Introduction

• Evidence That Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell
• God reveals Himself in two ways:
  • The book of scripture
  • The book of nature
  • Psalms 19:1-4, 7, 8; II Timothy 3:14-17; II Peter 1:16-21; Romans 1:18-20
  • If those two do not agree, something is wrong with our understanding!

Patristic (early church fathers’) interpretations

Epoch day view

• 1 creation day = 1000 years
• Taken from II Peter 3:8

Allegorical / figurative day view

• “How could creation take place in time, seeing time was born along with things that exist?” – Clement of Alexandria

24-hour view

• 1 creation day = 1 literal 24-hour day

Modern interpretations (late 1700s+)

Concordist

• Old earth
  • Gap view
    • Popularized by the Scofield Reference Bible. God creates the world, Satan destroys it, then God recreates it.
  • Day-age view
    • Days of creation are long but finite periods of time.
  • Intermittent day view
    • Each “day” of creation is a 24-hour period followed by an extended, finite period of time.
  • Days of divine fiat view
    • The six days of creation are the days that God commanded things to come into existence. Then God caused the different parts of creation to come into an existence over an extended period of time.
• Young earth
  • 24-hour view
    • Creation days were literal 24-hour days.
  • Mature creation view
    • 24-hour literal days, but created to look fully mature.

Non-concordist

• Framework view
  • Seven days is a figurative framework around what really happened.
• Analogical days view
  • Seven days are God’s work days. The length is not specified and are not important.
• Functional cosmic temple view
  • Creation is talking about the functions God created – not the material things.
• Historical creationism view
  • Genesis 1:1 refers to the creation of the universe and all that is in it. Genesis 1:2-2:4 describes God’s work of preparing a land that would eventually be promised to Abraham and his descendants.
• Days of revelation view
  • The Genesis 1 account is a series of statements telling man what God had done in ages past to create the universe and earth. The six days of creation are the time God took to tell man about how He created the universe, not the time it took for it to actually happen.

Introduction

• Acts 8:4
• I Timothy 1:3; Titus 1:4, 12-13

Preach the word.

• II Timothy 4:1-5
• To preach the word, you must preach from the word!
• II Timothy 2:15
• II Timothy 3:13-17 – This is what we want! The scripture that will prepare us.
• Titus 2:1 – Teach sound doctrine.

Fight error.

• I Timothy 1:3-7
• Acts 20:26-32 – You need God’s word to fight off error.
• I Timothy 4:5-8 – We must stay away from far-fetched theories.
• I Timothy 6:3-5
• II Timothy 2:14-18
• Titus 3:9-11 – You will need to take a stand against error!
• Titus 1:13

Speak with authority.

• Titus 3:1
• I Timothy 5:20
• I Timothy 6:18
• II Timothy 1:7

Introduction

• Acts 2:38
  • “baptize”: immerse, submerge for a religious purpose
• Matthew 5:3
  • “blessed”: divine favor
  • Use a Greek dictionary to find out the original meaning of a word.
• Ephesians 5:27
  • “church”
  • Bible study tools can show you were a Greek or Hebrew word is used in the Old Testament.

How to look up a Greek word

• Galatians 5:20 – What does “jealousy” mean?
• We can use a Greek interlinear to find the exact word that was used.
• In 1890, Dr. Strong setup a numbering system for all Greek and Hebrew words in the Bible. Most Bible study tools today are keyed to these numbers.
• In the 1970s, Zondervan updated this system with new numbers for words found in additional manuscripts that had been found since Dr. Strong created his system. This system uses numbers starting with “GK” and is also used in Bible study tools. However, Strong’s numbers are still more widely used.

Be careful – you are not a Greek expert!

• In this case, the same Greek word can mean either zeal or jealousy.
• There is more to the meaning of a word than just the definition. Context matters!
• All words have a semantic range (more than one meaning).
• WARNING: Don’t randomly plug in definitions for a word.
• Be hesitant to think you know more than the translators!

Refuting bad arguments

• Acts 2:38 – “for” the forgiveness of sins.
• The Greek word is eis, which means “forward” or “into.”
• Compare Matthew 26:28. The same word is used here.
• The people needed forgiveness of their sins. They had not been forgiven yet.

Practical advice

• Compare English translations.
• From time to time, look up a Greek word.
• Find other places the same Greek word is used.

Introduction

• Exodus 12:2 – Their calendar started with the Exodus. This event formed the national identify of Israel.

The exodus

• Exodus 3:7-10 – God heard their cries and was acting on His promises.
• The ten plagues (Exodus 3:19):

• God designed the plagues to specifically show that the many false gods of Egypt were powerless against Him.
• Exodus 7:5; 8:19
• God continually reminded the Israelites of what He did
  • Exodus 12:12
  • Joshua 24:5
  • Judges 6:8
  • I Samuel 10:18
  • II Samuel 7:6
• II Chronicles 7:19-22
• Acts 13:16-17, 23, 26, 29
• Hebrews 10:28-31 – Let us appreciate what God has done for us!

The law

• Exodus 19:4-6
• The 10 Commandments (Exodus 20; Deuteronomy 5)
  • The covenant included many additional laws – over 600 in al.
• God entered into a covenant with the people. This covenant was good for the people. The laws God set forth were not arbitrary.
• Deuteronomy 6:5-7 – They were to learn and obey these laws.
• Deuteronomy 6:18-25 – These laws were good for them.
• Jeremiah 11:1-8 – Israel broke the covenant with God.
• Any time people stray from God’s law, bad things will happen!
• Jeremiah 31:31
• Romans 6:20

The leader

Timeline of Moses’ life:

• First 40 years:
  • Raised as an Egyptian
  • Exodus 2:11; Acts 7:23
• Second 40 years:
  • Shepherd in Midian
  • Exodus 2:15; 7:7; Acts 7:29-30
• Third 40 years:
  • Leaders of Israel
  • Deuteronomy 34:7

We can grow into greatness!

• Exodus 3
• Exodus 2:11-15
• The reluctance of Moses (Exodus 3:11-4:17)
  • Exodus 5:22-23
  • Exodus 11:3
  • Exodus 12:1, 32
  • Exodus 14:13-14 – This is a Moses with faith!
  • Hebrews 11:24-29
• The way to grow into greatness is to live by faith.

Apparent age

• God created things in a mature, functional state.
• Apparent Age
• Romans 1:18-25

Difficulties with radiometric dating techniques

• More Conflicting Evidence from Evolutionary Dating Techniques
• New Findings Show Flags in Old-Earth Dating Methods
• Radioactive decay rates are not as constant as once thought. Solar weather seems to change the decay rate.
• How do we know the decay rates we have computed are accurate?

Soft tissues in dinosaur fossils

• Dinosaur Soft Tissue is Here to Stay
• Soft tissue has been found in dinosaur fossils, which should not be possible if the fossils are millions of years old.

Limitations in archaeology

• Dating in Archaeology: Challenges to Biblical Credibility

Obligatory mutualism

• Many plants and animals have symbiotic relationships such that they cannot survive without the other.
• This means that they must be created very close together or neither would survive. This causes problems for the idea of creation happening over millions of years.