Cedarville Magazine, Spring 2014

Central to Cedarville’s mission statement is the commitment to an education “grounded in biblical truth.” Every course in every area of study begins with a biblical foundation that reveals God as the source of all wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and truth. Cedarville Magazine asked professors from eight programs to share what biblical integration means in their areas of study. GEOLOGY Fewer than six evangelical Christian colleges and universities have geology majors. Among these, Cedarville is the only one that treats the biblical book of Genesis as historical text. We believe the days of Creation were literal days, not figurative. We believe Genesis is true history, not a figurative account to be reinterpreted. We do not believe evolution occurred over millions of years; we believe that events like Noah’s Flood greatly affected the earth’s geology only thousands of years ago. We don’t avoid topics like evolution and the age of the earth; we rigorously teach these subjects, along with their pitfalls, to our students. We take a “two-model” approach where students are trained in both secular and biblical approaches to geology and then taught to think about the pros and cons of each paradigm. We believe this approach helps students develop incredible critical- thinking skills and helps them to ask questions about rocks, fossils, and the earth that secular scientists often miss because of their worldviews. We offer geology field trips to places like the Grand Canyon, one of nature’s best geology classrooms. People are often in awe when they view the Canyon for the first time; they worship God for the incredible beauty they see in His creation. This is a proper response to the God who created the heavens and earth and allows us to enjoy its incredible beauty. However, within the beauty is sadness. Encased in the rocks of the Canyon are millions of fossilized marine animals that died and were buried during Noah’s Flood. These marine rocks not only occur in the Grand Canyon, but blanket every single continent on the earth. The rocks are a sobering reminder of the consequences of man’s sin, God’s righteous judgment, and the Truth we find in Scripture. John H. Whitmore, Ph.D. Professor of Geology cedarville.edu/geology STARTING FROM SCRIPTURE 18 | Cedarville Magazine