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Religion See other Religion Articles Title: He followed God’s decrees to the end (Psalm 119:33) March 2, 2006 Dr. Henry Morris Dr. Henry Morris, ICR founder As I sat in a San Diego church today, listening to a eulogy for Dr. Henry Morris, the father of the modern creation movement and a great defender of the Christian faith, my mind drifted back to a verse that our Bible study group had considered on the very weekend Dr. Morris passed away (Saturday, February 25): “Teach me, O Lord, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end” (Psalm 119:33). I cannot think of anyone who lived out that verse more than Dr. Morris.1 Dr. Morris was as devoted a reader and follower of Scripture as I have ever known. Moreover, a passion for proclaiming biblical truths to others was the hallmark of his long and distinguished academic career, even more so than his remarkable scholarly achievements. Dr. Morris, who died in San Diego last weekend at the age of 87, wrote more than 60 books on apologetics and other Bible themes. Fittingly, he wrote this about Psalm 119:33 in his commentary on the book of Psalms: “The godly man does not arrive at spiritual maturity instantaneously. It is a lifelong process, but every stage of that growth must come from the Word.”2 Dr. Morris was firmly grounded in God’s Word, and his godly life was a testament to the truth of Psalm 119:33. It is widely recognized today by both friend and foe that the modern creation movement—now growing steadily across America and other western nations—had its genesis in the early 1960s. But it happened in a somewhat surprising manner. First, it came through God using Henry Morris, a soft-spoken, bespectacled academician living in central Virginia. Second, the resurgence of the creation movement in modern times (a movement that had become relatively quiet since the Scopes trial of 1925) was launched not at a major rally led by Dr. Morris nor through any controversy in the courts or schools—nothing noisy whatsoever. In fact, the event was not even associated with the first chapter of Genesis and the account of creation. The resurgent movement’s surprising trigger was the release of Dr. Morris’s groundbreaking book The Genesis Flood (coauthored with Dr. John Whitcomb). But what a stir a book can create. The impact of this now-classic work was such that many church historians have concluded that Dr. Morris was a giant—perhaps unparalleled—in the battle for biblical inerrancy, as he defended the most-attacked book of the Bible. This unassuming scholar was to spearhead an international movement that was to shake the very foundations of the evolution establishment and, just as importantly, challenge the church to accept biblical authority from the very first verse. Soon after the book’s publication, invitations for Dr. Morris to speak nationally on the Genesis Flood (as well as on the creation account of origins), combined with a growing network of Bible-believing scientists and engineers, led him (along with now-famous Christian novelist Tim LaHaye) to start the Institute for Creation Research in 1970.3 Not too many people are aware that Dr. Morris had already become well known within academic circles (especially in the discipline of hydrology), mostly through a secular textbook he authored, Applied Hydraulics in Engineering. It was a widely used text found in many secular universities around the world. (In fact, my unbelieving uncle read this textbook as a civil engineering student in Canada; he once told me that he was clearly impressed with Dr. Morris as an academician and writer, but my uncle did not manage to hide his surprise when he learned that Dr. Morris was a biblical creationist.) Dr. Henry Morris (Click to enlarge.) The work and ministry of Dr. Morris were celebrated by a large crowd who attended his memorial service Thursday afternoon. At the lecturn is Dr. John Whitcomb, co-author of the classic work The Genesis Flood, who reminisced about his dear friend. After Thursday’s memorial service, Ken Ham, AiG–USA president (who also flew out to attend the service of his mentor—see his blog), shared this: “Dr. Morris is one of my heroes of the faith. Ministries like AiG—and so many other creation groups worldwide—stand on the shoulders of this giant of a Bible scholar and creation researcher.” (By the way, joining Ken and me at the celebration service to pay his respects was AiG's chairman of the board, Pastor Don Landis.) Dr. Whitcomb, coauthor of The Genesis Flood, spoke to AiG earlier this week about his dear friend and colleague. Dr. Whitcomb especially recalled how Dr. Morris had affected his life in so many ways. No event was more important in their half-century relationship than what happened during their first meeting in 1953. After a lecture that Dr. Morris gave at Grace College in Indiana, Dr. Whitcomb (a Grace College professor at the time) decided to give up the compromise view called the “gap theory” when Dr. Morris showed that Scripture clearly argued against adding long ages to the Bible. After frequent letter exchanges in the 1950s, they eventually decided to cowrite what would become The Genesis Flood (1961). Dr. Whitcomb cut short an Atlanta, Georgia, speaking engagement (with the blessing of the host church) in order to be at the memorial service on Thursday. He spoke to approximately 750 people who gathered at Shadow Mountain Community Church in eastern San Diego to pay their respects to this giant of the Christian faith. “Henry Morris still speaks. His books and tapes will continue to have a profound impact around the world,” Dr. Whitcomb said. Knowing Dr. Morris for so many years (and having had the privilege of working with him for several of them), I can think of a number of qualities that help describe this godly man, eminent scholar and exceptional defender of God’s Word. Autographed copy of The Genesis Record (Click to enlarge.) While Americans were celebrating their country’s bicentennial in 1976, Dr. Morris did not take the day off. He spent much of July 4, 1976, signing copies of his just-released, monumental commentary on Genesis, The Genesis Record. Tirelessness—One example of devotion to his life’s work of defending the authority of the Bible was manifested inside the copies of the first run of his other classic book, The Genesis Record (a tool that God used to get Ken Ham in creation ministry). Look closely at the inscription found in the photo to the left (click to enlarge). While America was celebrating its bicentennial on July 4, 1976, what was Henry Morris doing? Taking the day off? No, he was spending much of the day personally signing hundreds of copies of his new book. A devotion to God’s Word—Henry was a walking Bible concordance. On more than one occasion, I would stop him in the hall and ask him where I could find a certain passage of Scripture (when a concordance was of no help). Invariably he would not only know the book of the Bible where the passage was found, but he could also cite chapter and verse. As much as Dr. Morris was knowledgeable about so many fields of science, it probably did not surpass the knowledge he had regarding the Word of God. That was reflected in many of the “meaty” devotionals he wrote for ICR’s Days of Praise daily devotional booklet, where his insightful gleanings from Scripture easily eclipsed most of what you would read in typical devotionals today. They were full of substance, not fluff. Humility—For all his accomplishments, Dr. Morris never appeared to boast of his many significant accomplishments. He came across as quiet and reserved. But that could be misleading to those who did not know him well. Dr. Morris, for example, was formidable in creation/evolution debates, and he would not hesitate to tackle compromise in the church when he saw it. But he did so with grace and in a gentlemanly fashion. From the ICR website: Morris, Henry M. Professor of Hydrogeology B.S., Rice University, Houston, TX, 1939 M.S., University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 1948 Ph.D., University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 1950 Honors: Biographical Listings: World Who’s Who in Science, Antiquity to Present: Who’s Who in America: American Men of Science; Who’s Who in Engineering; Who’s Who in Science and Engineering; Who’s Who in the World; Contemporary Authors; etc. Honor Societies: Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi, Tau Beta Pi, Chi Epsilon Professional Experience: Assistant Hydraulic Engineer, International Boundary and Water Commission, El Paso, Texas (1939–1942) Instructor in Civil Engineering, Rice University (1942–1946) Instructor and Assistant Professor in Civil Engineering and Research Project Leader—St. Anthony Falls Hydraulic Laboratory, University of Minnesota (1946–1951) Professor and Head—Department of Civil Engineering, University of Louisiana at Lafayette; Acting Dean of Engineering, Fall (1951–56) Professor of Applied Science—Southern Illinois University (1956–1957) Professor of Hydraulic Engineering and Chairman—Department of Civil Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) (1957–1970) In addition to dozens of books on biblical apologetics and his well-known secular text on hydrology, Dr. Morris wrote four articles on hydraulics in the Encyclopedia Americana. In addition to the many professional connections I had with Henry, there were also some personal ones. The reason I moved to San Diego in 1973 was to study under Dr. Morris and Dr. Duane Gish (my other “spiritual grandfather”) at Christian Heritage College (now called San Diego Christian College), of which ICR was a division at the time.4 One course I took from Dr. Morris featured a mimeographed manuscript of what was to become another outstanding apologetics book of his: Many Infallible Proofs. Dr. Morris leaves his wife of 66 years, Mary Louise, and five children (including Dr. John Morris, president of ICR), in addition to 17 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren. John and his siblings knew well what their father believed regarding why there is death in this world (yet hope), for Henry once wrote: The world is now under God’s Curse (Genesis 3:17) because of man’s rebellion against God’s Word. This ‘bondage of corruption,’ with the ‘whole world groaning and travailing together in pain’ (Romans 8:21, 22), is universal, affecting all men and women and children everywhere. God did not create the world this way, and one day will set all things right again. In that day, ‘God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain’ (Revelation 21:4).5 I believe that this good and faithful servant of God will receive one of the warmest “well done” accolades ever heard in heaven as Dr. Morris enters the presence of his Creator—and Savior.
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#1. To: All (#0)
Dr Morris said that. I think it is true.
Great post. It is a shame that the legitimate arguments against evolution as a theory are mixed up with creationism. The two should be kept entirely separate and creationists do not advance science when they intermingle science and faith.
I disagree with you. Evolution is junk science and should be attacked on all sides. Creationists have many legitimate scientific problems with evolution. The amound of hydrogen in the atmosphere for example. The amound of dust on the moon. The fossil record, and many more things. God did NOT create the earth or its inhabitants through evolution.
You seem to have missed my point. If evolution is junk science then it should be challenged, but not on the basis of religious beliefs. Evolution is fair game within the community of religious believers but don't think you will win science converts by religious rants, no matter how good, true and beautiful they are. Scientists must be free from religious dogmas, period, in order to pursue scientific fact, theory and truth. Do you get the basic difference between science and religion? The former is established through scientific methods and the latter is established through faith. One is fact based, obtained through the senses and the other is faith based obtained through supersensible understandings. A Christian scientist ought to be the freest to pursue scientific truth, wherever it leads, if heshe actually believes that "all truth is God's truth." In other words, let the facts be established and speak for themselves, without fear.
Yes I understand the difference. However someone can read the Bible and say hmm. If the Bible is really gods word then we should expect X to be true. For example. The Bible talks about a worldwide flood. What would you expect to find if that were true. You can use some science. You could say if that is true you would expect to find billions of dead things buried in mud laid down by water all over the earth. That is indeed what you find in the fossil record. Now that is using some science to find out if the Bible could be true. Now if you didn't find any dead things buried in mud all over the earth. You could say science doesn't back up the word of God. But that is not the case. I agree that you can't 100 percent prove that the Bible is true scientifically. It does take faith. But you can use science to show that there is much scientific evidence that aligns with what is taught in the Bible.
That being agreed to, i still maintain that the best way to approach a discussion of evolution, outside the community of believers, is to leave out entirely any reference to the Bible. Evolution, as a scientific theory should stand or fall on the establishment of scientific findings, not on what the Bible says. Don't you see that involving the Bible in the evolution discussion not only turns off non-believers, but actually detracts from establishing its validity or not? Isn't that what you really want to have scientifically determined? Otherwise your religious beliefs will have an overall negative impact on the scientific community who should not be bound by faith-based concepts. Well, if you want to go on about how anti-biblical evolution is, go ahead, but i maintain what i said earlier, that mixing evolution and the Bible is counterproductive to determining truth and demonstrating respect for freedom.
I think we have much common ground. That being said. I don't see how it is counterproductive since the majority of American reject evolution and believe in creation.
So science is determined by majority rule of religious belief rather than the free exploration of the physical world? No, we do not have much in common then as you folks would have persecuted every scientist who broke free of religious dogma to discover facts/truth about the physical world we live in even at the expense of their lives. (It was for freedom that Christ set us free. Stand firm then agaisnt those who would put you back into bondage.") Scientists have to be free to go where facts/truth lead and to put contraints on their discoveries because it contridicts your belief system is very, very backward, friend, and invites ridicule and a backlash. And, saddly you are tacitly conceding that evolution cannot be defeated on the basis of science alone but must be squashed on the basis of religious belief.
#11. To: fatidic (#10)
My point that creationsist are not losing the battle. Evolutionists are. The scientific facts are on the side of the creationists. They shouldn't be ashamed that they found the truth from the Bible, and that it matches what we find in the real world. If the "scientists" were really objective they would have thrown out this ancient theory decades or a century ago. It is the evilutionists who use evilution as a religion. They say it is true and try without success to prop it up. Piltdown man, Lucy etc.
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