Culture War

Last April I visited the Bible Museum in DC. I’ve been twice and I highly recommend it. While I was there I stopped in the gift shop and saw a book that caught my eye, “How (Not) to Read the Bible.” When I got home I bought a copy of the book and began reading it. Let me say this, the author does a fantastic job of discussing and explaining some difficult passages in the Bible, such as the issue of slavery, treatment of women, and the Jewish dietary laws. He explains the importance of reading and understanding these passages based on an understanding of the historical (when it was written) and cultural (to whom it was written) contexts. How right he is!

Then I got to part four of the book. This section is entitled “Do we have to choose between the Bible and science?”. He proposes that Genesis 1-2 are not to be taken literally, that Moses had a poetic theme in mind when writing these chapters, while in the same breath affirming that this does not discredit the authority of the Word of God in any way.

He suggests that the Israelites, who had been in bondage for four hundred years, were more in tune with the Egyptian religion than their own and that the themes of Genesis 1 -2 were adapted by God from the Egyptians and used to explain how God actually created the world since the Israelites were familiar with this already. Well…first, the Egyptians believed the world to be much older than 2000 years old in 1400 BC, they also believed that the sun rode on a boat through the sky, the earth was flat, and that their gods, literally held up the sky on their backs. Yeh, that sounds almost exactly like Genesis 1.

One of the most dangerous things he mentions in his book actually has a little truth mixed in. He says the Bible was not written to a 21st century person to give an answer to the age of the earth or evidence that disproves evolution. That’s true. The Bible was written so that we would know the truth and could spot these errors easily. What he neglects to articulate is that while the Bible doesn’t use the word evolution, we know from history that the polytheistic cultures of Moses’ day, when Genesis was written, these cultures believed in a very old earth and what we would consider “evolution” today.

See we are at war today. There is a culture war being fought all around us, a war of worldviews - biblical vs. secular. Today I am going to attempt to answer three questions and explain their involvement in this culture war. Question one:

What About the Age of the Earth?

I am done speaking about the day-age and gap theories, that horse is dead and I’m not going to beat it anymore. However, there is a very real question today regarding the age of the earth.

We understand the Bible is not a book, but a library. If you go to a library there are all kinds of books there. There are reference books, there are historical books, books of poetry, books on science, fiction books etc. You don’t expect the author of a history book to have the same literary style as a poet do you?

The Bible is composed of history, poetry, and prophecy. Where does Genesis fit in? History. Its accurate and trustworthy. We have already given the defense for the 24-hour day interpretation of Genesis 1 and I will not give it further, but for skeptics what the Bible says is simply not enough.

Day 1 - God made light, but it wasn’t until day 4 He made the sun! Where did the light come from?

Day 2 - God formed the shapeles mass into a sphere, but if He made the earth on day one, how did it maintain its orbit without the sun’s graviational pull? Day 3 - God made the seas, dry land appeared, and the vegetation was created, but how did it survive without the sun to aid in photosynthesis?

Day 4 - He mad the sun, moon, stars, and planets - again, this seems out of order to our modern scientific minds!

Day 5 - He made all the sea creatures and birds

Day 6 - He made all land dwelling creatures including dinosaurs, and man. But this would have man living at the same time as the dinosaurs? The Bible doesn’t mention the existence of dinosaurs.

How can any of this be true in light of modern scientific evidence? Look at carbon dating. Look at ancient trees. Look at the geological layers of the earth. Ice cores. The list goes on.

How can we as Christians say in light of this evidence that God truly created everything in just 6 LITERAL 24-hour days? Allow me to present the biblical evidence:

What God created -

One day 3 - Genesis 1:11 “11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.”

God created full-grown vegetation to cover the earth, the trees and herbs we’re told here were already “Bearing fruit”!

What do you mean preacher?

Several years ago, I was eating an apple. When I got to the core, I stopped, but I saw one of the seeds. I said to myself - “I’m going to dig these seeds out and I’m going to plant and grow my own apple tree!

I took the seeds out, I allowed them to dry, and then I put them in a small pot of dirt and placed them outside in the sun. Then I waited.

After about two weeks I saw something begin to sprout! My apple tree was on its way! A week or so later I could plainly see the stem and leaves…but no apples. See, sprouts do not produce fruit, only a fully mature tree can do that.

What God created were fully grown, fully mature plants, meaning, He created them with “age”. It takes 5-6 years for a fully mature apple tree to produce any fruit, oh, and while we’re on the subject, there are “male” plants and “female” plants as well....you would need both to produce fruit and promote posterity.

God didn’t stop at creating a fully mature plant life system, we also see this in the creation of:

Fully mature solar system on day four

Fully mature sea creatures and birds on day five

Fully mature land animals and humans on day six.

What God created was fully developed life, which would explain for those with an open mind:

The apparent discrepancies of the age of the earth. God created a fully mature planet, with fertile soils and hydration system.

The reason that some stars appear to be “millions” of light years away - they were made on day four as a fully developed star.

Fully mature humans, with superior intellect might I add.

Adam was intelligent enough to name all the animals, and at the same time know his counterpart was missing.

This knowledge given by God would explain how societies, seemingly advanced to us, were able to be formed. Tools,iron, music, and even ship building…traits that scientists claim didn’t exist 6000 years ago.

In short, God created the world 6000 years ago, but fully mature, and secular scientists today cannot stand this thought! They can only propose that their modern dating methods are infallible…infallible!

A few years ago we visited the Linville Caverns, as I’m sure many of you have. If you go there you’ll be told how the underground river eroded away the inner part of the mountain for millions of years. You’ll also be told that this cavern is composed of “living stone” meaning that it is still growing as water seeps through its pores and deposits minerals on the way down. Under no circumstances are you allowed to touch the rock because the oils and salt from your skin can actually halt this growing process.

On our last visit the mountains had experienced a tremendous influx of rain for several weeks. In fact, so much rain had fallen and seeped into the mountain that it looked like it was raining inside the cave. Every surface was wet and every person looked like they had been sprayed on the way out. This got me thinking....

The reason the cavern was dated at several million years old is because is rate of growth has been measured since its discovery…in 1822. They have been able to measure the level of deposits over the last 202 years and have determined that, if the level of deposit is consistent, then the age of the cavern must be several millions of years old. Notice the problem with their calculations “If the level of deposits are consistent.”

Remember I told you about the record rainfall and the amount of water pouring from the ceiling? I called them when we got home and asked, “Doesn’t it stand to reason that with the amount of rainfall there will be more mineral deposits this year than in previous years, meaning that there will be more growth in the cavern this year than in previous years?” Their answer? “Yes.”

The reason our culture, that is, the biblical, Christ-centered culture is at war with the secular culture is that they refuse to accept the very existence of God. Becasue they refuse to accept the existence of God they refuse to acknowledge the authority of the Bible. They will not even entertain the notion that the caverns were not carved out over millions of years, but instead by millions of gallons of fast moving water and sediment stirred up by a world-wide catastrophic flood. Which brings me to my next question...

What About the Different “Flood Legends”?

There are over 500 different cultures that have “flood legends.” Nearly all of them contain the following elements:

Their god(s) grow angry with mankind for something - sin?

Their god(s) decide to destroy everyone and everything by a catastrophic flood.

Their god(s) choose or allow on person to survive the flood by creating some form of boat or flotation device which will hold them and their families along with the animals.

This person and their family survive the flood and repopulate the earth.

The most famous ancient flood legend is The Epic of Gilgamesh and comes from ancient Mesopotamia - Chaldea - Babylon. Here is what is interesting about this “legend” it is older than Genesis. Genesis was written in roughly 1400 BC, but Gilgamesh dates at 2100 BC, that is a 700 year difference! How can this be? Doesn’t this prove the Bible is untrustworthy? Does this mean the Bible is wrong? NOPE.

From where then did these 500 cultures receive these similar flood stories? We find the answer in GENESIS! Look with me at Genesis 11.

Keep in mind:

The timing of these events -

This takes place AFTER THE FLOOD.

Every person to this point knew about the flood. They had heard about it from relatives.

The reason for this event -

They were commanded, after the flood to disperse and repopulate the earth

They refused to obey God.

They wanted their own society - a secular society, one without God - not the first in our history, we’ll see that later.

They wanted their own religion, one in which the creation would be worshiped, but not the Creator.

This is the beginning of false religion.

The response of the event -

God caused them to scatter.

They wouldn't do it on their own, so God helped them out!

BTW - we read of a similar failure in the church in Acts.

God told the church to take the gospel to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost part of the earth, but they didn’t.

The early church got comfortable in Jerusalem until God sent persecution. Do you know what happened once persecution came? The gospel went into Judea, Samaria, and eventually to the uttermost parts of the earth.

God gets His way. That is why our young people sing “Obedience is the very best way to show that you believe.”

Their languages were confused and they separated, but they took something very important with them…their history.

Here is the truth about history…it wasn’t written down as it happened.

In fact, the reason we don’t know much about ancient cultures, such as Japan, Africa, and the Middle East, is because their history was passed down orally.

Have you ever played telephone?

If I grabbed someone and took them into the foyer and told them a story and they had to share that with another person, and they with another…

By the time we got through everyone and the last person had to come to the pulpit and share the story with us, do you think it would sound the exact same?

It would have similar facts, but there would be major differences.

This is how these various flood legends came to be.

They were passed down orally and by the time they were written down, the authors had added their own artistic flare and cultural influence.

The reason for flood legends is that there was a flood.

God sent the flood in response to man’s sin.

God spared Noah because of his faithfulness in the sinful world.

God commanded Noah and his descendants to spread out and replenish the earth

His descendants disobeyed God and formed their own society apart form God.

God judged the people and scattered them, subsequently forming the nations, delivering them over to the enemy and causing great confusion.

These cultures held on to their history including the flood and they began to put their own spin on what happened. Unfortunately, some of these legends still persist to this day.

Church, there is one reliable source for truth, and you are holding it in your hand. You can trust the Bible. I’ve said a hundred times, if you “find” a contradiction in the Bible, it is you that has the problem. Our final question:

What About Evolution?

I’ve heard some say that the Bible wasn’t written with evolution in mind. Evolution didn’t come into existence until 1829 when Darwin published his work, therefore the Bible doesn’t have anything to say about evolution. This is usually the same crowd that says the Bible doesn’t give a definitive answer on the age of the earth, that the days of creation are not literal days…etc.

What if I told you that evolution did not originate with Darwin. He developed his thinking from his father and grandfather, but it didn’t begin with them. Greek philosophers believed in evolution, most every single ancient culture from Egypt to Mesopotamia believed in a very old earth and some form of evolution of man and beast.

The opening statement of the Bible was in direct response to these very questions - In the beginning God created - not through long processes of evolutionary change - but in the beginning God made it happen. Not only that but “In the beginning God - and God alone” without the help of a council of gods. One God created everything by His own power exactly as He says He did.