C. Byrnes, By One Man
By One Man by brother Colin Byrnes (2018) is intended to be "A compilation of evidence from Christadelphian writers demonstrating that God-directed evolution is incompatible with Bible teaching and the BASF".
Motivation
By One Man was written in response to K. Chalmers, Early Genesis, A review of historical Christadelphian approaches, January, 2016 about which it makes this claim:
- Specifically, the intent of the paper [Chalmers' Early Genesis] is to imply that those propagating Theistic Evolution, Evolutionary Creationism or any other form of GDE should be accommodated, given that differing views on the six days of creation and the age of the earth have been tolerated in the Christadelphian world in the past. ... The paper, which has since been distributed in some parts of the ecclesial world, contains an impressive collection of quotations of past and present Christadelphian writers to support its thesis. (p.6)
On this basis, Byrnes believes it is necessary to thwart Ken Chalmers' efforts to “prevent disunity in the ecclesial world”:
- The aim of Early Genesis, which is to prevent division in the ecclesial world, is admirable and in principle every brother and sister would agree. However, unity at the expense of allowing the Bible’s teaching on the atonement and the overall purpose of God to be destroyed must override the need for unity [sic]. Unity at any price is totally opposed to what our Heavenly Father would have us do. (p.9)
Chalmers contests this interpretation of his work, pointing out that the organisers of the Conference at which the paper was presented had specifically required that he not deal with Theistic Evolution*, writing:
- I responded to Colin indicating that if his criticism that brethren who believed in EC and accepted the Unity Basis were ‘disingenuous’ [p.17], then, as someone present in the audience when I presented, he was certainly being less than honest by suggesting that the paper was written to advocate for EC or acceptance of those who believed EC. As the session was designed primarily to respond to the ‘historical revisionism’ that was occurring in some parts of our community with respect to ‘standard Christadelphian teaching’ set out in Ron Cowie’s notes, the IEAC statement and the Glenlock Camp statement, about a young earth created in 6 x 24 hour days. (personal communication to B Philp, 7 Feb 2018, with permission to publish)
Intention
Byrnes calls for believers in what he calls GDE to be ejected from Christadelphian ecclesias:
- It is impossible to harmonise GDE views with the BASF and the Australian Unity Agreement. . . . the ecclesial world is duty bound to push back against the teaching of such destructive error . . . Ecclesias are obliged to maintain the BASF . . .
and from the entire Christadelphian brotherhood:
- in accordance with the Ecclesial Guide, should an ecclesia decide that the BASF has been openly breached and, after all avenues of reconciliation have been exhausted, that withdrawal is necessary, its actions should be honoured by all other ecclesias. And those who are withdrawn from for propagating a teaching that conflicts with the BASF and who form a separate group cannot be regarded as constituting a bona-fide ecclesia.
believing that accommodation of evolutionary beliefs would lead to promotion, consternation and confusion:
- Accommodation of GDE concepts within our belief and fellowship systems will only encourage GDE believers to continue promoting their views. It will also create consternation and confusion for brothers and sisters who genuinely uphold long-standing Christadelphian core teachings . . .
Accuracy
Colin contributed extracts from By One Man to our project, but they are unreliable on account of selective quotation. The extracts, which he and all of us accepted in good faith, were found to be inaccurate, and we have not yet checked them thoroughly. They are at Christadelphian Writers in Support of Monogenism. {{#setmainimage:Sutherland logo-icon.png}}
