Cedarville Magazine Spring 2017

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Cedarville Magazine | 3
once a refugee fleeing to Egypt. Altogether, a worldview
anchored in creation can handle some of the world’s
most difficult conversations with truth, grace, and peace
through the hope of the Gospel.
We understand from Genesis that Adam sinned as
our representative and that every human since that time,
except the God-Man, Jesus, has followed the first man
in sinful disobedience as a traitor against the King of the
universe. In our sinful rebellion, we declare war upon
our Creator and pledge allegiance to our own will. Our
hostile action demands His judgment, but instead we
receive a reconciliation provided by Jesus Christ and His
death on the cross to all who repent and believe in Him.
Our worldview begins with a Creator, recognizing
sin nature in all humans that contradicts a secular
humanistic worldview. We must not embrace how we
feel, because we know that our sin nature causes us to
desire sinful actions that continue our rebellion against
King Jesus. We cannot trust our hearts because the
Bible tells us the heart is deceitfully wicked, who can
understand it (Jer. 17:9)?
Further, Genesis 1:27 tells us that God created us
male and female. In His infinite wisdom, God put man
to sleep and, instead of making an identical partner,
God chose to make a woman. The relationship between
male and female beautifully points to something in the
Godhead and reflects our need for community. This
beautiful picture of love, further developed in Ephesians,
depicts the very love that Christ demonstrated by laying
down His life for the church.
The war of ideas currently taking place in our
culture begins at creation. If someone believes that
mankind resulted from evolution, then embracing his
or her inner nature is being true to themselves because
this life is all we have. One can easily see how sexual
expression becomes the very essence of humanity and
how denial of those feelings betrays someone’s identity.
Yet if you believe that God created us for more than this
life, and that our identity must be found in Christ alone,
then religious expression becomes more important than
sexual expression. Sexuality is then a good gift from
God, but not our defining distinctive. The Christian
worldview notes that Jesus, the perfect God-Man,
was not sexually active and that in heaven, we will
not marry, but we will be like the angels (Matt. 22:30).
Sexuality does not define humanity. Our identity, and
our satisfaction, must be found in Christ alone.
Why is a biblical worldviewof creation so important?
How you view creation shapes how you view and live
life itself.
At Cedarville University, we believe in a six-day
literal creation. We believe in a historic Adam and
Eve. We believe that mankind has a sin nature and
is fallen. This affects how we teach political science,
recognizing our sinfulness demands a system of checks
and balances. This affects how we teach psychology,
understanding that man is not innately good, but
that he possesses a sin nature and our greatest need is
the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This affects how we teach
science, with a creationist perspective and belief in a
global flood. This affects how we teach biology, which
points to a gloriously wise Creator rather than an
evolution of cells.
The foundation of the Christian worldview
depends upon the strong foundation of creation. In
this magazine, you will read articles that defend our
position on creation from different angles and articles
that describe in greater detail why this issue is central
for Cedarville University.
You’ll hear from Ken Ham, President and CEO
of Answers in Genesis, who will defend why it’s vital
for institutions of Christian higher education — like
Cedarville — to adhere to a literal six-day creation.
You’ll hear from John Whitmore, Cedarville Professor
of Geology and co-author of the first young-earth
creationist science textbook, who will reveal how the
rock layers in the Grand Canyon support Noah’s flood.
You’ll hear fromCedarville alumna Georgia (Hickman)
Purdom ’94, who will explain how genetic mutations,
rather than being a solid basis for evolutionary theory,
are a dead end. You’ll hear from Thomas Mach ’88,
Professor of History and Assistant Vice President for
Academics, who will survey the way biblical creation
is woven through the curriculum of four academic
disciplines at Cedarville. And lastly, Greg Couser, Senior
Professor of Bible and Greek, explains the importance of
biblical creation on sexuality and sexual identity.
In this issue, you’ll discover how Cedarville
continues to hold the Scriptures as the foundation for
all we do. Because, as always, what we do is for theWord
of God and the Testimony of Jesus Christ.
Thomas White became Cedarville’s 10th President in 2013. He
earned his Ph.D. in systematic theology from Southeastern
Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author and editor of
numerous publications, including the recently released First
Freedom: The Beginning and End of Religious Freedom
(B&H Academic).
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In this issue, you’ll discover how Cedarville
continues to hold the Scriptures as the
foundation for all we do.