Henry M Morris Should Have Written Science Fiction

I have in my library the book The Revelation Record: A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Prophetic Book of the End of Times[i] by Henry M. Morris – a commentary on the final book of the bible and a sort of bookend companion piece to his similarly named commentary on Genesis.  And it is a howler, ridiculousness on nearly every page, far too many to share them all...

Despite the claim that this is a “scientific” commentary on the book of Revelation, there is very little actual science.  There is, however, a great deal of science fiction (or speculative fiction, if you prefer that term).  I’m beginning to think that Henry M. Morris should have written science fiction; he might even have been pretty good at it.

Consider his discussion of the Great War in Heaven described by John in Revelation chapter 12.  Morris wrote, “With what weapons and by what tactics will this heavenly war be waged is beyond our understanding.  Angels cannot be injured or slain with earthly weapons, and such physical forces as we know about are not able to move spiritual beings.  But these beings do operate in a physical universe, so there must exist powerful physico-spiritual energies of which we yet can have only vague intimations, energies which can propel angelic bodies at superluminary velocities through space and which can move mountains and change planetary orbits. …”[ii]

This is the stuff of great science fiction, but it isn’t science.  Neither is it biblical exegesis. 

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[i] Morris, Henry M. The Revelation Record: A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Prophetic Book of the End of Times Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, Wheaton IL, 1983

[ii] Page 224

Henry M Morris on the Sensual Nature of Disembodied Spirits

I have in my library the book The Revelation Record: A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Prophetic Book of the End of Times[i] by Henry M. Morris – a commentary on the final book of the bible and a sort of bookend companion piece to his similarly named commentary on Genesis.  And it is a howler, ridiculousness on nearly every page, far too many to share them all...

                                                                                                                                                                   

It’s billed as a “scientific” commentary, but, to be honest, there’s very little actual science.  There is, however, a good deal of science fiction and much fantasy.  Take this example of his science-fiction/fantasy (or speculative fiction, if you prefer) commentary on Revelation 20: 14 “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.  This is the second death,” offered without comment:

“Even disembodied souls seem to be recognizable in terms of their earthly identities.  Note the remarkable descriptions of the dead in Sheol in Ezekiel 31 and 32, as well as Isaiah 14.  That being so, such spirit bodies also may possess spirit senses and are [sic] capable of experiencing feelings analogous to those they possessed in the flesh.  We obviously have little understanding of such things, having no instrumentation with which to measure degrees of pain or pleasure experienced by persons who are without their physical bodies…”[ii]

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[i] Morris, Henry M. The Revelation Record: A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Prophetic Book of the End of Times Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, Wheaton IL, 1983

[ii] Page 432

Henry M Morris Says Literal Blood Is Not Literally Blood

I have in my library the book The Revelation Record: A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Prophetic Book of the End of Times[i] by Henry M. Morris – a commentary on the final book of the bible and a sort of bookend companion piece to his similarly named commentary on Genesis.  And it is a howler, ridiculousness on nearly every page, far too many to share them all...

Morris states in his preface to the book that his is “following the literalistic, futuristic, sequential, Premillennial, pretribulational, interpretation of the book. “  He adds that “This approach has been assumed to be the most natural and therefore the most proper way to understand the book.” For Morris it is the “most natural, most scientific, most Christ-honoring, and most soul-satisfying way to understand Revelation.” [ii]

This is foundational to the dispensationalist system – a strictly literal interpretation of the words.  Unless it is patently and completely obvious that a passage should be understood figuratively, dispensationalists insist that the scriptures should be read as literally as possible.  In fact Morris says that “a ‘literal interpretation’ is a contradiction in terms, since one does not interpret (that is ‘translate’ saying ‘this means that’) if he simply accepts a statement as meaning precisely what it says.  … Literal is literal.” [Emphasis is his] [iii]

But while all dispensationalists insist that they are following a strictly “literal” understanding of Revelation, each of them …fudges a bit here and there.  None of them are able to abide by their own rule of allowing the words to mean precisely what they say.  And Morris is no exception.

When, in chapter eight, John writes, “And the second angel sounded, as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood.”[iv]  Morris goes on at great length to tell us what this means.  You see, while John said blood he didn’t actually mean blood, not literal blood.

“The ability to turn water into blood, either by filling it with the actual blood of dead animals or, more likely, by transforming it chemically or biochemically into blood-red water, poisoned by multitudes of dead microorganisms (as in the well-known ‘red-tides’ which occur infrequently in modern oceans), made such an impression upon ancient Israel that it was recounted in their songs.”[v]

Even though Morris says he holds to a strictly literal reading of John’s words, and even though John wrote “blood,” Morris believes that it is more likely to be something other than actual literal blood.

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[i] Morris, Henry M. The Revelation Record: A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Prophetic Book of the End of Times Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, Wheaton IL, 1983

[ii] Page 14

[iii] Page 24

[iv] Revelation 8:8

[v] Page 147

Henry Morris Says that Future Wars Will Be Fought with Plywood

I have in my library the book The Revelation Record: A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Prophetic Book of the End of Times[i] by Henry M. Morris – a commentary on the final book of the bible and a sort of bookend companion piece to his similarly named commentary on Genesis.  And it is a howler, ridiculousness on nearly every page, far too many to share them all...

After his brief commentary on Revelation 6:1, “And I saw when the Lord opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see,”  Morris shoehorns in a lengthy excursus concerning the coming invasion of Israel by Russia.  This is boilerplate Dispensationalist eschatology.  It’s just a bit lifted from Ezekiel 38-39 and crammed in wherever they think they can find a hole for it.

Russia will be defeated and, as Ezekiel says, the gathered up weapons will be burned as fuel for seven months.  And since Morris and his dispensationalist pals are committed to an ultra literal reading of the bible, and especially of the Revelation this leads to some great humor, like this statement from Morris:

“The attackers will be ‘like a cloud to cover the land’… coming from all directions, possibly great waves of paratroopers as well as cavalry. Their weapons will be mostly of wood – probably one of the new forms of very light, but very strong wood… like lignostone.”[ii]

I’ve also seen this lignostone bit in Tim LaHaye’s writing.  “For some years the Russians have been using Lignostone in the manufacture of many of their weapons of war.  Lignostone invented by a Dutchman in Ter Apel, is a special kind of wood used for “coke breakers.”   It is stronger than steel, is very elastic…and burns better than coal.”[iii]

Lignostone® is a laminated densified wood consisting of beech veneers which are joined together using synthetic resins which harden under pressure and heat.   It’s high tech plywood. 

[i] Morris, Henry M. The Revelation Record: A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Prophetic Book of the End of Times Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, Wheaton IL, 1983

[ii] Page 110

[iii] LaHaye, Tim,  Are We Living in the End Times? Tyndale, 1999. Page 89 - 90

Henry M. Morris Hammers Out True Christianity

I have in my library the book The Revelation Record: A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Prophetic Book of the End of Times[i] by Henry M. Morris – a commentary on the final book of the bible and a sort of bookend companion piece to his similarly named commentary on Genesis.  And it is a howler, ridiculousness on nearly every page, far too many to share them all...

There is the old proverb that says, “If all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail.”  Replace that hammer with Young-Earth Creationism and you’ll get an idea of what Morris’ books (even those not specifically about Creationism) are like. For him everything – everything – leads back to creation.  Every question, every issue.

And that leads him to some very weird and problematic statements.  Like the following in his commentary on Revelation 4: 11 “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are created.” Now it’s pretty easy to see how he gets from this passage back to creationism; the path is pretty clear.  The word “created” is in there twice.  The problem is what he makes of it: 

“Before God can truly be known as Redeemer, He must first be believed and acknowledged as Creator.  [ii]

How’s that?  It’s impossible to accept the salvation of God without first believing in him as the creator?  This is the litmus test that Morris puts on the Christian faith.  Don’t believe in a literal 24 hour 6 day creation 6,000 years ago?  You’re not a real Christian.  You can’t truly know God until you believe he created the world.  According to Morris you can’t be a Christian if you accept the evidence for evolution.  You can’t be a Christian – not a true Christian if you believe the earth is billions of years old.

The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas.  He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household, but first acknowledge that God created the world in a literal period of time not exceeding 144 hours …”

Acts 16: 29 -31 HMV (Henry Morris Version)

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[i] Morris, Henry M. The Revelation Record: A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Prophetic Book of the End of Times Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, Wheaton IL, 1983

[ii] Page 82

Henry M. Morris On Videotape

I have in my library the book The Revelation Record: A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Prophetic Book of the End of Times[i] by Henry M. Morris – a commentary on the final book of the bible and a sort of bookend companion piece to his similarly named commentary on Genesis.  And it is a howler, ridiculousness on nearly every page, far too many to share them all...

In his commentary on Revelation 20:12 Morris wrote this wonderful bit of malarkey:  “God has books in heaven, so that no deed or word of any man or woman who ever lived has been lost.  These books may be in the form of scrolls as used in John’s day; or bound pages as in our day, or some other type of book about which we know nothing.  Possibly they will consist of something analogous to modern videotapes.  If man can use electronics to preserve sights and sounds, there is no question that God, who created all forms of electromagnetic energy in the first place, can certainly do it, and far more efficiently at that.”[ii]

Sounds as if God’s a fan of Radiohead’s song, Videotape.

When I'm at the pearly gates

This will be on my videotape, my videotape

Mephistopheles is just beneath

And he's reaching up to grab me

This is one for the good days

And I have it all here in red, blue, green

In red, blue, green

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[i] Morris, Henry M. The Revelation Record: A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Prophetic Book of the End of Times Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, Wheaton IL, 1983

[ii] Page 428

The End of the World as Snakes on a Plane?

I have in my library the book The Revelation Record: A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Prophetic Book of the End of Times[i] by Henry M. Morris – a commentary on the final book of the bible and a sort of bookend companion piece to his similarly named commentary on Genesis.  And it is a howler, ridiculousness on nearly every page, far too many to share them all...

Though this work is billed as a “scientific” commentary, it really has very little actual science. 

Consider Morris’ commentary on Revelation 6:8 “I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.”

“An intriguing additional specific cause of this great toll of death is said to be ‘the wild beasts of the earth.’  Since practically all the beasts really dangerous to man have either become extinct or are now rare and endangered species, it seems unlikely that wild animals could multiply enough in a couple of years in the last days to become a really serious threat.  However, the term, also used in Acts 28: 4, 5 to refer to a poisonous serpent and it is possible that this passage portends a sudden proliferation of venomous snakes all over the earth.”[ii]

First (and this is nit-picking, I know it…) he calls the ‘wild beast’ that bit Paul’s hand a “poisonous serpent,” when – as a scientist – he should have said a “venomous serpent.”  It’s a little thing, and he gets it correct in the next clause of the sentence, but as I’ve already pointed out, Morris is hardly consistent.

Second – can it be said that all of the animals that are “really dangerous to man” have become extinct or endangered?  Really?  I have no standing to evaluate this claim.  But it seems dubious to me.  And Morris gives no statistical or documentary evidence.  It’s just a bald claim from out of nowhere and I’m not sure I believe it.

Consider the dog.  Dogs – though tamed and housebroken – are still potentially quite dangerous, even deadly to humans.  And dogs aren’t especially close to being endangered.

But I’m also dubious of his use of the Greek word therion.  “The word ‘beast’ here is the Greek theerion [sic], and does indeed mean a wild, or dangerous or even venomous beast.”[iii]

Outside of the Revelation the word is only used a handful of times:  three times in Acts and once in Mark, Titus, Hebrews, and James.  In every case, barring the viper attack on Paul’s hand, it refers generically to wild beasts, creatures.  Not to snakes.  And in the case of Paul’s snakebite, the word echidna “viper” is there to give it context. The word therion does not, in and of itself, mean venomous serpent.

 So, as wildly exciting as it might be to envision the end of the world as Snakes on a Plane, there’s no science in it.

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[i] Morris, Henry M. The Revelation Record: A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Prophetic Book of the End of Times Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, Wheaton IL, 1983

[ii] Page 117

[iii] Page 117

Henry M. Morris Isn’t Even Consistent

I have in my library the book The Revelation Record: A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Prophetic Book of the End of Times[i] by Henry M. Morris – a commentary on the final book of the bible and a sort of bookend companion piece to his similarly named commentary on Genesis.  And it is a howler, ridiculousness on nearly every page, far too many to share them all...

Never-mind that his Pre-Millennial Dispensationalist system of interpreting Revelation is completely bankrupt, and setting aside his near myopic emphasis on Noah’s flood as an argument against Evolution and Atheism, I am totally amazed that he can get away with publishing a book so internally inconsistent.

In discussing the “Flying Scorpions from Hell” as he calls them[ii] - that is the locusts coming up out of the smoke upon the earth in Revelation chapter 9, Morris writes, “They can hardly be newly formed creatures.  God does not create creatures that are not good (Genesis 1:31), not even as vehicles of judgment …”[iii] [his emphasis]

Then just a few pages later, still discussing these same creatures, he writes, “Assuming that the strange bodies of these creatures had indeed been specifically created by God for this particular judgment it is easy enough to understand one other particular attribute…”[iv]

And then again just a few pages further on, still describing these locusts from hell, “…these animals had not come under the Noahic prescription that they would fear and dread man (Genesis 9:2), for they did not exist in the days of Noah.  Newly created for the very purpose of judgment, and energized by wicked spirits, these animals will soon become the objects of man’s fear and dread.”[v]

So – which is it?  Does or Does Not God create monstrosities for the purpose of judgment?  Did he not proof read this? Did he not have an editor?

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[i] Morris, Henry M. The Revelation Record: A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Prophetic Book of the End of Times Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, Wheaton IL, 1983

[ii] Page 157

[iii] Page 158

[iv] Page 163

[v] Page 171

Jesus Isn’t Enough for Henry M. Morris

I have in my library the book The Revelation Record: A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Prophetic Book of the End of Times[i] by Henry M. Morris – a commentary on the final book of the bible and a sort of bookend companion piece to his similarly named commentary on Genesis.  And it is a howler, ridiculousness on nearly every page, far too many to share them all...

But in flipping through it last night I read this commentary on Revelation 3:17

“Such churches [“neutral churches”], commonly calling themselves conservative, or evangelical, or charismatic, or even fundamentalist, may have big church buildings and ostentatious programs and e very much impressed with themselves, but if they do not stand solidly and fervently for true creationism and full biblical inerrancy and authority in all things, He who is the Creator and the Word finds them intolerably distasteful and threatens to spue them out.”[ii]

According to Morris, it’s not enough declare “Jesus is Lord” and believe that God has raised him from the dead[iii] but one also MUST “stand solidly and fervently for true creationism” (whatever that is!) and for “full biblical inerrancy.”

This is rubbish. If it’s Jesus + Anything (even something as nominally “Biblical” as “true creationism”) it is not the gospel and should be rejected.

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[i] Morris, Henry M. The Revelation Record: A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Prophetic Book of the End of Times Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, Wheaton IL, 1983

[ii] Page 77

[iii] Romans 10:9