A Christian geologist will challenge the ideas of massive time scales and uniformitarianism in geological history, as well as evolution, when he speaks next month at the Summerland Pentecostal Church.
Dr. Emil Silvestru, who has a Ph.D. in geology and is a world authority on the geology of caves, will speak Nov. 13. Genesis and the Gospel Connection is the title of the morning presentation starting at 10:30 a.m., part into the regular morning service.
Waters of Contention is the title of the 7 p.m. presentation.
A question and answer session will follow each presentation.
Silvestru said after becoming a Christian he realized that the millions of years interpretation of geological history is not compatible with Genesis.
“Once I became a Christian,” Silvestru said, “I knew I had to tune up my scientific knowledge with the Scriptures.
“Although philosophically and ethically I accepted a literal Genesis from my conversion, at first I was unable to match it with my technical side.”
Email discussions with creationist geologists and reading of creationist publications helped him realize what he calls two “essential things.”
First, given exceptional conditions (the Genesis Flood) geological processes that take an extremely long time today can be “unimaginably accelerated.”
Second, the Genesis Flood was global, not regional, he said.
“These factors were immensely important in my conversion and my Christian life. I am now convinced of six-day, literal, recent, Genesis creation. That doesn’t mean that there are not still some unanswered problems, but researching such issues is what being a scientist is all about.”
The church is located at 9918 Julia St.