6. The fifth day

The creation of fish and fowl

1:20-23

 

1. The waters are filled with fish

2. The air is filled with birds.

3. We see by the end of the fifth day that God saw all that He had created and pronounced it as being good.

 

7. The sixth day

The creation of land creatures and man

1:24-25

 

1. Cattle most likely refers to domesticated type animals

2. Beasts of the earth:

Large carnivore like lions, beasts, elephants, and most likely dinosaurs

3. Creeping things:

Worms and insects, Bats and rats

4. In Genesis 1:27-31 God tells us about our origins and responsibilities

 

 

God and man

Exodus 4:10-11, Psalms 139, Jeremiah 17:9, Matthew 12:30-33, Mark 7:1-23, John 4:24 Romans 12:2, Ephesians 2:1-3, 4:21 -24, Colossians 3:10

1) Man was created in the image of God
Genesis 1:26-28, 11:7, 2:4-7, 5:1-4
We are all created in His image, like a king who creates statues to show his reign over a certain religion. We are Gods likeness, created to show His reign over the world. He created us to be in fellowship with Him but that fellowship was broken through the sin of Adam. Jesus came in the flesh to save us from our sins and make us one with God again. Psalms 96, Romans 11:33-34

2) Man in the last days without God
Titus 1:10-16, 3:9-11
Psalms 58:1-5
Mark 7:1-32
Luke 16:19-31
Romans 1:18-32, 3:9-19, 14:23
1Timothy 1:3-10
2Timothy 3:1-13
James 4:17

3) Man with God in fellowship
Psalms 91, 119:9-16, 139, 147:5-6
Ecclesiastes 12:12-14
Isaiah 40:28-31
Ezekiel 33:7-20
Romans 3:23
1Timothy 2:1-6
2Timothy2:15-16, 21-26
Titus 2

A) A Godly prayer
Psalms 119:25-40

 
B) God hates
Proverbs 6:16-19

1) Fear God Hebrews 3:12-15
2) Stay with God Hebrews 5:12-1 4, 6:1-7
3) Love God through trials
James 1:8-13
The old natural man is corrupt from birth (the flesh)
Our conscience is bad through sin brought on by Adam and we are all born under sin.
The new man (spiritual) is created after God. Created in righteousness and true holiness
Romans 3 – 6
Ephesians 2:1-18

 

8.The seventh day

God rests

2:1-3

 

His divine resting indicates the end of His special creation acts.

All is good and in order

His work is complete.

 

The seventh day is God’s sabbath.

A day set aside as holy unto Himself. Later on God introduces this concept to Israel as an element of His covenant(Ex 20:8-11)

This day of rest is also setting an example for man. Man needs to have at least one day of rest, the precise day does not matter. We should have at least one day for rest not because we are commanded but because God introduced it for our own good. It would seem unbiblical to work seven days a week all of the time and we should understand it was made for man not the other way around.

The Heavens and the Earth

 

 

Heaven

(1.) Definitions., The phrase “heaven and earth” is used to indicate the whole universe (Gen_1:1; Jer_23:24; Act_17:24). According to the Jewish notion there were three heavens,

2. There are three heavens mentioned in the Bible.

(a) The fist heaven or The firmament, as “fowls of the heaven” (Gen_2:19; Gen_7:3, Gen_7:23; Psa_8:8, etc.), “the eagles of heaven”

This heaven is described as the home of the birds and clouds – Daniel 4:12

(b) The second heaven or The starry heavens (Deu_17:3; Jer_8:2; Mat_24:29).

This heaven is described as the home of the sun, moon, and stars – Psalm 19:1

(c) The third heaven or The heaven of heavens (Deu_10:14; 1Ki_8:27; Psa_115:16; Psa_148:4; 2Co_12:2).

This heaven is described as the home of the angels or departed saints. – 2 Corinth 12:2

 

The usual Hebrew word for “heavens” is shamayim, a plural form meaning “heights,” “elevations” “Over there”

(Gen_1:1; Gen_2:1).

 

It simply states that God created “The down here and the up there”

 

Jer 23:24  Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.

 

Act 17:24  God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;

 

The Solar system

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

 

The solar system comprises the Sun and the retinue of celestial objects gravitationally bound to it: nine planets and their 158 currently known moons, as well as asteroids, meteoroids, planetoids, comets, and interplanetary dust. Astronomers are debating the classification of a potential tenth planet and other trans-Neptunian objects.

The principal component of the solar system is the Sun (astronomical symbol ☉); a main sequence G2 star that contains 99.86% of the system’s known mass and dominates it gravitationally. Because of its large mass, the Sun has an interior density high enough to sustain nuclear fusion, releasing enormous amounts of energy, most of which is radiated into space in the form of electromagnetic radiation, including visible light. The Sun’s two largest orbiting bodies, Jupiter and Saturn, together account for more than 90% of the system’s remaining mass. (The Oort cloud too might hold a substantial percentage, but as yet its existence is unconfirmed). [1]

In broad terms, the charted regions of the solar system consist of the Sun, four rocky bodies close to it called the terrestrial planets, an inner belt of rocky asteroids, four gas giant planets, and an outer belt of small, icy bodies known as the Kuiper belt. One planet, Pluto, is also a member of the Kuiper belt. The major planets are, in order, Mercury (☿), Venus (♀), Earth (♁), Mars (♂), Jupiter (♃), Saturn (♄), Uranus (♅/), Neptune (♆), and Pluto (♇). Many planets have moons orbiting them, and the largest are encircled by planetary rings of dust and other particles. The planets (with the exception of Earth) are named after gods and goddesses from Greco-Roman mythology.

Most objects in orbit round the Sun lie within the same shallow plane, called the ecliptic plane, which is roughly parallel to the Sun’s equator. The major planets, with the exception of Pluto, lie very close to the plane, while comets and kuiper belt objects often lie at extreme angles to it. The majority of solar system objects also orbit in the same direction in which the Sun rotates. Although no major planet’s orbit is a true circle, all save Pluto have roughly circular orbits.

The Sun

The Sun is the solar system’s parent star, and far and away its chief component. It is classed as a moderately large yellow dwarf; however, this name is misleading, as on the scale of stars in our galaxy, the Sun is rather large and bright. The Sun is placed near the middle of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, but stars larger and hotter than it are rare, whereas stars dimmer and cooler than it are very common. The vast majority of stars are red dwarfs, though their inherent dimness means they are under-represented in star catalogues, as we can observe only those few that are very near the Sun in space.

The Sun lies on the main sequence of the H-R diagram, which means, according to current theories of stellar evolution, that it is in the “prime of life” for a star, in that it has not yet exhausted its store of hydrogen for nuclear fusion, and been forced, as older red giants must, to fuse more inefficient elements such as helium and carbon. The Sun is growing increasingly bright as it ages. Early in its history, it was roughly 75 percent as bright as it is today. Calculations of the ratios of hydrogen and helium within the Sun suggest it is roughly halfway though its life cycle, and will eventually begin moving off the main sequence, becoming larger, brighter and redder, until, about five billion years from now, it too will become a red giant.

The Sun is a population I star, meaning that it is fairly new in galactic terms, having been born in the later stages of the universe’s evolution. As such, it contains far more elements heavier than hydrogen and helium (“metals” in astronomical parlance) than older population II stars such as those found in globular clusters. Since elements heavier than hydrogen and helium were formed in the cores of ancient and exploding stars, the first generation of stars had to die before the universe could become enriched with them. For this reason, the very oldest stars contain very little “metal”, while stars born later have more. This high “metallicity” is thought to have been crucial in the Sun’s developing a planetary system, since planets form from accretion of metals. [3]

 

The heliospheric current sheet

The Sun radiates a continuous stream of charged particles, a plasma known as solar wind, ejecting it outwards at speeds of over 2 million kilometres per hour, creating a very tenuous “atmosphere” (the heliosphere), that permiates the solar system for at least 100 AU. This environment is known as the interplanetary medium. Small quantities of cosmic dust (some of it arguably interstellar in origin) are also present in the interplanetary medium and are responsible for the phenomenon of zodiacal light. The influence of the Sun’s rotating magnetic field on the interplanetary medium creates the largest structure in the solar system, the heliospheric current sheet. [4]

Earth’s magnetic field protects its atmosphere from interacting with the solar wind; however, Venus and Mars do not have magnetic fields, and the solar wind causes their atmospheres to gradually bleed away into space.

The Inner planets

The four inner or terrestrial planets are characterised by their dense, rocky composition, lack of primary atmospheres, and few or no moons or ring systems. They are composed largely of minerals with high melting points such as silicates to form the planets’ solid crusts and semi-liquid mantles, and metallic dust grains such as iron, which forms their cores. All have impact craters and many possess tectonic surface features, such as rift valleys and volcanoes. The term inner planet should not be confused with inferior planet, which designates those planets which are closer to the Sun than the Earth is (i.e. Mercury and Venus).

The four inner planets are:

Mercury

Mercury (0.4 AU), the closest planet to the Sun, is also the smallest and most atypical of the inner planets, having no atmosphere and, to date, no observed geological activity save that produced by impacts. Its relatively large iron core and thin mantle have not yet been adequately explained, though hypotheses include that its outer layers were stripped off by a giant impact, or that it was prevented from fully accreting by the Sun’s gravity. The upcoming MESSENGER probe should aid in resolving this issue.The Romans named the planet after the fleet-footed messenger god Mercury, probably for its fast apparent motion in the twilight sky

 

Venus

0.7 AU), the first truly terrestrial planet, is of comparable mass to the Earth, and, like Earth, possesses a thick silicate mantle around an iron core, as well as a substantial atmosphere and evidence of one-time internal geological activity, such as volcanoes. However, It is much drier than Earth and its atmosphere is 90 times as dense and composed overwhelmingly of carbon dioxide with traces of sulfuric acid. Unlike Earth, Venus’s crust is not divided into tectonic plates but instead comprises a single, very thick rind. Distribution of impact craters suggests that Venus’s surface features are all of the same, relatively young age, suggesting that they are periodically erased by sudden, massive volcanism. However, recent computer remodelling suggests the resurfacing could have been as gradual as 2 billion years. [5] The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love, and most of its surface features are named after famous and mythological women.

 

Earth and Moon

The largest and densest of the inner planets, Earth (1 AU) is also the only one to demonstrate unequivocal evidence of ongoing geological activity. Its liquid hydrosphere, unique among the terrestrials, is probably the reason why Earth is also the only planet where multi-plate tectonics has been observed, since water acts as a lubricant for subduction. [6] Its atmosphere is radically different from the other terrestrials, having been altered by the presence of life to contain 21 percent free oxygen. Its satellite, the Moon, is sometimes considered a terrestrial planet in a co-orbit with its partner, since its orbit around the Sun never actually loops back on itself when observed from above. [7] The Moon possesses many of the features in common with other terrestrial planets, though it lacks an iron core.

Mars

(1.5 AU), smaller than the Earth or Venus, possesses a tenuous atmosphere of carbon dioxide. Its surface, peppered with vast volcanoes and rift valleys such as Valles Marineris, shows that it was once geologically active and recent evidence[8] suggests this may have been true until very recently. Mars possesses two tiny moons (Deimos and Phobos) thought to be captured asteroids. It is named after Mars, the Roman god of war. Mars is also known as “The Red Planet” due to its reddish nighttime appearance when seen from Earth. The prefix areo-, from the Greek god of war, Ares, refers to Mars in the same way geo- refers to Earth — for example, areology versus geology.

 

Outer planets

The four outer planets, or gas giants, (sometimes called Jovian planets) are so large they collectively make up 99 percent of the mass known to orbit the Sun. Jupiter and Saturn are true giants, at 318 and 95 Earth masses, respectively, and composed largely of hydrogen and helium. Uranus and Neptune are both substantially smaller, being only 14 and 17 Earth masses, respectively. Their atmospheres contain a smaller percentage of hydrogen and helium, and a higher percentage of “ices”, such as water, ammonia and methane. For this reason some astronomers suggested that they belong in their own category, “Uranian planets,” or “ice giants.” The term outer planet should not be confused with superior planet, which designates those planets which lie outside Earth’s orbit (thus consisting of the outer planets plus Mars).

Jupiter

 at 318 Earth masses, is 2.5 times the mass of all the other planets put together. Its composition of largely hydrogen and helium is not very different from that of the Sun. Jupiter’s atmosphere possesses a number of semi-permanent features, such as cloud bands and the great red spot. Three of its 63 satellites, Ganymede, Io and Europa, share elements in common with the terrestrial planets, such as volcanism and internal heating. Jupiter has a faint, smoky ring. Jupiter’s intense gravitational pull attracts many comets, and may have played a role in lowering the number of impacts Earth has experienced in its history.[12] Jupiter has been known since ancient times and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky. The Romans named the planet after the Roman god Jupiter (also called Jove).

Saturn

famous for its extensive ring system, has many qualities in common with Jupiter, including its atmospheric composition, though it is far less massive, being only 95 Earth masses. Two of its 49 moons, Titan and Enceladus, show signs of geological activity, though they are largely made of ice. Titan is the only satellite in the solar system with a substantial atmosphere.It was named after the Roman god Saturn. Its symbol is a stylized representation of the god’s sickle

Uranus

 at 14 Earth masses, is the smallest of the outer planets. Uniquely among the planets, it orbits the Sun on its side; its axial tilt lies at over ninety degrees to the ecliptic. Its core is remarkably cold, radiating almost no heat into space. This has led some to speculate that, unlike the similar Neptune, Uranus is undifferentiated and has no core. The lack of internal heat means that Uranus’s surface features are relatively bland, with little in the way of cloud bands. Uranus has 27 moons, five of which are relatively large, though none show any evidence of geological activity. Its ring system is dark and insubstantial, and composed of sparse fragments larger than 50 m in diameter. It is named after Uranus, the Greek god of the sky and progenitor of the other gods

Neptune

 Neptune is slightly larger than Uranus, at 17 Earth masses, and radiates far more internal heat. Its peculiar ring system is composed of a number of dense “arcs” of material separated by gaps. Neptune’s largest moon, Triton, is geologically active, with geysers of liquid nitrogen. The heat at Neptune’s core drive some of the fastest winds in the solar system. Neptune possesses marked surface features and cloud bands, though they appear far more changeable than those of Jupiter. The planet is named after the Roman god of the sea.

Pluto

the solar system’s smallest planet, is considered to be part of the Kuiper Belt population. In fact more and more astronomers are beginning to believe Pluto should no longer be classified as a planet, but only a Kuiper Belt object because of the fact the there have been objects found larger then Pluto, orbiting further then Pluto. If this is the case then either Pluto should be downgraded from its planet status, or all of these objects need to be classified as planets, such as Sedna- some would argue. If Pluto were placed near the Sun, it would develop a tail, like comets do. Although accepted by the public as a planet since its discovery in 1930, debates about Pluto’s identity within the scientific community are still unresolved. Pluto has a large moon (the largest in the solar system relative to its own size), called Charon, as well as two much smaller moons called Nix and Hydra. Like the Earth/Moon, Pluto and Charon are often considered a double planet. The name retained for the planet is that of the Roman god Pluto, and it is also intended to evoke the initials of the astronomer Percival Lowell, who predicted that a planet would be found beyond Neptune. The name was first suggested by Venetia Phair (née Burney), at the time an eleven-year-old girl from Oxford, England.[2] Over the breakfast table one morning her grandfather, who worked at Oxford University’s Bodleian Library, was reading about the discovery of the new planet in the Times newspaper. He asked his granddaughter to suggest a good name for it. Venetia, who was quite interested in Greek and Roman myths and legends, suggested the name of the Roman god of the underworld.

If these other galaxies are not for our benefit, why did God create them? Why did God create such a large universe? Is there some special purpose for such a large universe or did the blueprint for a quality “Grade A” universe come in only one size?

Before we discovered that the universe was so huge, it was easy for us to think that we were probably alone in the universe. It was easy to think that the few thousand small dots in the sky were only there to provide us light at night. However, when we now see that over 99.999999…% of the universe was not created for “our benefit,” we have to wonder why God made it so large. With a universe this size, it becomes easier to believe that maybe God has other special creations out there. Maybe God has hundreds or even trillions of planets inhabited with life.

If there are other life forms out there, what are they like? What are their levels of intelligence and complexity? Do they have a “soul?” Does God take a personal interest in them like He does with us? If they have sinned, has God provided a special redemption for them like He has for us? Will their “redeemed” spend eternity in the same Heaven with us? Will their “lost” go to our Hell? Will their redeemed have the special privilege of being the “Bride of Christ” along with us?

Obviously, the answers to these questions are beyond our reach. Technology is too limited to verify the existence (or non-existence) of life and the Bible doesn’t even address this subject. Therefore, as I present my view on this subject, keep in mind it is only my opinion and is not Biblical dogma.  Do I believe there is extraterrestrial life on other planets? No. You may be surprised with this answer considering what I have already said. I believe that our tiny insignificant planet is the only planet in this humongous universe that has life. As incredulous and arrogant as this may sound, I believe that God built this humongous universe just for the human creation package.

There are a couple minor reasons why I believe this, but the main reason is the limited time frame God has placed on the universe. It appears that the universe has only been in existence for about 6,000 years and will probably be destroyed in one or two thousand years. This means that the universe will probably not reach the age of 8,000 years. (See footnote #2 below for an explanation on how these figures were derived.)

If the universe has a maximum life of less than 8,000 years, then all of the worlds that it contains will also have a maximum life of less than 8,000 years. As the footnote below shows, God will bring our society to its final culmination just before He ends the universe. Likewise, if there are other worlds out there, God will have to bring their societies to a final culmination before He ends the universe. If you are only talking about a couple planets with life, I can see (statistically) how this might be probable.  Remember, a main argument some Christians have used to support the existence of extraterrestrial life is the “apparent” lack of need for these other galaxies. It is reasoned that if these galaxies have zero impact on us (or on each other) they must have been created to support other creation projects. Therefore, if supporting extraterrestrial life were the only reason for their existence, we would then have to assume that all of these galaxies have planets with life. If all of these galaxies don’t have life, we are back to our original question of, “Why did God create all of these unneeded galaxies?”

Assuming that there is only one planet with life per galaxy, there would be over 100 billion planets with life. If, however, every star in each galaxy has a planet with life, you will have to multiply the above number by at least another 100 billion. It seems very improbable (statistically) that all of these other societies will have their final culmination at the exact same time as us. Our God could do that, of course, but it seems highly unlikely.

If the purpose of this large universe was not to accommodate other life forms, why then did God create it so large? I see four main reasons why God made this universe as large as He did. First, it seems that almost everything God does is a first-class major production. I think God likes creating spectacular and awesome things and He enjoys looking at the finished product.

Second, I think God wanted to give our world a surrounding that has no visible end, a surrounding that seems complete. God could have created our world the same way Hollywood creates a city street for a movie:  Fake fronts on all of the buildings. When you walk down a Hollywood street, you see a city that looks complete. However, when you take a closer look and peek behind the doors and windows, you find that the buildings are not real. I think God wanted to create a surrounding for us that could withstand as much scrutiny as we could give.

Obviously, up until the past couple hundred years, the depth of our scrutiny had not been very deep. However, all of this has changed. We now have technology that allows us to “peek behind the doors and windows” of our surroundings. For example, we used to think that atoms were the smallest building block elements. (Of course, this was after we discovered that “fire, water, wind, and dirt” were not the basic building block elements.)

As technology increased, we discovered that atoms were made up of neutrons, protons, and electrons. Later, we discovered that these small particles were made up of smaller particles called quarks. I personally don’t think we will ever find the smallest building block particles. Likewise, I don’t think we will ever find the final limits of outer space. I believe God knew that we would eventually break out of the shell of our immediate surroundings and He wanted something out there that we could see and explore.

What would have happened if God made our surrounding boundaries much smaller? I’ll try to give you an example. Let’s say that God created a brand new world and populated it with a colony of 1,000 people. These people were placed in the middle of a territory that looked like one of our deserts. As far as they could see in all directions, there was nothing but sand, cactus, rocky hills, etc. Since the only water supply was in the middle of this desert, this primitive community could not travel more than 20 miles in any direction.

A thousand years later the community is still centered around the water supply. The faces have changed and their population has fluctuated, but the community is still tied to their water supply. Then, one day someone discovered that glass can be made by super-heating the desert sand. Before long, large water jugs were made and people began to travel and explore. As people reached distances of 100 miles, they discovered something unusual. They find that the “endless” desert suddenly stops. About 100 miles in all directions from the watering hole they find a gigantic wall surrounding the desert. Since this wall was blue in color, it blended in well with the background. Even the rocky hills suddenly stopped with no back sides to them. Since this wall seemed infinitely tall and indestructible, exploration stopped at this point.

This discovery, of course, would not alter their belief in God. It would not change their life significantly. Life would carry on as usual up to that 100 mile boundary. I do believe, however, that this discovery would be rather confusing and disconcerting. I think they would wonder why God chose to put the boundaries where He did. They would wonder why God put the “end of the world” so easily within their grasp. Somehow their world would probably seem incomplete.

The third reason that I think God created our universe so large was for the sake of those in eternity (both the angels and believers in Heaven). God is obviously mightier, more complex, and more magnificent than the universe He created. This immense universe provides others a tangible glimpse of His greatness and power. It displays His wisdom, majesty, and creativity. Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God.”

The fourth reason I think God created our universe so large was to give those of us on Earth a glimpse of His power and majesty. I think He wanted to demonstrate that He truly is Lord of lords and King of kings. If the universe consisted of only our planet, we would think God was great, but His true greatness would still be hidden from us. Now, that we have a glimpse of the magnitude of the universe, we have a better appreciation of God’s true greatness. We learn more about God as we learn more about His creation. Yet, with all we have seen, I still don’t think we even come close to understanding God’s true magnitude.

As I said before, we were unaware of the immense size of the universe until this last century. Therefore, some people say that this gigantic universe was not created to show us (those here on Earth) His glory. I have two responses to this. First, God’s revelation of Himself is progressive. Mankind has learned more about God as the centuries have unfolded. Moses knew more about God than Abraham. King David knew more than Moses and the Apostle Paul knew more than King David. Therefore, I don’t find it surprising that we know more about God than our predecessors.

My second response is I think God continually reveals more about Himself to keep us humble. As we (mankind) make educational and scientific advances, we begin to get delusions of grandeur. Our “great” technological advances tend to make us proud, arrogant, and overconfident. As we begin to harness incredible powers through technology, we begin to think we can control almost anything. I think God continually reveals more about Himself (through His creation) to help us keep our “great” advances in proper perspective.

Although I do not believe there are other life forms in our universe, I do believe God is currently working on other creation projects. Our God is a creative God and I believe He always has and always will be creating things. I don’t believe, however, that they are part of our realm or dimension. It is quite possible that God is currently working on dozens of other creation projects in other realms.

Obviously, we have no idea how many other realms or dimensions God has created. We shouldn’t be surprised that an Almighty God (a being who has no beginning nor end) would be restricted by our simple four dimensions (height, width, depth, and time). The Bible briefly mentions some of these other realms. For example, we know Heaven and Hell are not part of our realm because they won’t be destroyed when our universe is destroyed.

Heaven and Hell are eternal in nature, whereas our universe is in a continual state of deterioration. When you buy a new car it doesn’t take too many years for entropy (2nd Law of Thermodynamics) to turn it into rust. Even if God doesn’t destroy our universe in a couple thousand years, it would eventually come to an end on its own. Our universe is like a big clock that has been wound up; it will eventually unwind itself.

Angels and demons are creatures of multiple realms. Not only can these beings operate fully in our realm, they can also operate invisibly behind the scenes. Our laws of physics do not bind them and they can traverse back and forth between our realm and Heaven.

Our souls are another example of multiple realms. Although our current bodies are made of flesh and blood (“carbon-based life forms”) our true identity is spiritual in nature. When our body dies, our soul will leave its earthly vessel and continue living. Our souls are not made up of the materials from this dimension. That is why a person’s body could be completely vaporized by a nuclear bomb and his soul will depart totally unscathed.

Am I convinced that we are alone in this universe? No, of course not. I may be completely wrong in my speculations on this subject. It wouldn’t bother me, however, if I am wrong about this. It wouldn’t shake my faith or theology if we do find life out there. As I mentioned before, these are my opinions, not Biblical dogma.

As I contemplate the immense size of our universe, I usually do not wonder about extraterrestrial life. Rather, I spend my time pondering the age-old question of why would such an awesome God care so much for mortal man? Why would God Almighty seek our friendship?

 From Biblehelp.Org Copyright © 1987 -2005 Michael Bronson

 

The seven days of creation

 

1. The two-fold account of these days:

 

a. The flood light account

      A general description of the creation account

 

b. The spotlight account

      A specific description of the creation of man

 

Genesis 1:1 refutes all other philosophies dreamt up by man.

      1. Atheism – There is a God

      2. Polytheism – There is but one God

      3. Evolution – God created all things

      4. Pantheism – He is apart from His creation

      5. Materialism – There was a beginning to creation

      6. Fatalism – There was a purpose to creation

      7. The Gap theory – There was not one

      8. The 2 creations – There is only one

 

Let the Bible speak for itself. It means what it says and says what it means.

 

The heavens and the earth

 

Heaven

(1.) Definitions., The phrase “heaven and earth” is used to indicate the whole universe (Gen_1:1; Jer_23:24; Act_17:24). According to the Jewish notion there were three heavens,

2. There are three heavens mentioned in the Bible.

(a) The fist heaven or The firmament, as “fowls of the heaven” (Gen_2:19; Gen_7:3, Gen_7:23; Psa_8:8, etc.), “the eagles of heaven”

This heaven is described as the home of the birds and clouds – Daniel 4:12

(b) The second heaven or The starry heavens (Deu_17:3; Jer_8:2; Mat_24:29).

This heaven is described as the home of the sun, moon, and stars – Psalm 19:1

(c) The third heaven or The heaven of heavens (Deu_10:14; 1Ki_8:27; Psa_115:16; Psa_148:4; 2Co_12:2).

This heaven is described as the home of the angels or departed saints. – 2 Corinth 12:2

 

The usual Hebrew word for “heavens” is shamayim, a plural form meaning “heights,” “elevations” “Over there”

(Gen_1:1; Gen_2:1).

 

It simply states that God created “The down here and the up there”

 

Jer 23:24  Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.

 

Act 17:24  God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;

 

 

2. The first day.

The creation of light

1:2-5

 

God brought light into the darkness

Isaiah 9:1-2

He produced physical light. The New Testament records God sending His Son to be the light of the world

John 1:1-9, 8:12

One day there will be no darkness

Revelation 21:23

Why was light created first?

Perhaps it was the first need

 

3. The second day

The seperation of the waters

1:6-10

 

(6-8) Atmospheric waters in the form of translucent vapor called the heavens.

“Firmament” means heavens and it literally means “something stretched out”

Psalms 19:1,150:1

 

(9-10) The earth and sea

These are regular land based waters in the form of shallow water, oceans, rivers, and lake heads.

 

4. The third day

The creation of plant life

1:9-13

 

There are three natural divisions of plant kingdoms:

1. Grasses

2. Herbs

3. Trees

 

God’s purpose for vegetation:

1. To supply food for living creatures

2. For beauty

3. Utility uses (shelters)

 

5. The fourth day

The creation of the sun,moon,and stars

1:14-19

Job 38:4-11

 

They were special light sources

God’s three-fold purpose for these special light sources:

1. To distinguish between day and night.

2. To serve as signs for man

Romans 1:19-20

Seasons

Providing man with a calender

Dividing seasons

3. To serve as permanent repositories of light

 

“He made the stars” This is a significant statement. In those ancient times, other religions worshipped, deified, and mystified the stars. These pagan nations revered the stars and looked to them for guidance.

The creation account only gives the stars the briefest of mentions and is a direct show of contempt for ancient Babylonian astrology. (Ps29)

We must remember that Moses is writing to Hebrews who had just recently come out of slavery in Egypt. Egyptians had worshipped Re, the sun god or one of their chief deities. The Israelites needed to know that God and Re were not similar gods, but that God, Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews was the sole creator of the universe. This brief mention of the stars also has two other possible intended meanings:1) To show that there was nothing that had not been created by God. 2) To prevent the Hebrews from following the heathen practices of astrology and star worship.

 

Why was the earth created before the sun?

 

A. Priority – Because the earth was the most important in His mind. He would soon put His most important creation here – man – and one day His Son would reconcile all this back to Him.

B. Prevention – Almost every ancient civilization has worshipped the sun and through this way God is informing man that life and light existed before the sun and it came through the Son.

 

 

The Bible is written for the inhabitants of earth.

 

As we begin to read the Genesis account of creation we can note that it is from an earthly perspective.

It is written from the point of view of one who is standing on earth looking up.

We read about sunrise, sunsets, seasons, years, interstellar orbits and rotating planets.

Only thing specifically concerning man were placed in the Bible. God’s Word is not a book about angels, demons, or Satan, though they have a passing reference only as they interact with God’s dealings toward man.

This is not a book about geography, biology, archeology, or astronomy. It is a book about God’s grace to fallen man.

This book is not inferior to man or his science.

It is God’s Word! The very mind of Christ!

It is completely without error.

 

Doctrinal purposes for God’s creation

 

1. The sovereignty of God

God’s creation of the natural world was according to His own will and ordained for His purpose.

Gen 1:5 – The naming of the elements of creation shows His sovereignty. naming something in the Middle East was a mark of power or lordship. Names were not merely labels but descriptions with some force to them

 

2. The omnipotence of God

“Bara” (created) This shows God’s will and shows Him to be the only Creator of the universe.

 

3. The purpose for creation

The purpose for creation was to have fellowship with man. Christ was the means by which creation was formed and by which it is held together(Col 1:15-18)

 

4. The providence of God

This illustrates the character of God by His ongoing care and concern for creation.

 

Theories of creation.

 

1. Supernatural vs. evolutionary.

 

The super naturalist says the creation occurred in a way that is completely foreign to anything we might see today.

Genesis 1:31-2:4 indicate that God completed  His creative work.

There are also those Christians who believe that God may have acted through evolutionary means to bring about creation. While it is true that God often works through what we think of as a “natural process” man was never a part of this kind of process. Man was created. He did not flop out of some scum filled water hole to develop into what he is today. The very fact of the evolutionist argument should show its fallacy. For example, if it is true that man eventually evolved from a monkey, then why are there not naked people who have evolved wandering out of some jungle somewhere fully evolved. For that matter why have we not found people who are partially evolved. A friend of mine from the Dominican Republic told me that at a young age someone told him that monkeys were created by the devil. Although untrue, because Satan could never create, only manipulate, this theory of evolution is straight from his lips.

An appearance of history

 

The description we have of God’s creative work seems to imply a creation with an appearance of age. This is really seen in the creation of man. On the day that Adam was created, he was one day old, but scripture seems to define him as a full grown man rather than a baby. The implication is that he was created with an appearance of age. The same is seen in animals and plant life. we are told that God created trees yielding fruit that had with hem the seeds for reproduction. This obviously answers the age old question of “who came first?” and in this sense the answer is the chicken came first. The Biblical answer would be that God created egg laying chickens who looked and acted like those who had been hatched and grown to adulthood.

2. A conclusion

 

There is only one God and that is the God who created us. He is the God of every man even if every man refuses to acknowledge it.

We should also realize that He is currently involved with His creation. We see this especially in the picture of His Spirit given to all His children on conversion. Our great God having one planet, in all this vast galaxies, and star systems full of stars and dead planets (which I feel are another example of His love for man) God is concerned with this one little blue planet and what happens on it. We have all heard the theories: That if the earth was one or two degrees off its axis we would float into space. The fact that this planet just happened to be the right mixture for man and plant life. That this planet just happened to be the right distance from the sun. Look at all the other planets around us, they scream at us the wondrous works of our loving Father.

Yes there was a big bang. God said it and bang it was.

 

God created everything. It is never questioned. It is never debated by Moses.

 

Genesis 1:2-5

Like the earth, we were once in darkness. We were once without form or void, without God in our lives and without hope.

 

God sent His Son to be the Light of the world

 

This Light saves from the darkness

Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Joh 1:2  The same was in the beginning with God.

Joh 1:3  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Joh 1:4  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

Joh 1:5  And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

Joh 1:6  There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

Joh 1:7  The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.

Joh 1:8  He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

Joh 1:9  That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

Joh 1:10  He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

Joh 1:11  He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

Joh 1:12  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

Joh 1:13  Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Joh 1:14  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Joh 1:15  John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.

Joh 1:16  And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.

Joh 1:17  For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

Joh 1:18  No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

 

This Light delivers from the darkness

Psa 107:10  Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron;

Psa 107:11  Because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the most High:

Psa 107:12  Therefore he brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help.

Psa 107:13  Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses.

Psa 107:14  He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder.

Psa 107:15  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Psa 107:16  For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder.

 

Isa 9:2  The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

 

Col 1:13  Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

 

 

This Light condemns

We were once in that darkness. Without hope (void) The unsaved man can’t comprehend this Light. The unsaaved man wants no part of this Light

 

Joh 3:19  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

Joh 3:20  For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

Joh 3:21  But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

 

because the unsaved man has been blinded

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

 

Eph 4:17  This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,

 

Eph 4:18  Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

 

This Light exposes the darkness

God divided the light from the darkness. We are called to keep ourselves seperated from the darkness. We can’t leave the world but we can keep the world out of us.

1Jo 1:5  This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

1Jo 1:6  If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

1Jo 1:7  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

 

We are also called to walk in the Light

Eph 5:8  For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

Eph 5:9  (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)

Eph 5:10  Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.

Eph 5:11  And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

Eph 5:12  For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.

Eph 5:13  But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.

 

This Light calls His chosen

1Pe 2:9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

 

The Spirit of God hovers over us like a mother hen, waiting for us. He will not force Himself upon us

Jesus Christ came to die for us. He died for all but not all will accept Him.

Creationism

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Creationism or creation theology encompasses the belief that human beings, the world and the universe were created by a supreme being or deity. The event itself may be seen as either ex nihilo or order from preexisting chaos (see demiurge).

Many who hold such beliefs consider them to be compatible with science. They may say, for example, that a certain scriptural account of creation is a metaphor. Or they may say that scientific mechanisms were created by supernatural intervention (see evolutionary creationism).

It should be noted that many Christian churches, including the Roman Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran faiths have now rejected “Creationism” outright. Liberal theology considers Genesis a poetic work, that human knowledge of God expands over time and that the early biblical stories show only the most primitive understanding of what was to become known as the Christian deity. Indeed, comparing the God of the early Jewish tribes to the God revealed in the figure of Christ clearly depicts how much theological understanding evolved in between the writing of the various books that came to be collected in the Bible.

Many creationists adopt a literal interpretation of religious or supernatural creation accounts, and say that a particular one is a factual account that supersedes mainstream science (see Young Earth Creationism, for example). Such interpretations are rejected by scientists, who say that evidence from many scientific disciplines are the only empirical source for information on natural history, and literal interpretations of scriptures are not considered reliable forms of scientific evidence. (Refer to creation science).

Those holding these more literal views tend to be the ones who dispute scientific theories the most, and take particular issue with the implication from evolutionary biology of common descent — that humans are descended from “lesser creatures”. There are creationists who also dispute the scientific accounts of the initial creation of life, the geological history of Earth, the formation of the solar system, the origin of the physical universe, and a few even support such ideas as geocentrism and a flat earth.

Religious context

The term creationism is most often used to describe the belief that creation occurred literally as described in the book of Genesis (for Jews and Christians) or literally as described in the Qur’an (for Muslims.) Although the Hebrew Bible does not provide an account of creatio ex nihilo and, according to scholars, may even suggest different accounts of creation, some Jews and Christians claim to use Genesis exclusively as a support of their beliefs about origins. Refer to creation according to Genesis.

In the secular sense, “creationism” refers to a political doctrine which asserts the validity and superiority of a particular religiously-based origin belief over those of other belief systems, including those in particular espoused through secular or scientific rationale—i.e. “creationism versus evolution.” The meaning of the term “creationism” depends upon the context wherein it is used, as it refers to a particular origin belief within a particular political culture.

Theists believe that the universe and life was created by God. The idea could equally be applied by Deists, who believe that there was a God who originally created the universe, and that God then either ceased to actively interfere with its operation, or simply ceased to exist. Similarly, proponents of an alternative type of creationism might rely on a belief that the universe was created by many deities, in accordance with a polytheistic faith, or by Vishnu, the Titans of Greek mythology or any of the host of other such beings.

To distinguish the notion that the Universe as a whole (and hence all its contents) was created by God from the notion that individual species were created by divine intervention in the natural order, the latter view is sometimes referred to as special creation.

The terms creationism and creationist have become particularly associated with beliefs conflicting with the theory of evolution by natural selection. This conflict is most prevalent in the United States, where there has been sustained creation-evolution controversy in the public arena. On the other hand, many faiths which believe in divine creation accept evolution by natural selection as well as, to a greater or lesser extent, scientific explanations of the origins and development of the universe, the Earth, and life – such beliefs have been given the name evolutionary creationism, though others call them “theistic evolution”.

Types of creationism

Creationism covers a spectrum of beliefs which have been categorised into the broad types listed below. Not all creationists are in dispute with scientific theories, though very few modern scientists are creationists.

·         Flat Earth creationism — God created the world with a flat surface 6,000 years ago. All that modern science says about shape, size, and age of the Earth is wrong, and evolution does not occur. Very few people today maintain such a belief.

·         Modern geocentrism — God recently created a spherical world, and placed it in the center of the universe. The Sun, planets and everything else in the universe revolve around it. All scientific claims about the age of the Earth are lies; evolution does not occur. Very few people today maintain such a belief. See, for example, the Creation Science Association for Mid-America (http://www.csama.org/), in Cleveland, MO, USA.

·         Young-Earth Creationism — The belief that the Earth was created by God a few thousand years ago, literally as described in Creation according to Genesis, within the approximate timeframe of the Ussher-Lightfoot Calendar or somewhat more according to the interpretation of biblical genealogies. (They may or may not believe that the Universe is the same age.) As such, it rejects not only radiometric and isochron dating of the age of the Earth, arguing that they are based on debatable assumptions, but also approaches such as ice core dating and dendrochronology, which make the barest of assumptions of uniformitarianism, and which hint that the Earth is far older than the Ussher-Lightfoot Calendar suggests. Instead, it interprets the geologic record largely as a result of a global flood. This view is held by many Protestant Christians in the USA, and by many Haredi Jews. For Christian groups promoting this view, see the Institute for Creation Research (ICR), El Cajon, California, USA, and the Creation Research Society (CRS), St. Joseph, MO, USA.

Because Young Earth creationists believe in the literal truth of the description in Genesis of divine creation of every “kind” of plant and creature during a week about 6,000 years ago, they dispute parts of evolution (specifically Universal Common Ancestry) which describes all species developing from a common ancestor without a need for divine intervention over a much longer time. Different young-earth creationists offer different explanations for the fossil record, which gives the appearance that the Earth is much older:

·         God created the Earth only recently, but made it appear much older. This is the belief of a small subgroup of Young Earth creationists, which is sometimes termed the Omphalos hypothesis. This argument was first made by Philip Henry Gosse in 1857. He held that because the world operates in cycles (chicken to egg to chicken on so on), certain physical and biological processes need the appearance of age to function. It is termed the Omphalos hypothesis because it is based on the question of whether or not Adam had a belly button. Gosse postulated that Adam did have a belly button because it is how humans are formed. So the appearance of history (the belly button) is there, even though he was just created. He likewise postulated that for the earth to work, it must have been established with the appearance of age to function correctly. While many creationists hold this view for some smaller aspects of creation, for the existance of the fossil record the argument has been largely superceded.

·         God created the Earth only recently, and the fossil record is the record of the destruction of the global flood recorded in Genesis. The present diversity of land animals are all descendants of the animals on the ark, having heavily diversified after the flood. There are a variety of mechanisms believed to be involved, including genomic modularity — the ability for animals to reorganize their genome in response to stress or other outside influence, heterozygous fractionation (heterozygous genes in parents can lead to speciation by having multiple homozygous genes in children), and standard evolution.

·         Old-Earth Creationism — which maintains that the physical universe was created by God, but that the creation event of Genesis is not to be taken strictly literally. This group generally believes that the Universe and the Earth are as described by astronomers and geologists, but that details of the evolutionary theory are questionable.

Old-Earth creationism itself comes in at least three types:

·         Gap creationism, also called Restitution creationism — the view that life was immediately created on a pre-existing old Earth. This group generally translates Genesis 1:2 as “The earth became without form and void,” indicating a destruction of the original creation by some unspecified cataclysm. This was popularized in the Scofield Reference Bible, but has little support from Hebrew scholars.

·         Day-age creationism — the view that the “six days” of Genesis are not ordinary twenty-four-hour days, but rather much longer periods (for instance, each “day” could be the equivalent of millions of years of modern time). Another theory states that the Hebrew word was mistranslated, and it’s supposed to be seven ages. Some adherents claim we are still living in the seventh age (“seventh day”), while opponents say that the seventh day of creation must be the same type of day as the Sabbath for the Sabbath command to make sense.

·         Progressive creationism — the view that species have changed or evolved in a process continuously guided by God, with various ideas as to how the process operates. This accepts most of modern physical science including the age of the earth, but rejects much of modern biology or looks to it for evidence that evolution by natural selection is incorrect.

·         Evolutionary creationism/Theistic evolutionism — the general belief that some or all classical religious teachings about God and creation are compatible with some or all of the scientific theory of evolution, It views evolution as a tool used by God and can synthesize with gap or day-age creationism, although most adherents deny that Genesis was meant to be interpreted as history at all. It can still be described as “creationism” in holding that divine intervention brought about the origin of life or that divine Laws govern formation of species, but in the creation-evolution controversy its proponents generally take the “evolutionist” side while disputing that some scientists’ methodological assumption of materialism can be taken as ontological as well. Many creationists would deny that this is creationism at all, and should rather be called “theistic evolution”, just as many scientists allow voice to their spiritual side. In particular, this view rejects the doctrine of special creation.

·         Intelligent Design movement — The main proponents of Intelligent Design have intentionally distanced themselves from other forms of creationism, preferring to be known as wholly separate from creationism as a philosophy. One of the chief websites of the movement defines it thus: “The theory of intelligent design holds that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as [Darwinian] natural selection.” Intelligent Design styles itself as a philosophical approach to the origin of information and complexity within nature, and, its adherents claim, is not concerned with religion, or the identity or nature, whether natural or supernatural, of any possible designer(s). In and of itself, Intelligent Design does not oppose the theory of evolution. However, many proponents of Intelligent Design are Christian theists who do oppose evolution leading critics to charge that the movement, despite the protestations of its adherents, is simply creationism in new clothing (see Wedge strategy).

Jewish creationism

Jewish creationism includes a continuum of views about creationism, on aspects including the origin of life and the role of evolution in the formation of species as debated in the creation-evolution controversy. In general, the major Jewish denominations accept evolutionary creationism or theistic evolution, with the exception of certain Orthodox Jewish groups. The contemporary general approach of Judaism, excepting some Orthodox traditions, is to not take the Torah as a literal text, but rather as a symbolic or open-ended work.

God as absolute origin

All denominations of Christianity assert that God is the origin, the first cause. The Roman Catholic Church holds as an unchangeable tenet of Christian faith, that “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”. Here, clearly, creation is described as an absolute beginning, which includes the assertion that the very existence of the universe is contingent upon a necessary higher being, a God who is not himself created. Therefore the doctrine of biblical creation places the knowledge of God central in the pursuit of the knowledge of anything, for everything comes from God. Nevertheless, this view does not mandate the concept of special creation; it says nothing about the mechanism by which any thing was created.

Although phrased differently, this doctrine of creation is common in many branches of other religions. The strictness to which adherents are required to accept these views, and the sense in which these definitions are official, vary widely.

 

Prevalence of creationism

 

United States

In the United States, creationism is popular among the general Christian population, but considered to be scientifically irrelevant in many academic and scientific communities. According to a 2001 Gallup evolution poll on the origins of humans, 72% of Americans believe in some form of creationism (as defined above). About 45% of Americans assented to the statement that “God created man pretty much in his present form at one time within the last 10,000 years.”

Among the scientific community, the Big Bang, abiogenesis, and biological evolution are generally considered to be the correct description of the origins of the universe and life on Earth. According to a 1997 Gallup poll, 55% of scientists ascribe to a completely atheistic evolution, with a total rejection of any deistic involvement. In 1987, Newsweek reported: “By one count there are some 700 scientists with respectable academic credentials (out of a total of 480,000 U.S. earth and life scientists) who ascribed to Biblically literal creationism”. However, science is not established by public opinion polls but rather by consistency and explanatory ability.

In 2000, a People for the American Way poll found that:

20% of Americans believe public schools should teach evolution only;

17% of Americans believe that only evolution should be taught in science classes — religious explanations should be taught in another class;

29% of Americans believe that Creationism should be discussed in science class as a ‘belief,’ not a scientific theory;

13% of Americans believe that Creationism and evolution should be taught as ’scientific theories’ in science class;

16% of Americans believe that only Creationism should be taught;

Less-direct anecdotal evidence of the popularity of creationism is reflected in the response of IMAX theaters to the availability of Volcanoes of the Deep Sea, an IMAX film which makes a connection between human DNA and microbes inside undersea volcanoes. The film’s distributor reported that the only U.S. states with theaters which chose not to show the film were Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina:

We’ve got to pick a film that’s going to sell in our area. If it’s not going to sell, we’re not going to take it,” said the director of an IMAX theater in Charleston that is not showing the movie. “Many people here believe in creationism, not evolution.” [1] (http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Movies/03/23/volcano.movie.ap/index.html)

[edit]

The western world outside the United States

Most vocal creationists are from the United States, and creationist views are much less common elsewhere in the Western World.

According to a PBS documentary on evolution, Australian Young Earth Creationists claimed that “five percent of the Australian population now believe that Earth is thousands, rather than billions, of years old.” The documentary further states that “Australia is a particular stronghold of the creationist movement.” Taking these claims at face value, Young Earth Creationism is very much a minority position in Western countries.

In Europe, creationism is a less well-defined phenomenon, and regular polls are not available. However, evolution is taught as scientific fact in most schools. In countries with a Roman Catholic majority, papal acceptance of evolution as worthy of study has essentially ended debate on the matter for many people. Nevertheless, creationist groups such as the German Studiengemeinschaft Wort und Wissen (Study group ‘word and knowing’)[2] (http://www.wort-und-wissen.de/) are actively lobbying in Germany. In the United Kingdom the Emmanuel Schools Foundation (previously the Vardy Foundation), which owns two colleges in the north of England (out of several thousand in the country) and plans to open several more, teaches that creationism and evolution are equally valid “faith positions”. In Italy, the prime minister Silvio Berlusconi wanted to retire evolution from schools in the middle level; after one week of massive protests, he reversed his opinion. [3] (http://www2.onnachrichten.t-online.de/dyn/c/19/01/33/1901336.html)

Of particular note for Eastern Europe, Serbia suspended the teaching of evolution for one week in 2004, under education minister Ljiljana Colic, only allowing schools to reintroduce evolution into the curriculum if they also taught creationism. [4]  (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/09/09/wdarw09.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/09/09/ixworld.html) “After a deluge of protest from scientists, teachers and opposition parties,” says the BBC report, Ms Colic’s deputy made the statement, “I have come here to confirm Charles Darwin is still alive,” and announced that the decision was reversed. [5] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3642460.stm) Ms. Colic resigned after the government said that she had caused “problems that had started to reflect on the work of the entire government”. [6] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3663196.stm)

The Christian critique of creationism

Many Christians support evolutionary creationism rather than young earth creationism. In “Intelligent Design as a Theological Problem,” Episcopalian theologian George Murphy argues against the common view that life on Earth in all its forms is direct evidence of God’s act of creation (Murphy quotes Phillip Johnson’s claim that he is speaking “of a God who acted openly and left his fingerprints on all the evidence.”). Murphy argues that this view of God is incompatible with the Christian understanding of God as “the one revealed in the cross and resurrection of Jesus.” The basis of this theology is Isaiah 45:15, “Truly, thou art a God who hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Savior.” This verse inspired Pascal to write, “What meets our eyes denotes neither a total absence nor a manifest presence of the divine, but the presence of a God who conceals himself.” In the Heidelberg Disputation, Martin Luther referred to the same Biblical verse to propose his “theology of the cross”: “That person does not deserve to be called a theologian who looks upon the invisible things of God as though they were clearly perceptible in those things which have actually happened … He deserves to be called a theologian, however, who comprehends the visible and manifest things of God seen through suffering and the cross.”

Luther opposes his theology of the cross to what he called the “theology of glory”:

A theologian of glory does not recognize, along with the Apostle, the crucified and hidden God alone [I Cor. 2:2]. He sees and speaks of God’s glorious manifestation among the heathen, how his invisible nature can be known from the things which are visible [Cf. Rom. 1:20] and how he is present and powerful in all things everywhere.

For Murphy, Creationists are modern-day theologians of glory. Following Luther, Murphy argues that a true Christian cannot discover God from clues in creation, but only from the crucified Christ.

Murphy observes that the execution of a Jewish carpenter by Roman authorities is in and of itself an ordinary event and did not require Divine action. On the contrary, for the crucifixion to occur, God had to limit or “empty” Himself. It was for this reason that Paul wrote, in Philippians 2:5-8,

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.

Murphy concludes that,

Just as the son of God limited himself by taking human form and dying on the cross, God limits divine action in the world to be in accord with rational laws God has chosen. This enables us to understand the world on its own terms, but it also means that natural processes hide God from scientific observation.

For Murphy, a theology of the cross requires that Christians accept a methodological naturalism, meaning that one cannot invoke God to explain natural phenomena, while recognizing that such acceptance does not require one to accept a metaphysical naturalism, which proposes that nature is all that there is.

According to theologian Emil Brunner, “God does not wish to occupy the whole of space Himself, but that He wills to make room for other forms of existence … In so doing, He limits Himself.” It is where God has limited Himself that humans must use their own intelligence to understand the world — to understand the laws of gravity as well as evolution – without relying on God as an explanation. It is only through the cross and the resurrection that one may find God.

“IN the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”

God created the heavens and the earth.

Isa 42:5  Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:

 

Isa 45:18  For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.

 

 Isa 40:26  Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.

 

The creation account includes everything. From the smallest animal to the biggest galaxies. From Adam (1:26-27) to angels (Job 38:4-11)

God and the Earth 

“Genesis 1, 2:4-9,(Psalm 33)”

Job 36:24-33

Job 38-41

 

Ever wonder why we get so attached to animals?

We recently lost a puppy that I was very attached too. I really didn’t realize just how much until the day after she was hit by a motorcycle. I was the first to get to her and even though I was relieved that she died instantly, I still have moments where I relive those few minutes over and over again in my head. I see all the little things that I just seemed to notice quickly as I picked her up to bury her in the yard. I am glad though that I was the only one who saw her there on the street because I would not want my wife or my children having that thought of her in their heads. I would like them to see her still living when they think of her.

She just darted out from under the fence and in the span of a few minutes she was dead. I realize I am talking about a dog. An animal, something that would not seem to be as important as a human in the whole scheme of things.

Yet why did we all cry when she died?

Why does it seem that I am mourning her passing?

Why does it seem that our other dog is mourning her?

She was just a dog?

Maybe it is the fact that man is so close to nature in that he named each animal. (Genesis 2:19-20)

We know that animals can communicate in some way. we also know that they all communicated possibly by speech.

Genesis 3:1-6 – It might just be me but notice that Eve never questioned why or how this serpent was speaking to her.

Numbers 21:21-31

We know that the creation of animals was seen as good by God and that He prolonged animals with Noah and his family through the flood (Genesis 6:13-22) We also know that God speaks to animals. Noah did not have to go get each animal, God brought them to him

We know that all things on this earth are for God’s glory and after looking at the circumstances that surrounded what had happened to our little pup we could see that she did not die in vain. She died for a reason. She died for the glory of God in that my wife and I knew that the young fellow who hit her was brought to our doorstep. He needed something. We are not sure if it was just comfort or to know Jesus but we will soon find out.

One day all creation will glorify God. That means each animal, plant, tree, rock. Everything on this earth will praise Him when the curse is lifted.

Revelation 5:13

Will I see our little pup again?

I would like to think so but in the end that is for God to decide what is in heaven. For now I will mourn her passing, but I will also glorify God that He used her for His purpose.

Man was originally put here on earth to rule over it (Genesis 1:26-28) He was placed here in the image of God as God’s ambassador to reflect His dominion over all creation.