Text: Psalm 33:4-11<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nI. A literal reading of the Bible tells us that God created the world, that the universe was\ncreated in six days, and the world is about 6,000 years old.\n A. Yet the literal reading is often rejected, not on the basis of Scriptural teachings, but\nbecause it does seem “scientific.”\n B. So, they force a re-interpretation of the Scriptures to make the clear statements\nnon-literal.\n 1. In other words, they use science to justify how the Bible is to be\ninterpreted.\n
C. Once the ball is rolling, it is hard to stop.<\/p>\n 1. “Science” says homosexuality is genetic, therefore denominations are in a\nrush to re-interpret God’s clear statements condemning the choice of\nhomosexuality.\n D. Interestingly, in both cases, the so-called scientific evidence is neither truly\nscientific or legitimate evidence, but that doesn’t seem to bother those who feel\nthey must adapt Scriptures to modern society.\n E. One young man noted the logical conclusion, “I believe that a strict literal\ninterpretation of Genesis 1-2 combined with dogmatic Young Earth creationism\nmust lead inevitably to a direct contradiction between the Bible and science. I\ndon’t believe that the Bible’s authors were particularly concerned about history,\nchronology and the age of the Earth. Old Testament Israel was to involved in the\nprocess of attempting to form a functioning society in a violent world to\nconcentrate on questions regarding the origin and development of the Earth and\nhuman society.”\n
1. Note that the author rejects the literal truth of the creation account.<\/p>\n 2. He also views the Bible as being of human origins. Humans with historical\nand cultural limitations.\n
F. The Bible claims to be teachings of the Spirit of God – I Corinthians 2:6-14<\/p>\n G. The teachings of the Bible are not subject to man’s interpretation of God’s words –\nII Peter 1:20-21\n
H. God’s word is true in every<\/i> matter that it addresses – Psalms 119:128<\/p>\n
I. God’s word has been fully confirmed – Psalms 93:5<\/p>\n
II. The real problem is that people lack genuine faith in God’s book.<\/p>\n A. When a person feels the need to reinterpret Scripture to fit supposed scientific\nevidence, he demonstrates faith in pseudo-science and doubts about God’s\nreliability.\n 1. What would happen if a person rejected all passages which conflict with\nscientific observation? \n
2. Eventually, such a person must reject every miracle recorded in the Bible.<\/p>\n 3. Since those miracles often were given as evidence to God’s word, the\nfundamental doctrines of the Bible must in turn be rejected.\n
B. Joshua’s Stationary Sun<\/p>\n
1. The story<\/p>\n a. When the Israelites went to rescue Gibeon, the battle looked like it\nwould be cut short by the ending of the day.\n
b. Joshua ask that the sun and moon be held still – Joshua 10:12-14<\/p>\n
2. How do you explain the sun and moon holding still for about 24 hours?<\/p>\n
a. Scientifically you can’t!<\/p>\n b. The earth rotates at about 1000 mph at the equator. So the rotation\nof the earth relative to the sun had to have stopped. Imagine\nslamming on the brakes in a car, now compare it to stopping the\nentire world.\n c. The moon moves at 36,000 mph around the earth. It is the\nmovement of the moon that keeps it from crashing into the earth.\nYet it stopped!\n 3. Does this mean we must reinterpret the Bible in a non-literal sense because\nwe cannot explain a miracle of God scientifically? Of course not!\n 4. We believe the event is historically accurate because God said so. Science\nis helpless and useless in explaining any miracle of God.\n
C. Hezekiah’s Sun-Dial<\/p>\n
1. The story<\/p>\n
a. Isaiah announced to the king that he would soon die – Isaiah 38:1<\/p>\n
b. Hezekiah prayed to God and asked that he might continue to live.<\/p>\n
c. God granted his request by adding 15 years to his life – Isaiah 38:5<\/p>\n d. To prove the truth of His statement, God gave Hezekiah a sign –\nIsaiah 38:7-8\n
2. The explanation<\/p>\n
a. Can this event be explained scientifically? Absolutely not!<\/p>\n
b. Think what is implied. <\/p>\n (1) The earth rotates at about 1000 mph at the equator. It is\nmoving around the sun at a speed of 67,000 mph. (Use a\nglobe to illustrate.)\n (2) What happens when your going down the road in a car and\nthe driver suddenly puts on the brakes?\n (3) What would “normally” happen if the world was stopped,\nbacked up a way and then set in motion again? There would\nbe much left on this old world in one piece!\n (4) Oh, what if God didn’t touch the earth. He just moved the\nsun and the rest of the Universe. Now you are making it\neven more difficult!\n 3. So how do we explain it? We don’t. We don’t attempt to reconcile science\nwith the Bible.\n a. We merely believe that a God who created this universe simply by\nspeaking it into existence can certainly suspend the laws of that\nsame universe to accomplish His desire.\n
b. It is what we mean by a miracle.<\/p>\n
D. Consider the division of the Red Sea – Exodus 14:21-22<\/p>\n
1. People have been explaining this one away for decades.<\/p>\n
a. It wasn’t really the Red Sea, it was the Reed Sea (a swamp).<\/p>\n
b. It was a very dry season and the dry wind hardened the ground.<\/p>\n 2. Yet the Bible speaks of a wall of water on either side. And how does a\ndried up swamp drown the Egyptian army?\n 3. We cannot explain the event by science; yet, by faith we accept that it\nhappened just as God said.\n
E. The virgin birth of Jesus – Matthew 1:18<\/p>\n
1. Can we explain how this happened scientifically?<\/p>\n
2. For that matter, can the resurrection be explained? – I Corinthians 15:1-4<\/p>\n
3. Can we give the biological processes involved in either event?<\/p>\n 4. If we could, it would no longer serve as divine proof of the authority of\nJesus.\n a. The fact that it is beyond explanation by the physical laws of this\nuniverse is exactly the point!\n
b. Miracles are evidence from God that God is involved.<\/p>\n c. If man could do it or even explain it, then it would not be a\ndemonstration of the power of God.\nIII. In matters of the biblical accounts of the miracles which occurred, we walk by faith and\nnot by sight – II Corinthians 5:7\n A. An effort to reinterpret just one miracle into a scientific explanation (by sight) is to\nstrike a blow at the foundation of faith.\n
1. The Bible was written to create faith – John 20:30-31<\/p>\n
2. If one miracle can be explained away, then so can any other miracle<\/p>\n 3. If we lose the battle for faith in the historical narrative of creation, then no\nhistorical narrative of miracles is safe from reinterpretation.\n B. Almost a century ago, the denominations began to accept evolution as an\nexplanation of the origin of the world. Today, there is a wide-spread lack of faith\nin the teachings of the Bible.\n 1. “Some of us look to the Bible for guidance and answers. Whether you\nbelieve the Bible is literally true or historically accurate, no one can say the\nBible does a complete job of literally explaining how to deal with living in a\npost-modern technologically driven civilization. While a wonderful source\nof insight an inspiration, the Bible is hardly the most user-friendly manual\nfor modern living.” Living Clueless by Angela Smith, University Baptist\nChurch.\n 2. “If you went to a theological seminary, or a university where religion was\nbeing taught; if you went to a college where they were training ministers of\nthe gospel; if you studied the Bible using the most searching and honest\ncommentaries, written by men and women who devoted a lifetime of\nscholarship to the subject, you would find only a minority of these scholars\nprofessing old-fashioned, fully orthodox Christian beliefs. You would find\nthat many of them were priests or ministers of their particular church. You\nwould find that they attended the various rites of those churches. But ask\nthem, "Do you believe that God Almighty took human flesh in the person\nof Jesus?" and I suspect you would find only a minority able to say an\nunambiguous "Yes!" Do they believe that Jesus was born in Bethlehem?\nOnly a tiny handful of Bible scholars believe that. Fewer, I should guess,\nbelieve he was born of a virgin. Many would say that they believed in the\nResurrection, but ask them to say whether they believe in the gospel\naccounts of an empty tomb, and you will find that they do not.” A.N.\nWilson, Church of England.\n C. Those reinterpreting Genesis 1 and 2 to incorporate the Big Bang theory and\nbillions of years for evolution in proper keeping with scientific theory are taking\nthe same path the denominations took years ago.\n
D. Instead, we must content earnestly for the faith – Jude 3<\/p>\n
\n
[based on an article by Harry Osborne titled “The Bible, Science, Skepticism, and Creation”]<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Text: Psalm 33:4-11 I. A literal reading of the Bible tells us that God created the world, that the universe was created in six days, and the world is about 6,000 years old. A. Yet the literal reading is often rejected, not on the basis of Scriptural teachings, but because it does seem “scientific.” B. So, they…<\/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,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[32],"tags":[302,80,474],"class_list":["post-36170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon","tag-creation","tag-evolution","tag-science"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":53061,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/must-the-old-testament-be-taken-as-symbolic\/","url_meta":{"origin":36170,"position":0},"title":"Must the Old Testament be taken as symbolic?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 5, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello! I'm a former atheist who recently found God again, but I have one thing I'm really struggling to get, and that is how I can weave together science and the Bible, in particular the Old Testament. I have, after reading different approaches, personally come to the conclusion that\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":15768,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-god-create-the-earth-in-one-literal-week\/","url_meta":{"origin":36170,"position":1},"title":"Did God Create the Earth in One Literal Week?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 18, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Dann via The Gospel Anchor, May 17, 2000 On the first page of the Bible, we read, \"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/11\/seven-300x300.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":36168,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-biblical-account-of-creation-not-meant-to-be-taken-literally\/","url_meta":{"origin":36170,"position":2},"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":14249,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/could-the-veil-just-be-a-symbol-of-the-husband-and-not-a-physical-veil\/","url_meta":{"origin":36170,"position":3},"title":"Could the veil just be a symbol of the husband and not a physical veil?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 26, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I just read an article called\u00a0Command or Custom?\u00a0by Hiram O Hutto. I have a question in regard to that article. I have a friend who says that the covering that Paul is referring to is not a physical one such as a veil or hat etc, but rather Paul\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":95559,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/debate-the-days-of-genesis-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":36170,"position":4},"title":"Debate: The Days of Genesis 1","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 11, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 21 No. 1, March 1995 Point by Shane Scott The Bible teaches that God created the universe from nothing. Contrary to naturalistic evolution, it teaches that different kinds of animals were created distinctly. Contrary to theistic evolution, it teaches that man was created separately from all animals\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":18525,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-true-that-if-there-were-no-literal-devil-there-would-have-been-no-need-for-christ-to-appear\/","url_meta":{"origin":36170,"position":5},"title":"Is it true that if there were no literal devil, there would have been no need for Christ to appear?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If there was no literal devil, then there was no need for Christ to appear? True or false? I'm referring to I John 3:8. Answer: \"Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. 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