2024 Gallup <\/a>found<\/p>\n 1. 37% believe in a recent, special creation<\/p>\n
2. 34% believe in a God-directed form of evolution<\/p>\n
3. 24% believe in a strictly natural-caused evolution<\/p>\n C. Think about it, only a third the people in the United States believe that what the\nearly chapters of Genesis state is literally true. It might be comforting until you\nfind that the wealthier you are or the more educated you are, the less likely you are\nto believe what the Bible says – I Corinthians 1:19-24\n
D. But does it matter whether we accept the accounts in Genesis as literally true?<\/p>\n
1. After all, it is a part of the Old Testament, and we are under the New Law.<\/p>\n 2. It concerns events thousands of years old. Does it matter if those events are\ntens of thousands or hundreds of thousands year old?\n
II. How we see the creation affects how we see Jesus<\/p>\n
A. Jesus Christ was involved in the creation<\/p>\n
1. John 1:1-3 – Nothing was made without the Word<\/p>\n
2. But where does Jesus appear in the Creation? – Genesis 1:1-3<\/p>\n
a. He is subtly hidden in the phrase “God said.”<\/p>\n 3. Colossians 1:13-18 – The universe was created by Jesus and it was created\nfor Jesus and it is sustained by Jesus. In other words, the world has a\npurpose and that purpose revolves around the Son of God.\n
4. Hebrews 1:1-3 – Jesus inherits the world that was made through him.<\/p>\n B. So, would you expect Jesus to know when the creation took place and how it took\nplace?\n C. Matthew 19:4-6 – Jesus said man was made male and female and that this took\nplace at the beginning.\n
1. He did not say they became male and female or became human.<\/p>\n
2. He did not say that it happened long after the world came into existence.<\/p>\n 3. If you do not accept that there were human beings at the beginning of the\nworld, then you are saying Jesus lied.\n 4. If you believe he was mistaken about this, then how can you be certain\nthere are no other mistakes?\n
D. Hence, how we see the creation affects our view of Jesus<\/p>\n
III. How we see the creation affects our view of the Bible<\/p>\n
A. The Bible declares God to be just – Isaiah 45:21; Zephaniah 3:5<\/p>\n
B. We are told that we will be judged by God’s word<\/p>\n
1. Must keep Christ’s word – John 14:23<\/p>\n
2. Will not see death – John 8:51<\/p>\n
3. Will have eternal life – John 5:24<\/p>\n C. Does it not follow then that our future hangs on our ability to understand what is\nexpected of us?\n
1. By reading we can understand – Ephesians 3:3-5<\/p>\n 2. Ephesians 5:17 – Commanded to understand. A command that cannot be\nfulfilled if the Bible is obscure.\n D. The Bible gives definite statements regarding the origin of the world, such as that\nit came about by God speaking it into existence – Hebrews 11:3\n
1. It tells us how long it took, not only in Genesis, but also in Exodus 20:8-11<\/p>\n 2. The genealogies even give us a close approximation to when these events\noccurred. \n
a. Read Genesis 5:1-11 as an example<\/p>\n b. Is there any room to put thousands of years between the\ngenerations?\n c. No! Why? Because we are told at what age in the previous\ngeneration the next came and the list goes all the way to the sons of\nNoah in Genesis 5:32 and other lists continue this method.\n d. You might argue plus or minus a year due to rounding, but not plus\nor minus 100,000 years or a million years.\n 3. The only way to get around this is to declare that God didn’t really mean\nexactly what He said. Just as Peter warned – II Peter 3:16\n E. If man can arbitrarily declare Genesis Chapter 1 to be allegorical, then what about\nthe verses that refer to Genesis 1? If man can play fast and loose with one part of\nthe Bible because of his own understanding, then why not other areas? – Proverbs\n3:5\n
IV. How we see the Creation affects our view of truth<\/p>\n
A. John 7:15-17 – Jesus teaching (doctrines) were of God<\/p>\n
B. This teaching comes to us through the apostles – Acts 2:42<\/p>\n
C. It was recorded for us – I Thessalonians 2:13<\/p>\n D. How is it that people argue for women preachers when the Bible says I\nCorinthians 14:34?\n E. How is it that people argue for homosexual members when the Bible says I\nCorinthians 6:9-10?\n F. How do you get people advocating sex outside of marriage when the Bible says\nHebrews 13:4?\n G. The reason is that people are not persuaded the entire Bible is absolute truth! –\nJohn 17:17\n
H. Therefore, they believe that the teachings can evolve to adapt society’s views.<\/p>\n
I. Yet doctrine is what saves us – Romans 6:17-18; I Timothy 4:16<\/p>\n
J. We are to guard against the variableness of false doctrine – Ephesians 4:14-15<\/p>\n
K. We must remain in its boundaries – II John 9-11<\/p>\n L. You see the Bible teaches that God created the world by His word – Psalm 33:6-9;\nActs 17:24-26.\n M. If you can change one doctrine, then any doctrine can be changed and they are\nbeing changed!\nV. The Bible is clear as to how the world came into being. It is clear when it came into\nbeing. It is important that it is accepted just as it is presented.\n
A. Guard against false knowledge – I Timothy 6:20-21<\/p>\n
[Based on a lesson by Wayne Walker.]<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Download Audio Text: Genesis 1 I. The teaching of evolution has made significant inroads in the beliefs of common man A. In 1999 Gallup found 1. 47% believed in a recent, special creation 2. 40% believed in a God-directed form of evolution 3. 9% believe a strictly natural-caused evolution B. In 2024 Gallup found 1. 37% believe…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,32],"tags":[219,302,80,49],"class_list":["post-16272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-sermon","tag-bible","tag-creation","tag-evolution","tag-faith"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":36168,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-biblical-account-of-creation-not-meant-to-be-taken-literally\/","url_meta":{"origin":16272,"position":0},"title":"Is the biblical account of Creation not meant to be taken literally?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 18, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I actually once wrote an article my junior year of high school titled \"Creationism vs. Evolution\", and my entire paper was about how Creationism was right and Evolution was wrong. However, over the years I've come across so much evidence arguing for the sake of evolution in the world.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":60167,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/theistic-evolution-denial-of-the-record\/","url_meta":{"origin":16272,"position":1},"title":"Theistic Evolution — Denial of the Record","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 3, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jim R. Everett via bulletin from the Cedar Park church of Christ Atheistic evolution is an unscientific hypothesis because it affirms that life came from nothing. Theistic evolution is an unwarranted compromise and a denial of the record of creation (Genesis 1-2). No man can believe the Bible to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53710,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-does-the-caveman-fit-in-with-the-human-race\/","url_meta":{"origin":16272,"position":2},"title":"How does the caveman fit in with the human race?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 20, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How does the cave man fit in with the human race?\u00a0 I do not believe in the theory of evolution, but I have always wondered how the cave man fits with what the Holy Bible says. Answer: You need to remember that no one has actually observed cavemen in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35285,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-science-refute-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":16272,"position":3},"title":"Does Science Refute the Bible?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 10, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Satan throws doubt on the God's word through various means \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"The early parts of Genesis are just a myth. Everyone knows that evolution has been proven.\" \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Yet, evolution has never been proven. There exists more evidence to show that the evolution as described by Darwin cannot\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56135,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-evolutionists-creation-story-inspired-by-naturalism\/","url_meta":{"origin":16272,"position":4},"title":"The Evolutionist’s Creation Story, Inspired by Naturalism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 24, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Abraham Smith Naturalism:\u00a0A theory denying that an event or object has a supernatural significance. Once upon a time billions of years ago, everything that has ever been came from a little ball called the cosmic egg. At that time it was heated to trillions of degrees. It was so\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1835,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-there-a-world-before-genesis\/","url_meta":{"origin":16272,"position":5},"title":"Was there a world before Genesis?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 28, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Was there a world before Genesis? Answer: \"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth\" (Genesis 1:1). Approximately 4,000 years after this event, Jesus stated, \"And He answered and said to them, \"Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16272\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}