"The Kingdom, the Power and the Glory: Studies in Memory of William Brink Monsma"

A few thoughts on this book. My first impression of Bill Monsma was unique. In 1980 my wife and I had completed 8 years in Hong Kong as missionaries. Over the previous couple of years I had evolved from a “fully competent creation” evolutionist into a young earth creationist. (I finished medical school in 1967 having been convinced that God threw out the first matter, having designed it to self-organize and that He could later give man a soul. I nearly lost my faith completely but settled on “God used  evolution.”  

While in Hong Kong, my brother, a science teacher, sent me a couple of books by A. E. Wilder-Smith including “Man’s Origin, Man’s Destiny” and “Creation of Life.” I set them aside for a year because they seemed so far from the scientific mainstream. But when I read the powerful logic, I was astonished. I had never been given any reason to doubt evolution, but Wilder-Smith argued that a code can only come about by the agency of intelligence and the information carried on the code likewise. Long ages of time do not help because they degrade information. I was energized and radicalized. Design was an evangelistic tool! This is what Romans 1 was talking about!  

I needed to finish pediatric training and after arriving back at the University of Minnesota I looked up the advisor for the Christian Medical Society Student Chapter whom I had known during medical school, Dr. V. Elving Anderson. I laid out what I had learned with a bit of calculation showing the hopeless improbability of the simplest protein putting itself together even if all the components were there in the primordial soup. He answered that he was not impressed by that argument. I asked now he answered it and he repeated that it did not impress him. He then said there were many who believed as he did and gave me an application to the American Scientific Affiliation. I was puzzled at the unscientific answer to  my question. 

During a lecture on hypertension, the nephrology professor made a comment about evolution, stating that the kidney evolved in an environment of low salt and under high sodium levels puts out hormonal signals to raise the blood pressure. I went up after class and asked if it didn’t seem strange that the incredible mechanism of the kidney which keeps so many things in balance can’t make a minor adjustment. He said that it was the time frame. (I had the mental picture of creatures dying for millions of years of the complications of hypertension before they got it right.) I said, “Well, there is other evidence against evolution, are you interested?” He said "No." When I offered him books and articles, he became angry. "I know where you are headed," he shouted. "You are going to talk about God and Jesus and I have no place for them in my life!” And, turning to walk away, he called out over his shoulder, “I don't think you can talk about this on a public university campus!" 

I was flabbergasted, but he was indeed correct that if evolution is not true, the only other possibility is creation, which means there is a God. And if there is a God Who created us, then we are answerable to Him and ought to find out all we can about what He expects of us. I later discovered that failure to affirm evolution was a career ending move for many academics. 

In 1981, after it was clear that we were not going to return to the field, I joined the medical staff of Group Health, its name later changed to HealthPartners. I made friends with another pediatrician who attended Hope Presbyterian. We had several conversations about creation/evolution and he invited me to give a series of talks to his adult Sunday School Class. I had given only one, or maybe two talks when my friend told me that the class had been cancelled, apparently by Bill Monsma. 

I’m sure Bill did all the wonderful things you write about and Elving Anderson was a warm hearted believer, but I am convinced that both missed something important. Perhaps it will involve some of the tears that will have to be wiped away. 

The section on Islam gives some interesting insights into the intellectual problems of Muslims. But I did not catch anything useful in evangelism. I had Muslim patients, one who experienced a remarkable turn-around of a disturbing situation. The mother came alone to see me and told how she had heard noise in the basement in the middle of the night and found her teen aged daughter naked, with an adult man, drug paraphernalia scattered around the room. She took her daughter by the shoulders, asked her what was going on and slapped her in the face. The girl left with the man and shortly after, the mother received word that a judge had declare the girl emancipated because she was physically abused by her mother. I told the mother that I would write a letter to the judge and asked if I could pray for them. If I had known what I learned later, I would have prayed in Jesus name because Muslims do believe they can do that and that Jesus is a healer. The mother knew that I was a Christian, however. I prayed that the judge would change the order and the daughter would stop the destructive behavior and reconcile with the family. A few weeks later the mother and daughter came back together and it had all happened! 

A friend of mine during our growing up years joined Campus Crusade staff and was involved in the Jesus Film administration since the beginning. He has shared many amazing stories. An Egyptian man had been telling his friends that his life seemed empty. They encouraged him to go on the Haj. He went on a bus tour and on the way home told the bus driver that he still felt empty. The bus driver suggested that he get off at the next stop and pray in the name of Jesus. He did, out-loud apparently, and struck up a conversation with a man on a park bench who had a Christian name. He asked the man if he were a Christian and the stranger answered, “No, but I have a movie about Jesus that I have never watched.” They went home and watched it together. When the adult Jesus appeared on the screen for the first time, the Egyptian jumped up and shouted, “That was the bus driver!” They both believed. Muslim background believers report they became Jesus followers because of the kindness of Christians and  miracles, visions and dreams. 

I think Bill wanted to evangelize. And he truly believed that creationism, especially young earth, would drive intellectuals away before they get to the gospel. Maybe so and intelligent design followed by identifying the designer as Jesus is reasonable. But eventually the skeptic will object to virgin birth and resurrection. Regardless, I am suspicious that even Bill would be unhappy with last year’s event, co-sponsored by MacLaurin and BioLogos, going to an Evangelical Free Church to convince the Christians to become evolutionists and discard the notion of a literal Adam and Eve. All this in the year when Francis Collins admitted that his statement claiming that the genome proved evolution because of all the junk DNA was hubris. There is no junk, rather layers of regulatory complexity that we never dreamed of before. But Collins did not call off the attack dogs. And they don’t even go to the lost! The try to convert evangelicals. And MacLauren/Anselm House joined their yoke! 

I have little comment on the second chapter. The portrait of the national heroes of Israel with all their warts was indeed one of the reasons Vishal Mangalwadi considered the Scripture divinely inspired. And indeed, God allows humans to create culture and structures that have flaws. And supposedly God-fearing kings do indeed fight each other because we are all fallen. David had a tender heart but still paid the price for his sin. And, indeed, we need to be ready to suffer for the name of Christ as the culture becomes more hostile. Might that not include being considered a fool for believing a part of the Scriptural record that is considered academically unacceptable, although you find it to be based on solid  evidence and firm logic? 

Chapter 3, mentions Bill’s desire to synthesize. I think his ability to do so was deformed by his long association with Calvin College with their emphasis on deep time and evolution. Davis Young, as far as I know, maintained his faith but Howard Van Till became a freethinker. John Calvin would be appalled. (Of course, Martin Luther and John Wesley would likewise disown many of their theological descendants.) 

The relationship of wild and domestic is a good way to frame the mandate to appropriately use the earth which we have been given. My parents gave me a good appreciation of wilderness. We went tent camping and explored, not just learning the names for things but even more looking for wonders. I remember the first time finding the little green insect hiding in a small dap of foam. I watched the caterpillars and their different modes of locomotion, the fish in a stream or lake. The beauty and mystery of the hills, cliffs and caves. In different parts of the country, I saw how different species occupied the various habitats. I learned an appreciation for what God had made but I also saw my mother’s flower garden and the even more amazing garden of a neighbor as a sub-creator. I marveled at God’s creativity and variation on themes. 

Chapter 4 gives a nice analysis of Job, despite the fact that Jed is a young man ☺. He also points out the ability to do science grows out of the reality of creation, a reasonable Creator and a creature capable of acquiring knowledge. 

Chapter 5 needs some demolition. Yes, there is a need to reach the homosexual individual for Christ and that does not require them to be “cleaned up” first. God loves us just the way we are but He also loves us too much to leave us that way. Joe Hallett led Outpost for over 10 years and miraculously did so with full blown AIDS when an average lifespan was very short. He was saved through the witness of a Christian woman and continued in the gay lifestyle until the Lord convicted him of it. He continued to be tempted but lived a victorious life and brought many to Christ by his honest witness. What we see today is the Gay Christian Movement, saying, “I’m gay, I’m Christian and it’s OK.” Maybe even, “God made me this way.” 

The implosion of Exodus was evidenced by Alan Chambers’ meeting with representatives of the Gay Christian Movement. Fortified by the writings of his pastor and board chair, Clark Whitten, author of “Pure Grace,” that godly living is legalism, he told the group, “I will see you all in heaven. God is not in the business of changing behavior and nobody changes anyway.” He endorsed gay marriage although he stayed heterosexually married. I suggested at an Outpost board meeting that Exodus should change its name to “Take us back to Egypt.” They no longer had a message of hope or change, and although they never removed their original statement of faith from the website, they mercifully dissolved. 

What do we do about I Corinthians 6:9-11

“Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

Note the key?

“And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you  were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” 

David was an adulterer and also a man after God’s heart? Why? It seems that we all sin but some are forgiven. 1 John 1:7-9

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  

So the one who claims the right to a behavior and is unwilling to surrender it to God is putting it ahead of God. In finding God’s will, we often have to come to the point where we say, “Lord, even if you want me to go to the cannibals or the lepers, I am willing.” Often that is NOT God’s will, but we need to be willing in order to get past it. But in the case of clearly defined sin, I tremble to think of the consequences of defying God. 

And on a human level, the dark side of homosexuality is not given a public airing, all because of political correctness. The social cost is great and the personal consequences are significant. Yes, even when sexuality is misused, it retains some of its intended beauty. My neighbor, a physician, left his wife and two young children to live with his office nurse. He told me he felt like he was 18 again. We all know the cost to his family, but also to him. Sexual abuse of children is a significant problem and still generally  agreed by society to be wrong. The pedophiles, however, are waiting in the wings with all the same arguments as for the mainstream of homosexuality. But childhood sexual abuse is prominent in the etiology and the expression of same sex attraction. In multiple studies, even by gay researchers, adult homosexual men admit that they, over the age of 21, have had sex with boys under 16. In a study by Dr. Paul Cameron of Family Research institute, two-thirds of the boys whose first sexual experience was homosexual, whether defined as consensual, seduced or forced, engaged in homosexual behavior as adults; 95% of those whose first experience was heterosexual were heterosexual in their adult behavior. 

Our culture has taken the stance that feelings that come from within are not only good but irresistible. It is true that a person is not responsible for his temptations and we are all tempted. The erotic impulses can be deformed by things out of the individual’s control, but the actions taken as a result of those temptations have consequences. Homosexual males have increased health problems and shorter lifespan. It is not just AIDS but all the disease of stress. Even “committed relationships” tend to be open and many gay apologists frankly admit that monogamy is not their ideal. The statement, “I have always been this way,” can mean that the critical factors occurred before the time that memories are retained. That is true of the age of gender identity which happens at 1½ to 2½ years of age. 

Would God tolerate “gay marriage” as He tolerates divorce? Will there be homosexuals in heaven? I assume that there will be some who are washed in the blood, “that is what some of you were.” But one who makes an idol of his sexuality, whatever the orientation, ought to fear that he is not under grace. 

Chapter 6 is interesting. I am convinced that the loss of trust in the Bible is directly due to the lack of willingness by so many Christians, especially Christian intellectuals, to defend Genesis. And ironically, while everybody was busy protecting the gospel from potential falsification by science, they have missed the fact that science has crept up behind them and strengthened not only intelligent design but even a young earth! The geologic column is not really explained by the usual uniformitarian assumptions and even radiometric dating has been given a jolt by the ICR/CRS “RATE Project.” Too much helium from alpha decay for it to have taken place in the remote past – indicating a recent catastrophe involving more than just a flood. Then there is measurable Carbon 14 in coal, oil, fossils and diamonds in which it should be totally absent. And there is the soft tissue in dinosaur bones – which has brought on the most contorted explanations. And, ironically, they are based on FAITH! “This is an experiment of nature that proves soft tissue can last 65 million years because we KNOW that the fossil is that old.” Is that self-correcting science in action?

But in supporting Deep Time, you end up with death before sin, a God who uses death to create and is also a poor communicator. He could have described evolution or vast ages of time. The excuse that the people were primitive assumes evolution! Actually there is every indication that Adam and Eve were geniuses. And back to communication, is it really “very good” that Adam and Eve stood on thousands of feet of fossilized competition, predation, disease and death? All this from a God who tells us to care for the weak and the insignificant, doing it as unto Him. And why is death treated as an intruder? Why did Jesus need to conquer it by the Cross and the resurrection? Why is it to be thrown into the lake of fire in the end? Is that the way to treat the primary creative process? And, by the way, if Adam was chosen from among the soulless hominids, when he went to name the animals and find a helpmate, being a man he might have said, “Hey, God, she looks good to me. A soul is optional.” 

Can I encourage the “Galilean Fellows” to cast their nets on the other side of the boat? Maybe even step out and walk on the water?