Posted on August 24, 2013
Clarifying Creation, Part II
What is the number-one reason why we know God did not use evolution or millions of years to create? If you really wanted to, you could spend all day just looking at the Hebrew text in Genesis 1. The original Hebrew text certainly does teach that God created everything in six literal, 24-hour days about six thousand years ago. Hebrew scholars generally agree that this seems to be the originally intended meaning. However, that is not the real heart of the issue. The real issue is twofold – the reliability of God’s Word and the foundation of the Gospel.
We have already discussed the importance of the reliability of God’s Word some in this Clue Series (see …). It is important to realize that it is not logically consistent to trust just some of what God says. In my Bible, I used to just highlight the verses I liked, but I’ve come to realize that often it’s the verses I don’t really like that I should be highlighting and memorizing. Furthermore, if we can’t trust what God says about the way things happened in the past, how can we trust what He says about the way things will happen in the future? God is God –He is the all-powerful Creator of the Universe. He made science! Don’t you think He can get it right in His book?
The real reason that creation science – science with the Biblical view on the age of the earth – is important is because of the Gospel. Jesus is referred to in the book of Romans as “the Last Adam”. Well, in order to know about the Last Adam, we have to know about the first Adam. Jesus offers salvation, but no one would care for salvation if they didn’t know they needed to be saved. Because of the sin of the first Adam, death entered into the world. This is directly opposed to the evolutionary view, that death was a normal (and even progressive) thing. They believe that death came before people, but the Bible clearly shows us that death came because of the sin of people. You see, if you try to put millions of years into the Bible, you take away the reason for the Gospel, and end up taking hope out of the picture.
Well put. There’s also what evolution would do to the character of God. Evolution is a messy, wasteful, and cruel process. Would you be willing to serve such a god if it had the power to create as the Bible claims, but chose to use evolution instead?
People say, “God can do whatever He wants”. This is true of the god of Islam, but it is NOT true of the Christian God. He sets a very high standard for Himself and love and truth are two of the biggies.
Keep up the good work. 🙂
A hypothetical question – if the bible said that the earth was flat, but observation, science, experiments etc said that it was not, which would you believe?
Actually, the Bible implies that the world is round, not flat. There is a Psalm that talks about “the circle of the earth” and no where in the Bible does it state that the earth is flat. Here are some neat facts: the Bible taught the idea of hand washing and dealing with the dead long before scientists knew why. Also, throughout the Psalms we find the phrase, “He stretcheth out the heavens” like a curtain. It wasn’t until very recently that scientists discovered redshift and the expanding universe. Observable science never goes against what the Bible says
“Actually, the Bible implies that the world is round, not flat. There is a Psalm that talks about “the circle of the earth”
A circle and a sphere are two very different things, the model of the flat earth was of a square panel or flat disk with a sun revolving around it. The earth can be round and still be flat. Other passages talk about the four corners of the earth and one talks about a tree that grows so high it can be seen by all of the people in all the kingdoms in the world, which is geometrically impossible with a round earth. There is also the story about the sun stopping in the sky for several hours, indicating the sun is in motion and the earth is still. One of the psalms talks about the foundations of the earth being fixed and never moving etc.
“and no where in the Bible does it state that the earth is flat.”
An argument can be made that it does but this is all beside the point. I wasn’t saying that it does, I was asking if it did, hypothetically, would you believe the earth was flat? In other words does what the bible say trump evidence?
“Here are some neat facts: the Bible taught the idea of hand washing and dealing with the dead long before scientists knew why.”
And native americans chewed the bark of willow trees to cure their headaches long before pharmacists sold the resin in tablets as aspirin. Ancient people weren’t any less observant than we are, they just were not as good about education and documentation as we are.
“Also, throughout the Psalms we find the phrase, “He stretcheth out the heavens” like a curtain. It wasn’t until very recently that scientists discovered redshift and the expanding universe.”
And you can think of no other way to interpret that than that that galaxies are moving away from each other at a fast rate?
“Observable science never goes against what the Bible says”
Depends what you mean by “what the bible says”. If you take genesis literally lots of science goes against it.
Although I have an answer for all of your points, I think it would be a waste of my time to explain them all to you. I don’t think you are willing to hear them. I encourage you to read my recent post (as well as other past posts) about science. In short, science is merely knowledge. Science is a tool that people use, and it can be used (or interpreted) incorrectly. Everyone uses their own beliefs to interpret the world around them. Science changes on the whims of men, but the Bible never changes, in spite of all the attempts people have made to destroy it over the centuries. You don’t have to answer to me or anyone else – you have to answer to God.