Jordan October 5, 2013 Old World New World The question of creation can be a very long conversation, mainly because there are many other topics of evidence that can be used to back up your theories. Although it depends greatly on who is in the conversation with you and what their worldview is. Also it would rely on how the Bible will be interpreted, either by a scientific belief of the created order, or how we as Christians interpret the Bible. There are some questions that form outside the church like, “Why do the planets orbit the sun? , or “Why is there life on earth? ” – I believe there is an answer in the Bible for the scientists or other people that ask those kinds of questions. Now I’m sure it is common sense that everyone knows a good bit about the heavens and the earth and of the stars. Also about other ingredients such as; how many planets there are and their order, all the different trees, types of rocks, etc. So if an instructor were to take the “old world” opinion, he should be sure to do all his research thoroughly. If he is careless, then the wiser instructors will be put to shame.
With my past experiences it is less stressful to say that you have no idea how old the earth is ather than to teach lies where you will dig yourself a hole. The challenge now for me is to try to explain the truth-the Word of God to those individuals who question Creation. I know that in order to fully understand what God has in mind for us I need to do my homework and complete research in order to teach others. Most of the time I think about how He has given us all this intelligence for us to analyze and share with others.
Having said that, I cannot imagine what is going through a non-believer’s mind or their thought process when they are hearing scripture. To them it seems like complete twaddle, and I can understand that. Trying to change or convince a middle aged human being on their particular view on the world or scripture, is no easy schedule. If we, as disciples, are not able to engage the student fast enough or thoroughly, well then they are most definitely going to laugh and mock us. In order to avoid that awkwardness, we need to invest in all resources.
When a non-believer discovers a believer discussing a topic on which the infidel knows to the bone, how are they able to understand the Bible if they are unable to see past their experiences without even realizing that God was working in them? That will show you as a misinterpretation of scripture. Dr. Sproul said it quite clearly in his assembly from Ligonier Ministries. So what is an old universe? Well if you ask for an opinion from a scientist and they contribute to our theories and we cannot explain thoroughly with enough knowledge to our evidence, then we are ultimately reliable to those experts.
Even Christians discussing with other Christians can misinterpret scripture. 1 Corinthians 15: 14-15 states that our faith is worthless if Christ has not been raised and we are found to be false witnesses of God, because we have testified against God that He raised Christ he part where it says that our preaching is in vain along with our faith. Vain is precisely what our interpretations are when we are mistaken. We as Christians are equally committed to the capacity of the Word of God when it comes to differences of evidence.
Genesis 1 is about how God created the earth and heavens, plants and animals and how many days it took and in what order he created man and woman. Like Dr. Sproul says, “The Bible does not give us a specific date on which the earth was created nor does it say how long the days were in which he created. ” The truth of God’s word is not implied in the book of Genesis regarding the ime on which earth was created. Therefore we do not want to raise conflict between Christians about the age of the earth.
What scripture actually tells us cannot have conflict if the earth is billions of years old or thousands of years old, when all things in life that are necessary for salvation and concerning faith and life are taught in the Bible. The Bible has enough clarity for the everyday believer to find them there and understand truth. When asked how old the earth is Dr. Sproul said honestly “l don’t know”. In my opinion on the age of the earth I like to think about how old it could be and all the istory that the earth can embrace to teach us to ask God for answers.
I feel that the more we ask those conflicting questions and have a debate or discussion with nonbelievers the more humanity will be divided and the more Christians will question themselves. As I’ve been writing this a thought came to me, “How did man even know what a week was, and how long did it take them to fgure it all out? ” Now I could very much do my own research, but I’m fond of the unknown answer. To think about those questions I can really put my imagination to work in a similar way that God used his imagination to create.
