Consultative Meeting "Faith and Science—Creationism" Held Virtually

On September 28, in the format of a Zoom conference, a consultative meeting of those responsible for the direction "Faith and Science—Creationism" was held. In addition to those directly responsible for this area of ​​ministry to the church in unions and missions, the meeting was attended by a number of directors of ESD departments, as well as leaders of the ESD Pastors' Association and several unions. M.F. Kaminsky, president of the ESD, also attended.

About the current state of affairs in the department and plans for the further development of this area of ​​ministry in the ESD, A.V. Popov,. the keynote speaker, dwelled on the characteristics of the main areas of work, especially noting the following:

• A search for specialists and interested persons in our communities and institutions for ministry in the field of Bible and science
• Preparation of teaching and materials in our educational institutions in the field of Bible and science
• Conducting seminars and conferences on the relationship between the Bible and science
• Publication of articles and books on biblical creationism, including the electronic journal Creation
• Working with church radio/TV/video studios
• Maintaining a specialized website dedicated to biblical creationism
• Conducting a Creation Sabbath event.

The meeting participants discussed many issues related to ministry in this area, making a number of valuable suggestions that contribute to more effective delivery of the necessary information to local churches and improve the quality of interaction between responsible scholars and pastors of the communities.

Several reports were presented to the meeting participants. Another speaker for the consultative meeting was E.V. Zaitsev, director of the Institute for Biblical Studies of the ESD. In his speech, he presented the history of the formation of the doctrine of creation, showing the difficult path taken by the church in search of the best formulation of this doctrine that would clearly express the understanding of the origin of the world by Seventh-day Adventists, leaving no room for pluralistic interpretations.

Popov presented a report on the topic "On Permissible Boundaries in Discussions on the Bible and Science." In internal church discussions, the author proposes to be guided by four basic principles. Following them will help, on the one hand, give a certain freedom of opinion and, on the other, uphold the authority of the Bible as the Word of God:

- Recognition that the Bible is not a textbook on natural sciences but rather the Word of God, which has the highest authority in those matters on which it is expressed clearly and definitely

- God created the world subject to certain and knowable laws. However, He, as the Creator, may transcend these laws. Moreover, if necessary, He can intervene in the course of natural processes; in this case, we are talking about miracles

- Recognition of the limitations of scientific knowledge

- Recognition of the limitations of scientific methodology in terms of the study of events in the distant past

The CC participants were also presented with a video report by biologist E.T. Titova on the topic "The Origin of Life: Intelligent Design Versus Evolution." The consultative meeting ended with a prayer by V.I. Tkachuk, who oversees the direction of ministry from the ESD administration.

This article was originally published on the Euro-Asia Division’s news site