-22-
Letters
OF ATHEISM
Dear J. W.
February 16,1989
...Tuesday evening, I received a
telephone call from the Medical College, from one professing to
be an atheist. He tried to convince me that it was foolish to
believe there is a God when evil is all about. In our
conversation, he said all people could see the immorality of
child abuse. I told him the only way people can know what is
immoral is if there is a moral law; and in order for there to be
a moral law, there must of necessity be a moral law-Giver. Him
we call "God" I told him. He said he would telephone me again.
...
OF CREATION VS. EVOLUTION
Dear S. M. N.
August 11, 1993
I would like to respond to M.
K. letter "Christians Can Believe in Evolution Theory."
In Genesis chapter 1, the
Hebrew word "create" is "bara," and it means "out of nothing."
The Latin translation is "ex nihilo." This is the reason
Augustine said, "Though God formed man of the dust of the earth,
yet, the earth itself and every earthly material is absolutely
created out of nothing." This is the historic position of
Christianity.
The Hebrew word for "day" is
"yom." When used by itself, the word can mean a long period of
time, but whenever it is used in context with a number, it
always means a 24-hour day. This is the reason the Greek
translation of the Old Testament translated "yom" as "hemera"
which in Greek always means a 24-hour day, and not as "aeon"
from which we derive the word "eon."
People to whom the knowledge of God
and truth are unimportant will not care whether one believes in
evolution or creation, but to people who know that "To fear God
and to keep his commandments is the whole duty of man"
(Ecclesiastes 12:13) such knowledge is the difference between
life and death.
It is owing to this fact: that God
made man (Genesis 1) that God has the right to be the Lawgiver
(Genesis 2); and it is owing to this fact: that God is the
Lawgiver, that He has the right to be man's Judge (Genesis 3).
The reason men debate the doctrine
of creation at all is because since the time of the Fall
(Genesis 3), and Adam begat a son in the likeness of his fallen
nature (Genesis 5), men by nature have been at war with God. If
men can repudiate the work of God as Creator, they can dismiss
the rights of God to be their Lawgiver and Judge. So George
Bernard Shaw wrote, "The world jumped at Darwin at the thought
of being rid of God."
The Reason a Christian must not
believe God used evolution in forming the worlds, and in the
development of animals and men, is the purpose of evolution.
Thomas Huxley, one of the giants among evolutionists, said, "The
purpose of evolution is to do away with God." The belief in God
and the belief in evolution are mutually exclusive. This is
nowhere more clearly seen than in the public school system. The
teaching of evolution cannot tolerate the teaching of God, or of
His moral law. Sincerely.
Dear M. K.
August 16, 1993
...I am enclosing a book
entitled Evolution? written by J. W. G. Johnson. You will
note that early in the book (p. 9), he points out that because
the doctrine of evolution denies the doctrine of original sin,
evolution, in effect, repudiates Biblical and Catholic
teachings. The book carries the Imprimatur of Francis Rush,
Archbishop of Brisbane.
I would also draw your attention to
a book by A. N. Field, entitled, The Evolution Hoax
Exposed which is published by Tan Books. I only have one
copy, so I am loath to give it up. The book was originally
published under the title, Why Colleges Breed Communists.
ON THE USE OF "YAHWEH" (OR, "JEHOVAH") AS
THE NAME OF GOD
Dear D. W.
January 27, 1988
...It is interesting that of the
many names by which God identifies Himself in the Bible,
"Yahweh", or "Jehovah", is claimed to be the God of the Jews.
That is truly interesting, since the Jews never called Him by
that name, since the name only appears in Jewish writings as the
tetragrammaton (YHWH)—all consonants. The Jews took seriously
the command not to take the name of the Lord in vain, so they
removed the vowels to render it unpronounceable. It was the
church in the first century that interpolated the vowels used in
the name "Adonai", which means "Lord", in order to be able to
pronounce the name "Jehovah." ...
Dear P. C.
February 21, 1988
...I was fascinated by your
use of the name "Yahweh." It is as though this name was
particularly important to you, but God has named Himself other
names in Scripture as well. "In the beginning, Elohim created
the heaven and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). Take, for instance,
Genesis 17:1: "The Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him `I
am El Shaddai'", i.e. "God Almighty"; "`walk before me, and be
thou perfect.'" He identifies Himself as being "El Elyon", i.e.
"Lord of Sabaoth" (or "Lord of Hosts"), and is known by a
multitude of compound names.
The Jews were fearful of
breaking the Third Commandment by taking God's name in vain, so
whenever they translated His name, they discarded their pen, and
took a new pen. And, in order to protect others from taking His
name in vain, they early removed the vowels, so that no man
might by pronouncing it, take it in vain. Even today, we do not
know the true name of "Jehovah." It was the early Christian
believers who interpolated the vowels from the word "Adonai"
(or, "Lord"), so that the name could be pronounced.
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