Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20031130.htm

HOLDING TO THE TRUE ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE
Part II: Answering Objections To Scripture's Special Creation Teaching
(Genesis 1-2)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Since we discovered in our last message in this series that Jesus Christ held Genesis 1-2 to be true, and since that passage does not allow for evolution, how would we answer questions raised by those who wonder why we hold to special creation in view of the alleged "proofs" or "evidences" favoring evolutionary models of origins?

In support of this concern, consider the following facts:

(1) The writer of Genesis 1-2 lived long before Charles Darwin articulated his theory of evolution. So a well-meaning party who holds to evolution or to theistic evolution might ask: "Were he to have lived in OUR era of scientific enlightenment and come to see the plausible arguments supporting evolutionary models of origins, wouldn't the author of Genesis 1-2 want to rethink his idea of origins as it just does not fit what intelligent evolutionary scientists think the universe began? For example, consider the problem of starlight and time': the light we see from distant galaxies would have taken much longer than 6,000 years creationists give for the origin of the universe just to reach us so we could see it! How could the special creation model then be true?"

(2) Another party who had read Julius Wellhausen's theory that Genesis 2 is a competing, contradictory creation account with Genesis 1 might think he has a point! After all, Genesis 2:4 sounds a lot like Genesis 1:1 as it repeats the statement that God created the universe!

How might we answer him?

(3) Some Christians hold that Genesis 1:2 can be translated, "And the earth became formless and void . . ," thus allowing for millions of years between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 to support the presence of an evolutionary fossil record covering millions of years between a first creation that was destroyed and a second creation in Genesis 1:2ff.

How would we answer one who holds to such a "gap theory"?

(4) Romans 1:20 tells us we can readily detect God's eternal power from viewing the universe so that we humans are without excuse to believe in Him as Creator of it all. Can we then explain to someone this observable evidence, supporting special creation versus the theistic evolution and pure evolution models of origins?

How can we obey 1 Peter 3:15 and give an ANSWER to EVERY man who asks us a reason for our hope, the hope in Christ that we before learned REQUIRES we hold to special creation?

(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "Since we learned JESUS held Genesis 1-2 to be the true account of origins, one not allowing for ANY evolutionary processes, how do we ANSWER those who QUESTION special creation?"
  1. Moses who WROTE Genesis INTENTIONALLY OPPOSED any view that allowed for ANY FORCE for origins OTHER than GOD:
    1. Moses who wrote Genesis (Matthew 19:4-8) presented the START of origins in great contrast to how the pagan myths of his era did:
      1. The Sumerian, Indian, Anatolian, Mesopotamian, Grecian and Canaanite myths of origins in the Ancient Near East present "(1) a repressive monster restraining creation, (2) the defeat of the monster by the heroic god who thereby releases the forces essential for life and (3) the hero's final control over these forces," Mary K. Wakeman, God's Battle with the Monster: A Study in Biblical Imagery, pp. 4-6 as cited in B. Waltke, Creation and Chaos , p. 6.
      2. Now, in contrast to such a battle and the life forces paganistically associated with the body of this monster, Genesis 1:1-2 describes the creative FORCE of God's Spirit hovering over an ORIGINAL state of a formless, EMPTY ocean! (Ibid., Waltke, p. 48)
    2. So, in writing the Creator made the universe from a formless, empty world versus the idea a god battled a monster to release life-yielding forces, Moses would have PURPOSELY OPPOSED EVOLUTION!
  2. The Hebrew TEXT of Genesis 1-2 does NOT ALLOW ROOM for ANY evolutionary processes to explain the origin of the universe:
    1. The Hebrew text of Genesis 1:1-2 does not allow for a "gap" of ages:
      1. Some assert a "gap" of ages occurred between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2, claiming verse 2 can be translated: "And the earth became formless and void . . ." (Ibid., p. 18-21) In doing so, they leave room for long ages of evolutionary processes to produce a first creation (v. 1) that was destroyed before a second creation (v. 2)!
      2. However, the Hebrew grammar when compared to other Ancient Near Eastern literature on origins argues for verse 1 being an independent clause followed by verse two being a circumstantial clause (of the pattern waw + noun + verb) describing a negative state before the initial creation account that begins in verse 3 (with its waw consecutive + prefixed conjugation form), Ibid., p. 32-35.
      3. Thus, the passage reads: "(1) In the beginning God created . . . (2) Now the earth was formless . . . (3) And God said . . ." Ibid.
      4. Thus, the author of Genesis 1 did not intend for a "gap" of ages between verses 1 and 2: rather, Genesis 1 is the account of "the universe as man knows it, not the beginning of everything . . . The fall of Satan and entrance of sin into God's original Creation would precede this [Genesis 1] account," Bib. Know. Com., O. T. , p. 28.
    2. Genesis 1 allows only for one single solar week for creation to occur, leaving no room for evolution in the origin of the universe:
      1. Each "day" in Genesis 1 consists of an "evening and morning," periods depicting solar (24 hr.) days, not eras of many solar days.
      2. Numerical adjectives modify "day" in Genesis 1, and in all of the Pentateuch, this format = solar days, Ryrie St. Bib., KJV, Gen. 1:5.
  3. The LITERARY FORM and CONTENT of Genesis 2 does NOT show it to be a creation "story" differing from Genesis 1, but a bridge linking chapter 1 with the ruin of creation in Genesis 3:
    1. Following the typical Ancient Near Eastern creation account format used in Genesis 1, in Genesis 2:4a, a title (v. 4) is followed by three circumstantial clauses "[when' no shrub . . . when' there was no man . . . when' streams . . . watered the . . . ground]" that are followed by the verb that begins the narrative section ("[He] formed"), Ibid.
    2. Well, Genesis 2 highlights the origin of man and woman, and the elements behind their temptation to sin, 2:7-9, 16-17, 19-24 & 3:1-24.
    3. Thus, Genesis 2 does not compete with Genesis 1, but explains man's origin and function to bridge God's good creation in chapter 1 with the ruin of that good creation by man's fall into sin in Genesis 3.
  4. Then, in accord with Romans 1:20, we see only the special creation model of origins can explain the second law of thermodynamics:
    1. Romans 1:20 says God's eternal power is inexcusably clear in nature.
    2. Well, scientists have defined a second law of thermodynamics, that usable energy in the universe is always on the decrease!
    3. Thus, the universe was "wound up" by an energy source distinct from the universe itself, a conclusion not allowing for evolutionary processes, but making ample room for special divine creation as presented in the forthright interpretation of Genesis 1-2, cf. Bolton Davidheiser, Ph. D., Evolution and the Christian Faith, p. 220-221.
Lesson Application: In view of this information from the text of Genesis 1-2 and from science itself, (1) we should BELIEVE the Bible's account of special creation, and TRUST in CHRIST, God's Son for salvation from sin, John 3:16. (2) Then we can share this information to those who ask us a reason for the hope we have in the Creator and God of the Bible, cf. 1 Peter 3:15.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 Since we raised the issue of the "distant starlight problem" in our introduction, we can answer it here in our concluding illustration:

evolutionists have long argued that the light reaching us from the most distant galaxies we see could not have possibly traveled to the earth from these stellar bodies in only the 6,000 years special creationists say the universe has existed. Thus, it is argued the Genesis 1 special creation view of the universe in is not scientifically workable.

However, pro-evolutionary scientists have a similar challenge in their own view of the origin of the stellar universe: the "big bang" hypothesis promoted by many evolutionists holds the universe began with a huge explosion containing random variations in temperature at various locations throughout the universe. Nevertheless, according to the faint microwaves that come from all directions in space [as discovered in 1964-1965 by Nobel Prize winners, Penzias and Wilson], instead of differing temperatures to this Cosmic Microwave Background in different parts of the universe, its temperature is the same throughout the universe to a precision of 1 part in 100,000 (cf. P.J.E. Peebles, Principles of Physical Cosmology (Princeton University Press, 1993), p. 404 as cited in Creation, Sept.-Nov. 2003, p. 48). Since there has not been enough time for even light naturally to travel between widely separated regions of space, even assuming a "big bang" of many millions of years in age, there should not be enough time for this universal degree of uniformity in temperature to come to exist naturally in the Cosmic Microwave Background! "This is a light-travel-time problem" for the evolutionist! (Ibid., Creation)

We might explain it all from Scripture. God tells us He miraculously spread out the firmament in a single solar day in Genesis 1:6 (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV ftn. to Genesis 1:6 where "firmament" comes from "a verb meaning to beat out and spread out'. . .") If God thus spread it out much faster than the speed of light, the enormous amount of energy expended to achieve this supernaturally rapid, universe-wide feat could easily have left this telltale, uniformly heated, Cosmic Microwave Background scientists find throughout space!

The eternal power of God is clearly seen from nature so that man is without excuse but to believe in God and His special creation. May we believe Genesis 1-2 and believe in the Creator!