Cedarville Magazine, Spring 2017

provides the proper foundation for all knowledge: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” 1 Corinthians 1:20–25 tells us that man’s wisdom is foolishness to God, putting our ability to reason in proper perspective. As a result, Cedarville’s biologists begin with a distinctive foundation that most scientists do not recognize. Cedarville professors also critique evolution me t hodo l og i c a l l y by teaching students the scientific method of pursuing knowledge within the framework of revealed truth in God’s Word. The presupposition of the Divine Designer helps scientists because they are much less likely to explain things they find, but do not understand, as “junk” or “relics of evolution.” Rather, when they start with the idea that there is a purpose to everything in nature, they are unlikely to dismiss what they do not understand. Starting with the right presuppositions and asking the right questions allow students to critically analyze what is conveyed as “truth” in a textbook or scientific article. More importantly, students recognize how scientific research itself provides much evidence against evolution. Emphasizing the proper starting place for all knowledge — Scripture and the proper limitations of science — and that the scientific method cannot prove origins, allows students to gain a more comprehensive education at Cedarville than schools that do not believe in a literal, six-day creation. HISTORY In the study of history, professors at Cedarville also start from the foundation that God exists and that He created man in His image. Secular philosophers of history have long grappled with the meaning of history, and their conclusions are really quite sad. Some throw up their hands and decide there is no meaning. They study the past because they find it interesting, or they use it to support a political argument. These approaches are not always bad, but if they are the only purpose for studying history, then humans simply become pawns for larger and more powerful forces, rather than meaningful beings engaged in purposes governed by a loving and wise Sovereign. If man evolved in a chance system like evolution, there can be no meaning for his existence. He is the product of chance, or “dumb luck” in today’s vernacular. Whether he lives or dies is of no eternal, cosmic importance. But in God’s economy, man was created in His image. The very act of creation endows man with meaning. If there was any question about that, it is more than addressed by the love He expressed toward us in sending His Son to die for our sins. As a historian studying the past, I know the historical endeavor matters because the human actors were valued by God. As a Christian historian, when I evaluate the actions of humans in the past, I do so recognizing that while they carry meaning because of their created nature, they are also sinful and, by nature, reject the truth. Students studying history at Cedarville leave the classroomwith an understanding that ultimate meaning in history is found not in the events or role players, but beyond the actual events themselves within the counsel of a Creator who causes all history to flow toward His intended purposes. While science can corroborate the truth of Scripture, how the universe began will never be proven by scientific method. Cedarville Magazine | 17