Skeptical - Week 4
How Did
We Get Here?
The
Point:
What God created; God has the right to command.
Genesis 1
In the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void,
and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering
over the face of the waters.
3 And God said,
“Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was
good. And God separated the light from the darkness.5 God called the light Day,
and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning,
the first day.
6 And God said,
“Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the
waters from the waters.” 7 And God made the expanse and separated the waters
that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it
was so. 8 And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there
was morning, the second day.
9 And God said,
“Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let
the dry land appear.” And it was so.10 God called the dry land Earth, and the
waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was
good.
11 And God said,
“Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing
fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it
was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according
to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each
according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening
and there was morning, the third day.
14 And God said,
“Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the
night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15
and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the
earth.” And it was so.16 And God made the two great lights — the greater light
to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night — and the stars.
17 And God set them
in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 to rule over the
day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God
saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth
day.
20 And God said,
“Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above
the earth across the expanse of the heavens.”21 So God created the great sea
creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm,
according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God
saw that it was good.22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply
and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And
there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
24 And God said,
“Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds — livestock
and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it
was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and
the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the
ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said,
“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion
over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the
livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on
the earth.”
27 So God created
man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he
created them.
28 And God blessed
them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and
subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the
heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said,
“Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all
the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.
30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to
everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I
have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 And God saw
everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was
evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
The Holy Bible:
English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Genesis 1:1-31.
Study
Notes
Few questions have
fostered more debate and controversy than the questions of our origin. Where
did we come from? Why are we here? Is there a purpose to life? These questions
are actually at the root of so much of the sin in our world today.
We must understand
three things:
1) There
is a God
If there is no God
who created the world and gives it meaning, then anything goes. Our world is
steeped in rebellion against God even if they don’t know it.
This text clearly
points to God as the Creator of all things. Life and humanity find their origin
in the narrative found in Genesis 1.
2) There
is a Design
Because God is the
creator and designer of everything, He is also the One who has authority over
everything. Sin is ultimately the breaking of that design. So many of our
questions about creation stem not from an intellectual frustration with the
creation account, but with our innate, sinful desire to be our own authority.
The creation
account in Genesis 1 is not meant to be a scientific study in the origin of
life on Earth. That means we may have questions that go unanswered. However, we
can say with certainty that everything the Bible does say about creation is
100% true. God literally created the world and everything in it. God is the
unquestionable Creator of all things who made man in His image. God is the
prime mover, the One who was before the beginning, the One who has no beginning
or end.
3) There
is a Purpose
These are the
truths that give us purpose. We are not stardust floating through the universe
searching for our meaning in life. We don’t have to strive to carve our own
path or discover our destiny. Our fate isn’t written in the stars, it’s written
on the heart of the One who created us. Our meaning and purpose are found in
Him.
QUESTIONS FOR
DISCUSSION
What questions do
you have about the creation story in this passage? What still feels confusing
or difficult to understand?
How does God’s role
as creator affect our relationship with Him? How does it shape the way we see
Him?
If God has a
perfect design, why do we break it? What’s at the root of this sin?
What are some ways
you find yourself rebelling against God’s design? Why do you think that is?
How does being
created in God’s image give us purpose and meaning?
END
Teacher's Notes:
We recently finished
a 13-week discussion of the answer to the question, “How does it all end?”
Today we are
discussing one of humanity’s biggest unanswered questions, “How did it all
begin?”
John Nash said,
“I’ve always
believed in numbers, the equations and logic
that lead to
reason.”
What truly is
logic?
Who decides reason?
Genesis 1
In the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void,
and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering
over the face of the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there
was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light
from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called
Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
6 And God said,
“Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the
waters from the waters.” 7 And God made the expanse and separated the waters
that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it
was so. 8 And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there
was morning, the second day.
9 And God said,
“Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let
the dry land appear.” And it was so.10 God called the dry land Earth, and the
waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was
good. 11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed,
and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its
kind, on the earth.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation,
plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in
which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
14 And God said,
“Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the
night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15
and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the
earth.” And it was so.16 And God made the two great lights — the greater light
to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night — and the stars. 17 And
God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 to
rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the
darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was
morning, the fourth day.
20 And God said,
“Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above
the earth across the expanse of the heavens.”21 So God created the great sea
creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm,
according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God
saw that it was good.22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply
and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And
there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
24 And God said,
“Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds — livestock
and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it
was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and
the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the
ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said,
“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion
over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the
livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on
the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he
created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God
said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and
have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and
over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I
have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth,
and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30 And to
every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything
that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given
every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 And God saw everything that he
had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was
morning, the sixth day.
The creation
account in Genesis 1 is not meant to be a scientific study in the origin of
life on Earth.
That means we may
have questions that go unanswered.
However, we can say
with certainty that everything the Bible does say about creation is 100% true.
John Nash said,
“I’ve always
believed in numbers, the equations and logic
that lead to
reason.”
What truly is logic? & Who
decides reason?
John Nash said,
“It’s only in the
mysterious equations of love that any logical reasons can be found. I’m only
here tonight because of you, you are the reason I am, you are all my reasons.”
Bible Notes
The simple
statement that God created the heavens, and the earth is one of the most
challenging concepts confronting the modern mind. The vast galaxy we live in is
spinning at the incredible speed of 490,000 miles an hour. But even at this
breakneck speed, our galaxy still needs 200 million years to make one rotation.
And there are over one billion other galaxies just like ours in the universe.
Some scientists say
that the number of stars in creation is equal to all the grains of all the
sands on all the beaches of the world. Yet this complex sea of spinning stars
functions with remarkable order and efficiency. To say that the universe “just
happened” or “evolved” requires more faith than to believe that God is behind these
amazing statistics. God truly did create a wonderful universe.
God did not need to
create the universe; He chose to create it. Why? God is love, and love is best
expressed toward something or someone else – so God created the world and
people as an expression of His love. We should avoid reducing God’s creation to
merely scientific terms. Remember that God created the universe because He
loves each of us.
The creation story teaches
us much about God and ourselves. First, we learn about God:
1.
He is creative
2.
As the Creator He is distinct from His creation
3.
He is eternal and in control of the world
Second, we learn
about ourselves:
1.
Since God chose to create us, we are valuable in His eyes
2.
We are more important than the animals
Just how did God
create the earth? This is still a subject of great debate. Some say there was a
sudden explosion, and the universe appeared. Others say God started the
process, and the universe evolved over billions of years. Almost every ancient
religion has its own story to explain how the earth came to be. And almost
every scientist has an opinion on the origin of the universe. But only the
Bible shows one supreme God creating the earth out of His great love and giving
all people a special place in it.
We will
never know all the answers to how God created the earth, but the
Bible tells us that God did create it. That fact alone gives worth and dignity to
all people. The why is simply – love!
How long did it
take God to create the world? There are two basic views about the days of
creation: 1) each day was a literal 24 hour period, and 2) each day represents
an indefinite period of time – even millions of years.
The Bible does not say
how long these time periods were. The real question, however, is not how long
God took, but how He did it. God created the earth in an orderly fashion (He
did not make plants before light), and He created men and women as unique
beings capable of communication with Him. No other part of creation can claim
that remarkable privilege. It is not important how long it took God to create
the world, whether a few days or a few billion years, but that He created it
just the way He wanted it.
What does
the Bible say about creation vs. evolution?
It is not the
purpose of this answer to present a scientific argument in the creation vs.
evolution debate. The purpose of this article is to explain why, according to
the Bible, the creation vs. evolution debate even exists in its present form.
Romans 1:25 declares, “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped
and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised.
Amen.”
A key factor in the
state of the creation vs. evolution debate is that most scientists who believe
in evolution are also atheists or agnostics. There are some who hold a form of
theistic evolution. Others take a deistic view of God, believing He exists but
is not involved in the world, and everything proceeds along an uninterrupted,
natural course. Many genuinely and honestly look at the data and arrive at the
conclusion that evolution better fits the data. However, the dominant narrative
in this discussion is that evolution is, somehow, incompatible with both the
Bible and faith in God.
It’s important to
realize that some scientists who hold to belief in evolution also believe in
God and the Bible without seeing one or the other as contradictory. However, most
evolutionary scientists hold that life evolved entirely without any
intervention of a higher being. Modern theories of evolution, in practice,
are almost entirely a naturalistic science.
There are spiritual
drivers behind some of these positions. For atheism to be true, there must be an
alternate explanation — other than a Creator — for how the universe and life
came into existence. Although belief in some form of evolution predates Charles Darwin, he was
the first to develop a plausible, natural source for the process of evolution:
natural selection. Darwin once identified himself as a Christian, but, because
of some tragedies that took place in his life, he later renounced the Christian
faith and the existence of God.
Darwin’s goal was
not to disprove God’s existence, nor did he see his theory as doing so.
Unfortunately, that is how his ideas have been promoted by those looking to
enable atheism. One reason many believers today resist modern
evolutionary theory is that it so often comes packaged with a forced, atheistic
worldview.
Evolutionary scientists likely would not admit that their goal is to give an
alternate explanation of the origins of life and thereby to give a foundation
for atheism. And yet, according to the Bible, that is one reason the theory of
evolution is approached in the way we see today.
The Bible
tells us, “The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God’” (Psalm 14:1;
53:1). The Bible also proclaims that people are without excuse for not
believing in a Creator God. “For since the creation of the world God’s
invisible qualities — His eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly
seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse”
(Romans 1:20). According to the Bible, anyone who denies the existence of God
is a fool. Foolishness does not imply a lack of intelligence. By necessity, evolutionary
scientists are brilliant intellectually. Foolishness indicates an inability to
properly apply knowledge. Proverbs 1:7 tells us, “The fear of the LORD is the
beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.”
Atheists who
support evolution frequently mock creation and/or intelligent design as
unscientific and not worthy of scientific examination. For something to be
considered a “science,” they argue, it must be “naturalistic.” Creation, by
definition, is beyond the rules of the natural world. Since God cannot be
tested, so the argument goes, creation and/or intelligent design cannot be
considered science.
Strictly speaking,
evolution cannot be observed or tested any more or less than intelligent
design, but that does not seem to be an issue with non-believing evolutionists.
As a result, all data is filtered through the preconceived, presupposed, and
pre-accepted worldview of naturalism, without alternate explanations being
considered.
Neither the origin
of the universe nor the origin of life can be directly tested or observed. Both
creation and evolution require a level of faith to be accepted. We cannot go
back in time to observe the origin of the universe or of life in the universe.
Those who adamantly reject creation do so on grounds that would logically force
them to reject evolution as well.
If creation is
true, then there is a Creator to whom we are accountable. Evolution, as often
presented today, is an enabler for atheism. Evolution gives atheists a basis
for explaining how life developed apart from a Creator God. As such, modern
theories of evolution serve as a substitute “creation story” for the religion
of atheism.
What does
the Bible say about dinosaurs?
The topic of
dinosaurs in the Bible is part of a larger ongoing debate within the Christian
community over the age of the earth, the proper interpretation of Genesis, and
how to interpret the physical evidence we find all around us. Those who believe
in an older age for the earth tend to agree that the Bible does not mention
dinosaurs, because, according to the old-earth paradigm, dinosaurs died out
millions of years before the first man ever walked the earth, so the men who
wrote the Bible could not have seen living dinosaurs.
Those who believe
in a younger age for the earth tend to agree that the Bible does mention
dinosaurs, though it never actually uses the word dinosaur. Instead,
it uses the Hebrew word tanniyn, which is translated a few different ways in
our English Bibles. Sometimes it’s “sea monster,” and sometimes it’s “serpent.”
It is most commonly translated “dragon” in the KJV. The tanniyn appears to have
been some sort of giant reptile. These creatures are mentioned nearly thirty
times in the Old Testament (e.g., Psalm 74:13; Isaiah 27:1; Jeremiah 51:34) and
were found both on land and in the water. Another Hebrew word, livyathan,
transliterated leviathan, is used six times in Scripture (e.g., Job 41:1; Psalm
104:26) and refers to some type of large, fierce sea creature. The description
of leviathan in Job 41 gives the impression of a strong yet graceful,
unstoppable creature against which weapons are unavailing: “Nothing on earth is
its equal” (Job 41:33).
Another
giant creature the Bible describes, and that Job was familiar with is the
behemoth, said to be “a prime example of God’s handiwork” (Job 40:19, NLT). The
behemoth is a huge, plant-eating animal that dwells by the water. Its bones are
like “tubes of bronze,” and its limbs are like “rods of iron” (Job 40:18); its
tail is likened to a cedar tree (Job 40:17). Some have tried to identify the
behemoth as an elephant or a hippopotamus. Others point out that elephants and
hippopotamuses have very thin tails, nothing comparable to a cedar tree.
Dinosaurs like the Brachiosaurus, Apatosaurus, and Saltasaurus, on the other
hand, had huge tails that could easily be compared to a cedar tree.
Nearly every
ancient civilization has left some sort of art depicting giant reptilian
creatures. Petroglyphs and clay figurines found in North America resemble
modern depictions of dinosaurs. Rock carvings in South America depict images of
creatures resembling Triceratops, Diplodocus, and Tyrannosaurus Rex. Roman
mosaics, Mayan pottery, and Babylonian city walls all testify to man’s
trans-cultural, geographically unbounded memories of these creatures.
Thirteenth-century explorer Marco Polo wrote of seeing “huge serpents” in
China, which he described: “At the fore part, near the head, they have two
short legs, each with three claws, as well as eyes larger than a loaf and very
glaring. The jaws are wide enough to swallow a man, the teeth are large and
sharp, and their whole appearance is so formidable, that neither man, nor any
kind of animal can approach them without terror”.
So, are there
dinosaurs in the Bible? The matter is far from settled.
It depends on how
one interprets the available evidence. If the first two chapters of Genesis are
taken literally, the result is a belief in a relatively young earth and the
conviction that dinosaurs and man coexisted.
If dinosaurs and
human beings coexisted, what would happen to the dinosaurs? The Bible does not
discuss the issue, but dinosaurs likely died out sometime after the flood due
to a combination of dramatic environmental shifts and being relentlessly hunted
to extinction.
How does
young earth creationism handle the evidence for millions of years in the fossil
record?
The “fossil record”
is what paleontologists call the total number of fossils that have been
discovered, as well as the information derived from them. A somewhat unfair and
unsupportable error is often made when relating the fossil record to issues
such as the age of the earth or evolution. Most paleontologists subscribe to an
atheistic version of the theory of evolution. As such, they interpret the
fossil record through that worldview, inspect the interpretation, and note that
it confirms the theory. This is more than a little circular. That same approach
is also used to imply that anything proving an older earth also proves
evolution, which is not the case. The two issues are separate, both
scientifically and biblically.
The question, then,
is how do creationists interpret the fossil record? It is impossible for the
Bible to contradict true science, as God is the author of all truth and
knowledge. Scripture may be misinterpreted, but it will never be wrong. When
fallible science does not correspond with fallible theology, we cannot blame
the Bible. The scientific assumptions may be wrong, or the biblical
interpretations may be wrong, or both — but the Scriptures never are. Another
unfortunate tendency in modern atheism is to compare science to a single
interpretation of the Bible, then declare science has “proved” the Bible
incorrect. This, of course, is illogical. At the most, all that might be
disproved is that particular interpretation of Scripture.
God’s written Word
is the final authority in all matters that it addresses. Yet the Bible is not
always specific on all points. The exact age of the earth and the minute
details of how God created are among those issues left vague in Scripture.
All that being
said, those who hold to Young Earth Creationism (YEC) feel there are reasons to
doubt prevailing views of the fossil record. The fields of paleontology and
fossilology are highly prone to error. In the last century, we have witnessed
countless examples of “groundbreaking” discoveries that have ultimately been
proved misleading.
One famous example
is the coelacanth. Declared to have been extinct for about 70 million years,
this fish was thought by scientists to have been among the first to walk out of
the ocean on its way to becoming the ascendant of modern man. There was great excitement
and surprise in the scientific community when a fisherman caught a living
coelacanth off the island of Madagascar in 1938. Many evolutionists believed
the reason this fish disappeared from the fossil record is that it had evolved
into land-dwelling tetrapods.
The reason this is
important is that many fossils have been dated to be roughly 70 million years
old mostly because their remains were found in the same stratum as remains of a
coelacanth. And yet there are coelacanths alive today that look exactly like those
fossils—so use of coelacanth fossils to date other fossils, as it turns out,
isn’t all that accurate.
Fossils represent
death, and the fossil record is a catalog of death. Theologically, we know that
sin and death came about as a result of Adam’s disobedience, “Just as sin
entered the world through one man, and death through sin” (Romans 5:12). Now,
there is some discussion as to whether the “death” mentioned in Romans 5
includes plant and animal death or is limited to human death. In contrast,
young earth creationists contend the vast fossil record is compatible with the
global flood, which God used to send judgment on the earth. The flood was a
violent geologic upheaval with enormous destructive power that not only
destroyed all land-dwelling, air-breathing life (Genesis 7:21–23) but also
changed the global landscape.
In the YEC view,
the genealogical lines given to us in Genesis 5 and 11 reveal the earth to be
roughly 6,000 years old. Accordingly, YEC interprets the evidence to mean the
vast and abundant fossil record we have today was laid down within the last
6,000 years. Indeed, every fossil ever found, then, must have begun the
fossilization process after Adam’s sin introduced death and decay into our
world. Many scientists, including some who uphold the Bible as inspired and
inerrant, will disagree with this. The key difference lies in the different
assumptions being made throughout the interpretation process.
Does the
Bible teach that the earth is flat?
Many a skeptic
claims that the Bible depicts a flat earth. Scriptural references such as
Revelation 7:1 are cited, which speaks of “four angels standing at the four
corners of the earth.” Critics also point to Psalm 75:3, which says God holds
“the pillars” of the earth firm. Other passages they claim teach a flat earth
are Deuteronomy 13:7; Job 28:24; Psalm 48:10; and Proverbs 30:4; all of which
reference the “ends” of the earth. Are the critics correct? Is the Bible
“anti-science” in its teaching that the earth is flat?
The truth
is, the Bible does not comment on the shape of Planet Earth. It does not say
that the earth is flat, and it does not say that it is spherical. Let’s take a
closer look at some of the commonly cited passages that supposedly depict a
flat earth:
Revelation 7:1
says, “I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding
back the four winds of the earth.” In writing this, the apostle John was using
idiomatic language — the “four corners of the earth” refer to “every distant
location.” We use the same idiom today; for example, when we speak of Olympic
athletes coming from the four corners of the earth to compete in the games, we
mean they are coming from all over the world.
The book of
Revelation is full of non-literal descriptions and symbolic language. To press
Revelation 7:1 into a hyper-literal interpretation makes no sense. John simply
says that, at one point during the tribulation, God will cause all wind to stop
blowing. The “four corners” encompass the cardinal directions — north, south,
east, and west. All wind will cease at God’s command.
Psalm 75:3 quotes
God saying, “When the earth and all its people quake, it is I who hold its
pillars firm.” Other passages also refer to the earth’s “pillars,” such as 1
Samuel 2:8, but in no case should the language be taken literally. The book of
Psalms and Hannah’s song in 1 Samuel 2 are poetry. The writers liken the
founding of the earth to the constructing of a house, and their descriptions
are comparative (i.e., metaphorical), not literal. The point is not that the
earth is flat but that the earth belongs to God; it is His construction, and He
guarantees its stability. God’s “pillars” will not move, and His “roof” will
not cave in. Even when the moral order of the world seems to have crumbled and
people are overcome with fear, God will not fully withdraw His sustaining
power.
What about the
Bible’s references to the “ends of the earth” in Deuteronomy 13:7; Job 28:24;
Psalm 48:10; Proverbs 30:4; and other passages? Does a reference to the “ends”
of the earth teach that the earth has an edge and is therefore flat? We’ll take
Deuteronomy 13:7 as representative of all the passages: here, Moses warns the
people of “the gods of the peoples who are around you, whether near you or far
off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other” (ESV).
A couple things can
be said about the phrase the ends of the earth to show that it does not refer
to a flat earth. First, that phrase, like the four corners of the earth, is
idiomatic. We don’t expect people to take us literally when we speak of going
“back to the drawing board”; neither should we force a literal interpretation
on “the ends of the earth.” When biblical writers speak of the “ends of the
earth” (28 times in the KJV), they are simply referring to “the farthest
reaches of the inhabited world.”
Second, the phrase
the ends of the earth at times refers to people, not to land. For example,
Psalm 67:7 says, “May God bless us still, so that all the ends of the earth
will fear him.” In this verse, the ends of the earth reference the people who
inhabit remote and distant places (see also Psalm 98:3 and Isaiah 45:22).
Obviously, in this context the phrase is metaphorical and cannot be used to
depict the earth as having a physical edge. The same phrase, used elsewhere,
should also be considered figurative.
The Bible does not
teach that the earth is flat. The references to the “earth” in the Bible are
often not references to planetary earth but to a portion of dry land bound by
water. For example, Genesis 1:10 says, “God called the dry land Earth, and the
waters that were gathered together he called Seas” (ESV). “Earth” is mentioned
as distinct from “Seas” and cannot refer to Earth as a planet; the same Hebrew
word for “Earth” is used in Deuteronomy 13:7 and the other passages listed
above.
While the Bible
does not teach that the earth is flat, neither does the Bible explicitly teach
that the earth is spherical. Some passages do allow for a spherical earth, such
as Job 26:7 and Isaiah 40:22. And Job 26:10 makes reference to God’s drawing “a
circular horizon . . . at the boundary of light and darkness” (NKJV), a
description suggesting two hemispheres. In any event, the Bible is far from
affirming a naïve or unscientific understanding of the earth and the solar
system. There is simply no basis for the charge that the Bible teaches a flat
earth. Passages that seem to present a flat earth can all be explained when
correctly understood.
Does the Bible say
anything about a pre-Adamic race?
The concept of a
pre-Adamic race is the idea that God created a race of humans who lived on the
Earth before He created Adam, the first man. This hypothesis has been promoted
by various scholars at various times throughout history. Roman Emperor Julian the
Apostate (circa A.D. 331–363) and Calvinist theologian Isaac de La Peyrère
(1596-1676) are two notable examples.
We will look at two
popular facets of the Preadamite Hypothesis: the hypothesis as it was proposed
by Isaac de La Peyrère and the form which it takes in the “Gap Theory” (also
known as the Ruin-Reconstruction interpretation). According to La Peyrère, God
created the Gentiles on the sixth day when He said, “Let us make man in our
image” (Genesis 1:26). He did not create the Jews until after the seventh day,
His day of rest. At some point after the seventh day, God created Adam, the
father of the Jews.
La Peyrère cited
Scripture to support his hypothesis. Cain’s fear of being lynched, his marriage
to an unknown woman and the fact that he founded a city (Genesis 4:14-17) are
all interpreted as evidence that another race of men coexisted with Adam and his
family.
La Peyrère
subsequently reinterpreted other passages of Scripture in light of his peculiar
understanding of the Genesis account. Consider a very familiar passage, Romans
5:12-14: “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and
death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned — for
until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no
law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had
not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was
to come.”
This passage is
traditionally interpreted as meaning that death began with Adam’s sin and
reigned unchecked among men (even among those who haven’t actually eaten the
forbidden fruit, those who have sinned but not “in the likeness of the offense
of Adam”) until the Law was given to Moses. La Peyrère interpreted this passage
another way. According to La Peyrère, the pre-Adamic Gentiles sinned against
God, but in a manner less egregious than Adam (which is why Adam’s sin brought
death while theirs didn’t). They merely sinned against God’s moral will, while
Adam sinned against His Law. Adam disobeyed God’s prohibition by eating the
forbidden fruit. He broke what La Peyrère called the Law of Paradise. Thus,
according to La Peyrère, the pre-Adamic Gentiles were those who “had not sinned
in the likeness of the offense of Adam.”
By now it’s obvious
how misinterpreting one or two passages of Scripture can lead to all kinds of
warped perceptions. The Scriptural problems with La Peyrère’s interpretations
are numerous.
First, Adam is
called the “first man” (1 Corinthians 15:45). This is inconsistent with the
idea that God created men before Adam. Second, according to La Peyrère, the
Gentiles were to live outside of the Garden of Eden while Adam enjoyed paradise
(a privilege which came with the responsibility of obeying the Law of
Paradise—not eating the forbidden fruit). Genesis 2:5-8, however, says quite
plainly that before God created “the man whom He had formed,” the very same man
which He placed in the garden, there were no men upon the earth to cultivate
the ground. Third, God created Eve for Adam because he was alone, there was no
one else like him around (“It is not good for the man to be alone… but for Adam
there was not found a helper suitable for him” Genesis 2:18, 20). Fourth, Adam
named his wife “Eve” “because she was the mother of all the living” (Genesis
3:20). The list goes on, but these passages should suffice to refute La
Peyrère’s misinterpretation.
As for Cain’s fear
of being lynched, his marriage to an unknown woman and the fact that he founded
a city (Genesis 4:14-17), Adam was almost 130 years old by the time that Cain
killed Abel (Adam had Seth, his next son after Abel’s death, when he was about
130 years old; Genesis 4:25; 5:3). And we know that Adam had sons and daughters
(Genesis 5:3). At 130 he could have had grandkids and great-grandkids by the
time that Cain killed Abel. Cain had plenty of family members to be afraid of
after killing his brother.
Cain apparently
married a family member (a necessity back then) at some point before Abel’s
murder. It seems odd to us today, but incest wasn’t outlawed by God until the
Law of Moses. It may have been around that time that generations of
degenerative genetic mutations began to take a toll on our DNA. God outlawed
incest for our protection. It became (and remains) dangerous for close
relatives to procreate because of shared genetic defects which become expressed
in their children causing severe deformities and other problems.
As for Cain
founding a city, if he lived to be the average age back then, he probably lived
to be about 900 years old. By the time he died, his family would have been a
small city. If Cain had a child at the age of 30, and his child had a child at
the age of 30 and so on, Cain could have produced 30 generations by the time he
died (30 generations times 30 years each equals 900 years).
The
Ruin-Reconstruction interpretation takes a somewhat different approach to the
pre-Adamic race theory. According to the Gap Theory, an unspecified amount of
time passed between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2, during which God created a pre-Adamic
race of men who lived upon the earth until God destroyed them in judgment.
Other extinct creatures, like the dinosaurs, are said to have also lived during
this time. Afterwards, the theory goes, God remodeled the earth in six days. He
created Adam on the sixth day, and the rest is history. Some say that Satan’s
fall occurred at some point during the ambiguous gap.
A “mistranslation”
has contributed to the case for this misinterpretation. In the King James
Version of the Bible, God says to Adam, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and
replenish the earth.” Proponents of the Gap Theory emphasize the word
“replenish.” They interpret the text as saying that Adam and Eve were to refill
the Earth. They were to fill it again. The problem with this view is that,
regardless of what it says in English translations, the Hebrew word is mâlê’,
and it simply means “to fill” or “to be full.” Moreover, the English
translators of the King James Version knew the word means “to fill.” They chose
“replenish” because, in 17th-century Elizabethan English, “replenish” meant “to
fill” (similar to how in modern English the word “replete” doesn’t mean to
“abound again,” it simply means “abundant” or “abounding”). Language is not
static, but dynamic. Words change meaning over time. Today “replenish” means
“to fill again.” It didn’t mean the same thing in 17th century England. Nearly
all modern translations translate mâlê’ as simply “fill” in the passage in
question (Genesis 1:28).
Proponents of the
Gap Theory respond by pointing out that God said to Noah after the flood, “Be
fruitful and multiply, and fill [mâlê’] the earth” (Genesis 9:1). It is evident
that Noah was meant to refill the earth after the flood. Can’t we then interpret
the same command to Adam to mean the same thing — that Adam was to repopulate
the earth after God’s judgment? The fact is that, regardless of what the
condition of the planet was before Noah’s flood, God didn’t tell Noah to
“refill” the Earth. He simply said to fill it. God chose the words He chose and
no others. If He said “refill,” that would have been something, but since He
just said “fill,” that argument falls flat.
The real problem
with the Gap Theory is that it places human mortality (pre-Adamic human
mortality) before Adam’s sin. The Bible is quite clear that death entered in
through Adam’s sin. “For since by a man came death, by a man also came the
resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be
made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:21-22). Regardless of whether or not we believe
in animal mortality before sin, the Bible is quite explicit about human
mortality before Adam’s sin. There wasn’t any. To deny this is to deny a
central Christian doctrine.
