Popular Christian music artist Michael Gungor recently appeared on the Bad Christian Podcast to address the negative reaction he received from blog posts sharing his beliefs concerning a literal account of creation and the flood in the book of Genesis.
The singer, who along with wife Lisa penned popular worship songs "Beautiful Things" and "Dry Bones," came under fire after he admitted that he does not interpret the accounts of Noah and Adam and Eve literally. During the podcast, he defended his views and said he feels as though he is a part of a "culture war" between science and fundamentalist Christian beliefs.
"If you asked any Christian before the Enlightenment, 'What is the foundation of your faith?' Everybody's going to say Jesus Christ," he said. "If you ask somebody now, especially an evangelical or fundamentalist, there's a good chance they're going to say the Bible."
Gungor also asserted he fully embraces fundamental Christian doctrines such as the birth and life of Jesus, the Holy Spirit and Jesus' second coming, as well as the Apostle's Creed and all of its tenets.
He said he feels he is a part of a "culture war," where believers are leaving a fundamentalist belief system and embracing science.
"These are issues that are kind of burning in the back of people's minds that they just need to fight about right now," he said. "I happen to be a convenient person to use as a scapegoat."
Earlier this month, Gungor's wrote a post titled "What We Believe" explaining how the band no longer believed in a literal interpretation of the flood and creation in Genesis.
"I have no more ability to believe, for example, that the first people on earth were a couple named Adam and Eve that lived 6,000 years ago. I have no ability to believe that there was a flood that covered all the highest mountains of the world only 4,000 years ago and that all of the animal species that exist today are here because they were carried on an ark and then somehow walked or flew all around the world from a mountain in the middle east after the water dried up," he said.
In a later blog written by Gungor titled "I'm With You," the singer defended his position and talked about how it doesn't affect his faith.
"In fact, God is both inside and outside of the huddle [or group that holds to a specific believe]," he said. "And you can still love God and love people and read those early Genesis stories as myth with some important things to teach us. Not all of you will be ready to do that, and that's perfectly ok."
Following Gungor's comments, creationist and President of the Creation Museum Ken Ham expressed concern at the band's influence on young people regarding the authority and trustworthiness of the Bible.
"For those that look up to him, Michael Gungor's statements could very well lead them to doubt or disbelieve the Bible altogether. If we can't trust God's Word in Genesis, then why are we to trust His Word in the gospels, particularly when Jesus affirmed Adam and Eve, Noah, and the Flood?"
