The first Celebration of Creation to be held in Asia occurred at Sahmyook University on Friday and Saturday, November 7 and 8, 2014. The Celebration of Creation events are the result of collaboration between Seventh-day Adventist universities and the General Conference Faith and Science Council. They are designed to celebrate our unity as Christians in worship of the Creator God of the Bible.
The Sahmyook University Celebration of Creation was opened by General Conference vice president Lowell Cooper, who spoke on Friday evening, followed by Sahmyook University president Dr. Kim Sang Lae. The first night of this Celebration of Creation also featured physicist Dr. Lee Kyu Bong. The importance of the evening was emphasized by the presence of delegates to theyear-end meetings at the Northern Asia-Pacific Division (NSD).
In addition to Elder Cooper, guest speakers included Dr. Jim Gibson, director of the General Conference Geoscience Research Institute (GRI) on the campus of Loma Linda University and doctors Timothy Standish and Ben Clausen, also from GRI. Another featured speaker was anthropologist Dr. Adam Kiš from the Adventist International Institute for Advanced Studies in the Philippines. Speakers from the university included Dr. Choi Chong Geol, who is a geologist and the director of the NSD GRI branch office at Sahmyook University. His presentation explained how Korean geology testifies to the biblical global flood. Another Sahmyook University speaker, Dr. Park Chun Shik, drew an essential link between biblical creation and the Christian understanding of salvation.
Key organizers of the event includedDr. Choiand Mrs. HyunSook Park of the NSD Education Department. In addition to coordinating all the speakers, arranging the schedule and taking care of innumerable other details, they were instrumental in getting the documentary Flight: the Genius of Birds translated into Korean. This translation premiered on Saturday night with a short introduction by Dr. Standish, who played a role in its production. Watch for it soon on Hope Channel Korea.
“I am glad that we had a very meaningful and successful meeting for the celebration of creation at Sahmyook University. I am sure that all those who attended the meeting were convinced again about the importance of Creationism,” said Jairyong Lee, NSD president. Dr. Standish added, “I have now attended Celebrations of Creation around the world and have never failed to be blessed by the brilliance of the speakers and the commitment of participants to biblical creation. My hope is that, in my lifetime, we can hold Celebrations of Creation on every Adventist university campus. This is one way in which we can prepare ourselves and give a clear witness to the world as we await the soon return of our Creator and Redeemer.” More information about Celebrations of Creation can be found at the Faith and Science Council website at fscsda.org.