Transcript Slide 1

First Principles
Lesson 2
Lesson Text—Genesis 1:1-5
Genesis 1:1-5
1 In the beginning God created the
heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form,
and void; and darkness was upon
the face of the deep. And the spirit
of God moved upon the face of the
waters.
Lesson Text—Genesis 1:1-5
3
And God said, Let there be light:
and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was
good: and God divided the light from
the darkness.
5 And God called the light Day, and
the darkness he called Night. And the
evening and the morning were the
first day.
Lesson Text—Genesis 1:6-9
Genesis 1:6-9
6 And God said, Let there be a
firmament in the midst of the waters,
and let it divide the waters from the
waters.
7 And God made the firmament, and
divided the waters which were under
the firmament from the waters which
were above the firmament: and it was
so.
Lesson Text—Genesis 1:6-9
8
And God called the firmament
Heaven. And the evening and the
morning were the second day.
9 And God said, Let the waters
under the heaven be gathered
together unto one place, and let the
dry land appear: and it was so.
Lesson Text—Genesis 1:10-13
Genesis 1:10-13
10 And God called the dry land Earth;
and the gathering together of the
waters called he Seas: and God saw
that it was good.
11 And God said, Let the earth bring
forth grass, the herb yielding seed,
and the fruit tree yielding fruit after
his kind, whose seed is in itself,
upon the earth: and it was so.
Lesson Text—Genesis 1:10-13
12
And the earth brought forth grass,
and herb yielding seed after his kind,
and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed
was in itself, after his kind: and God
saw that it was good.
13 And the evening and the morning
were the third day.
Focus Verse—Romans 1:20
Romans 1:20
For the invisible things of him
from the
creation of the world are clearly
seen, being understood by the
things that are made, even
his eternal power and Godhead;
so that they
are without excuse.
Focus Thought
The doctrine of Creation is the
foundation
of all other truth.
I. CreationCreationism
of Principalitiesor
and
Evolution:
What
Powers
difference does it make?
Why should it matter to us whether we
arrived on planet Earth via some
prolonged evolutionary process or by
creation by a supreme Deity? Some
might say, “We’re here, so what’s the
point?” The difference is twofold: (1)
accountability and (2) relationship.
First is accountability. If there is no
God responsible for creating mankind,
B.
A
Living
Soul
then he is morally, practically, and
spiritually “off the hook,” unaccountable
to any other entity for his conduct and
choices in life. This idea belies practical
reality and common sense. Without the
fundamental principle of accountability,
what kind of world would this be? There
must be some basic code to govern
conduct and actions in life, and all
notions of any measure of accountability
point to the Scriptures and the Creator
who fashioned us.
Second is relationship. Why are we
here? What is the purpose and what is
B.
A
Living
Soul
the meaning in life? Evolution fails to
answer these fundamental questions
for humankind, but Creation answers
them succinctly: we were created by
God to have relationship with Him.
Everything about life—from how we
arrived here to how we depart here—
is all about our responsibility toward
the Creator and having a relationship
with Him, the One who loves us
supremely and who is intimately
interested in the quality of our lives.
Contemplating
the
Topic
B. A Living Soul
Someone suggested that after
Genesis 1:1, everything else in the Bible
is commentary. There might be some
truth to this. After reading the
statement, “In the beginning God
created the heaven and the earth,” what
else is there to say? From that point
forward, the rest of the Bible is the story
of what happened in the realm of
creation, how God interacted with His
creation, and His plans to restore what
He created to its original condition.
Quite interesting are the parallels
between the first two chapters of the
B.
A
Living
Soul
Book of Genesis and the last chapter of
the Book of Revelation.
However, Genesis 1:1 is not the only
verse in the Bible that refers to God as
the Creator of all things. Although the
Hebrew Scriptures were given to the
people of Israel, Paul pointed out that
the Gentiles also received revelation.
This general revelation involves what
humans can understand about God
simply by observing what He has
created. (See Romans 1:20.)
Romans 1:20
“For the invisible things of him
from the creation of the world are
clearly seen, being understood by
the things that are made, even his
eternal power and Godhead; so
that they are without excuse”
(Romans 1:20).
A person can clearly understand the
B.
A
Living
Soul
invisible things of God—his eternal
power and Godhead—by considering
the things He has made. Creation itself
so clearly reveals the eternally
powerful God that those who reject
Him have no excuse. In his letter to the
Romans, Paul referred to the Gentiles
who rejected the knowledge of God in
spite of the evidence of Him in creation
(Romans 1:28).
Today, these words have
significance for those who embrace
B.
A
Living
Soul
the theory of evolution and reject the
idea that God created all things. For a
person to accept the idea of evolution
requires him either to dismiss or to
radically reinterpret the scriptural
account, the legitimacy of which many
evolutionists discount. Even theistic
evolutionists insist that one should not
take the biblical account literally in any
meaningful sense, and that it is merely
poetry or a metaphor.
To reject the biblical account of
B. AisLiving
Creation
to reject Soul
the idea that
Creation testifies to the Creator’s
eternal power and Godhead. Even
apart from scientific arguments against
the theory of evolution, this is one
more reason believers must reject the
theory. It not only minimizes or
dismisses what the first two chapters
in the Bible have to say about the
subject, but it also rejects what
Scripture has to say about its
revelatory value.
B. A Living Soul
If God did not create all things as the
Scripture says, the universe does not
declare the glory of God. This notion
contradicts not only what Paul wrote,
but also the magnificent words of
David. (See Psalm 19:1-6.)
“The heavens declare the glory of
Psalm
19:1-4 sheweth
God; and
the firmament
his handywork. Day unto day
uttereth speech, and night unto
night sheweth knowledge. There is
no speech nor language, where
their voice is not heard. Their line
is gone out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the
world. In them hath he seta
tabernacle for the sun”
(Psalm 19:1-4).
Psalm 19:5-6
“Which is as a bridegroom coming
out of his chamber, and rejoiceth
as a strongman to run a race. His
going forth is from the end of the
heaven, and his circuit unto the
ends of it: and there is nothing hid
from the heat there of” (Psalm 19:56).
According to the theory of evolution,
the heavens tell us nothing of the glory of
B.
A
Living
Soul
God, and the firmament—the skies—
reveals nothing as well. All that is
indicated by the vast universe, with its
marvelous galaxies and swirling solar
systems, is that blind chance has been at
work. This we cannot accept. To do so
would require us to discard yet another
biblical witness to Creation: “Through
faith we understand that the worlds were
framed by the word of God, so that things
which are seen were not made of things
which do appear” (Hebrews 11:3).
Searching
The
Scriptures
I. Creation of Principalities and
Creation
of Principalities
Powers
and Powers
“Who is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of every creature:
for by him were all things created, that
are in heaven, and that are in earth,
visible and invisible, whether they be
thrones, or dominions, or
principalities, or powers: all things
were created by him, and for him: and
he is before all things, and by him all
things consist” (Colossians 1:15-17).
A. The Invisible Things
A.
Invisible
Things
TheThe
God who
was manifest
in genuine,
authentic human existence, Jesus Christ,
is the God who created all things. (See I
Timothy 3:16; John 1:1-3, 14; Hebrews 1:2,
8-10.) Creation involved not only the
visible things that can be seen by the
human eye, but also those things that are
invisible. Apparently these visible and
invisible components include thrones,
dominions, principalities, and powers. In
other words, there are visible and invisible
thrones, dominions, and powers.
In
Colossians and
B.The
AMessage
LivingofSoul
Philemon, David K. Bernard writes,
“Jesus is the Creator of ‘all things,’
whether heavenly or earthly, visible or
invisible, spiritual or physical. This
verse specifically lists thrones,
dominions (lordships), principalities
(rulers), and powers (authorities) as
originally created by Him. These
designations cover all beings or
forces, whether now good or evil.”
B. Angels, Spirits, and Souls
B. Angels, Spirits, and Souls
Although it is beyond the scope of this
lesson to discuss in detail the various
aspects of the invisible realm—especially
as it pertains to evil or fallen thrones,
dominions, principalities, and powers—
we should note that angels are included
in this realm as spirit beings. God made
“his angels spirits, and his ministers a
flame of fire” (Hebrews 1:7).
Although angels appear in various
B. A
Livingthis
Soul
biblical
accounts,
is apparently
due to their ability to appear much like
theophanies, which were temporary
visible manifestations of God.
The theory of evolution makes no
provision for the invisible spirit realm.
In other words, the acceptance of
evolution truncates reality only to the
tangible and leaves no room for angels
or invisible thrones, dominions,
principalities, or powers—whether
good or evil.
B. A Living
Soul
Furthermore,
it renders
inaccurate and
meaningless the vast number of
biblical references to the invisible
realm. People of faith should reject
such a theory for that reason alone. If
angels do not exist, then Gabriel did
not appear to Daniel, Zacharias, Mary,
or Joseph, which would also mean the
story of our Lord’s conception and
birth is false.
B. A Living Soul
The foundational accounts of the
Incarnation and the plan of redemption
would be reduced to nothing more
than fiction or, at best, mythical tales
using metaphorical language to
express something less than the literal
meaning.
Creation
theand
World
II. Creation
of the of
World
the
and
the Universe
Universe
While students of the Bible hold
varied understandings of the first
chapter of Genesis, it is not the
purpose of this lesson to fully explore
these views. Instead, we are pointing
out the incompatibility between the
biblical account of Creation and the
theory of evolution.
B. A Living Soul
To do this, we need look no further
than the first verse of the Bible: “In
the beginning God created the
heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).
This statement sets forth two
essential elements of biblical faith:
Transparency 2
1. There was a beginning. Before God
B. Anothing
Living
Soulwhen He
created,
existed;
began creating, the measure of time
began. The theory of evolution cannot
point to a specific moment of
beginning. It can only theorize about
something that happened in the
unknown past. Furthermore, it cannot
answer the question of how something
came from nothing. To believe the
biblical account certainly requires
faith, but to accept the evolutionary
hypothesis also requires faith.
2. There is a God. Some theistic
evolutionists
agree Soul
that some
B. A Living
unknown deity initiated the
evolutionary process through which
everything that exists to this point
came into being. However, this is not
the God that the Book of Genesis
describes.
The Hebrew verb bara, translated as
“created,” is in the perfect tense.
Strictly speaking, the Hebrew language
does not have tenses, and this would
simply be called the perfect.
However, it is quite common to refer to
the B.
perfect
and imperfect
A Living
Soulas tenses.
The most common usage of the perfect
is to note the completion of the action.
The point is that Genesis 1:1 is not
about God beginning creation; it is
about Creation as completed by God.
This will not work with the idea of
theistic evolution nor with evolution
that rejects the existence of God in
favor of the notion that evolution is
ongoing.
God’s creative work included the
B. A (the
Living
Souland the Earth,
heavens
universe)
which encompasses the entirety of all
material existence. In other words,
Genesis 1:1 is a summary statement
that precedes the more detailed
account beginning in Genesis 1:3.
The phrase “the heaven and the
earth” is a figure of speech
expressing the totality of the present
world. (See Joel 3:15-16.) Thus,
nothing exists that God did not create
in the beginning.
Creation of Life
III. Creation of Life
Only God can create something
from nothing. Even the most
optimistic evolutionists recognize
that something must exist in order
for it to evolve into something else. Is
it possible for scientists to create life
in a laboratory?
On the website Creation Ministries
International,
Dr. Carl
Wieland, past
B.
A
Living
Soul
president of the Christian Medical
Fellowship of South Australia,
observes: “When considering how life
began, there are really only two
alternatives. Either life was created by
an intelligent source or it ‘made
itself’—i.e. evolved. That’s really what
‘evolution’ is all about—things making
themselves, arising spontaneously
from within nature—the material
world—with no outside assistance.
So if someone were to claim that
synthesizing life in a test-tube wipes
B.
A
Living
Soul
out the idea of creation, they would in
effect be saying, ‘Synthesizing life in a
test-tube proves that it evolved.’ Now
substitute the italicized words in that
phrase with others of identical
meaning, and the absurdity of it
becomes clear: ‘Using intelligence to
make life in a test-tube proves that it
made itself and did not arise through
intelligence’” (creation.com/creatinglife-in-a-test-tube, accessed February
17, 2010).
Whatever
scientists
may eventually
B. A Living
Soul
be able to do by manipulating
preexisting materials, it will not be the
creation of life out of nothing as God
accomplished in the beginning. God
created everything that exists,
including the materials that are used
for experimentation in scientific
laboratories.
A. Plant Life
A. Plant
Life
We should
note the
biblical references
to seed and kind: “And the earth brought
forth grass, and herb yielding seed after
his kind, and the tree yielding fruit,
whose seed was in itself, after his kind”
(Genesis 1:12). The New Living
Translation makes this very clear: “The
land produced vegetation—all sorts of
seed-bearing plants, and trees with seedbearing fruit. Their seeds produced
plants and trees of the same kind. And
God saw that it was good” (Genesis
1:12, NLT).
B. A Living Soul
This process of seeds producing
after their kind has endured
throughout the history of mankind.
Although there can be mutations and
grafting to develop new strains of
plants, this is always within the kind
of the original seeds. For example,
roses will never become walnuts and
horses will never become monkeys.
B. Animal Life
B. Plant Life
Seven times in Genesis 1:21-25 the
phrases “after their kind” and “after his
kind” appear. As with plant life, the idea
is that the animals God created would
reproduce their own kind. God
commanded, “Be fruitful, and multiply,
and fill the waters in the seas, and let
fowl multiply in the earth” (Genesis
1:22). Multiplication has to do with
reproduction.
B.
A
Living
Soul
Academically qualified scientists who
are also believers in the biblical
account of Creation point out the
importance of the fixity of the species:
The website Reasons states, “The
species were specially created by God
and began with their distinctive
features already intact. We maintain
descent with modification is not
capable of producing new species
regardless of the timeframe.
We B.
would
concede speciation
A Living
Soul might
occur with plants and with organisms
at the level of microbes—bacteria,
protists, fungi and viruses—(i.e., those
species that have large population
sizes with short generation times) but
not to anything above that level. . . .
“The fixity of species is what
separates special creation from
theistic evolution and Darwinian
evolution.”
Creation
Man
IV. Creation
of Manofand
the
and
the Eternal
Soul
Eternal
Soul
A. A Living Soul
The materialistic view of origins as
set forth by the theory of evolution has
no place in the life of faith. Not only
does evolution reject the invisible
spirit realm, but it also leaves no room
for the existence of the human spirit.
Evolution reduces human beings
simply to the status of material beings
without a soul.
In evolution’s
view, what
B. A Living
Soulis commonly
thought of as soul is merely the
animating principle inherent in all
living things. In his book Responses to
101 Questions on God and Evolution,
John Haught writes, “Darwinian
science compels us now to reconsider
what we mean by the ‘soul.’” Instead,
we must reject the Darwinian view of
the soul and recognize that God
created mankind with a living soul.
(See Genesis 2:7.)
Genesis 2:7
“And the LORD God formed man of
the dust of the ground, and
breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life; and man became a
living soul” (Genesis 2:7).
There are different interpretations of
B.Scripture
A Living
what
saysSoul
about the
immaterial aspect of human existence.
Some people believe that a human
being is a trichotomy, consisting of
body, soul, and spirit as distinct
entities. Others believe that a human is
a dichotomy, with the terms soul and
spirit used as virtual synonyms. Yet
another idea is described as
conditional monism, with its focus on
the integration of the material and
immaterial aspects into one being.
B.
A
Living
Soul
Regardless of one’s view on this, it is
clear in Scripture that human beings
have an eternal destiny. In contrast to
evolutionary theory, humans are not
simply animals that cease to exist
when they die. The soul of a person
will live on forever somewhere.
B. Eternal Destiny
B.
A
Living
Soul
Jesus declared, “Marvel not at this:
for the hour is coming, in the which all
that are in the graves shall hear his
voice, and shall come forth; they that
have done good, unto the resurrection
of life; and they that have done evil,
unto the resurrection of damnation”
(John 5:28-29). Paul agreed by saying
that he had “hope toward God . . . that
there shall be a resurrection of the
dead, both of the just and unjust” (Acts
24:15).
The last chapter of the Bible
indicates that a person’s spiritual
B.
A
Living
Soul
condition at the time of the
resurrection will be permanent and
eternal: “He that is unjust, let him be
unjust still: and he which is filthy, let
him be filthy still: and he that is
righteous, let him be righteous still:
and he that is holy, let him be holy
still” (Revelation 22:11). Scriptural
testimony of mankind’s future is
diametrically opposed to the theory of
evolution, which ascribes to no
resurrection and no life beyond the
grave.
Jesus promised a wonderful future
A who
Living
Soul
for A.
those
believe
in Him: “Let not
your heart be troubled: ye believe in
God, believe also in me. In my Father’s
house are many mansions: if it were
not so, I would have told you. I go to
prepare a place for you. And if I go and
prepare a place for you, I will come
again, and receive you unto myself;
that where I am, there ye may be also”
(John 14:1-3).
B.
A
Living
Soul
As we await the return of Jesus
Christ, we have the assurance that
upon our death we will enjoy the
blessings of Paradise. When the thief
on the cross asked Jesus to
remember him when He came into His
kingdom, Jesus answered, “Verily I
say unto thee, To day shalt thou be
with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).
Because Paul knew the certainty of
A Living
Soul to the
thisB.
promise,
he proclaimed
Philippian church, “For I am in a strait
betwixt two, having a desire to depart,
and to be with Christ; which is far
better” (Philippians 1:23). Some Bible
students believe Paul wrote of his own
experience of being caught up into the
third heaven, which he also identified
as Paradise. (See II Corinthians 12:1-4.)
Perhaps this could be one of the
reasons Paul was eager to experience
the next world.
We B.
do not
know for Soul
certain that Paul
A Living
spoke of his own personal experience
or of that of another person in this
passage, but we can be confident of its
truth regarding eternity.
Paul also wrote about the coming of
the Lord to which Jesus had referred.
(See I Thessalonians 4:15-17.)
“For this we say unto you by the
I Thessalonians
word
of the Lord, that4:15-16
we which are
alive and remain unto the coming
of the Lord shall not prevent them
which are asleep. For the Lord
himself shall descend from heaven
with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel, and with the trump of
God: and the dead in Christ shall
rise first”
(I Thessalonians 4:15-16).
I Thessalonians 4:17
“Then we which are alive and
remain shall be caught up together
with them in the clouds, to meet the
Lord in the air: and so shall we ever
be with the Lord”
(I Thessalonians 4:15-17).
that Soul
the immaterial
B.TheAbelief
Living
part of humans awaits the coming
of the Lord in Paradise and that the
body will be resurrected along with
living believers at the second
coming of the Lord is foreign to
evolutionary theory, which sees
human existence merely ending at
death.
ItB.
is A
notLiving
only the Soul
righteous who
will rise from the dead. As we have
already seen, the resurrection will
include the just and unjust—both
those who have done good and
those who have done evil. In the
Book of Revelation, John described
the Great White Throne judgment.
(See Revelation 20:11-15.)
“And I saw a great white throne, and
Revelation
him
that sat on it,20:11-13
from whose face
the earth and the heaven fled away;
and there was found no place for
them. And I saw the dead, small and
great, stand before God; and the
books were opened: and another
book was opened, which is the book
of life: and the dead were judged out
of those things which were written in
the books, according to their works”
(Revelation 20:11-13).
“And
the sea gave
up the dead
Revelation
20:14-15
which were in it; and death and hell
delivered up the dead which were
in them: and they were judged
every man according to their
works. And death and hell were
cast into the lake of fire. This is the
second death. And whosoever was
not found written in the book of life
was cast into the lake of fire”
(Revelation 20:14-15).
For the evolutionist, the ideas of
B. Aand
Living
Heaven
Hell areSoul
fantasies.
According to them, all people—
regardless of how they lived their
lives—experience the same fate: death
followed by extinction. To them, no one
experiences an eternal destiny based
on how he lived. However, no person
can reconcile this theory with biblical
eschatology.
Internalizing The
B. A Living Soul
Message
Atheistic evolution is at odds with
what the Scriptures say about
Creation, the nature of humanity, and
human destiny. Although theistic
evolution tries to find a way to
harmonize the idea of creation by God
with evolutionary ideas, it can do so
only by dismissing or radically
reinterpreting the biblical accounts of
Creation.
B. A Living Soul
There are many fully qualified
scientists who reject the theory of
evolution in favor of what Scripture
says about Creation—that things
were created ex nihilo, which is
“from or out of nothing” (MerriamWebster’s Dictionary). There is
nothing about authentic science that
requires belief in evolution.
The theory of evolution violates
commonly accepted scientific laws like
B.
A
Living
Soul
the First and Second Laws of
Thermodynamics—the Law of MassEnergy Conservation and the Law of
Increasing Entropy, respectively. The
first law says that nothing in the
universe is now being created or
annihilated, and the second law states
that everything continues to become
less and less organized. These two
laws are the exact opposite of the
theory of evolution, which promotes
the idea that everything is progressing
upwards.
Not only is evolutionary theory
contrary to the creation account of
B.
A
Living
Soul
Scripture, but it also denies what the
Bible says about the invisible realm,
including angels and spirits, the
immaterial aspect of human existence,
and life after death. Bible students may
not all agree precisely on the
interpretation of the first chapter of
Genesis; however, any interpretation
that proposes God created the
heavens and the earth out of nothing at
a specific time is irreconcilable with
the theory of evolution.
Since
theory of
evolution is
B. Athe
Living
Soul
accepted by faith rather than hard
evidence, it is in a very real sense a
religion of itself. For those of us who
believe the Bible, the choice is clear.
We accept the Bible’s account of
creation as true and reject as false
those notions that question or dismiss
its witness. Without question, God
created from nothing everything that
exists.