Transcript Slide 1

THE QUESTION: Science tells us
that the earth is billions of years
old, but the creation account in
Genesis seems to indicate that
the earth is really just thousands
of years old. How can the Bible
be true if it can’t get that right?
“The problem is get [people] to reject irrational and supernatural
explanations of the world, the demons that exist only in their
imaginations, and to accept a social and intellectual apparatus,
Science, as the only begetter of truth.”
- Richard Lewontin, Harvard Geneticist
“I am all in favor of a dialogue between science and religion, but not
a constructive dialogue. One of the great achievements of science
has been, if not to make it impossible for an intelligent person to be
religious, then at least to make it possible for them not to be
religious. We should not retreat from this accomplishment.”
- Steven Weinberg, Physicist
“Any debate with creationists would give them the oxygen of
respectability.”
- Richard Dawkins, Evolutionist/Atheist
“In some ways these chapters [Genesis 1-11] are the most important
ones in the Bible, for they put man in his cosmic setting and show
him his peculiar uniqueness. They explain man’s wonder and yet his
flaw. Without a proper understanding of these chapters we have no
answer to the problems of metaphysics, morals, or epistemology,
and furthermore, the work of Christ becomes one more upper-story
“religious” answer.”
- Francis Schaeffer, Genesis in Space and Time
Primary Cause
Theism
Naturalism
Secondary Cause
4 Basic Views of Origins
1. Naturalistic Evolution – No God involved in creation; things
emerged by pure, natural processes.
2. Naturalistic Creation – No theistic Creator beyond the world;
only a creative Mind within the universe that creates.
3. Theistic Evolution – God directly created the universe, but
living things emerged under His control by largely natural
processes.
4. Theistic Creation – God directly created the universe, living
things, and human beings. How many things were originally
created and how much time it took to create them is debated
Herbert Spencer on categories of reality
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Time
Force
Action
Space
Matter
Time
Force
Action
Space
Matter
“In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the earth.”
– Genesis 1:1
Spencer was an evolutionist and coined the phrase “survival of the fittest”
7 Orthodox Views of Theistic Creation
I.
Young Earth – Earth is thousands of years old.
1. Standard Six-Day Creation
2. Ideal-Time
II.
Old Earth – Earth could be millions/billions of years old.
1. Long ‘Days’
2. Revelatory-Days
3. Day-Age
4. Literary Framework
5. Gap View
Six-Day Creation View
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Young earth category
Interprets Genesis literally and chronologically
Natural reading of the text presents the case that the six
days in Genesis 1 are six normal 24-hour days
The normal use of the word ‘Yom’, the numbered series,
and the repetition of ‘evening and morning’ support six
days of creation
Comparison with a six-day work
week (Ex. 20:11) supports six
days of creation
Ideal-Time View
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Young earth category
All things were created with the appearance of age. For
example, Adam may have looked 30 years old when he
was created but was only seconds old
Applies to all things including the earth, trees, etc.
Would cause certain scientific tests to arrive at incorrect
conclusions
Long ‘Days’ View
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Old earth category
Proposes both biblical and scientific evidence to support
the view that the ‘days’ of Genesis are actually long
periods of time
‘Yom’ (Hebrew word for day) often means more than just a
24-hour period of time. “Day” is from God’s perspective
"This is the account of the
heavens and the earth when they
were created, in the day that the
Lord God made earth and
heaven." (Genesis 2:4)
Seventh “day” has been
thousands of years long (God still
resting
Long ‘Days’ View
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Third day may be longer than 24 hours. "The earth
brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their
kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their
kind; and God saw that it was good." (Genesis 1:12).
Process seems to be natural, not supernatural
Sixth day may be longer than 24 hours. Land animals,
man, woman created, and Adam names the animals
Speed of light and rate of
expansion of the universe
Scientific dating of rocks and the
rate that salt runs into the sea
and the amount of salt there
seems to indicate long ‘days’
Revelatory Days View
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Old earth category
Asserts that the six days were 24-hour days of revelation
that God gave to Moses who wrote Genesis
Just as God used visions to reveal future events to his
prophets, this view asserts that God revealed a past
series of events to Moses regarding creation
Some say “asah” used in Exodus 20:11 can mean “reveal:
“For in six days the Lord made
the heavens and the earth, the
sea and all that is in them, and
rested on the seventh day;
therefore the Lord blessed the
sabbath day and made it holy."
(Exodus 20:11)
Day-Age View
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Old earth category
Asserts that the six days were 24-hour days of actual
creation
Between each day there was a long period of time where
things took place
Third day indicates a process may be involved that took
longer than 24 hours.
"The earth brought forth
vegetation, plants yielding seed
after their kind, and trees bearing
fruit with seed in them, after their
kind; and God saw that it was
good." (Genesis 1:12)
Literary Framework View
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Old earth category
Asserts that the six days were an ancient literary device
that was sometimes used to frame certain periods of time
in order to encapsulate them in literary form much like we
use a ‘chapter’ in a book to do the same
“Morning” and “Evening” were natural ways to point to a
beginning and an end
Held by Augustine who believed
God created everything instantly,
but used a allegorical framework
to convey His work
However, Genesis doesn’t seem
to be the genre of poetry
Gap/Ruin-Reconstruction View
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Old earth category
Thomas Chalmers early champion
States that there is a gap of time either between Genesis
1:1 and 1:2 or there was a gap of time that occurred prior
to 1:1
Lucifer was originally given dominion of the earth as the
‘covering cherub’, but when he sinned, God judged both
him and his domain
The six days of creation in
Genesis are not an original
creation, but a reconstruction of
the earth
God then granted a new steward
– man – to be in charge of the
remade earth
Gap/Ruin-Reconstruction View
Original creation
of Heavens and earth;
Lucifer given dominion
Fall of Lucifer;
he and earth
judged by God
Untold number of years
Gen. 1:1
God remakes Fall of man;
earth and gives Satan regains
it to Adam
earth
Untold number of years
Is. 14:12-14
Ez. 28:12-17
2 Peter 3:3-6
Human history up until now…
?of years
Gen. 1:2-31
Gen. 3
Gap/Ruin-Reconstruction View
" In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the
surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over
the surface of the waters." (Genesis 1:1-2)
“formless” = “tohuw”; literally “a wreck/chaos”
“void” = “bohuw”; literally “a waste”
Only used in 2 other places (Jer. 4:23, Isa. 34:11);
describes divine judgment
"For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (He is the
God who formed the earth and made it, He established it
and did not create it “tohuw”, but formed it to be inhabited),
“I am the Lord, and there is none else." (Isaiah 45:18)
Gap/Ruin-Reconstruction View
" In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the
surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over
the surface of the waters." (Genesis 1:1-2)
“formless” = “tohuw”; literally “a wreck/chaos”
“void” = “bohuw”; literally “a waste”
Only used in 2 other places (Jer. 4:23, Isa. 34:11);
describes divine judgment
"I looked on the earth, and behold, it was formless and void; And to the heavens,
and they had no light. I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking,
And all the hills moved to and fro. I looked, and behold, there was no man, And all
the birds of the heavens had fled. I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a
wilderness, And all its cities were pulled down Before the Lord, before His fierce
anger." (Jeremiah 4:23-26)
Gap/Ruin-Reconstruction View
" In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the
surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over
the surface of the waters." (Genesis 1:1-2)
“darkness” = “hosek”; never used in Bible for good
“deep” = “tahom”; ancient symbol for chaos
Lexicons define it as ‘flood’, ‘deluge’,
"Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it
separate the waters from the waters.” God made the expanse, and separated the
waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the
expanse; and it was so. God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening
and there was morning, a second day. Then God said, “Let the waters below the
heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so.
God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and
God saw that it was good." (Genesis 1:6-10)
Gap/Ruin-Reconstruction View
"For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by
the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth
was formed out of water and by water, through which the
world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water."
(2 Peter 3:5-6)
Goes back to Gen. 1:6
Could go back to Gen. 1:2
Gap/Ruin-Reconstruction View
When did Lucifer fall?
"Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him,
‘Thus says the Lord God, “You had the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom
and perfect in beauty. “You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every
precious stone was your covering: The ruby, the topaz and the diamond;
The beryl, the onyx and the jasper; The lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the
emerald; And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, Was
in you. On the day that you were created They were prepared. “You were
the anointed cherub who covers, And I placed you there. You were on the
holy mountain of God; You walked in the midst of the stones of fire. “You
were blameless in your ways From the day you were created Until
unrighteousness was found in you. “By the abundance of your trade You
were internally filled with violence, And you sinned; Therefore I have cast
you as profane From the mountain of God. And I have destroyed you, O
covering cherub, From the midst of the stones of fire. “Your heart was lifted
up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your
splendor. I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings, That they may see
you." (Ezekiel 28:12-17)
7 Orthodox Views of Theistic Creation
I.
Young Earth – Earth is thousands of years old.
1. Standard Six-Day Creation
2. Ideal-Time
II.
Old Earth – Earth could be millions/billions of years old.
1. Long ‘Days’
2. Revelatory-Days
3. Day-Age
4. Literary Framework
5. Gap View
The Only Options
“There are not many options – essentially
just two. Either human intelligence
ultimately owes its origin to mindless
matter; or there is a Creator. It is strange
that some people claim that it is their
intelligence that leads them to prefer the
first to the second.”
- John Lennox, God’s Undertaker
The Core Positions
Naturalistic/Evolutionist View
Creation
An eternal universe
Ultimate reality is impersonal matter –
no God
An eternal Creator
Ultimate reality is an infinite, personal,
loving God
Everything we know came about by
chance, with no ultimate purpose
Universe lovingly created by God for a
specific purpose
Man is the product of impersonal matter
plus time plus chance. Consequent
result is that man has no ultimate
dignity nor any meaning than what is
subjectively derived
Man is created by God in His image and
is loved by God; therefore all men are
endowed with eternal value and dignity
which is not derived from themselves
but from the Source, transcending
themselves
Morality is defined by every individual
Morality is defined by God and is
according to his views and interests. It is immutable because it is based on God’s
ultimately relative as every person is the unchanging and holy character.
final authority for their own views
The afterlife brings personal annihilation The afterlife involves either life with God
and extinction for everyone
or separation from them.
The Big Questions…
Evolution contributes nothing to answering this question as it
involves the supposed change that occurs in already existing
biological entities. Evolution tries to explain how something
works, not why something exists.
“It is self-evident that only mind can create mind.”, J. S. Mill
Such as case violates what we know from the study of
causation, namely that a cause cannot give what it doesn’t
have.
The Cosmological Argument
• Everything that begins to exist must have a cause
• The universe began to exist
• Therefore, the universe had a cause
“I never asserted so absurd a proposition as that anything might arise
without a cause.” - David Hume, Scottish Skeptic
“Nothing can come into being from that which is not”- Demokritos,
Greek Philosopher
The Cosmological Argument
"By faith we understand that the worlds were
prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen
was not made out of things which are visible."
(Hebrews 11:3)
• Rebuke to Platonic cosmogony (Demiurge forming the world from
pre-existent matter)
• Rebuke to theistic evolution
Conclusions
• Creation is the best and most reasonable stance to hold when
examining how everything we know came to be
• Primary reason natural man rejects creation is because an
impersonal universe cannot call him into moral account like a
personal Creator can
• The seven orthodox views of Genesis should not be a test for
faith and do not violate any core Christian doctrine
• Young vs. Old Earth should not be a stumbling block you put
before a person considering Christianity