For the last two-and-a-half years I’ve been using ING Direct as my primary bank for checking and savings. They offer lots of great benefits, and they’re all free. Since I pay just about everything online, I have less and less need for a traditional bank. In addition to paying nearly all of my bills, I can send money to people via direct bank transfer or paper check (that they send postage paid). I can even mail most checks in and have them deposited in a couple of days.¹ That’s the single reason I keep a traditional checking account. I deposit the few checks and occasional cash I get into a checking account with Chase and use ING’s website to move money to and from any of my accounts—again, completely free of charge.

If you’re looking for a new checking or savings account, I’d encourage you to check out ING Direct. If you open an account with as little as $250 by the end of the month through my referral link, you’ll get $25 deposited into your new account. In full disclosure, I’ll also get $20. :)

Send me an email and let me know if you’re interested in opening a checking or savings account, and I’ll send you the referral email.

Footnotes

1. I say most, because some checks can’t be deposited. ↩

ChristianAudio.com offers by The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die by John Piper for free this month. Use coupon code MAR2010 for the first and MAR2010B for the second. You’ll have to place two separate orders since you can’t use two coupon codes at the same time.

I stumbled across a blog post this week (can’t remember where) that had a video embedded of the men from the Together for the Gospel Conference in 2008 singing “Before the Throne of God Above.” I probably watched it a dozen times or more, I enjoyed it so much. So I went to go check out the album at the Sovereign Grace Music store and found out that they’re having a special sale all February. That means it ends today. All music albums are only $5 for the downloadable version and $6 for the CD version.

I picked up the Together for the Gospel Live MP3 Download Set and have been thoroughly enjoying it. I heartily commend it to you.

I’ve seen several posts recently on the subject of creation, evolution, and the age of the earth. If you missed them and are interested in these kinds of discussions, you may want to give them a read.

• Do you believe God created the earth in six literal 24-hour days? by Randy Alcorn
• Why I’m Not a Creationist (Anymore), by Josh Sowin
• Why I’m Neither a Creationist Nor an Evolutionist, by Collin Brendemuehl
• Why I Am a Middle-Aged Young/Old-Earth Creationist, by David T. Koyzis

(See below for some related videos and conferences.)

I grew up believing that God created the universe out of nothing in six 24-hour days and that the earth was about 6,000 years old. My first real exposure to opposing Christian viewpoints was in Systematic Theology I in seminary, where we used Millard Erickson’s Christian Theology¹ as our main textbook.

The Age of Creation

Erickson presents five views on the age of creation:

1. Gap Theory: God first created the earth millions or billions of years ago (Gen 1:1), it was destroyed by a catastrophe (Gen 1:2), and then God created a second time around 6,000 years ago (406).
2. Flood Theory: God created the universe about 6,000 year ago and then sent a worldwide flood about 1,656² years later (Gen 6–8); the flood caused great upheaval and accounts for the apparent age of the earth (406).
3. Ideal-Time Theory: God created a mature earth that had the appearance of age: a solar system and the light emanating from it, plant life ready to be eaten, animals in their full-grown state, and Adam and Eve as adults; everything had the appearance of age, even when it was really only seconds old (406–07).
4. Age-Day Theory: The six days of creation were not 24-hour periods but perhaps millions of years each (407).
5. Pictorial-Day (or Literary-Framework) Theory: The days of creation are arranged by the author of Genesis (or by God Himself in revealing them to man) primarily logically rather than chronologically (407).

Erickson is inclined toward the age-day theory.

Development within Creation

He then presents three views on the issue of development within creation:

1. Traditional Creationism: Every species was created directly by God during the first six days of the existence of the earth (408–09).
2. Theistic Evolution: The universe had its origin in a creative work of God, but God used the process of evolution to indirectly bring about the various species; He may or may not have been directly involved in the creation of human beings (409).
3. Progressive Creationism: “God created in a series of acts over a long period of time” (409).

Erickson favors progressive creationism.

Is God Deceptive?

I’ve had several discussions with friends who reject a young-earth position, but I presently hold to a combination of the flood theory and the ideal-time theory for the simple reason that I’ve never read or heard compelling argumentation to make me reassess my views.

The biggest objection that I hear raised against the notion that the earth was created with the appearance of age is that it is inconsistent with God’s character as a God of truth. Erickson puts it this way:

The ideal-time theory is ingenious and in many ways irrefutable both scientifically and exegetically, but presents the theological problem that it makes God an apparent deceiver (and deception, as we saw in Chapter 13, is contrary to his nature). (407–08, emphasis added)

But I don’t find the objection very compelling for at least three reasons.

1. The argument works against every position that holds that God created anything directly and out of nothing. No matter what your view, everything God created had the appearance of age the moment it was created, and it doesn’t matter if that apparent age was millennia, years, or even days. If it appeared older than it actually was, according this this logic, God’s character would be called into question.
2. Everything that was first created is fundamentally different from everything that followed it. A human being created directly by God out of nothing can not be held to the standard of a human being who is born by procreation. What would it look like to create a man that didn’t have the appearance of age? Create a baby? Even a newborn has the appearance of being roughly nine months old. It’s difficult to fathom what creating without the appearance of age would look like.
3. God is not accountable to man for how He chose to create His universe. He’s free to create a star that’s billions of light years away and also create the light emanating from it without our needing to think that He did something shady.

If you don’t believe in a young earth or are convinced that God used evolution to bring about the species that we have today, what were the arguments, facts, or resources that led you to your conclusion. I’m especially interested in hearing from those who’ve abandoned young-earth creationism.

Piper on Creation and the Age of the Earth

I just saw a post in Google Reader from Chris Roberts, where he points out a couple of short videos by John Piper on these issues. They’re both worth watching. I’m embedding them below for your convenience.

Creation Conferences

On a related note, there are a couple of conferences dealing with creation coming up:

• Science & Faith: Friends or Foes? (HT: Justin Taylor)
• Creation 2010: The Battle for the Bible (HT: ChristianNewsWire)

Footnotes

1. Available from Amazon and Logos. ↩
2. I arrived at this number by adding up the numbers in Gen 5 from Adam’s birth until Methuselah’s death (130+105+90+70+65+162+65+969=1,656). According to Gen 7:11, Noah was 600 when the flood began, and Gen 5:25 and 28 indicate that Methuselah was 369 years old when Noah was born. That would put Methuselah’s death, Noah’s 600th birthday, and the flood all in the same year. ↩

Tullian Tchividjian articulates beautifully one of the most transforming truths I’ve ever learned: the gospel is central in the daily life of the believer. It is well worth 2 minutes and 25 seconds of your time.

Tullian will be speaking on this subject at the upcoming Association of Biblical Counselors annual conference, whose theme is The Gospel Revolution: Re-Discovering the Power of the Cross.

I personally owe a great debt to Dr. Michael P. V. Barrett, who through his teaching, writing (esp. Beginning at Moses: A Guide to Finding Christ in the Old Testament and Complete in Him: A Guide to Understanding and Enjoying the Gospel), and preaching was God’s instrument in opening my eyes to this crucial and scarcely known truth (at least in my experience), and to Faith Free Presbyterian Church for their gospel-centered preaching and worship.

HT: Dane Ortlund via Andy Naselli

The folks at ReformedAudio.org have just completed an audio version of J. Gresham Machen’s classic work Christianity and Liberalism. It’s available in 11 MP3 files and runs 5 hours 44 minutes and 36 seconds. They are making the audio and a PDF of the book available free of charge.

To learn more about Christianity and Liberalism and Reformed Audio, watch this short introductory video (embedded below).

Update: To the best of my knowledge, Machen’s work is not yet in the public domain. Unfortunately, it was published and copyrighted in 1923. Books published in 1922 or earlier are automatically in the public domain. Books published between 1923 and 1963 are only in the public domain if their copyright status was not renewed. Google has a nearly exhaustive list of copyright renewals, and according to their records, the copyright status of Christianity and Liberalism was renewed in 1950 by Arthur W. Machen (his son?). If my understanding of copyright law is correct, that would mean that one would need to obtain permission from Arthur Machen or the current copyright holder before producing any editions of it or distributing it for free or for charge. I’m not sure if the folks at Reformed Audio have obtained permission or not, but there is no indication in their audio files or PDF that any of the content is under copyright. I just sent them an email to inquire. Perhaps the simple answer is that the copyright holder has released it into the public domain. I hope that’s the case, because I’ve been wanting to get this book in Logos Bible Software for a long time.

Update 2: I corresponded with Ben of Reformed Audio, and he believed Christianity and Liberalism to be in the public domain based on Ed Walsh’s assertion on Reformed.org. However, Shane Rosenthal also maintains that Christianity and Liberalism is still under copyright. Based on the evidence I’ve seen, I’d encourage you not to download or distribute this content.

Update 3: I’m happy to report that Ben was able to get in touch with someone at Eerdmans, who confirmed that they still hold the copyright. He granted Ben the permission to continue to distribute the audiobook free of charge. So feel free to download it.

Amazon has four free MP3 albums that you might be interested in downloading.

• Classical Favorites Sampler
• Relaxation Sampler
• Celtic Memories Sampler
• The Best of Countdown Kids Sampler