Joel Houston, lead musician in Hillsong United
Joel Houston, eldest son of Hillsong founder Brian Houston and lead musician in the worship band Hillsong United, recently tweeted that “evolution is undeniable.” (Here) So naturally Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis, a parachurch organization that provides answers to key issues in the Bible such as creation, evolution, science, and the age of the earth, took issue with Houston’s “old earth” view of creation which he announced in a tweet: “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.”
Following is AIG’s analysis of Houston’s tweets:
(George Purdom & Ken Ham – Answers In Genesis) A number of people have asked us to comment on the words of a popular worship song that has come out of Hillsong United (a band associated with Hillsong Church), “So Will I (100 Billion X).” In particular, they have asked for our reaction to the second verse and its use of the words science and evolving. People are inquiring about the intent of the songwriter and the specific terms. Here are the words of this verse:
All nature and science Follow the sound of Your voice And as You speak A hundred billion creatures catch Your breath Evolving in pursuit of what You said If it all reveals Your nature so will I
In an interview with Hillsong United, published on the Hope 103.2 website in July 2017, we read,
So [the song] is a journey of creation, and all the things in the world that were created by God and for God. And following along that line, the Bible talks about singing with creation. So for us it’s reminding ourselves, we’re a part of this journey [of creation] as well. We’re all singing out this one song.1
The song begins within the context of creation. In the same July 2017 article, we also read that Joel Houston (son of Hillsong founder Brian Houston) had a lot to do with the lyrics. According to the Hillsong.com website, Joel is a lead pastor of NYC, and he “is a Creative Director for Hillsong Church globally and he currently lives in New York City, where he is helping to build Hillsong NYC.”2 The July 2017 article says,
And Joel [Houston] is an incredible lyricist as well. Ben had this song, called Artisan, originally. It was a great song, and a lot of what’s in there now, was in there at the start. But Joel, as he does, took it and was like, “I feel like there’s more to this. God wants to say more in the song.”3
Much discussion has appeared on the internet about this song (e.g., “Not a Hillsong to Die on”4) and specifically about the reference to the word evolving in the second verse, and also the word science in the first line of the verse. Some people have suggested it implies that God used evolutionary processes to create. Others say the word is used in a more generic sense. There was even discussion on the song’s interpretation on social media associated with BioLogos. BioLogos is one of the main organizations trying to get the church to believe in evolution/millions of years (they mix the religion of humanism with Christianity).
Research: