One of the most controversial subjects in the church is that of creation. Did God create the world in billions of years, or six, 24-hour days? Did it happen by a Big Bang, or did God breath creation into existence a few thousand years ago? Did animals evolve on their own, under God’s direction, or were they created in less than a week? What kind of day is “yom” referring to? How does a believer reconcile faith and science?
Genesis
Adam’s Helper
Have you ever read through the entire Bible? I’ve done this several times, and my new Bible—this one with ruled margins for note-taking!—was a good reason to do it again. One reason I commit to reading every page (even the genealogies) is that I can’t skip the parts I don’t like—the parts that make me cringe. Yes, I have some issues with parts of the Bible, but I don’t blame God. It could be that His ways are simply higher than mine, and I can’t possibly see His viewpoint. It could be that I just don’t understand the context. Or, it could be the translation.
Where Does Your Trust Lie?
I think we’d all agree—the world is not doing so well. Read the headlines, listen to the news, and we aren’t surprised to find that people lie and cheat and murder, innocent people suffer, and loving kindness is in very short supply. How did we get into this mess?
If you’re a Christian, you probably blame it all on Satan, who enticed Eve into eating that forbidden fruit. The story in Genesis 3 is very familiar; we’ve read it many times. And whether you take it literally or symbolically, the end result is the same. Mankind fell for the lie and the results are all around us.
Foolish and Stupid Arguments
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you interpret the Bible correctly.”
“And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to convince everyone that your way of reading the Bible is the only correct one, as he commanded us.”
The news has been full of last Tuesday’s debate between Bill Nye (the Science Guy) and Answers in Genesis President Ken Ham, founder of the Creation Museum. No matter what your take on the outcome, or where you fall on the creation-evolution continuum, (and it isn’t as black and white as some would have us believe), the whole scenario bothered me. No one was seeking common ground. Rather, it was designed to polarize the audience.
“Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels.” (2 Timothy 2:23)
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