Genesis and BSF

Because I teach/tutor a govt and an economics class my thoughts have been attuned to all Marxist thoughts that seem to be running rampant in our culture.  On top of trying to understand our descent into this proven catastrophe, I became enmeshed in a  the battle with BSF Headquarters concerning their heretical teaching of the chapters 1 -11 of Genesis.  

The notes make is very clear that Susie Rowan, the head of BSF is a theistic creationist.  Without going into a great deal of detail about what is the  Theistic creationist belief, it is enough to understand that it is completely at odds with the true reading of Genesis.  Why would BSF promote such heresy?  

I have been so dismayed that I need to be fighting a battle with an organization that I have trusted with my own spiritual education and also that of my family for the last 17 years.  The angst has been indescribable. 

When I graduated from Calvin College many years ago, I was a firm believer in all things opposed to a literal  understanding of Genesis.   Thus I continued in this arrogant state of mind  for about 15 or so years until I attended a creation seminar whose speakers were Henry Morris and his son John.  They convinced me beyond  a shadow of doubt that what I had been taught at Calvin were lies.  The return to a literal understanding of Genesis brought me great joy and renewed my faith in it's Author.  I grieved profoundly at having been intellectually "raped" while a student at Calvin. 

Last spring, I researched via the internet to see what my alma mater was currently teaching about Genesis and found information that totally rocked my boat, so to speak.  I  found a blog from a Science professor that claimed he had no trouble at all with believing that man and animal have common descent, and another link to an article in the periodical, Christianity Today, written by two Calvin Profs that disclaimed the historicity of Adam and Eve.  

Without a real Adam and Eve, the salvation story is moot.  Christ is called the second Adam,  so maybe his purpose was to just be a good man???   When bogus science becomes the means to interpret the Bible,  man gives us hope for any eternal security.  What can be more alarming?

As I contemplated this unbelievable reality, it became crystal clear to me that once one leaves the path of a literal interpretation of Genesis, the outcome will only be progressive disbelief in the authority of Scripture and of it's principle character, our Lord Jesus.  Of course disbelief does not occur overnight,  and so such teaching is not so alarming to the unsuspecting.  In fact, while in the midst of such heresy, one is pridefully aware that one is so much smarter than the "simplistic" literal readers.  

After having read all those alarming missives, I felt compelled to write both to my BSF teaching leader and to Susie Rowan.  The Study in Genesis was coming in the fall and I wanted to alert them to the dangers of misinterpreting this book.  Several weeks later,  I received a curt letter (a form letter for the most part) of response from Ms Rowan with a claim that BSF presents all various interpretations to allow the reader to make up his/her own mind.   

In September then, this class began, and as I read her teaching concerning Genesis 1-10, I felt as though someone was kicking me in the stomach.   Her claim to be presenting all sides was a bald faced lie.  She gave a cursory description of various schools of thought concerning Genesis; but the bulk of the lessons were given to asking her readers to listen and not be dogmatic or judgmental in their analysis of Genesis.  I was truly shaken.   She was attempting to muzzle all those who believe that in a literal understanding of Genesis.  Her message is that truth is relative, what is ok for me, may not be ok for you, etc.  

Her claim that BSF presents all sides was completely false,  I saw that she had an agenda , and that was to confuse our understanding of our beginnings so that we become unable to discern truth,  For a BSF CEO to be so devious and destructive is beyond belief.  And she hides behind claims that she is simply carrying on what BSF' has been historically teaching about Genesis.  

This post is just a draft, for I realize that many claims need to be fleshed out with quotes, etc.  

A little update part 2

Hi! We're back! Mom just recently got a new laptop (the old one had some issues, and it died) so we had to go to the computer place and collect the external drive that has all of the stuff that was on the old laptop. 


Back to the trip. We went through Pennsylvania and got to Maryland about 5:00PM. Geoff's doing an internship in southern MD at a Naval Base, about 2 hours away from Washington DC. His little suite was really nice, tiny little kitchen, REALLY comfortable bed, bedroom with a TV in it, sort of a living room with a TV in it, and-oh yeah, I have to mention the beach. There's this wonderful beach accessible to the base people (part of the Chesapeake Bay) and it's got jellyfish. Yes, jellyfish. We saw 2 of them and Geoff almost sat on one of them! Pretty narrow escape.  We went there on our last day, Saturday.




 Backing up to Friday, Geoff wanted to go to Washington DC, and Mom said yes, as long as he would be the one driving. Mom hates driving in busy places. We got there about 11:00 in the morning, found a parking spot at the Ronald Reagan building, and headed over to the White House.  We didn't get to go inside, because we didn't have our passports on us and hadn't reserved a spot 6mos in advance. But we did get to see front and back of it. From there we went to the Washington Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Jefferson memorial. We also saw the Vietnam, WWII, and Korean war memorials. Last stop we made was at the National Archives to see the original documents (Constitution, Declaration and Bill of Rights).  I really wanted to see the Capitol building and the Senate building, but we didn't have enough time. Hopefully we are going back in November.




On Saturday, we didn't do a whole lot, just went to the Naval Air museum, and then to the beach. Then Mom and I packed up and Geoff drove us over to the airport for our flight home.
Sniff.
Thankfully, Geoff is coming home THIS WEEKEND! So excited! Well, I'm supposed to go upstairs and help clean, so I now conclude the blog. Bye.

A little update part 1

Marissa here. Wow! The last few weeks have been really HOT! Go outside in the sun for even a few seconds and your clothes are sticking to you like they've been glued on. Ick. Praise the Lord that it's cooled down. Well, sort of. I've been hired to go down and water my neighbor's flowers every other day (although with the recent weather it's had to be more like every day.) I have to collect their mail too.

A couple weeks ago we went to Maryland to bring Geoff's new car to him. It's a Honda CRV '98. Graham wanted it! Actually I think we all did, 'cause our car (Buick, same year) is a piece of junk. the inside is literally falling apart. Of course, it didn't help very much that the previous owner didn't treat it very nicely. ( I almost barfed when I looked under the seats. Bleck!!!!) It appeared that he never cleaned it.

Anyways, back to our trip. Only Mom and I were able to go. Graham and Pa had to work. We were just passing Cabelas, we ran into this hail storm. Not fun. We and a bunch of other cars had to pull over.  We stopped for the night at a hotel about 10 minutes away form the Pennsylvania border. My legs were really achy from the ride, so a swim would have been nice, but the pool was down for repairs. Grrrrr. Well gotta go. Mom has to bring this computer in to collect the external drive. Be right back, don't go away (well, you can if you wan.)t

                                  First Post!

Hello bloggers! The Polinders have officially started blogging, which will hopefully give you an update on what is happening in our lives at the moment. Well, nothing interesting to say, except for the previous news, so goodbye until next post!