May there not have been eternal protoplasms and life-cells, out of which, during the past eternity, ascidians may have been evolved, and then by successive evolutions and transmutations, natural selection with “the survival of the fittest” and the destruction of the rest, all other animals, including the anthropoids and anthrops, may have been produced? Well, no; there would have been no such thing, and it is absurd to broach an hypothesis so irrational and baseless. Such a genesis would involve a power and skill which bespeak a personal agent and a designing mind—and that is what we call God. This absurd hypothesis not only finds no warrant, but flat contradiction, in Scripture.
–Dr. Thomas O. Summers–

WESLEYAN THEOLOGIANS THAT AFFIRMED YOUNG EARTH CREATION OR BISHOP USSHER’S TIMELINE FROM ANNALS OF THE WORLD. THESE TEACHERS CAN BE TAKEN MORE SERIOUSLY AS INTERPRETERS OF GOD’S WORD, BECAUSE THEY ELEVATED THE DOGMA OF BIBLICAL REVELATION ABOVE MODERNIST IDEAS LIKE EVOLUTION. I SPOKE TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SOUTHERN METHODIST CHURCH’S BIBLE COLLEGE. HE TOLD ME THAT THEIR DENOMINATION IS THE ONLY WESLEYAN DENOMINATION THAT TAKES A FIRM STANCE ON YOUNG EARTH CREATION. ACCORDING TO HIM, ALL OF THE WESLEYAN-HOLINESS AND PENTECOSTAL DENOMINATIONS, ARE CONFUSED AND AMBIGUOUS ABOUT THEISTIC EVOLUTION. ALTHOUGH HE HINTED THAT CHURCH OF GOD (CLEVELAND) MIGHT HAVE MORE YOUNG EARTH PEOPLE WITHIN IT. HE ALSO HINTED THAT THE INTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIP OF BIBLE CHURCHES IS FIRMLY YOUNG EARTH…

JOHN WESLEY

JOHN FLETCHER

ADAM CLARKE

CHARLES FINNEY

RICHARD WATSON*

THOMAS NEELY RALSTON*

THOMAS O. SUMMERS*

SAMUEL WAKEFIELD*

A. B. SIMPSON

A. W. TOZER

VIC REASONER

FRENCH ARRINGTON

THE SOUTHERN METHODIST CHURCH

INTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIP OF BIBLE CHURCHES

CHURCH OF GOD (CLEVELAND, TN)

WESLEYAN THEOLOGIANS THAT REJECTED YOUNG EARTH CREATION; AND AS A RESULT, CANNOT BE TAKEN VERY SERIOUSLY AS THEOLOGIANS, BECAUSE THEY DID NOT REGARD THE BIBLE TO BE THE ABSOLUTE AND SUPREME AUTHORITY ON MATTERS OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. THEY ALLOWED UNPROVEN SCIENCE THEORIES LIKE EVOLUTION TO BE ELEVATED ABOVE THE BIBLE…

WILLIAM BURT POPE

THOMAS C. ODEN

MILDRED BANGS WYNKOOP

H. RAY DUNNING

RANDY MADDOX

H. ORTON WILEY

JOHN MILEY

AMOS BINNEY

BEN WITHERINGTON III

HOWARD SNYDER

CLARK PINNOCK

THOMAS JAY OORD

DUKE DIVINITY SCHOOL

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*John Tigert, “The Methodist Doctrine of the Atonement,” The Methodist Quarterly Review (New York, 1884), p. 299. This article persuaded me that Thomas Summers’ Systematic Theology (1888) and Richard Watson’s Theological Institutes (1823), in that order, might have been the most thorough and orthodox of the 19th century Methodist theologians. However, Summers was pro-slavery and so I’d have decide against his teaching because of his poor judgment about such a glaring and obvious moral question; and would naturally favor WATSON because his British M.E.C. theology is probably more like Wesley’s and Clarke’s, in keeping with the young earth creation and anti-slavery stances. Samuel Wakefield’s A Complete System of Christian Theology (1862) was also M.E.C., anti-slavery, and taught young earth creation just like Watson did. Although Summers is thorough, I’d rather spend my energy on the Methodist theologian who had the good sense to fight against slavery during the Civil War era: WAKEFIELD. I’d also avoid Thomas Ralston’s Elements of Divinity (1847), because although its a thorough treatment of Wesleyan soteriology, like Summers, it was also a pro-slavery M.E.C. South theology book. But if I were forced to choose between Wakefield and Watson, I would choose Wakefield because he is very clear in his teaching on young earth creation and sides with Archbishop “Usher,” although he misspelled his name. Watson was ambiguous about the matter because he came before Darwin. –J.B.