John Whitcomb, who is often called one of the “Fathers of the Modern Creationist Movement” with the launch of his book titled “The Genesis Flood” more than 50 years ago, has also been identified as a Presuppositionalists by other VanTillians in addition to being a former Old Testament Professor.
Sadly he passed away on February 5th, 2020.
In the past Dr. Whitcomb and those involved with his ministry reached out to our blog in desiring to share Dr. Whitcomb’s content on here; check it out.
Creationist Eric Hovind sat down for an online interview with John Whitcomb’s son name David Whitcomb on John Whitcomb’s life and legacy. Both father and son are amazing in their own right.
This is the video’s description:
Standing against the tide of scientific dogma presenting evolution as “fact” requires boldness, power, and courage. Doing it like Christ requires love, grace, and truth. Those traits are exactly what God put into Dr. John C. Whitcomb so that he could help start and lead an incredible movement now known as “Creation Science”. As a Man of Science and a Man of God, Dr. Whitcomb’s life was used to bring about reformation. Knowing how his name will go down in history, let’s get a behind-the-scenes look at his life through the eyes of his own son.
Here is the video:
Grateful for Dr. Whitcomb!
The Domain for Truth 
Thanks for the great resource. I look forward to watching the video.
Shalom!
Thanks for placing this interesting interview here.
You are welcome Elder Mike! I imagine you have heard of Whitcomb over the years. From previous comments I gather you are a well read author
Yes, I have heard of Whitcomb. I have two of his books. I have ten books by Henry Morris and his son John. And many other books by other authors dealing with creation. I met Kent and Eric Hovind while attending their seminars. I also bought Whitcomb’s and Morris’s book “The Genesis Flood” around 1980. I still love that book. I still have cassette tapes of Dr. Henry Morris’s teachings and had (my son lost them) all of Kent Hovind’s seminars series on tape.
My book “Reindeer Don’t Fly” would not have been written, had it not been for the teachings and writings of men of God such as Whitcomb, Morris, Hovind and others. They have had a great deal of influence on my beliefs dealing with a “young earth” and a literal six-day creation, and other issues pertaining to creation.
Reblogged this on Talmidimblogging.
In the spring of 1974 Dr. Whitcomb held a week of meetings at the Bible college I was attending. This college had week-long bible conferences each semester. Sometimes there were evangelist speakers seeking to ‘fire up the troops.’
Whitcomb’s messages propounded an early earth, discounted the “Gap Theory,” and taught the “Canopy Theory” that said that the canopy fell at Noah’s Flood making the earth result in looking older than it is. Whitcomb was Professor of Old Testament at Grace Seminary, Winona Lake.
Needless to say Whitcomb influenced my view of science since I was a very young Christian at the time and had always struggled to reconcile the bible with science. An atheist science teacher had shook my faith in my early teenage years which sent me spiraling downward in both hope and behavior. God brought me to salvation anyway. So listening to Whitcomb during my early theological training reinvigorated my confidence in the bible. Sadly, much of what Whitcomb taught is now discredited by both Creationists and Evolutionists. That was and is a problem: credibility.
Again my faith was shaken after many of the Early Earth Theories were disproven. It sounded good but wasn’t quite ready for prime time.
In the last twenty years, my studies have led me to believe in a Recreation view of Genesis. God doesn’t create chaos but only good and sustaining worlds as witnessed everywhere in scripture. The Tohu wa Bohu of Genesis 1.2 speaks of a chaos which resulted from metaphorical darkness. It was never out of control though since God’s Spirit superintended. God said “let there be light” (again, a metaphor) and the light was “good” as opposed to darkness. There were no material light sources yet; therefore, the light was metaphorical. In my view the universe is billions of years old but Adam’s creation is historical and meant as bringing many sons into glory. Redeemed humans will be like angels Jesus assured us replacing the deserted positions left by the unelected angels who fell after (in my view) Gen. 1.1.
Fascinating history and testimony. Did you talk to Whitcomb during the conference when you were in college? Your recreation view, would it be there’s some time from creation of everything and then some time later structuring happened? I am glad you hold to historical Adam
Yeah, a Gap Theory, if you will. Weston Fields wrote a book in the 70’s titled Unformed and Unfilled. I bought the book when it came out. I don’t subscribe to his view but no longer have the book to do a review. I plan to repurchase it and engage with his view. Gerald Bray translates tohu wa bohu as “topsy turvey.” Does God create things topsy turvey? No. Therefore, the angelic fall and resulting chaos was the darkness. The fall of Adam was a murder of sorts and resulted in prophetic charges and judgement (Gen. 3.15). The conspiracy and murder of Jesus resulted in further consequences: “now is the ruler of the world cast out.” It was also a triumph for humanity since Christians are free from accusation of the legal demands (see Col. 2.14-15). We have access to grace and are under Christ (Rom. 5.2).
My view is the current arrangement physically refers to the immediate solar system for time keeping purposes and other things obviously. The greater universe is probably 15 billion years old if the measurements are correct. The witness in the creation of the universe is God’s truth, so I accept it as it stands. I think there is a whole lot more in Gen. 1.1-5 than what folks expect. Its all we need to know about that time too.
No, I never sought to talk to him at the time. I was just trying to process all the new information I was hearing.
I haven’t watched the video but plan to when I have time. I may comment after I watch it.
Thank you for this. I was unaware. Blessings.
Thanks for dropping by. Hope you are able to avoid the humidity and the heat for today Maw Mw!!!
I must go out but we have A/C in car.
What a great legacy this man left! I have the book, co-written with Henry Morris somewhere in my archives. I also have probably the most literal interpretation of Revelation ever written also penned by Henry Morris entitle the Revelation Record. It is the other bookend to The Genesis Record.
I didn’t know that Mr. Whitcomb has passed away. I look forward to meeting him someday.
Thank you for posting this, Pastor Jim. I will take some time out today and watch it!
As I am watching this video, I looked up Eric’s Hovind’s (the interviewer) bio at RationalWiki. Reading his bio there, it is obvious that someone very unprofessional has personal issues with him because of his stance on creation.
They make him out to be some type of hoodlum because…
“Hovind does not accept the scientific fact of evolution…”
I appreciated that he interviewed Dr. Whitcomb’s son here and thought he did a good job here.
I appreciate Whitcomb’s contribution towards apologetics and studies on the Bible. Fascinating you looked up Eric Hovind’s info, he too is a son of a famous creationist though a more controversial one name Kent Hovind, have you heard of him before?
Yes, I know who Kent Hovind is and I’m still not clear on why he went to federal prison for 9 years. I have watched a few of his debates over the years and he will make points that I’ve heard nowhere else. He seems to be very active these days with his Dinosaur Adventure Land in Alabama and with his online activities including debates. I read the goal of his Dinosaur Adventure Land somewhere and it sounded good to me.
He is controversial for a number of reasons. some of them may be very good. Anyone who calls evolution the “dumbest religion in the history of the world” is going to get some flack.
If you think about it, virtually everyone is a creationist. The difference being that the Materialistic Atheists believe no person was behind the universe we have today. They believe in an undirected reality where life just sprang from matter. Christians believe God, in His good purpose, has a plan to retrieve order of the material world by entering it and demonstrating His love, power, and goodness.
Jesus told us God is Spirit. Jesus has now a “spiritual body” permanently and all things will be “summed up” in His Person (Eph. 1.9-10).
Christians today often feel discouraged by what they see happening in the world. God has a host of saints already in heaven who went before us. These are at home in the Kingdom of God while we still serve as ambassadors, representing the foreign country (to most earthlings) since a Christian’s citizenship is in heaven.
Thanks for this good podcast which I got to listen to while mowing the backyard. This brought back memories. The Genesis Flood by Whitcomb and Morris was one of the first books I read as a newbie Christian.
How was mowing the lawn? I don’t think I read any review of the Genesis Flood, if you ever do want to write a review of it I would link to it for the Presup round up! No pressure though!
It went pretty well, thanks. I cut the lawn in the AM when it was cooler because the temp is now up to SoCal-like 90F.
I barely remember The Genesis Flood because it’s been 40 years, but I recall it was pretty challenging reading for me at the time. I read The Battle for the Bible by Lindsell at the same time. I wouldn’t recommend those books for newbie Christians, but I didn’t know any better. Man, I loved browsing the local Christian bookstore back in the day. It gradually succumbed to TBN ecumenism and the health and wealth prosperity gospel.
What’s on the agenda for your Tuesday?
I really didn’t know anything about John Whitcomb the father of the Modern creationist movement! Thanks for sharing such informative article ! 👌
Thanks! Does India have one time zone or more than one time zone?? Just got curious and thought I asked!
One time zone👌💮
[…] 6.) Father of the Creation Movement: Eric Hovind and David Whitcomb talk about legacy of John C. Whitco… […]
Good remembrance of John Whitcomb. I am glad for all he did 50 years ago promoting creationism.
I am glad for all he’s done in promoting creationism too! Amen Frank
Dear Jim. Thank you for this timely post. I have just finished the series Is Genesis History? in which Dr. Whitcomb, whom I had never known, was mentioned. I hope you will purchase this for your church and so gain a new and vital understanding to the controversy, I was unaware of. I grew up with fellow Christians who believed in a literal interpretation of Genesis. This series points out why the age of the earth cannot be millions of years old, but closer to the Bible’s timeline. I look forward to watching this video. Blessings.
That sounds like an excellent commentary thanks for letting me know about it Frances
I hope you will check on this. It is a documentary with interviews with men who are trained and knowledgeable in every area that concerns the matter of life and the truth of God’s Word and science. I would love to find your review of this.
Nice post
Thanks