neanderthals have been graduated to the same species as us, Homo sapiens.

The cave-painting Cro-Magnons, referred to by Dr. Ross, were very good Homo sapiens, that is, modern man.

Has Dr. Ross authority to say that the Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons did not have a conscience or that they did not establish religious practices? Even savages today have their religions, though they generally appease demons instead of worshiping the Creator until instructed by missionaries. Apparently Dr. Ross means that God replaced the Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons with Adam and Eve as He allegedly replaced Eohippus (Hyracotherium) with Orohippus.

THEISTIC EVOLUTION OR PROGRESSIVE CREATIONISM?

Theistic evolutionists accept evolution with its great lengths of time but believe it came about through acts of God instead of through natural processes.

Progressive creationists claim to be creationists. They believe God created certain basic types of animals and plants which then varied naturally as much as possible and when they could vary no further, God created more and higher types. Two important questions are: How much can living things vary in nature and how much time is acceptable?

Progressive creationists accept the time of the evolutionists. Belief in the extent of possible variation among plants and animals varies with progressive creationists. It seems most commonly to be accepted within the taxonomic category called the "order." For example, a weasel and a walrus belong to the same order. A giraffe and a hippopotamus belong to the same order. This implies that a weasel and a walrus could have been produced, in time, from the same ancestry, and this would be defended as creation. Similarly for a giraffe and a hippopotamus.

The American Scientific Affiliation was founded by a group of Christian men of science to defend the Bible against the writings of materialistic scientists, but it soon strayed. For example, a regular columnist for its journal accepted the "phylum" as the range within which natural variation can act. The phylum is the most inclusive taxonomic category under "kingdom." The phylum Chordata includes all creatures that have bones, including man, and some that do not.
According to that columnist, fish eventually could have produced men and apparently he would not have called that evolution. But, according to him, an ancestor of each of the invertebrate phyla would have been created. He said there is a problem because one would have to accept some creation! That is, one would have to accept at least as many acts of creation as there are phyla instead of accepting outright evolution!

In a public broadcast Dr. Ross appeared with an erudite evolutionist, a physical anthropologist. The tape of this broadcast is in contrast to taped sessions with naive and enthusiastic followers. Regarding a popular definition of evolution as "descent with modification," he said, "As long as the modification is understood in very broad terms, I'd be comfortable with that." In other words, if "descent with modification" (evolution) is understood to be broad enough to include processes which are not strictly natural but may include acts of God (theistic evolution) it is OK.

In this tape he says, "I would differ from, say, a theistic evolutionist [then he abruptly changes the subject and does not say how he would differ from a theistic evolutionist] and I don't put all the miracles of God at the beginning of the Big Bang. I see what takes place following the Big Bang as natural processes [evolution], of course controlled by God [theistic evolution], since He's responsible for the laws of physics. But that's what science is all about, studying these processes." In spite of his denial, this is an expression of theistic evolution.

Here the evolutionist interjects an approving, "Right!"

The dialog continues.

Dr. Ross. "Just because the ICR [Institute for Creation Research] says certain things about the Bible as literal doesn't mean it [what the ICR says] has the approval of Hebrew scholars."

Evolutionist. "Exactly, and similarly, I think that the very strict young-earth creationism, which is to my mind scientifically so unreasonable, has given conservative Christians a bad name."

Dr. Ross. "Yes, because I would take the position that it is impossible to take the Bible literally and come to the conclusion that the days are only twenty-four hours."

Evolutionist. "Yes. "

Dr. Ross. "They must be long periods of time."

Evolutionist. "Yes. "

Thus Dr. Ross accommodates himself both to enthusiastic fundamentalists and to gracious evolutionists.

BASIC CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE FROM NATURE?

Most important is the question, where does a theology which includes the Big Bang theory and long ages for the days of creation tend to lead doctrinally? Dr. Ross appears to be a theistic evolutionist or progressive creationist and espouses a theology by which a doctrine of salvation is obtainable from the observation of nature. In support of this he says that Job, "Without the aid of scriptures and in opposition to the religion of his peers, discerned all the elements of 'tine gospel,' the good news of how man can find eternal life in God." 31 How could Job have done that?

Job and others who lived before the final atonement for sin was made by our Lord at Calvary, who worshiped the true God and observed His statutes, went to paradise, also referred to as "Abraham's bosom." An example is give in the case of a beggar named Lazarus, who when he died was carried away by angels to Abraham's bosom (Luke 16:19-31). No doubt Job was there also.

Dr. Ross cites the first chapter of Romans. The heathen are without excuse for their idolatry because the evidences of creation are so dearly revealed in nature. But freedom from idolatry through recognizing that there must be a God of creation is a different matter from understanding salvation by grace and receiving Christ as personal Savior through accepting His atonement for sin. How can anyone know this through nature?

He also cites Colossians 1:23, which speaks in the King James Version about the gospel "which was preached to every creature which is under heaven." He says this means that "According to the Bible, everyone has the opportunity to know God," and thus, since they do not have the Bible, the heathen must be able to discern the way of salvation through nature. In the Greek the preposition is "in" not "to." A word for word transliteration goes like this: "...the glad tidings which were proclaimed in all the creation which [is] under heaven." "In all creation" is not precisely the same as "to every creature." Romans 2:14-16 may have a bearing on this.

We know there are heathen that have not heard the gospel of salvation through the atonement made by the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross at Calvary and we know there are those in our own country at the present time who have not heard, even among many who go to church regularly. God is the righteous Judge. It is not for us to judge but to minister the gospel wherever we can.

CREDENTIALS

In his publication Facts & Faith, Spring, 1993, there is a personal letter by Dr. Ross concerning those who criticize his ministry, in which he says, "Men with little or no formal training in the sciences or theology dogmatically contradict the science and theology of someone [himself] who has done postdoctoral research (in astronomy) at Caltech and has served for many years on the pastoral staff of a well-established evangelical church. Why do my attackers never check with people who know me personally?"

As to the implication that opposition is only from the unqualified, he must be aware of critical articles by qualified scientists at the Institute for Creation Research at El Cajon, California, 32 as well as others. As for myself, I have a Ph.D. in Zoology, taught at the college level for more than twenty years, have written extensively on the creation evolution issue including a book that went through thirteen printings, spoken in churches, schools, and conferences coast to coast in the U.S. and Canada, and been repeatedly on the radio and TV. But errors may be pointed out by anyone knowledgeable enough to defect them, whether professional scientist or housewife.

He told me his blunders are a thing of the past so I tried to obtain recent tapes, hoping to be able to substantiate this. But he informed me he discussed this with his staff and it was decided I should be denied access to the tapes of his latest graduate course for Simon Greenleaf University.

Their opinion was that my "reason for wanting the tapes is not to learn more about the latest discoveries proving the existence of the God of the Bible and the accuracy of the words of the Bible, but rather to discover new errors and mistakes [he] might have made while speaking." They added that "they are ready and willing to change their decision given some evidence of change of attitude on [my] part."

If it were merely a matter of many scientific blunders, there would be little value in writing an article to point them out. But when associated with the Bible and a theology of salvation through observing nature, as well as promoting theistic evolution or progressive creationism, these things need to be told.

An especially competent scientist who is a creationist tells me this article is too long. He says the naive followers of Dr. Ross will forgive him readily for his scientific mistakes and there is no need to mention so many of them, for "his errors are innumerable, and you could spend the rest of your life recounting them."

Another Christian critic makes the following evaluation. "Part of his benevolent image is that he remains cool under fire, a gentleman to the death, so to speak, one who is always kind to his sharpest critics as to his closest friends. He's magnificent at this. I've seen him and been totally impressed by his gracious good manners and kind concern for those who oppose him. In other words, he understands the psychology of argument, and that's why he scores big on the logic of argument. He appears to be logical, and to many people this appearance passes for logic itself."

In my experience with him by correspondence, on the phone, and meeting him personally, I have always found him courteous and calm and never excited or angry about anything.

Evolutionary theory is in conflict with basic Christian doctrine. If evolution is true, we are improved animals instead of fallen sinners in need of redemption. If evolution is true, we have no need of the Savior, there is no occasion for the Redeemer.

Footnotes

1. Asimov, Isaac. The Universe, 2nd ed. Walker. 1971. p. 211.
2. Ross, Hugh. Facts and Faith. 1:1:3. Spring/Summer, 1987. p. 3.
3. Anonymous. John R. Howitt) Evolution, "Science Falsely So-called." 20th ed. International Christian Crusade. 1981.
4. Howitt, John R Letter to the Editor, Journal of the American scientific Affiliation, 15:2:66. June, 1962. p. 66.
5. Ross, Hugh. The Fingerprint of God. 2nd ed. Promise. 1991. p. 141.
6. Moody, Paul Amos. Introduction to Evolution, 2nd. ed. Harper & Bros. 1952. p. 21.
7. Lindsey, Arthur W. Principles of Organic Evolution. C.V. Mosby.1952. p. 21
8. Osborn, Henry Fairfield. From the Greeks to Darwin, 2nd ed. Charles Scribner's Sons. 1929. p. 11.
9. Gardner, Eldon J. History of Life Science. Burgess. 1960. p. 93.
10. St. Irenaeus. Proof of Apostolic Preaching. Translated by Joseph P. Smith Sr. Newman Press. 1952. p. 16.
11. Ante-Nicene Christian Library. Translations of Writings of the Fathers.
Alexander Roberts,
James Donaldson, eds. T&T Clark. 1868. p. 123.
12. Ibid. p. 50.
13. Ibid. p. 54.
14. Ibid. p. 55.
15. Van Flandern, Thomas. Breakaway Moon. Science Digest, 90:4:82. April, 1982, p. 82.
16. Murphy, J. Brandon and R DamIan Nance. Mountain Building and the Supercontinent Cycle. Scientific American, 266:4:84, April, 1992. pp. 86,87.
17. Fox, Sidney. From Inanimate Matter to Living Systems. American Biology Teacher, 63:3:127. March, 1981. p. 133.
18. Ross, 1991. p. 142.
19. Ibid. p. 143.
20. Whitcomb, John C. Jr. The Early Earth. Baker Book House. 1972. p. 30.
21. Gould, Stephen Jay. Ever Since Darwin. W.W. Norton. 1977. p. 45.
22. Ketdewll, H.B.D., Darwin's Missing Evidence. Scientific American, 200:3:48, March, 1959.
23. Davidheiser, Bolton. Evolution and Christian Faith. Presbyterian and Reformed. 1969. p. 331 et seq.
24. Straus, william L. Jr. and AJ.E. Cave. Paleontology and the Posture of Neanderthal Man. Quarterly Review of Biology, 32:4:348, December, 1957. p. 351
25. Ibid. p. 359.
26. Ibid. p. 358.
27. Ibid. p. 362.
28. Howell, Clark. The Evolutionary significance of variation and varieties of "Neanderthal Man." Quarterly Review of Biology 32:4:330. pp. 334, 335.
29. Ashley Montague, M. F.Man: His First Million Years, 2nd edition. Signet Science Library, 1962. p. 58.
30. Trinkaus, Erik. and Pat Shipman. The Neandertals. Alfred A. Knopf. 1993. p. 412.
31. Ross, Hugh. 1991. Loc. cit. p. 181.
32. Impact, Numbers 217, 218. Institute for Creation Research, Box 2667, El Cajon CA 92021.
visit: WWW.BIBLE.CA

Dear Kent:

I have a whole page of notes and deep thoughts on creation. Hope you can call sometime.

I don't mean to belabor Hugh Ross. But I had not realized how extensive his plague has become within Christendom until I heard a tape by Ken Ham. Young earth creationists are now mocked more than ever because they point out that most Christians and theologians believe in evolution. And they are tragically correct. In supporting the Gap and Progressive Evolution, Christians have slept with the enemy and then wonder why there is a plague of violence in Public Schools where this religion is taught with the blessing and support of most Christians. In so doing they have sown the wind, but will reap the whirlwind.

Something more struck me about Hugh Ross Theology. He keeps harping the on Antarctica Penguins surviving the local flood. Well it occurred to me that if animals made it that far from Mesopotamia PRIOR to the flood, then much of the remaining animal kingdom would also have migrated across the entire face of the earth. And guess what? If animals had already filled the earth, then humans whom God had made to have dominion over these very animals would just as likely have also spread throughout the earth. This would be population projection of up to billions of people who are Post Adamic and Noah's contemporaries who did not sin, do not need a Savior, did not need to be destroyed, and would not destroyed according to the implications of Hugh Ross's theology of a local flood, or at least according to what would have to be the consequences of this theology. So where is the evidence of all these skeletons not buried in a non-existent global flood? It is very frightening to contemplate a local flood. Because this also means ONLY a local judgment.

Imagine that a small percentage of the earth about the size of Iraq is destroyed by Noah's Flood, while the rest of the earth and population (99+%) is not wicked at all or wicked enough to be judged, and hence does not need a savior. This would also mean that only a small percentage of today's population is descendants of Noah's family, the rest are descendants of the rest of the unflooded population of the earth...that is descendant's of a population that was not wicked at all or superior to those who were destroyed in a local flood. If Hugh Ross believes all human population was destroyed by local flood and the local animals except those people and animals on the Ark who were preserved, then he is saying that animals spread throughout the globe, but humans stayed put in a small fertile plain too dumb to run from a local flood. But wouldn't at least one human being (prior to the Flood) who is a descendant of a human population which was not primitive but rather intelligent enough to have speech, talk to God, build cities, who was curious enough to follow at least one of these animals who migrated to Antarctica and the rest of the globe, thereby spreading the population out at least as far as modern day Egypt, Turkey, or India? Wouldn't the descendants of Adam in the few thousand years up to Noah have migrated as far as they migrated after Noah? And wouldn't at least one human being be smart enough to even escape a local flood, e.g., those populations living near its boundaries. Recent discoveries in the Western Hemisphere of a number of ancient people such as the Kennewick man who has been dated to be several thousand years old, demonstrate how rapidly post Flood people migrated even to the ends of the earth. So Hugh Ross would have to confine the human population to any area the size of Iraq at the time of the Flood if he believes all humans were destroyed, while still maintaining a local vs. global deluge. But if his animal hypothesis of pre-Flood migration is to hold up, then human migration outside the region of a local flood would have to be maintained. But this is a logical and Biblical impossibility because Genesis records that ALL of the population of the earth, that is every nation, came from those who were scattered from the Tower of Babel. But Hugh Ross's Theology would suggest that all of those nations are along side the 70 initial Nations from Babel.

WHERE ARE THEY? They would have to speak the same language and tongue because they were not part of the Babel scattering. Some argue that it was the scattering the caused the different languages. But that is NOT what the Bible says. God confounded their speech and then and only then were there many languages and tongues. Hugh Ross would have to accommodate all of these nations and population outside of Mesopotamia. So we would have Hugh Ross nations and Noah's descendants nations living along side each other or co-mingling. Sound good? Only problem is that Genesis states that it is from Babel that ALL of the nations that spread throughout the earth. So we are left with believing Hugh Ross or the Bible. As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord and believe his word only.

Christ's own words "as in the days of Noah so shall be the coming of man" would have to mean only local wickedness. We would have to question or deny the rest of Christ's description of the birth pangs on the earth being only local. The Apostle Peter's references to the Flood and Fire could only be local. All of the plagues in Revelation could only be local...e.g. "a third of the trees burned up" only in some local region (not the entire earth)..."a third of the rivers turned to blood" must only mean the two rivers Tigris and Euphrates (where the 3 evil spirits come out in the end times). You can begin to see how this theology becomes preposterous. Another point about his local flood. Genesis points out that there are FIVE rivers which include the Tigris and Euphrates. It is amazing how powerful a local flood was to change the geology and topography of the earth so dramatically to leave only these two rivers, when every observed flood in the history of the earth leaves the same rivers once the flood stages recede (example: the great Mississippi Flood a few years ago). The WHOLE earth travaileth and groans for Christ's return because the WHOLE earth is corrupt and has been defiled. If only a local flood and judgment was necessary, there would be no sense in describing the whole earth in need of a savior and a need for his return to repossess what he alone has ransomed.

Hope this is illuminating in some way!

Blessings!
James Sundquist

Dear Kent,
Just heard your Oct 1 and Oct 8 Hugh Ross Debate.

Here are my comments:

1. Once again Hugh Ross maintains that the physics has not changed from Creation. Yet in the first debate he maintains that the moon receding from the earth was NOT linear, meaning not constant. So, once again he contradicts his own theory of uniformitarianism. Physics remaining the same rules out ALL miracles too.

2. He says the sun existing from the beginning and only became visible on the 4th Day of Creation. Visible to whom? Certainly not God as the Scriptures said he saw. Certainly not animals, they are created on the 5th Day. Certainly not Humans as they were not created until the 6th Day. Unless he is talking about plants that he says live (even though they did not have the breath of life: Nephesh). I guess his plants can both live and see. The next thing he will have them do is talk? Finally, if the sun were already there in day one it would be visible and would appear because the firmament (sky and clouds) were NOT there yet until the 2nd Day of Creation.

3. Regarding the Sabbath and his insistence that it was a day of indeterminate length. Christ himself demolishes this argument when he said that the Sabbath was made for man. If a day is even a thousand years (to man), no man has ever yet lived past 969 years. So no man has ever celebrated or existed for one sabbath day, let alone sabbath year. Even if man did celebrate and rest on the sabbath day, the sabbath day had to end at some point in order for the cycle to begin again to rest on the next sabbath day 7 days later. He maintains that Lev. 25 is referring to sabbath years as an analogy NOT an exact science. This is one of his most amazing blunders of all. Maybe Hugh Ross did not take these years literally, but you can be certain that God did not mean them as a parable. Hugh Ross is in good company. Hugh Ross is not alone in thinking they were not to be taken seriously or scientifically. The false prophets in Israel and the whole nation of Israel also did not believe or take these sabbatical years seriously. In fact, so exact were these 6 years of working the land and keeping the ground fallow on the 7th year that God told Moses that he would not only require Sabbath Year compliance, but multiply the years by seven and collect them from the land anyway and vomited out the Israelites and took them into captivity. And Daniel the prophet (who, unlike Hugh Ross, took those curses literally and scientifically, believed Moses and believed Jeremiah who also took these years literally and scientifically. Daniel even asks the Lord in prayer if these years were coming to and end? And of course, the angel of the Lord confirmed that they were (that is the literal scientific Sabbath years of the ground remaining fallow.)

4. If you are going to use "one day to the Lord is as a thousand years" Scriptures in Peter and the Psalms, then go ahead and make each day of Creation one thousand years. (You can't make a day a million years and be consistent with those Scriptures.) But even if you do this, you still have an earth that is only 13,000 years old (7,000 + 5,000)....insignificant time if the big bang theory is true. And as you well point out if each day is a thousand years, it causes a host of other problems beside a light source, such as plants waiting a thousand years to get pollinated.

5. As in #1 above where he states that physics are constant, the plate tectonics are constant. This collides with the Psalm the confirms the mountains were raised and the valleys pushed down in a rapid catastrophe of Noah's Flood in which case the physics and plate tectonics rate of movement were not constant. And once again it collides with his own statement in first debate that moon receding from the earth is NOT constant. But his constant rate plate tectonics would not even allow for a global Luciferian Flood catastrophe which would require changing decay rates.

6. Ross states that we can't observe the present, only the past. Doesn't this collide with Romans 8:18-20 where God says man is without excuse because he made them to understand from what he made? That is what we PRESENTLY see? Also, this passage states that man did understand and comprehend from the beginning of Creation. This demolishes his hominid Creation Gap pre-Adamic Race. Adam & Eve were the beginning (Christ's quote of the first marriage). Ross also states in his books and articles that hominids which he insists were the first manlike creatures before Adam did not comprehend God in order to worship him. This further contradicts the Apostle Paul's passage here in Romans that clearly states men DID comprehend from the beginning of CREATION.
James Sundquist

Dear Kent,
As you prepare for your next debate on Days of Creation with Hugh Ross, the Lord struck me with a Scripture that I knew but never saw in the following light as to pertain to Creation Days in Genesis.

Zechariah 14:5-8

5 You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake [1] in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. 6 On that day there will be no light, no cold or frost.

7 It will be a unique day, without daytime or nighttime--a day known to the LORD. When evening comes, there will be light. 8 On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea [2] and half to the western sea, [3] in summer and in winter.

I had always thought of this Scripture in light of prophecy and the end of the Ages, to which it certainly is speaking. But just this last week I was so struck by God's description of this DAY as both a literal day but even more critically, he calls it a UNIQUE day. His description of this yet future UNIQUE day is certainly UNIQUE in its splendor and glory. But what the Lord showed me, and perhaps had already showed you years ago, was that if this is the only day since the beginning of Creation which HAS NO DAYTIME OR NIGHTTIME, MEANING 24 HOUR CYCLE OF NIGHT OR DARKNESS ON ONE SIDE OF THE EARTH WITH LIGHT (WHICH HE DIVIDED FROM DARKNESS) ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE EARTH. THEN GUESS WHAT?!?!? EVERY SINGLE OTHER DAY SINCE THE BEGINNING OF CREATION AND THROUGHOUT THE FUTURE MUST HAVE 24 HOUR DAYTIME AND NIGHTTIME CYCLES. IF THERE WERE NOT TRUE, THEN, THE DAY IN THIS SCRIPTURE WOULD NOT BE UNIQUE. Of course, there are other Scriptures to corroborate this. But it would be the only one you would need to demolish the stronghold of day/age theory. Christ himself refers to Zechariah and thus authenticates that he is a true Prophet from God. To further confirm that this was a literal day, Zechariah compares it to the literal days of the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. In this future unique day there will be another earthquake. The only other day which could challenge the uniqueness of this day would be Joshua's long day. But the important distinction here is that IT WAS STILL DARK ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PLANET FOR THE TWELVE HOURS. Zechariah's day was GLOBAL light. Further Scriptural corroboration is found in which describes Christ's coming as the lightning shines from the east to the west, meaning the whole earth is engulfed in white light, where Christ destroys the AntiChrist at the brightness of his coming (2Thes 2:8).
Also, Zechariah's unique day retains its uniqueness because it is the ENTIRE 24 HOUR DAY (not just a day which has an extra 12 hours). Of further interest in Zechariah's passage is that evening still comes, meaning the earth's rotation does not stop, and even this unique day is 24 hours long.
It is just that at nighttime when the sun goes down, it is still light (just not light from the sun).

This seems like a perfect Scripture for the Day/age segment of your debate. So much for Hugh Ross statement in the last debate that the Prophets support his day/age theory. Isn't it a lock???

What do you think of this illumination?
James Sundquist

Here is more proof that Hugh Ross is telling more lies. Here is the web site which shows the views of the signatories of the Westminster Confession confirming that they believe in Creation Days as 24 Hours. If it is not enough to trash the Prophets he now has questioned the writers of the Westminster confession. http://capo.org/creationRevise.html

Hope this helps!

I am very surprised that John Ankerberg did not nail him in his tracks on this one!

Thanks!
James Sundquist

Dear Kent,
Here is the letter I tracked down which Dr. David Menton (young earth physician) sent to John Ankerberg regarding his concerns. I wish I could have found this to send to you BEFORE your debate. But now perhaps you have another colleague (we must bind together in this war).
James ****

A Letter to John Ankerberg

Copyright © 1997, 1994 Missouri Association for Creation, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
June 10, 1992

Mr. John Ankerberg
The John Ankerberg Show
P.O. Box 8977
Chattanooga, TN 37411

Dear John:

Following the events of the last several months, and particularly our phone conversation on May 27, I am deeply concerned that your TV series and book will not be as compatible with Biblical creation as at least I had envisioned when I first agreed to participate. My first concern occurred at the time of our video taping session at the Rhea County Court House when you expressed reluctance to having the members of our panel get involved with evidence for a young earth lest we lose the audience we were trying to reach. This surprised me since virtually all of the scientists you invited to participate on that day were young earth creationists.

Two of the members of the panel, Austin and DeYoung, discussed scientific evidence for a young earth in their presentations and I was disappointed that their views on this matter would be edited out of the tapes and book.

My next concern came when our conference phone calls and group mailings did not include Duane Gish. I began to suspect that, for some unexplained reason, Duane was out of the book and wondered if he might be edited out of the TV series as well.

Duane's views on creation and evolution are well known from his many debate tapes, videos and publications. I could see no reason why anyone who would invite him to participate in the first place, would have occasion to be either surprised or disappointed with his presentation.

Then the manuscripts for the book began to come in and with them more cause for concern. After seeing DeYoung's manuscript censored of any discussion of the age of the earth, I began to wonder how Steve Austin's original field research on Mt. St. Helens and the Grand Canyon could be purged of all evidence for catastrophism and a young earth. This really bothered me because Steve was perhaps the only person involved in your TV series and book who presented his own relevant laboratory and field research. In a phone conversation with Kurt Wise in December, I was told that Steve's paper was being completely rewritten.

When my last group of manuscripts arrived I noted that Steve Austin's manuscript was still not in and that now even his name was missing from the mailing list of those receiving manuscripts! Clearly something was going on behind the scene about which I was being kept in the dark. Finally, the whole mess was revealed to me in our last phone conversation. My worst suspicions were confirmed; of all the people who were asked to give up a weekend with their families and spend 12 straight hours taping your TV series on Creation, only Kurt Wise and I remained! If I understand you correctly, Duane Gish was eliminated for not being "up to date," Steve Austin was eliminated because he might turn off folks with his ideas on the age of the earth, and Don DeYoung was eliminated because "no one liked his manuscript!" Well, I for one, was quite pleased with the contributions of all three of these men at our taping session. I liked DeYoung's manuscript though I agree that it would have benefited from some revision (particularly the section on the planets).

Of the manuscripts still being considered for publication, I was especially pleased with those of John Oller, J. P. Moreland and Thaxton & Bradley. Oller covers some new ground in the creation- evolution controversy in providing compelling evidence that the whole human capacity for language could not have evolved in progressive steps over time but demands the intelligent design of a Creator (by the way, Oller too is one of those young earthers and ICR supporters!). Moreland and Thaxton & Bradley provide lucid digests of the main features of their important published books.

I must confess that at the time I read his manuscript, I was unfamiliar with Hugh Ross. I found his discussion of evidence for design in the universe to be interesting though a bit pedantic and convoluted in style. In my opinion, it is a pity that Ross is going to replace DeYoung in your book because I believe more people would have benefited from reading DeYoung's discussion of the unique biological suitability of the earth. Compare, for example, Ross' treatment of the effects that multiple moons might have on the earth with DeYoung's treatment of the same subject. For Ross, it's just another item in one of his several lists of "facts" while DeYoung discusses the implications of this surprisingly important point in a lucid and interesting way that would appeal to the average reader.

I have some far more serious reservations about some of the claims and implications in Ross' manuscript. I was deeply troubled by Ross' premise, in the very first paragraph of his paper, in which he insists that one's theology should be made to fit one's cosmology, and not the other way around! This is particularly disturbing given the necessarily speculative nature of the whole field of cosmology. Why should a Christian, of all people, insist that where the speculations of fallible men are in contradiction to the infallible Word of God, it is God's Word that will have to somehow give way. But then Ross doesn't appear to speculate in his manuscript, he simply declares that the universe is 17 billion years old, and then pompously demands that "all age stretching attempts to save non-theistic science should cease!" Most cosmologists are currently satisfied with their 17 billion years for the age of the universe, but if the plasma model for the origin of the universe replaces the Big Bang in popularity, and they demand hundreds of trillions of years, I don't doubt that Hugh Ross will find a way to grant it to them from his marvelously elastic Bible. After all, according to Ross, theology must be made to fit cosmology.

After reading his manuscript I was quite anxious to learn a little more about Hugh Ross and his views on creation. A friend in St. Louis called my attention to the ICR Impact articles 217 & 218 about Ross and loaned me a copy of Ross' book, The Fingerprint of God. I was shocked to see Ross dismiss Henry Morris, and apparently all creationists like myself who "hold to a 24-hour creation day," as folks who present "bogus evidences for a young universe" and who only succeed in "misguiding many whose science education and biblical training are inadequate to aid them in evaluation" (The Fingerprint of God, page 155). Wow! Are you sure he is one of the good guys John? I mean with people like this on our side we really don't need any opposition.

As I had feared, Ross' publicly expressed disagreements with creationists such as Henry Morris, go well beyond merely the age of the earth and universe. As is so often the case with progressive creationists he is left with a lot of time that needs to be somehow forced into the precisely defined days of Scripture and this leads to all sorts of mischief. Since one of the reasons progressive creationists accept a 4.5 billion year old earth is their uncritical acceptance of an essentially evolutionary interpretation of the geological column, they must inevitably deny the global nature of the Noachian Deluge so clearly taught in the Bible. This inevitably requires that the geological column show evidence of God's "progressive creation" rather than evidence of God's angry judgment of death and destruction in a world-wide flood. Then, since fossils in the geological column obviously include the dead remains of animals and men, the progressive creationist inevitably must argue that physical death did not come into the world by sin, as the Bible clearly teaches, but rather God intended from the beginning for animals and men to suffer pain and death. This finally denies the very Gospel of Jesus Christ who was sent into the world to save man from sin, death and the power of Satan.

One has only to examine Ross' own view of the Gospel to see the fruit of the dreadful cascade that begins with denying a literal six day creation. In his book The Fingerprint of God (pp. 180- 161), Ross declares that all that is necessary for man to be saved may be learned from nature itself, apart from the Bible.

Obviously, no one can learn from nature about the undeserved love of God in sending his only begotten Son Jesus Christ to save man from sin and death through His perfect life, death and resurrection. The Bible declares that this Gospel is an unfathomable mystery to unregenerate man and must be revealed in the Word of God (the Bible) through the power of the Holy Spirit. In contrast, Ross' "gospel" is reduced to the religion of universalism where any one can be "saved" by merely recognizing God in nature. How truly the Bible says: "a little leaven leavens the whole lump."

John, I fear that you may yet join James Dobson in his unqualified endorsement of Hugh Ross and progressive creationism. At least it was clear from our phone conversation that you intend to permit Ross to promulgate his views in your TV program and book despite what I gather has been a great outpouring of concern and reservations on the part of many Christians. I understand that it is your show and you are free to include or exclude any ideas or people you wish. Still, I fail to see why you have chosen to complicate things for your TV series and book (to say nothing of your viewers and readers) by bringing in a man who has publicly shown contempt for the intelligence, views and motives of many of the very sort of Christians you chose for your panel. If you prefer the views of Hugh Ross over men like DeYoung,

I fail to see why you initially sought the support of the ICR folks who for years have warned Christians about the grave Spiritual dangers of progressive creation and theistic evolution. Surely you could have assembled a large panel of scientists with strong academic credentials from the roster of the American Scientific Affiliation who would have been much more comfortable with such views.

John, while I am professionally concerned that people discover and understand science as accurately as possible, I am personally even more concerned that they find a saving faith in the redemptive work of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This can only come to those who, with the help of the Holy Spirit, humble themselves before the Word and let God's Word be true though every man be made a liar. I don't believe that it is evolutionism that stands in the way of man's acceptance of the Gospel of Christ but rather man's unbelief in the Word of God itself. Surely we will not lead any one to Christ by attempting to rationally convince them of some form of creation at the expense of the clarity and inerrancy of God's Word. After all, Satan himself believes in creation. Perhaps a more limited objective of merely attempting to rationally convince people of intelligent design in nature may be a worthwhile goal on a Christian TV program such as yours, but we must not undermine the Word of God in the process.

I have tried to communicate to you how strongly I feel about your decision to eliminate the ICR scientists from your TV show and book, and to put in their place a man like Hugh Ross. We each have to do what we think is right before God no matter how much it may offend some men. I have decided that I can no longer be a part of the direction you are taking your TV series and book. I must ask you to let me join my friends from ICR and edit me also out of your TV series and book. If you choose, you are free to have someone write up any information or ideas I have shared with you but my name and participation must not be mentioned.

Sincerely,
David N. Menton

November 16, 2000
Dear Kent,

I want to extend to you and your family my profound gratitude for your invitation to be a guest commentator on your Hugh Ross debate as well as the privilege to do battle in the heavenlies with you. Jo's cooking and Marlissa and your staff's hospitality made me feel like royalty.

You asked me to send my final closing conclusion and comments to you for your final videotaping. You are certainly welcome to quote me below, either verbally, or as text on the screen in your final arguments that you videotape.

So here they are:

1. In the coming Millennium, God is going to RESTORE all things as it was prior to the Fall of Adam. Acts 3:21.

"If God is going to restore the earth in the age to come to Hugh Ross' version of his pre-Fall friendly and good world of death, destruction, disease, pain, sorrow, grief, mutations, predation, survival of the fittest, with NO Paradise, in which man had no dominion over animals, then I would prefer to live in the present age". James Sundquist

But in fact, God's description of the Millennium and the New Heaven and New Earth which is the restoration of all things (before the Fall of Adam) does not describe Hugh Ross' pre-Adamic world without sin.

2. Hugh Ross has changed the Sabbath Day from a blessing to man into a curse. Hugh Ross has given absolutely no mechanism or revelation for Adam to have any clue when his Sabbath Day is to end. Since a day is an indeterminate period of time, Adam has no way of knowing when the next Sabbath occurs in the next weekly cycle. If Hugh Ross does not know what a day is, then how is he able to plug a year into the speed of light formula?
Hugh Ross' Adam cannot tell time!

3. Hugh Ross has born false witness (one of the 10 Commandments) by lying and misrepresenting virtually ALL of the Church Fathers he says support his view of days in Creation being long ages. He further has lied about the positions held by the majority of the signatories of the Westminster Confession.

4. Hugh Ross has "gone the way of Cain" (Jude 1:11). "Woe to them". The way of Cain says did God say you can offer dead plants (grain offering) as atonement for sin, because plants die just like animals? Or did God say only a dead animal (shed blood) is an acceptable offering for the remission of sin. The answer is clear!

5. Hugh Ross suggests that we can obtain information for the conduct of our lives from the stars which are SILENT. While the Bible tells us through the Apostle Paul that faith cometh by HEARING. How does one believe on one whom they have not heard? (Romans 10:14-8). If the stars are on equal footing with the Bible, then why weren't the astrologers able to interpret the King Nebuchadnezzar's dream? And why does the Bible condemn seeking guidance from the stars otherwise known as astrology. Which stars tells us we are a sinner? Which stars predict judgment or future events? The answer: ONLY the bright and morning star.

6. Hugh Ross submits that what can't be learned from the stars can be learned from nature. This is pantheism. Are stars and nature (his 67th book of the Bible) able to reprove, correct, and instruct in all righteousness?

7. Hugh Ross suggests that the physics God created holds the universe together. This is not true JESUS CHRIST holds everything together.

8. You judge a tree by its fruit. Hugh Ross' tree is laden with the evolutionary fruit of the geologic column. Can a thorn bush produce figs? Why does he seek the counsel of the ungodly?

9. Hugh Ross's version of Noah's Flood has moved the boundaries God has set