Life often feels like a maze. Not one where you have a map and you can see and look ahead at where dead ends lie, but one you are inside. The best you know to do is try different routes and come up with a systematic way to try to figure out where to go, how to backtrack when you get it wrong, and eventually find the exit.
This actually isn’t my description. That is from the 11 authors of a book called The Grand Canyon: Monument to an Ancient Earth in describing how science works and operates. The scientists are in a maze, not knowing the map and working out a systematic process of trying out different routes until they find the exit. I found that statement very intriguing. Throughout the whole book, they authors boasted about their scientific knowledge and how they could easily refute the idea that Noah’s Flood could be a global event, let alone historical. Yet, on page 177 in this book, this description comes out. And I realized that in this statement, the authors unwittingly admitted that they actually don’t know what they are doing or where they are going. They literally are making it up as they go. That’s fine when you are navigating a maze for fun; it’s not fine when you are claiming to be an expert on reality and trying to teach anyone about how they should think or operate.
Throughout this book, the authors savagely attacked Biblical Creationists of having the idea of “starting with the answer.” Their premise of the arguments made by the young earth creationists, teaching a global flood, is that it is invalid science because they are “starting with the idea of a global flood and looking for evidence for it.” The ironic thing is that the very premise of the book does this same “evil.” The authors started with “there could not be a global flood” BEFORE they began their analysis. Though they tried to explain the Flood’s model and how their science showed how it would be impossible, they failed to realize that all the “science” they ever learned and used rejected the Flood as being a possibility a priori. Not only do these authors reject answers before they did their study, they ALSO start with their own answers, namely with dating methods. In this book, they pride themselves on the success of radiometric dating methods (find out more on that here), but how do they know they work? Well, that’s easy. Test them with another method. In this case, plate tectonic drift. And look there, the numbers match! Hmm, how do they know they should match? Because they themselves started with their answers (set up by the geologic column and the dating ranges associated with them PRIOR to the methods being established). There is a word for this: hypocrisy.
But there’s more to it. The authors described themselves in a maze without a map yet mocked and ridiculed those who use a map. Now an argument could be made if the map is right or wrong, but that’s not the argument being made (I just released a book on how our map, the Bible, is the correct map). The argument made was that “you cannot do science properly unless you don’t have your answer in advance.” If only they’d practice this themselves, they’d never be “old earthers.” There’s only partial truth to this, but that’s actually not how most science worked. Most scientists already knew the basics of how the physical universe operated. They lived their lives outside labs like the rest of us. All they had to do was determine exactly how to express it.
I teach AP Physics and I run “inquiry based labs.” In this, I showcase my students a physical phenomenon and then I have them set up an experiment to find out what is happening. The whole time, I as the instructor know what is going on, and my goal is to guide my students to finding the answer. Sometimes my students find factors other than the primary one being tested. Other times, they need me to spell it out for them. But using the maze analogy, the students are in the maze and I am the map. The students are allowed to use the map and the map knows where the exit lies and what it looks like.
That is what Biblical Creationists have over every other secular scientist (including those who profess to be Christians). We have the map to the maze. We have the record of what happened in the past. Now we can still explore a lot of stuff, but we actually can state that we know what the exit looks like and whether we’ve actually found the exit or not. The authors of this book cannot make that claim. They cannot say if they have found the exit because they don’t know what it looks like. Many mazes open up and you think you got through, but it’s another dead end. Many mountains have “false peaks.” You think you get to the top because that’s all you can see, but when you get there, you realize you have 2/3 of the mountain still to go.
What is wrong with “using the map” anyway? What is the problem these people have that we start with what God clearly described? I’ll tell you what the real problem is. It throws a wrench into their entire education and life’s work. It’s pride. They KNOW that if the Flood was indeed global, then all the time and effort they put into getting their PhDs and their life studies since is all a lie, and they will not let that go. That’s the real root of the issue. So instead of letting God say what He meant clearly, they twist and muddy Scripture to make it say something it doesn’t say, all because they simply believe their education more than they believe God.
This applies to more than just science but to EVERY area of life. What about our political situation? The election is coming up in less than two months. No one has a clue about what will happen, other than no matter who wins, it won’t be pretty. If Trump wins, the left is going to go into an even greater rage. If Biden wins, my opinion is that we can kiss what’s left of this country goodbye. But I’m not worried either way. Why? Because I have the map to the maze. I know how it all ends. News flash: the U.S. does NOT come out on top. Only Jesus does. This is why I separate my faith from my politics. I use my faith to direct my politics, but if politics goes against what I desire, my faith in Christ supersedes that. I’ve got the map. I still have to navigate it. I still run into dead ends. I still have to backtrack. But I’ve got the map. And because I have the map, I know what the exit is, I know what it looks like, and I know what is there when I get there.
Trust the map God gave us. Scripture gives us the answers to every possible type of scenario we can face BEFORE we face it. That’s why we can run circles around the “experts” of this world. Let them run around like chickens with their heads cut off. They don’t know what they are doing, no matter what education they have. The only true knowledge is that which is derived from the Word of God, mirrors the Word of God, and showcases the Word of God. Anything else is foolishness. God has no respect for those wise in the world, even those who claim to be Christian and yet speak that which they know not about. The only thing of value I know is that which God has revealed through Scripture and in the practical applications of it. And as long I trust and depend upon the map, I’ll find the exit. I’ll find the treasure. If I ignore the map, I’ll be in a continual state of digging, searching, and backtracking, but I’ll never find the exit. I’ll never find the treasure. I’ll be “ever learning and never coming to the truth.” Instead, let God be the truth and every man a liar, even if they have letters after their name. But even better, if we completely yield to Christ and at every turn in this maze, if we ask Him for His guidance and direction, He will help us navigate the maze and we will never hit a dead end. We have a map to this maze called life. Let’s use it and follow it.
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