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Creation Seminar vs. Darwin Symposium Turning Curses Into Blessings
Creation Seminar vs. Darwin Symposium: Turning Curses Into Blessings
Written by JoAnne Brown, Boone Communications Secretary
It really wasn't planned that way, but Appalachian State University professors and local newspaper editors would never believe you. The day after Appalachian State University (ASU) closed their Darwin Symposium on the theory of evolution, Seventh-day Adventist scientist and creation advocate, Dr. Robert Gentry came to Boone, North Carolina to present a public program on polonium halos. Dr. Gentry is a nuclear physicist and has devoted a large part of his life to research for evidence of creation, specifically to counteract evolution. He discovered that polonium halos found in granite rock, which have a lifespan of only 3 minutes, are a "tiny, little mystery" that gives an unanswerable challenge to evolutionists. If their theory of evolution were true, the halos wouldn't exist. They would have been destroyed in the millions of years that evolutionists believe it took for molten rock to cool. Instead, the radiation left an instant halo in hard granite, for "God spoke, and it stood fast."
The evangelism planning committee at Boone was unaware that the Darwin Symposium would be publically promoted during the month of November. They were just trying to pick a topic that might be of interest to college students. But when the science department at Appalachian State University heard that Robert Gentry was coming to town, they took it as a challenge. One professor wrote a lengthy personal attack against Gentry in the form of an open "Letter to the Editor". It appeared in the local paper a week prior to the event. It had to be God's timing. It gave time for the local creationists, not the church members, to respond. One response came from a Christian professor in the ASU science department itself! Dr. Gentry also had time to give his own response, which included a full-page color ad and a letter to the editor. This gave a lot of publicity to the event, which was well attended by the community.
Seventh-day Adventists were the original champions in the fight against evolution. Ellen White spoke out against it in the book Education, and George McCready Price wrote several books about it in the early 1900's. Our church school system was developed especially to guard our children against this and other errors that destroy faith in the Bible, and we should especially feel a burden for those in the public education system. Students have little choice but to listen to their professors and ingest the theories being perpetrated as "facts". This is why the Boone church was so excited to have Dr. Gentry come! Dr. Gentry wanted a video recording of his program. Boone is a small town and doesn't have a lot of high tech services, but it does have a small, television station that broadcasts locally. Members called to see if the technicians there could videotape the program and they said yes! The station manager of the Mountain TV Network videotaped the program and then asked if he could broadcast it on their local Channel 18. Plans at Boone included offering Gentry's DVD's and books to the public at the time of this broadcast.
Members would like to have an annual "Creation Summit" each year, featuring creation scientists, and inviting the community to attend. They have donated books and DVD's to the public library, and even featured a Creation display there for the month of November. Signs magazine is also sponsored in the local public library, and in seven Signs newsboxes across town. It just so happens the Signs November issue featured evolution on its cover. The Boone church discovered that the topic of creationism is yet another open door for sharing the Sabbath and God's last day message to those around us, whether Christians or of a secular mindset. The topic and the timing were orchestrated by God's providence. The opposition resembled that of a political campaign, with personal attacks and theft of signs advertising the meeting. It was quite obvious that the devil was working overtime to prevent people from hearing the truth. But our God is a great God and can overturn mountains. Just as in the case of Balaam, the curses can be turned into blessings.