The staff of ACM minister from the point of view of the following statement of faith:
- We believe the Scriptures consist of the Old and New Testaments and are true and inspired and without error in their original autographs.
- We believe God created the heavens and the earth
- We believe that the Scriptures are best understood in light of the three ecumenical creeds- the Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed. This means essentially:
- We believe that Jesus is both completely God and completely man.
- We believe God is trinitarian in nature.
- We believe that the church fathers can be helpful in understanding our faith, but we believe that the Scriptures themselves are the highest and last authority for Christians on matters of faith and action, and are the primary way that God chooses to reveal himself to us today.
- We believe that salvation is through Christ alone, by grace alone, through faith alone, but ‘works’ ought to follow.
- We uphold the fact of the resurrection as the basis upon which Christianity rises or falls.
On Evolution:
We believe that the Scriptures ought to be interpreted as they were intended to be interpreted. If literal, then interpret it literally. If metaphorical, then interpret it metaphorically. Nearly all of those affiliated with ACM believe in a literal, 6 day creation not very long ago. This majority believe that Genesis 1-11 was intended to be interpreted as real events. Consequently, a majority of us are believers in a 6 day creation not too long ago (ie, Young Earth Creationism). While we appreciate Christians that have other viewpoints, we see no threat of rival interpretations demonstrating supremacy over a YEC position any time soon. We certainly do not feel obliged to conform our views to the changing whims of secular society. Also, most of us feel no need, usually, to actually defend our YEC position because the primary alternative- macroevolution- is absurd on its own merits and can be attacked until the cows come home without ever referencing any belief in creation at all.
Though we believe there are consequences to whatever one believes on the origin issue (ie, it is not unimportant), ACM prefers to emphasize the fact of the resurrection. The latent philosophical naturalism that undergirds evolutionary objections to a young earth position also undergirds objections to the resurrection, so why not just talk about the resurrection and philosophical naturalism?
In other words, there are fewer direct steps between the resurrection and the critical matter of one’s salvation than there are between a young earth creation point of view and salvation.
So, we are not ashamed of the young earth position, but we do try to keep things in proportion.
That said, the ACM staff do not feel that a belief in YEC is necessary for salvation and find it generally much more productive to focus on a matter that definitely is: that is, the acceptance that Jesus Christ is God and man and died and rose from the dead.
