Question:
Please comment on three quotes I found in your book, “Is There a God?”

Page 23. ” If in asking questions about the Bible one is
unwilling to reach the conclusion that the Bible is wrong, then it is easy
to predict what conclusion will be reached.

Page 25.” Belief in Adam and Eve can only be by faith.”
Why?

Page141. ” If it were not for what is recorded in the Bible, I
would probably accept the evolutionist’s conclusions about the origins of
man.”

Answer:
The point of my first statement is that we believe in God because the
evidence tells us he exists. We believe in the inspiration of the Bible
because that belief is supported by the evidence. If all the evidence
pointed against the fact that Jesus lived, and if all the evidence pointed
to the conclusion that the Bible is a human creation, then I would have to
reject Christianity. I cannot force myself to believe in something which
I know to not be true. Now, it so happens that the existence of God and
the inspiration of the Bible are as proven as the fact that World War II
happened, at least in my opinion. However, the reason we expect people to
reject other religions is because they are not true. Christians must work
toward being intellectually honest. Otherwise their apologetic arguments
will not convince the unbelievers.

Although one could imagine compiling evidence, indirectly, for special
creation of humans, it will certainly remain impossible to find historical
records confirming the actual persons Adam and Eve. Historical records
simply do not exist earlier than about 2000 BC. We may be able to argue
that human beings were created, but even that will probably be impossible
to “prove.” What direct, hard-evidence proof could we find for special
creation of humans? I believe it is possible to provide indirect
evidence, but not a piece of physical evidence for special creation of
humans. What would you propose we could dig up which would prove special
creation? As for Adam and Eve, I believe that there is no conceivable
physical evidence which we could find which would prove that they actually
lived in a specific place. Again, what could we find? An inscription:
“Adam and Eve slept here”? I do not mean to be negative. I certainly
believe that they were real people who really lived. It is just that
there will never be physical proof of this. Therefore, belief in Adam and
Eve is completely reliant on trust in the accuracy of the biblical account.

When I look at the physical evidence, I see no absolutely compelling
evidence to prove beyond a doubt that humans did not evolve. I am not
saying that humans evolved from apes. I am simply being honest about the
evidence. I am not trying to argue for evolutions of human from apes.
Absolutely not. I simply am saying that belief in special creation of
humans is not proved by scientific evidence. To say that it is is to be
dishonest about the data. Just because one can poke some holes in the
evolutionist’s assumptions does not mean that you can prove absolutely
(scientifically) that evolution is untrue. I am not sure. Are you
uncomfortable with my statements? I am simply trying to get people to
realize that faith in the reliability of the Bible is part of the reason
for what I believe. Science supports the Bible, but science does not
prove the Bible.

John Oakes