Creationists have committed themselves to a fatal flaw that will end badly for those who sign on to it. And what's the flaw? Contrasting "revelation" with "reason," "faith" with "science." By positing the contrast, Creationists, unwittingly, perhaps, or worse, purposefully, suggest that God is a house divided - that the revelation of God in Jesus Christ is opposed to, or different than, the revelation of God in God's creation. And worse: that the devil created fossils, or God did, by some means of deception, in order to "test" our faith.
As Jesus rightly noted: A house divided cannot stand for long. And the house-divided crafted by Creationists cannot stand either.
For those who have signed on to the house-divided, it will result in one of two options: 1) some form of cynicism wherein folks simply pack up their bags and leave the faith behind, either because they cannot believe in its dogmas or because they can no longer trust their teachers; or, 2), some form of absolutism, wherein the dogmas are taught with an increasingly blind force and the teachers are "trusted" with an absolute devotion.
Either way, the goodness of God's creation is lost ... it simply becomes "existence" for those who cannot abide the false god of the Creationists, or it becomes irrelevant for those who can abide only with the false god of Creationism.
If I have to choose, I'll choose some form of cynicism, because it, at least, keeps the doors and windows open. But for me, there is another choice, and it's simply the affirmation that what God has given, and continues to give, in Christ AND in creation is consistent and honest and open to our senses, our minds, our examination - all of this subject to the ambiguities of our existence.
With another affirmation - that what we cannot fully grasp grasps us in grace. Whether it be the glories of creation or the wonders of the cross, we can see these things and welcome, consider and examine them, but more than anything, they welcome us, consider us and examine us ... and in that moment, there is no contrast, no contradiction, no pitting of one against the other. No more a house divided!
