Origins #1: Creation Series

ORIGINS #1: CREATION

(November 2010 – Beausejour Church – Pastor Chris Jordan)

ORIGINS: CREATION VERSUS EVOLUTION:

About 20 years ago, the fall after I graduated from high school, I sat down at an all-night drive-in with some friends and said, “There’s got to be more to life than what we’re living!”

Did you ever wonder where we came from, or what our purpose is on planet earth? What is the meaning of life? What is our destiny? Let’s ponder those questions over the next three weeks.

• What are the two main beliefs about our origins? One is atheism and evolution, and the other is the Bible’s account of creation. What are these two different beliefs?

1. If we believe in the theory of evolution, that life began billions of years ago by a cosmic accident called The Big Bang:

o We are only complex animals with no ultimate purpose or meaning in life.

o Our final destiny is to become worm-food, rotting in the grave.

2. If we believe in the Biblical account of creation:

o We are a special and unique creation of God and life has great purpose.

o Our final destiny is to live forever with God in the paradise of Heaven.

WHAT DOES SCIENCE SAY?

• Which position is more valid from a scientific perspective?

• Science is defined as: “systematic knowledge of the physical or material world gained through observation and experimentation.” Based on this definition, evolution is not science – it is a guess. Is there any evidence for the big bang or evolution?

• If evolution is true, then where is the missing link – the transitional fossil forms between species? There is none.

• QUOTE: “Why, if species have descended from other species by fine gradations, do we not everywhere see innumerable transitional forms? Why is not all nature in confusion instead of the species being, as we see them, well defined? … As by this theory innumerable transitional forms must have existed, why do we not find them embedded in countless numbers in the crust of the earth?” (Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species).

ILLUSTRATION: Bomb in Canadian Tire. CHAOS never produces order or life!

ILLUSTRATION: William Paley’s example of the watch and the watchmaker.

• “The heavens tell of the glory of God. The skies display his marvelous craftsmanship.” (Psalm 19:1). What does this mean? Where’s there’s a design, there’s a Designer.

The Bible says: “From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God.” (Romans 1:20).

OPENING TEXT: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1).

• The first four words in the Bible are foundational to our beliefs about origins:

• In the beginning, GOD. The Bible doesn’t try to prove the existence of God.

• He is an eternal being and has always existed.

THE BIG IDEA: As human beings, we have been created in the image of a God who loves us and has a wonderful plan for our lives.

THE IMPORTANCE OF GENESIS: (The Defender’s Study Bible, Henry Morris).

“In a very real sense, the book of Genesis is the most important book in the world; for it is the foundation upon which all the other sixty-five books of God’s written Word have been based… The greatest doctrine of all – the special creation of all things by the eternal, self-existent God – is revealed in the very first chapter of Genesis, the foundation of all foundations…

It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the greatest attacks on the Bible have been directed against the integrity and authority of Genesis.”

• Why is it important to study the OT Book of Genesis? Because what we believe about our origins will affect our lives today and our destiny tomorrow.

INTRO TO THE BOOK OF GENESIS:

Author: Moses

Title: Genesis – Greek geneseos, which means birth, genealogy, or origin.

Date: Written around 1440 BC, sometime after the Exodus from Egypt.

Purpose: “Genesis reveals that humans were divinely created, that they suffered a fall, and that God proceeded to provide redemption… The account then focuses upon the origin and growth of the nation of Israel which God chose to fulfill a key role in implementing His plan of redemption.” (Pentateuch, L. Thomas Holdcroft).

DAY ONE OF CREATION:

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1).

• In the beginning, GOD. God has always existed. Here we see the beginning of time.

• Elohim = A plural word that points to the Tri-unity of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

• Historic Christian Creeds declare: We believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth. This is a powerful statement of what we believe about who God is.