General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 59th Session

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General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Yes, Creation!

Kwabena Donkor

Evolutionary thought, Spiritualism and the End of Time

Lee Spencer

How Many Dinosaurs Were On the Ark?

Ariel Roth

Some scientific data that favors a recent creation

Stan Hudson

The Biblical creation is central to the local church

Greg King

Is Biblical Creation Passé?

Nikolaus Satelmajer

Rollin Shoemaker

Sabbath and Creation

Paleontology and the Bible: Science in action

John Baldwin

Why Does a Good Creator Permit Evil?

JoAnn Davidson

...and it WAS good

Jim Gibson

Lions in the Garden of Eden

Richard Davidson

Does Genesis Really Teach a Recent, Literal, Seven-Day Creation Week and a Global Flood?

Tim Standish

DNA and Design

Jacques Doukhan

Creation, the Heart of SDA Theology

How to share creation in outreach on secular campuses

Do millions of years solve the problem?

Ed Zinke

Theistic evolution and the end of Adventism

Ronny Nalin

Dealing with uncertainty

Ted N.C. Wilson

God’s Literal, Six-day, Recent Creation--The Church’s Position

Creation and Evolution: A brief history

Clifford Goldstein

Seventh-day Darwinians

It's a great pleasure for me to be with you this morning and have this opportunity to share my views on these hot issues that are at the core of the Yes Creation program.

And I thought that before I start sharing with you my personal views, I would talk a little bit about my background so you understand where I come from.

I was born in Italy in 1978, and I guess you can think of me as a kind of singularity because I was born in an Adventist family in a country where the majority of the population is Catholic.

And my parents were very committed to the church.

So in my family, God was a very welcome guest.

And the study of the Bible was encouraged and practiced.

And so the church life was very prominent in my foundational years.

And as you can see from this picture, I went through all the stages of the Sabbath school classes.

And I like this picture very much because it portrays my wife and I at a time which we didn't know that we were going to get married.

So I started to serve after getting baptized at the age of 17.

I started to serve in several youth ministries.

I had a great love for the outdoors, so the Pathfinders were just a perfect match for me, and I have great memories with the Italian Adventist Scouting Association.

And I also collaborated with the 7 Day Adventist Companion.

It's a group that deals with young adults aged between 16 and 20.

And I had a lot of opportunity to share my passion for Christ.

But meantime, I had to decide what I wanted to study.

And I enrolled at the University of Padua, which is 1 of the universities where Galileo Galilei taught.

Well, Part was because I had a great love for the outdoors and nature, but also because I was already interested in these topics of origins.

And at that time, I truly believed that if I had studied enough, I could have resolved the issues and I could have shown the scientific community its errors and reestablish the harmony between science and scripture.

So it didn't take me long before I realized that things were much more complex than I thought.

And I still remember 1 day at the end of a class, staring at this huge panel of the geological column and thinking about the massive amount of information necessary to compile such a detailed diagram.

So I began to become familiar with a frustration that many scientists know very well, the more you study, the more you realize how limited your knowledge is and how much more you should know and you should study.

So the university experience didn't answer all of my questions.

And in fact, it brought some new interesting topics to my consideration.

And towards the end of the master's, I had the opportunity of spending some time in the field with some Atlantis geologists doing some research in Peru.

And that experience was very helpful to me, because spending time with some other Christians that understood the type of issues that I was facing was very encouraging.

And in fact, it turned out to be even providential, as we will see later in the presentation.

So after I graduated, I decided that I wanted to continue studying geology.

And I enrolled in a PhD program in earth sciences.

And I spent part of my PhD in New Zealand, studying shallow marine carbonate deposits in modern environments and in the geological record.

And towards the end of the PhD, I was contacted by the director of the Geoscience Research Institute.

I had been in contact with most of the staff of the GRI after my experience in Peru.

And they wanted to interview me because they had an opening.

And so it was that my fiancee, well, my wife, but at that time she was my fiancee.

And after much thinking and praying, we decided to go to accept the position.

And today, working for GRI, I still continue doing research on shallow marine carbonates from the Mediterranean area.

But I have also started new research projects with Cambrian limestones in Utah and studying subsaline deformation from the fountain formation in Colorado.

So this is a little bit of my background.

And now let's discuss together some of the questions that you may have in mind.

So have I been able to find a synthesis between my biblical beliefs and the current conventional geological understanding of the history of the Earth?

My honest answer to this question at this point in my life is no.

Although I dream of new developments that may shed a different light on the current scientific understanding of geology and the fossil record, the geological record, There are aspects in geology that I cannot easily reconcile with a biblical account of a recent creation.

There are some disciplines, like biology, that are pointing to exciting aspects in nature that point to the existence of a designer.

Even in this presentation, in this series of presentations, we have seen that there are in geology some fields that seem promising towards a better integration between these 2 disciplines.

But today, for what I understand of geology, I have more unresolved issues than answers.

So second question, then, does this mean that we should downplay the importance of geology and avoid its study when we observe apparent conflict between the conclusions of geology and the Bible?

The rocks are out there to be studied, to be observed, to be discussed, to be interpreted.

And we should not be afraid when it appears that that story seems to be in conflict with the Bible.

Ultimately, being a scientist, a good scientist, means that you are willing and ready to consider even theory that goes against your idea.

It would be nice if we could find this harmony between the data of scripture and science.

But if we cannot reach that point, we should not give up studying and acknowledging, humbling the limit of our understanding.

So then the next question is, Should we give up our faith when there is an apparent conflict between geology and scripture?

Not at all, because faith, by definition, is not based on empirical evidence.

Empirical evidence is important for supporting and leading to a reasonable faith.

But Paul defines faith as being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

And He goes on saying that ultimately in our life journey, we do not walk by sight, but by faith.

So then why is it that we experience conflict between the worldview of the Bible and the worldview of geology?

Well, I believe that the answer to this question lies on the condition, our human condition.

And this is not due to a lack of application on our side, because we work hard for that.

But it is a fundamental aspect of the human condition.

So there will be always something that I cannot fully understand.

There will be always something that is bigger than I am.

There will be always something unexplainable there.

But, however, we do not live lives that are paralyzed by uncertainty.

Most of us live vibrant lives that are shaped by convictions and inspired by principles that we hold as solid and reliable.

So how can we explain these apparent paradox?

How can we be bold and assured in spite of uncertainty.

The reason, the answer to this question I think, lies in other sources of knowledge behind and besides empirical evidence.

The love for my life, for my wife, the passion for my job, and also the principles that motivate my behavior.

They are all inner invisible convictions.

Certain things that I know are real, very real to me.

These things I cannot touch, I cannot see.

And I believe that this is what Paul was referring to when he speaks of being certain of things that we do not see.

I don't think he wanted to imply that these things that we do not see are unreal or imaginary.

On the contrary, he wants to stress the intangible quality of these things that we do not see.

And so I believe that our worldview on origins is an example of this type of faith.

It is an inner invisible conviction that stems from a struggle that is based on the analysis of science, scripture, the working of God in our life and our past experience with this.

I liken the experience of growing this inner conviction to the struggle that Jacob had at Panaeum 1 night when he wrestled with God.

If you take the time to go through this struggle, You may be sure that God will be with you wherever you go.

It is a hard experience though, that will leave a mark on you.

But it will also bring the beginning of a new day of peace in your life.

The Bible describes with great literary beauty the conclusion of Jacob's experience.

The text says, the sun rose above him as he passed Peniel and he was limping because of his hip.

I'd like to leave you with this image of a limping but peaceful Jacob.

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Series

Yes, Creation!

Dealing with uncertainty

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

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