Archive for May, 2011

Genesis 1:5 Sunset, A New Day

Posted in Creation with tags , , , , , , on May 30, 2011 by paulthepoke

Genesis 1:5 God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

Observation, according to God the day starts when the light source sets. The first part of the day is evening, then morning. What happens in the evening? It is dark. What happens in the morning? There is light. This pattern is consistent through the creation week in days one through six. Evening comes first, then morning. The Hebrew day starts at sunset. This mindset is the reason why people were scrambling like mad to get Jesus off the cross and buried before sunset. The day was about to end and the next day was the Sabbath.

In comparison, look at the western world concept of time. In our world, the new day starts at midnight. We mark our time by a clock. God marks his time with the sun. Culturally, our day starts when the alarm goes off in the morning or the sun gets us up. We are completely out of phase with God’s schedule. The modern, enlightened, western world has scrapped God’s definition and marking of a day.

Consider a mind set of the sun sets and the day is over. We start a new day by eating an evening meal, resting, then sleeping. We get up and eat a morning meal, then we go about our day’s work. Work is the end of the day, not the beginning. That is God’s way.

The sun is not needed for day and night. Light and a rotating earth are needed. On the first day of creation, God made and is light. The phrase “evening and morning” certainly implies a rotating earth. If we have light from one direction, and a spinning earth, there can be day and night. (Could God Really Have Created Everything in Six Day? Ken Ham, September 27, 2007)

Evolutionary theory suspects the sun was part of the formation of the earth. Big Bang theory has the sun occurring before the earth. Big Bang also suspects the sun was responsible in the development of life on earth. Science is no different than pagan religions who believe the sun is part of the creative process. (Could God Really Have Created Everything in Six Day? Ken Ham, September 27, 2007)

The Bible says that the sun is not created until day four. The sun is a created tool, not a source of creation. God’s account of creation and man’s theories clash. Man is concerned about the sun from the beginning and man postulates the sun is a source of life.

God’s word is radically different than the opinion of man. Isaiah 55:8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.

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Genesis 1:3-4 Day 1, Let there be light

Posted in Creation with tags , , , , , , , on May 22, 2011 by paulthepoke

Genesis 1:3-4 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.

At this point the critic launches an objection. How can you have light without the sun? After all, the sun was created on day four and this is day one. How can there be day and night without the sun for the initial three days? This question shows the bias in the belief system of the evolutionist. The evolutionist assumes that the sun and the stars were present before the earth. Genesis states the earth was created before the light (day one), let alone the sun, moon, and stars (day four). Because of their bias, science makes a leap of faith and decides the Bible is not true.

Evolution is a belief system. It is a theory. Can these scientists go back in time? Were these scientists present to observe precisely what happened? Science can not go back and test. They must deal with the present. According to their doctrines of the Scientific Method, science can not replicate or reduplicate what happened. Their theory can not be proven in a lab. By their standards, science fails miserably. At the very least, scientists should realize their hypothesis is false and reconstruct another hypothesis. As Ken Ham accurately points out in The Genesis Solution, “The conflict is really a battle between two religious beliefs”.

The sun is not needed for light. There are also many types of light, not just visible light. Short-wave light includes ultraviolet light, X-rays, and others. Long-wave light includes infrared light, radio waves, and others. Light is produced by friction, by fire, by numerous chemical reactions, as well as the nuclear reactions of atomic fission and fusion, which is what we think is occurring in the sun. (Sunlight Before the Sun, John D. Morris, Ph.D.)

Light is energy. We know from verse two that the Spirit of God was moving on the face of the waters (Genesis 1:2). In effect, there is movement or energy over water. Note, land was not present yet. Land does not occur until day three. 1 John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. Follow the thinking. God = light = energy = movement. God (light) is separate from darkness, just like His creation. God (light) is good, just like His creation. God can accomplish His will without the sun, He has other means. Isaiah 45:7 The One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these.

God’s word is radically different than the opinion of science. Isaiah 55:8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.

This is not a scientific argument. God’s word is history.

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Creation Week Overview

Posted in Creation with tags , , , , , on May 15, 2011 by paulthepoke

As the week progresses, the creation process becomes more complex.

Day 1, Genesis 1:3–5              Light created.

Day 2, Genesis 1:6–8              Sky created.

Day 3, Genesis 1:9–13            Water and land separated, plants created.

Day 4, Genesis 1:14–19          Sun, moon, stars created.

Day 5, Genesis 1:20–23          Sea and flying creatures created.

Day 6, Genesis 1:24–2:1         Ground life (livestock, insects, animals) and man created.

Day 7, Genesis 2:2–3              Sabbath, rest, week created.

When one takes an overview of the creation week, it is obvious this chain of events does not fit the order of modern thinking. Every day of the creation week will be in opposition to current scientific thought. For example, plants (day 3) were created by God before the sun (day 4) was on the scene. From an evolutionary perspective, could plants survive millions of years without the sun for photosynthesis? That fact alone is at odds with many theories of the origins of life. Evolution holds to the opinion that the sun was present before plants. Evolutionists think these processes take millions of years.

Compare the Bible’s account of creation to the most widely accepted Astronomy view, The Big Bang Theory. The Big Bang states the universe was created approximately 13.7 Billion years ago. The Bible states the creation is approximately 10,000 years old based on genealogies from Adam. The scientific experts speak in billions of years. God’s view is less than 10,000 years. At this point, who is more specific? Who is more precise, man or God?

The Big Bang Theory states there was a hot, massive explosion point from a “singularity” that occurred and the universe continues to expand. The Bible states God created our world out of nothing. God spoke the creation into existence. There is no mention of an explosion in the Bible. God talked. Scientists have no explanation what caused their Big Bang. Scientists have no explanation where their “singularity” came from. Where did the mass of the explosion come from in the Big Bang? How did that mass get there? And people who believe in a Biblical account of creation are accused of believing in fairy tales? Information regarding the Big Bang was obtained from http://big-bang-theory.com/.

The age of the earth is a separate issue according to science. According the U.S. Geological Survey, the earth is 4.54 billion years old plus or minus 1% (real specific!). According to science, the earth showed up 9.16 billion years later after the Big Bang. In the beginning, God created the heavens and earth (Genesis 1:1).

In regards to the development of life, The Big Bang Theory and evolution are at odds with each other. The Big Bang Theory states a universe 100 billion years old is not adequate for the development of a single cell (Answers to Evolution, Rose Publishing). According to theorists, life should not even exist on this planet for at least 95 billion more years. Scripture says the creation of life was completed in six days. There was no evolution from primordial slime to highly complex life forms in the Bible. We did not become more complex over time with gradual changes that took millions of years. We were created fully operational.

From man’s perspective, don’t let the facts get in the way.

1)      Even if all the data point to an intelligent designer, such a hypothesis is excluded from science because it is not naturalistic. Todd, Scott C., “A View from Kansas on the Evolution Debates,” Nature (vol. 401, September 30, 1999), p. 423. Mr. Scott is Biology Professor at Kansas State University.

2)      And I use that trust to effectively brainwash them. . . . our teaching methods are primarily those of propaganda. We appeal — without demonstration — to evidence that supports our position. We only introduce arguments and evidence that supports the currently accepted theories and omit or gloss over any evidence to the contrary. Singham, Mark, “Teaching and Propaganda,” Physics Today (vol. 53, June 2000), p. 54.

God’s word is radically different than man’s opinion. Isaiah 55:8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.

This is not a scientific argument. God’s word is history.

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Genesis 1:1 In the Beginning…

Posted in Creation with tags , , , , on May 9, 2011 by paulthepoke

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

The Hebrew word for God is “Elohim”. Elohim is a masculine, plural noun. It means divine, majestic, and great. There may be a hint of the Trinity in the plurality of the noun. He is the one, singular true God. He is the creator. He started time and space as we know it.

If one is looking for proof that God created or God exists, you are wasting your time. It is assumed. God is eternal and self-existent. God always has been and always will be. God was before the creation. In Genesis 21:33 God is called the eternal God. Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God. In the Hebrew, God is referred to as El Olam (Everlasting God). Olam means perpetual, forever, continuous, always, eternal.

YHWH (scholars refer to this as the Tetragrammaton, Greek for four letters) is the proper name of the Hebrew God of the Bible. The correct spelling is YHWH. Note there are no vowels in this term. Vowels from the name Adonai were substituted and the term Yahweh emerged. Jehovah is a word that has been translated to English from the Hebrew, Yahweh. The name for LORD is Jehovah. It means the existing one. This name is so sacred, Jews refuse to pronounce it. The name is first introduced in Exodus 3:14 when Moses and God are having a discussion. His name is a statement of existence. Exodus 3:14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

All three members of the God-head (Father, Son, and Spirit) are active in the process of creation. See Psalm 104:24-31 and Isaiah 40:12-14 for general information on creation.

Malachi 2:10 indicates the Father is the creator by way of rhetorical question. “Do we not all have one father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously each against his brother so as to profane the covenant of our fathers? In the New Testament,                1 Corinthians 8:6 tells us yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.

The Son was part of the creation process. Colossians 1:15-16 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.

The Holy Spirit was involved in the creative process. Genesis 1:2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.  Job 33:4 The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

In today’s world, man frequently questions creation and how it came to be. Under the guise of science and enlightenment, the creation and Creator are explained and rationalized away. We are nothing more than mere slime, mutated monkeys, or random chance in the eyes of today’s experts. Why should we believe them? Do they really know? Psalm 14:1 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”

In chapters 38 and 39 of Job (general information on creation), God is having a discussion with a man, Job. God asks the fundamental question in verse 4. “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding…”

When man questions us as believers of the Bible (ultimately God) for what we believe, how do we respond? When man questions the creation and the Creator, we could borrow a line from God and ask man one simple question.

Were you there?

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Isaiah 19:23-25 Israel at Peace in the Middle East

Posted in Isaiah with tags , , , , , on May 2, 2011 by paulthepoke

In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians. In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.”

There will come a time when there will be a public road that connects Africa to the Middle East. The road will go through Israel. There will be a flow of travel between the two areas. Even more amazing, the Egyptians and the Assyrians will worship the God of Israel.

So where is Assyria? Assyria was at the height of its power during the time of Isaiah. It was the world superpower of the time. The most fertile and densely populated part of Assyria lay east of the central river Tigris. Most of the population lived in country towns. Geographical boundaries were as follows. The Assyrian empire stretched from Egypt on the west to Persia (modern day Iran) on the east and from the Persian Gulf on the south to Anatolia (modern day western Turkey) on the north. This is essentially the Middle East as we know it today (May 2011). Information is noted from New Unger’s Bible Dictionary and Logos Bible Atlas.

During the time of Isaiah, these two countries (Egypt and Assyria) had caused nothing but angst for Israel. The countries flank Israel on the east and the west. Israel was stuck in the middle. Notice what the text says regarding Israel. They are blessing in the middle of the earth or “erets”. The Hebrew word for earth is erets. It could mean the land in this context or the totality of the earth. This would be an incredible prophecy to the Jewish people of the day (incredible for today, May 2011, as well). From the perspective Israel, their two major enemies are going to get along with them in peace. And they are going to worship the God of Israel with them.

Finally, real peace on earth.

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