Faith is under attack!

• Already Gone by Ken Ham and Britt Beemer

Exodus 20:8-11 summarizes Genesis 1-2.

• God made the world in six literal days.

Evolutionary view of history

Evolutions believe “time,” not God, “performs miracles!”

• The Origin of Life by George Wald

Time does not minimize the problems of evolution!

Two reasons the earth is 6,000-10,000 years old:

• Genesis 1-11 indicates this.

• Science indicates a young earth and a global flood.

False theories

• Gap theory

• Progressive creation theory

• Day age theory

• Framework hypothesis theory

Scientists try to date the earth by two main methods:

• The relative dating method:

  • How old is the fossil embedded in the rock? Find out by determining how old the rock is.

  • How old is the rock? Find out by determining how old the fossil is that is embedded in it.

  • Circular reasoning!

• The absolute dating method

  • Radioactive decay measurements

  • Only used for igneous rocks – NOT sedimentary rock.

  • The issue is not the rate of decay. It is about the assumptions used in the calculation:

    • Constant rate of decay

    • Always a closed system

    • Knowledge of initial conditions

  • Presence of daughter elements at the beginning makes rocks date old at the start!

  • Radiometric dating has proven to be hugely unreliable on rocks for which we know the age. How can we trust it for rocks of unknown age?

Other indications of a young earth:

• Population growth rate for humans has been about 2% per year through recorded history, even with wars and natural disasters. From a single couple, you’d reach 7 billion people in 1,100 years. There is no way humans can be millions of years old with anywhere near that sort of growth rate!

• Earth’s magnetic field

  • The field has been steadily decaying since we started measuring it in 1829.

  • If the earth was ancient, the magnetic field would have started out like a neutron star!

• Ocean sediment accumulation rate shows a young earth. If the earth was ancient, the sediment would be over 100,000 feet thick. Instead, it is roughly 1200 feet thick.

• Salt content of the ocean indicates a young earth. Starting from fresh water, the water would attain its current salinity in roughly 60,000 years just by natural processes.

• The shape of galaxies

  • Spiral galaxies spin too fast to be ancient. If they were that old, they would be featureless disks of stars with no visible arms.

Some misquote II Peter 3:8, saying that for God, one day is a thousand years.

• The verse doesn’t say that. It says “But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.”

• The context is speaking of how time doesn’t matter to God in terms of fulfilling His promises.

Old earth theories:

• Try to redefine a day

  • Genesis 1:1-5; Exodus 20:11 – The days of creation were the same as those the Israelites had in the wilderness.

• Try to redefine God

• Contradict Jesus in Mark 10:6 by making man a recent newcomer to the planet

• Make Jesus and Paul out to be liars

  • Mark 13:19; I Timothy 2:13-14; II Corinthians 11:8-9 – Creation was a literal event!

What difference does it make?

• John 3:12

Acts 2:47; I Peter 2:5; Ephesians 2:21

But by what procedure does one become a member of a local church?

• Acts 22:1-16

What is the purpose of local church membership?

• It is God’s arrangement for saints in an area to work and worship together, doing what God has ordained. The purpose is to glorify God, edify each other, and seek and save the lost.
  • Ephesians 4:16; II Corinthians 11:7-8
• All members have special obligation.

Who is really in the local fellowship?

• One that joined and is actively serving God with the local church.

• Those who cease to function in their service to God are not really in local fellowship. I Corinthians 5.

Is a local church to control its fellowship?

• Yes! I Corinthians 5

• Acts 9:26 – The saints tried to keep Paul out when they thought he was a threat.

What is to be the action of a member toward one who has been refused fellowship?

• II Corinthians 6:14-17

• II Thessalonians 3:14-15

• I Corinthians 5:11

When one insists on having company with one who has been withdrawn from, what is to be the action of the local church?

• That member must be disciplined as well and withdrawn from if necessary.

• Numbers 16 – Israelites who sympathized with the rebellion of Korah were killed.

• What about students? They are members where they are working and worshiping at the time.

John 2:13-17

2020 Theme: Jesus, lesson 2

Jesus brought a spiritual kingdom

• Isaiah 9:7

• Amos 9:11

• John 6:13-15, 35, 45-51; 8:31-33; 18:36-37

• Luke 17:20-21

• Matthew 16:19 à Acts 2

• To advance in this kingdom, develop your heart

  • Matthew 5:3, 10; Mark 9:35

• Quit focusing on physical things.

  • Matthew 8:18-20; 19:21

• Fight spiritual battles

  • II Corinthians 10:3-6; Ephesians 6:17

Jesus would leave, and people would need to get to work!

• Daniel 2:44

• Isaiah 9:7

• II Kings 25:5-7 – The physical kingdom was destroyed. The Jews expected a Messiah that would keep this from ever happening again.

• Mark 8:27-33; 9:31-32; 10:32-34 – The Messiah would be killed?!

• Matthew 4:18-22; 9:9; 10:1-8 – Jesus was recruiting apostles and preparing to leave!

• Luke 10:1, 16

• John 14:26; 16:13

• We have to take on the responsibility before us.

  • II Timothy 2:2

Jesus defanged Satan, but sin is still our choice.

• Hebrews 2:14

• I Peter 5:8

• James 4:7

• Matthew 4:1-11

• Jesus taught us how to resist Satan.

  • I Corinthians 10:13

False dilemma (“either … or”)

• Spiritual importance

  • Can you think of any other possibilities for each of the following?

    • “Either you have faith, or you are rational.”

    • “The Bible vs. science.”

    • “The Bible teaches that ‘in Christ all things hold together’ (Colossians 1:17). But we now know that the forces of gravity and electromagnetism are what hold the universe together.”

      • Hebrews 1:2-3

    • “You must not really believe that God is going to answer your request for healing; otherwise you would not have gone to the doctor.”

      • Colossians 4:3

  • Perhaps the most common example of this fallacy occurs with the topic of salvation – “Either we’re saved by grace or by works!”

    • Salvation by grace only is a core doctrine of many churches.

    • Compare Ephesians 2:8-9; James 2:24. Make sure you avoid the equivocation fallacy in regard to the word “works” in these passages.

Special pleading

• What is it?

  • Proverbs 20:23

  • “Special pleading is the fallacy of applying a double standard.”

• Spiritual importance

  • Romans 2:1-3, 17-24

  • Notice the hypocrisy in Matthew 23:3-4. Could that sort of thing happen to so-called Christians today?

  • Evaluate the declaration “You shouldn’t judge people!”