What is BioLogos?

BioLogos is an organization that promotes various forms of Theistic Evolution (see below). 'The term "BioLogos" comes from two Greek words: "bios," which means "life" like in our word ... "biohazard"; and the word "logos," which can mean "the study of" "reason."' [1] They claim to seek the harmony of science and faith; that science and faith don't have to be mutually exclusive.

They have been endorsed by the likes of Tim Keller, (former Pastor of Redeemer Church, NY), N.T. Wright, (former Bishop of Durham), Os Guinness, (author), Philip Yancey, (author), Mark Noll, (Professor of History, University of Notre Dame), John Ortberg, (Pastor, Menlo Church), Richard Mouw, (Professor of Christian Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary), and Joel C. Hunter, (Senior Pastor, Northland - A Church Distributed, Longwood, FL). [2] On their Advisory Council sit the likes of, Tremper Longman, III (Distinguished Scholar of Biblical Studies at Westmont College), John Walton (Professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College), and Ross Hastings (Associate Professor of Theology and Pastoral Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, B.C.). [3]

BioLogos states that as an organization it upholds the historic Christian Faith, however it maintains an errant view of Creation - evolutionary Creation. When it comes to faith, they place Science over Scripture in their belief system. For instance, when evaluating Noah's Flood, they emphatically state:

When discoveries in God's world conflict with interpretations of God's Word, Christians have three options:

(1) Abandon our faith in order to accept the results of science

(2) Deny the scientific evidence to maintain our interpretations of Scripture

(3) Reconsider our interpretations of Scripture in light of the evidence from God's creation [4]

Why didn't BioLogos, who claims to uphold the Christian Faith, list all the Christian options? For instance:

(4) The Bible is true and accurate. Science is still learning and fallible. Therefore, the Christian should only consider science when it does not violate the infallible evidence we know from the inerrant Word of God.

BioLogos essentially wages war against the six (6) literal Day of the Genesis account of Creation. Their motivation is very clear. Darrel Falk, the former president of BioLogos, wrote:

Option #1 is the standard argument put forward by those who believe in a young earth created by God in six twenty-four hour days less than 10,000 years ago. BioLogos exists in no small part to marginalize this view from the Church. A fundamental part of our mission is to show that Option #1 is not tenable. [5]

Did you catch that? BioLogos begins with the faulty premise that centuries of the historic Christian faith, which they claim to affirm, have been in error. This is indeed some "biohazard," or should we say,"theological hazard." If the mission of BioLogos and science itself, does not include getting to the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, [6] then their research is "already" flawed from the outset and this automatically discredits those in the scientific and theological community who publish and commune with BioLogos.

Though BioLogos states that options (1) and (2) above are not viable for Christianity [4], their founder, Frances Collins, the Director of the National Institutes of Health (2008 -), claims that modern genetics proves that Adam and Eve were not real historical people. [7] This is a clear case and point that Biologos, places science over Holy Scripture. Acts 17:26 says “And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.“ So, Frances Collins attacks not only the inerrancy of the OT, but the NT as well! Of course, Adam is an actual historical figure. He fathered sons (Gen. 5:4) and his descendants are listed to the 10th generation (Gen. 5). Hosea (Hos. 6:7), Luke (Luke 3:38; cf. Heb. 2:14), and Paul (Rom. 5:12-19; 1 Cor. 11:8-9; 15:22, 45, 47; Eph. 5:31; 1 Tim. 2:13-14) all knew Adam was a very real person. Jesus, who is Creator God (John 1:1-3; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2; Rev. 4:11), also believed in his own Creation of Adam (quoting from both Gen. 1:27 and Gen. 2:24, Jesus said, Matt. 19:4-5; cf. Mark 10:6-8). Since Adam is in the genealogy of Jesus, if Adam never existed, then neither did Jesus? (Luke 3:38). Therefore, carried out to its natural conclusion, Collins, the Founder of BioLogos, has merely proven that he can't be a genuine believer in the literal Jesus Christ! Al Mohler, President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, comments saying:

The moment you say 'We have to abandon this theology in order to have the respect of the world,' you end up with neither biblical orthodoxy nor the respect of the world. [8]

In my opinion, BioLogos is not a Christian organization, it's a cult; a wolf-organization in sheep's clothing (Matt 7:15). By their own admission BioLogos doesn't even attempt to deal ethically with "all" the scientific and theological evidence at hand.

There are what I personally consider some good people that have been taken in by what I consider the cult of BioLogos; pastors and theologians that I have learned from. I pray, if the Lord is willing, that they can find their way out of such an organization (2 Tim. 2:24-26), so set against the inspiration, inerrancy, clarity, and authority of Scripture.

We all would do well to take heed of the false doctrine assaulting the church throughout the ages: As the Apostle John wrote, "the spirit of antichrist" is already here (1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; cf. 1 Tim. 1:3-4; 2 Tim. 4:3-4; Tit. 1:13-14; 2 Pet. 1:16, et. al.).

Footnotes

[1] Jim Stump and Andrew DeSelm, "What is BioLogos?," BioLogos, (https://biologos.org/resources/audio-visual/what-is-biologos). Last Accessed, 2 December 2017.

[2] Endorsements, BioLogos, (https://biologos.org/about-us/endorsements/). Last Accessed, 2 December 2017.

[3] Advisory Council, BioLogos, (https://biologos.org/about-us/advisory-council/). Last Accessed, 2 December 2017.

[4] "How should we interpret the Genesis flood account?," BioLogos, (https://biologos.org/common-questions/biblical-interpretation/genesis-flood). Last Accessed, 28 July 2017.

[5] Darrel Falk, "On Living in the Middle," BioLogos, (https://biologos.org/blogs/archive/on-living-in-the-middle). Last Accessed, 28 July 2017.

[6] At very best, the science BioLogos offers humanity is merely "a misleading guess" of what may happened. "Every instance of scientific inquiry, every study, rests on a vast submerged set of political, moral, and ultimately metaphysical assumptions." As German theoretical physicist and recepient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918, Max Planck, once put it: "It is said that science has no preconceived ideas: there is no saying that has been more thoroughly or more disastrously misunderstood. It is true that every branch of science must have an empirical foundation: but it is equally true that the essence of science does not consist in this raw material but in the manner in which it is used. The material always is incomplete . . . [and] must therefore be completed, and this must be done by filling the gaps; and this in turn is done by means of associations of ideas. And associations of ideas are not the work of the understanding but the offspring of the investigator's imagination - an activity which may be described as faith, or more cautiously, as a working hypothesis. The essential point is that its content in one way or another goes beyond the data of experience. The chaos of individual masses cannot be wrought into a cosmos without some harmonizing force and, similarly, the disjointed data of experience can never furnish a veritable science without the intelligent interference of a spirit actuated by faith." Quoted by William A. Wilson, "The myth of Scientific Objectivity," First Things, (https://www.firstthings.com/article/2017/11/the-myth-of-scientific-objectivity). Last Accessed 6 December 2017.

[7] All members of the human species "descended from a common set of founders, approximately 10,000 in number, who lived about 100,000 to 150,000 years ago." Francis Collins, "The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief,"(Free Press, 2007). ... The concepts of the ancestral "first couple" and the "Genesis time frame" do not "fit the evidence." Francis Collins and Karl Giberson, "Straight Answers to Genuine Questions," (ReadHowYouWant, 2013).

However, as of 2018, "A new study published by Rockefeller University and the University of Basel, Switzerland, revealed that all humans are descendants of the same man and woman who lived 100,000 to 200,000 years ago." Marisa Dellatto, Turns Out All of Humanity is Related to a Single Couple, NYT, (https://nypost.com/2018/11/24/turns-out-all-of-humanity-is-related-to-a-single-couple/). Last accessed 25 January 2019. Jesus descended from Adam (Luke 3:38 - see Norval Geldenhuy’s Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, [Eerdmans], pp. 151-152 on how this is Mary’s genealogy which goes back to Adam) and Paul refers to Jesus as the second and last man Adam (1 Cor. 15:45, 47). Jesus even confirms that Abel was a real person (Matt. 23:35), thus if we believe the Bible it follows that so was Adam. A real Adam is central to the gospel itself, as Paul compares the first Adam to the second Adam when spelling out the extent of the atonement (Rom. 5:12-21).

[8] Haggerty, B.B., "Evangelicals question the existence of Adam and Eve," NPR, 9 August 2011.

Various Creation Positions

What is the Big Bang Theory?
What is the Day Age Theory?
What is Ex-Nihilo?
The Framework Theory
What is the Gap Theory?
What About Hebrews 11:3?
What is the Intelligent Design Theory?
What is the Mature Universe Theory?
What is Old Earth Creationism (OEC)?
What is Progressive Creationism?
What is Theistic Evolution?
What is Young Earth Creationism (YEC)?

Related Topics

What is the meaning of Day in Genesis 1?
Are there two different accounts of Creation?
Did man eat meat before the Fall and the Flood?
A Universal or Regional Flood?
What about the evidence of Carbon-14 dating?
What About Dinosaurs?
Scientific Evidence for YEC?
How could there be evening and morning the first three days of Creation?
Extraterrestrials and the Bible?
What was the Scopes Monkey Trial?
Can a person be born an atheist?