Tag: Creation

In my last post, “What am I to think? part 1“, we discussed the contrast between what the secular scientific community says about the age of the earth and what God’s Word has to say with sound Biblical evidence.

What’s important to remember is that it takes faith on both sides of the debate. Will you believe what “the world” promotes as truth, with no witnesses, or will you believe what God said, who we know was there?

Hebrews 11: ³ By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.

Big Bang or a spoken, intentional command?

The Big Bang Theory is one of disorder, chaos, and chance while Genesis 1 lays out a carefully detailed and well-executed plan that could’ve only been completed by a Master Designer.

Of course, there is more to this ongoing debate that I’d like to address this week. I used to believe that the world was millions of years old and I never bothered to reconcile that belief with Genesis 1. I believed that the dinosaurs existed many millions of years ago, died off, and then somewhere in the distant past Adam and Eve came along.

This belief, of course, contradicts the Biblical timeline of a mere week and it also contradicts this Biblical truth:

Romans 5: ¹² When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.

Remember this?:

Genesis 1: ³¹ Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!
And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day

If God saw that it was very good, there wouldn’t have been any death, which aligns with Romans 5:12. This is after He created the land animals and humans, all in the sixth day.

Are there dinosaurs in the Bible?

At this point, you may be asking, “What about the dinosaurs? Where do they come into play? Does the Bible mention dinosaurs?

Since they were land animals, they were created on day six.

As for Biblical evidence, when is the last time you read Job? In Chapter 39 When God continues to challenge Job, He asks questions about specific creatures, most of which we would recognize. The first to be mentioned is wild goats(v. 1), followed by wild donkey(v. 5), wild ox (v. 9), ostrich(v. 13), horse(v. 19), and finally the hawk(v. 26). It is obvious that God is quite proud of these creatures and asks probing questions that only He could answer. But God doesn’t stop there, He has a couple more creatures that are given more attention than the previous six:

Job 40: ¹⁵ “Take a look at Behemoth,
which I made, just as I made you.
It eats grass like an ox.
¹⁶ See its powerful loins
and the muscles of its belly.
¹⁷ Its tail is as strong as a cedar.
The sinews of its thighs are knit tightly together.
¹⁸ Its bones are tubes of bronze.
Its limbs are bars of iron.
¹⁹ It is a prime example of God’s handiwork,
and only its Creator can threaten it.

What sort of creature does this make you think of? Is there any creature today that has a tail as strong as a cedar?

Then for His grand finale, He describes a creature that is set apart from the others, in fact, all of chapter 41 is used to describe this special beast. I’d love to include it all here, but it is quite lengthy. Here are some highlights:

Consider Leviathan…

Job 41: …¹² “I want to emphasize Leviathan’s limbs
and its enormous strength and graceful form.
¹³ Who can strip off its hide,
and who can penetrate its double layer of armor?
¹⁴ Who could pry open its jaws?
For its teeth are terrible!
…
¹⁸ “When it sneezes, it flashes light!
Its eyes are like the red of dawn.
¹⁹ Lightning leaps from its mouth;
flames of fire flash out.
²⁰ Smoke streams from its nostrils
like steam from a pot heated over burning rushes.
²¹ Its breath would kindle coals,
for flames shoot from its mouth.
…
³¹ “Leviathan makes the water boil with its commotion.
It stirs the depths like a pot of ointment.
³² The water glistens in its wake,
making the sea look white.
³³ Nothing on earth is its equal,
no other creature so fearless.
³⁴ Of all the creatures, it is the proudest.
It is the king of beasts.”

I know this sounds like a mythical creature, but in the context of chapters 39-41, does that make any sense? Especially in light of verses 33-34. Just because we haven’t seen this creature doesn’t mean it never existed.

Creature or Myth?

Where did the idea of fire-breathing dragons ever come from anyway? Isn’t it interesting that among all the ordinary creatures of the Chinese Zodiac there lies the dragon? The word dragon, by the way, is found many times in the King James Version when the word dinosaur had not yet been invented (1841).

A dragon is seen on the flag of Wales and dragons are found to be a part of many ancient cultures throughout the world. Are dragons a common myth among many cultures or could it be that they were once creatures that lived among us and are simply extinct?

Want more evidence? there’s much more

I’d like to point out just two significant “findings” for those that want something tangible:

Soft blood tissue was found in a Tyrannosaurus Rex bone. You can choose to believe that the tissue is still soft after 70 million years, or you can choose to believe that the bone is less than 6,000 years old.

Soft blood tissue found in T-Rex bone (MSNBC)

Here is a very short video about this topic:
Men and Dinosaurs (ICR.org)

We are without excuse

Before we close, here are a few passages that explain that man is without excuse, but also willingly ignorant:

Psalm 19: ¹ The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Romans 1: ²⁰ For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

2 Peter 3: ⁵ They deliberately forget that God made the heavens by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water. ⁶ Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood.

At the heart of it, disbelief is not a matter of scientific findings, but about the heart. Only if I have a heart for God will I believe Him.

What do you believe?

“Dear God, I struggle with disbelief. Although I believe you created the heavens and the earth I find it hard to believe that you will help me with my daily challenges. Please change my heart. Help me to understand and know you better so that I can know you are God. In Jesus name, Amen.”

Photo by Adam Smith on Unsplash

I don’t know about you, but I enjoy watching the Discovery channel. I especially like watching the series called “Planet Earth” and “Planet Earth II”. I can’t get over how God masterfully created our beautiful planet and the incredible creatures that inhabit it. Those shows never cease to amaze me. The only thing about those shows that I dislike is that they never give God the credit. They seem to believe that all creatures evolved over millions of years, by chance, no Designer required. It seems as though all those nature related shows like Nova and those on National Geographic support the belief of evolution and the idea that our planet has been in existence for many millions of years and more.

So what am I supposed to think? When I read God’s Word, in particular, Genesis chapter 1, it seems to contradict the ever-pervasive beliefs that life evolved and that the earth is many millions of years old.

Day 1

Let’s review what the good Book has to say about the beginning, the beginning of time, that is.

Genesis 1: ¹ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

³ Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴ And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.”

And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day.

OK, according to God, after the first day all that existed was the earth, the heavens, light, and the earth was covered with water. On the second day, He creates the earth’s atmosphere, which is not like ours today.

Day 3

Genesis 1: ⁹ Then God said, “Let the waters beneath the sky flow together into one place, so dry ground may appear.” And that is what happened. ¹⁰ God called the dry ground “land” and the waters “seas.” And God saw that it was good.¹¹Then God said, “Let the land sprout with vegetation—every sort of seed-bearing plant, and trees that grow seed-bearing fruit. These seeds will then produce the kinds of plants and trees from which they came.” And that is what happened.

On the third day, we see dry ground, the seas, then vegetation.

That pretty much sums up the first 3 days of history. Can you imagine it? No people, no animals, and what else is absent? Let’s continue…

Day 4

Genesis 1: ¹⁴ Then God said, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them mark off the seasons, days, and years. ¹⁵ Let these lights in the sky shine down on the earth.” And that is what happened. ¹⁶ God made two great lights—the larger one to govern the day, and the smaller one to govern the night. He also made the stars. ¹⁷ God set these lights in the sky to light the earth, ¹⁸ to govern the day and night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

¹⁹ And evening passed and morning came, marking the fourth day.

Ahhhh, of course, on day 4, after the light and after the vegetation, He made the sun, moon, and stars. Their purpose is to light the earth, to govern the day and night, and to separate the light from the darkness.

Day 5 sees the creation of birds and sea creatures. Sounds like a pretty easy day, for the Lord at least.

Then of course, last but not least…

Day 6

Genesis 1: ²⁴ Then God said, “Let the earth produce every sort of animal, each producing offspring of the same kind—livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and wild animals.” And that is what happened. ²⁵ God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, and small animals, each able to produce offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”

²⁷ So God created human beings in his own image.
In the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them. (remember this for later)

It’s on day 6 that God created His masterpiece, saving the best for last:

Ephesians 2: 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Do you see the significance of the order in which He created our planet? He created the earth for our use!

Other than a simple, plain reading and interpretation of Genesis 1, how can we know that this is over six literal days? I’ll give a few reasons:

Context:

Genesis 1: ⁵ God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.” And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day.

Here we see the words “day and night” together with “evening and morning” and that it’s the first of six days.

God’s Word:

Is it OK if I quote from the 10 commandments?

Exodus 20: ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.

God modeled the six day work week for us. Isn’t that awesome?

Let’s read what Jesus had to say:

Mark 10: ⁵ But Jesus responded, “He wrote this commandment only as a concession to your hard hearts. ⁶ But ‘God made them male and female’ from the beginning of creation.

I think we now know where Jesus stands on the subject if we didn’t already.

God’s character:

Mark 10: ¹⁵ I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”

The more I seek God, the more I firmly believe that the simpler, the better. For it is the simple ideas and teaching that reach the masses. I truly believe that the devil is using the “wisdom of this world” to trip up many people and to undermine God’s truth and His great plan of salvation.

1 Corinthians 3: ¹⁸ Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world’s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise. ¹⁹ For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say,
“He traps the wise
in the snare of their own cleverness.”
²⁰ And again,
“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise;
he knows they are worthless.”

In the world’s eyes, is it wise to believe that a man came back to the dead? Do we take this seriously?

Matthew 28: ⁵ Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶ He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying.

If I can believe these verses in Matthew, shouldn’t I also believe this verse in Exodus:

Exodus 20: ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.

I find it interesting that it is mostly the first 11 chapters of the Bible that are attacked in our culture today. What better way to discredit a book than to cast doubts on the first chapters of it by undermining their credibility. What’s disturbing is that there are many in the pews today that are indifferent or even stand with those that can’t accept God’s Word for what it says.

What’s really incredible is if Genesis 1 did not happen in 6 literal days, it simply makes no sense. For “everyone knows” that the stars and sun were here first though not according to God’s Word!

Why it matters

If a friend that does not know Jesus asks you how old does the Bible say the earth is, what do you tell them? Do you tell them “You can’t really trust Genesis 1 for what it says, it’s not written plainly.”?

Do you see where I’m going with this? This is a foundational issue and we need to be able to stand on the authority of God’s Word, for that is solid ground!

2 Samuel 22: ³¹ “As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him. (NIV)

I know what to think, do you?

“Dear God, thank you for your Word, for I know that it is Truth and that I can place my trust in it fully. Please help me with my doubts. Please give me knowledge and understanding of those issues that I’m uncertain of. I know that I will never completely understand your ways, but at least I can continue to get to know you more and understand more as a grow in You. In Jesus name, Amen.”

Photo by Adam Smith on Unsplash