THE WORLD WE’RE IN
The fact that Lucifer is here to steal, kill, and destroy—and that he was thrown down on earth, deceiving many (Rev. 12:9)—is a vexing proposition. Not only because it is a terrifying goal, but because I can see the carnage. Every generation has been bamboozled, harassed, coached, and hoodwinked by him, yet every generation thinks they are superior to every other generation. Such is the extent of our delusion.
My heart breaks for those who have become fed up with the hypocrisy and confusing messages. They have real questions but can’t seem to get straight answers. People who should know better say one thing but live a different life. Your family believes one thing, but the world at large believes something else. You must make your own decision, but who to trust? If the powerful can’t get it right, what hope is there for the powerless?
Take the matter of where we come from. Did God create the first human, or did the first human come from nothing with a Big Bang? Is the Earth billions of years old or a few thousand years old?
RESPONSE TO THE CULTURE
If you have at least a primary school education, you’d be influenced to believe the earth is billions of years old and we evolved from a tiny cell created from… nothing. If your parents taught you the same thing, then this might bolster your confidence. Plus, you can rest easy and not be afraid of being called names since you have the same beliefs as the mainstream.
However, if you believe that human beings were created, you might experience dissonance. You might feel uncomfortable or conflicted. Some handle the conflict by finding ways to reconcile the two concepts. One group may say that God created humans, and He did so over billions of years. It didn’t take six calendar days; each “day” represents “an indefinitely long period.” Others may avoid “God” and settle with the generic “Intelligent Design.”
In high school, we studied “Religious Studies,” “Biology,” and “History.” In “Biology” and “History,” we were taught that we evolved from other species, which started from nothing. In “Religious Studies,” we were taught that God created us with His Word. I wasn’t conflicted, as I didn’t need to believe to study a topic. Today, it’s different. What you believe can get you cancelled.
STOP AND FIND OUT
We’re asking our young people to defend ideas they aren’t confident about. They don’t feel sufficiently confident they can withstand backlash. It’s safer to side with the seemingly more powerful. But it matters, doesn’t it?
Take the matter of the age of the earth. If you’re not aware that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is a documented historical figure or of the Bible’s authenticity, then you would not have a foundation on which to stand. Please don’t go further in life without conducting a reasonable investigation. It is becoming more difficult to differentiate truth from lies, and we’re running out of time to find out.
Followers of Christ should feel responsible for providing more coherent responses and support to our children.
Colleges like Oxford, Harvard, and Cambridge were founded by Christians, promoting the Bible as the source of knowledge and truth. Nowadays, these colleges and others are churning out students with little or no exposure to the Bible.
Worse, some are opposed to the Bible.
DOES IT MATTER IF IT’S SIX LITERAL DAYS?
The first part of the Bible states that God created the world and narrates His relationship with human beings. He selected a group of people (Israelites), and for centuries, He showed them how He was going to save them from this deadly life. They were tasked to commemorate holidays or festivals as reminders.
The second part of the Bible outlines how God showed up as Jesus Christ and lived among human beings. When He showed up and told people He was God, some believed, while others did not. When He said He was going to die and resurrect after three days, they didn’t believe it until He did! The fact that He did what He said means we can believe Him.
The Scriptures outline that the earth was made in six days. I used to think it didn’t matter whether it was six literal days or six long extended periods called “days,” until I heard Ken Ham say it mattered; otherwise, why believe the rest of the Bible? That made sense.
I want to believe ‘six literal days’, but what about the scientists who say it would’ve taken billions of years for God to do all that? My favourite Christian apologists (defenders of the Christian faith) are not in agreement with the scientists, of course, so I prayed to God, who reminded me of Jesus’ first miracle as recorded in John 2:1–12.
THE BEST WINE EVER—JESUS’ FIRST MIRACLE GAVE ME AN ANSWER
Jesus was at a wedding feast when they ran out of wine. He told the servants to fill the jugs with water, pour some, and then take a cup to the party’s wedding planner. The planner was shocked: “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” (John2:10)
Then it hit me!
The planner is like a sommelier – an expert wine taster. If you were to ask the sommelier to describe that wine, he would not have pronounced, “The grapes were reaped this afternoon on the slope of Cana and aged for five minutes.”
The sommelier tests wine just as scientists do; the age he estimated would be convincingly plausible but not accurate. That wine was created with decades of ageing, just as the earth was created with seemingly a billion years of history. Scientists have a convincingly plausible estimate of billions of years; however, God made the earth look that way.
If we were on Earth six literal days after creation, the world would look extremely old, as it does now—there would be large trees bearing fruit, grown animals and sea life, and an adult Adam and Eve. Only those who were there on those six days would know it was created in six days, just like only the servants who filled those water jugs knew that the wine had been made in a few minutes.
We could use the same principle to say Adam was made as a man, not an embryo. However, to be generous, there was no human witness to the six days of creation and no repeatable scientific experiment for billions of years – to validate either argument.
Scientists at CERN have been trying to find the “god particle” and how to create the first matter. https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/cern-looking-for-god-particle-or-opening-portals-of-hell/
However, there were witnesses to the wine-making event. Matter was created from nothing with age!
Time and age are not necessarily correlated for God, who exists outside of time, space, and matter; so, I am satisfied with the evidence that the Earth was made six thousand years ago and was ‘aged’ (as humans would say), billions of years by God from inception.
WHAT TO DO
This discussion was not for me to win an argument but to understand God’s creation from His perspective – His Word. This helps to build my faith in Him to trust His Word even if it is not initially clear. He is God of all ages, and whatever He says is relevant for all times.
I’m aware many have used the Bible for personal gain. Be alert, “Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers[a] of this world, rather than from Christ.” Colossians 2:8
Human beings are not the only ones on Earth; Lucifer and his team provide us with alternatives and fake solutions to derail us. He’ll overload us with information, deceiving us into thinking it’s the same as wisdom. He’ll tap into our sinful desires and give us what we think we need. He’ll sneak into reputable institutions and use them to authenticate and proclaim lies. They don’t have the answers, but they’ll use all kinds of shenanigans to give the impression they do. We need a source of truth to live genuinely. That’s the Bible.
We need not fear the world or culture.
When we go to our Father God with humility and sincerity, for His will and desire on Earth, He’ll be faithful to His Word. We live in His Kingdom, and if we have questions, He will answer us.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Let’s not overthink it. Bring your children to Christ Jesus and His Word (the Bible). Impress on them: He is the Way, Life, Truth, and Wisdom. Seek Him first, and all other things will be added.
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This article was first published in the newspaper “Freedom Come Rain” November18, 2023