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April 17, 2015

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Creation, Genesis, Salvation

Do you have to believe in Biblical creation to be saved?

Biblical creationism is a very important subject. A wrong understanding of the opening chapters of Genesis can have significant impact on how one understands the rest of the Bible. Often the impact of rejecting or reinterpreting the Bible’s creation account is far greater than one realizes. Creation is a foundational issue that influences many core Biblical teachings. As important as Biblical creation is, does one have to accept Genesis 1-3 as literal and historical truth to be be saved?

The Bible speaks in very clear terms about those things that are most important. When it comes to the matter of salvation, the Bible states exactly the principle truths that must be professed as part of the gospel. The Bible describes in no uncertain terms what must be confessed and believed to be saved.

1 Corinthians 15 defines the gospel, “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:” These things must be proclaimed when giving the gospel and must be believed to be saved. In Romans 10:9 Paul also describes the things which must be believed to be saved. “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

The things which must be believed for salvation are: Jesus is God. Jesus is God who died for our sins. Jesus’ death occurred just as the Old Testament said it would and the New Testament said it did. Jesus died, was buried and restored to life by God, just as the Bible says. To be saved one must admit his own guilt, acknowledge Jesus’ deity, accept Jesus death in place of the sinner and affirm Jesus is living now and forever.

Notice these verse do not mention anything about Jesus’ creation. Though creation is inextricably linked to the message of salvation and the work of Jesus, the Bible does not anywhere require that someone accept a literal reading of the creation account in order to be saved. This does not mean creation is a non-issue. One can be saved despite a wrong understanding of creation, but a wrong understanding of Genesis will be a serious detriment to faith, knowledge of the Bible and growth in Christ.

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April 1, 2015

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Crucifixion, Easter, Jesus

Who was responsible for Jesus’ death?

The death of Jesus was entirely the plan of God. His death was not at all plan B but the eternal plan of God. Jesus did not come to earth and tried but failed so He had to go to the cross. The cross was always the plan of God. Jesus is the “Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world.” As we think of this question, it is important to recognize that Jesus’ death on the cross was God’s plan.

Even though Jesus’ crucifixion was the eternal plan of God, there were those who nailed Jesus on the cross in disobedience to God. They were not accepting of God’s plan for salvation and striving to live in obedience to God. They were in rebellion against God. God holds those responsible who rebelled against Him and who in their rebellion conspired for Jesus’ destruction.

A huge body of people were directly involved in the conspiracy to kill Jesus. Judas Iscariot jumps to the forefront of the mind because of his betrayal. Judas was hired to betray Jesus by the ruling body of Israel, called the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin tried Jesus and condemned Him, but they had no authority to put Jesus to death. The Jews were under Roman domination and so could not legally execute a prisoner. Only Rome could do that. The Sanhedrin had Jesus taken to the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate, who attempted to pass the problem to the Roman governor of the next region over, Herod. Herod just wanted to see a magic trick. When Jesus refused to perform, Herod sent Him back to Pilate. Pilate knew the injustice of the Jews schemes to have Jesus crucified and sought to have Him released. The Jews became very agitated and Pilate finally agreed with their demands. He brought out a basin of water and washed his hands in front of the Jewish leaders telling them he was not responsible for what happened to Jesus.

When Pilate washed his hands and said, “I am innocent of the blood of this just person” the Jews willingly took the responsibility on themselves. They bear the responsibility for Jesus death. The Jews knew the promises of God. They knew the Word of God. They were waiting for their Messiah. They rejected God’s Word and God’s Savior and took on themselves the responsibility for their rebellion which sought Jesus’ crucifixion. When Pilate his hands before the Jews they said, “His blood be on us and on our children.” (Matthew 27:25) The Jews said they would take responsibility for Jesus crucifixion.

This is borne out later in the Bible. After Jesus death, burial, resurrection and return to heaven, the apostles of Jesus began to preach to the Jews. The apostles preached of salvation, forgiveness and judgment. They preached to the nation the judgment for their rejection and execution of Jesus God’s Messiah. In Acts 5 the apostles were called up on charges before the Sanhedrin, the same group that a few months earlier had condemned Jesus to death. As they stood before the rulers of Israel Peter declared to the of “Jesus, whom ye slew and hung on a tree.” Peter and the apostles, under the direction of the Holy Spirit repeatedly declared it was the Jews who were responsible for Jesus death.

Even though it was Pontius Pilate who gave permission for Jesus death and it was the Roman soldiers who did the scourging, who took Jesus to Golgotha, who drove the nails through His flesh and hung him up on the cross, the responsibility falls on those Jews and their leaders who rejected Jesus. Jesus came to His own people. He was a Jew, a descendant of King David. Jesus came to bring salvation. The salvation He brought was not the salvation the Jews were wanting. They wanted deliverance from Rome and Jesus was bringing deliverance from sin. The Jews of that generation rejected their Messiah and their’s is the responsibility for refusing their promised Savior.

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March 27, 2015

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Creation, Genesis, Origins

Does the fossil record disprove Biblical creation?

The fossil record is one of the most common objections raised against the belief in Biblical creation. The existence of countless creatures mineralized in the rock beneath our feet raises many questions. Those who believe the earth is billions of years old believe the fossils are evidence of a long progression of creatures dying out one at a time over epochs of earths’ history. A very small percentage of those animals were buried in mud and eventually became fossils.

The fossil record is used to raise two major objections against Biblical creation. The first objection is the existence of fossils in such great volume. If God created everything in six days less than ten thousand years ago, where did all the dead animals come from to form all the fossils being found today. Today the chance of something becoming a fossil is very, very small. The conditions required for fossilization don’t happen every time an animal dies. Many assume that because the conditions to form fossils are rare today, they have always been rare. Thus a very small number of the animals that have died have become fossils. The conclusion reached then is for there to be so many fossils in the earth, many animals had to die over a period of millions of years.

The second objection is the arrangement of fossils in the layers of rock. Though the classic geologic column taught in science classes can not be found as a single unit anywhere in the world, certain kinds of fossils are usually found in similar positions throughout the rock layers. Small sea creatures tend to at the bottom of the fossil layer, with fish and amphibians above them. Farther up are reptiles and mammals. At the very top are birds and hominids.

Rock layers are often believed to have bee formed over very long periods of time as the upper layer of ground is slowly covered over and compressed downward. The formation of a new upper layer of ground is thought to happen by catastrophic dust storms, volcanic eruptions or the long process of plants and animals dying and decaying. Because the process often takes a very long time, those fossils in the lower layers are believed to be much older than those in the upper layers. This general arrangement within the strata (rock layers) leads many to conclude that the deepest fossils are the most primitive because they had less time to evolve. The increase of complex creatures as the rock layers climb upward is seen as proof of animals advancing in complexity.

Once again space does not allow for a full answer on these issues, but the Bible gives sufficient evidence to offer legitimate and reasonable alternatives to the speculations of evolutionary science. Popular conception believes God because created one man and one woman and He also only created one male and female pair of every kind of animal. The Bible does not teach God only created two of each kind of animal. Genesis 1 indicates that God filled the earth with plants and animals. He filled the earth with vast numbers of animals.

The flood of Noah provides a powerful explanation for the many things found in the fossil record today. Because the flood began with the catastrophic opening of the fountains of the great deep, it is reasonable to assume those animals living in deep waters would be affected first. As the flood waters rose, those animals least able to escape would be affected next and then the more mobile until the most mobile and able were destroyed last. The sudden deluge of water that covered the earth would have created massive landslides, mud flows and currents filled with sediment and debris. The massive movement of dirt in the flood would have provided optimal conditions for the rapid formation of many layers of rock and many thousands of fossils.

The fossil record does not disprove creation. All the fossil record reveals is many thousands of dead things are buried in the layers of rock across the world. How one interprets the fossils depends on what one believes. God’s Word gives us sufficient information to explain the fossils without the need for millions of years, an increase of animal complexity or Darwin’s speculations.

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March 25, 2015

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Crucifixion, Easter, Jesus

Were the same people at Jesus triumphal entry and at his judgment?

Palm Sunday is the Sunday set aside by many church calendars the week before Easter to remember Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. A few days before His crucifixion Jesus road into the city on the back of a donkey. As usual He was surrounded by a large crowd of followers. On this day the crowd was immense. Jerusalem was filling with hundreds of thousands of Jews from all around the Roman Empire coming to the city to celebrate the feast of Passover. Many of these Jews had heard of the miracles Jesus had done throughout Palestine. On top of that, word of Jesus’ recent raising Lazarus from the dead had spread throughout the city. As Jesus road into Jerusalem the immense crowds began to shout their praise to Him. “Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord: Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.” (Mark 11:9-10).

A few days later Jesus was betrayed by Judas, taken captive by the Jewish leaders, condemned as guilty of blasphemy and presented to Pontius Pilate for official execution. Pilate was reluctant to condemn Jesus to death, so he sent Jesus to Herod and upon Jesus’ return Pilate had Him scourged. When those things did not satisfy the Jews demands, Pilate attempted to force the Jews into choosing to have Jesus released by offering them a choice between Jesus and a vicious criminal named Barabbas. The Jews rejected all Pilate’s pleas. In the end a large crowd was standing in front of Pilate shouting, “Crucify him.”

One obvious difference between the two crowds is the presence of Jesus’ disciples and closest followers. In the triumphal entry Jesus’ disciples were present and taking the lead in shouting praise to Jesus. On the day of Jesus’ crucifixion, the disciples were nowhere to be found. The twelve closest to Jesus and possibly others of those most faithful to Him fled when Jesus was arrested. The crowd in the Praetorium was led and incited by the chief priests and other Jewish leaders. The leaders of the two crowds were very different and Jesus’ closest disciples did not stand before PIlate’s judgment hall.

If the same people were in both crowds is very hard to say. One would speculate at least some of the Pharisees and more curious would have been in both crowds, but the Bible doesn’t say this. The crowd in front of Pilate was much smaller than the tens of thousands who shouted praise to Jesus a few days earlier. Jerusalem at that time was filled with several hundred thousand people so it is not necessary for the same people to be in both crowds. However, there is no reason to absolutely say they were two different groups.

The shouts of praise to Jesus when He rode into the city on a donkey were not praises for Him as God’s Son the Savior from sin. The shouts were praises for Jesus as a conquering king coming to usher in a golden age for the Jewish people. The crowd was crying out for a king to drive out the Roman invaders and reestablish Israel as an autonomous nation. Jesus had no intention of overthrowing Rome. His purpose was to die for the sin of His people. Jesus’ purpose was rejected by the majority of Jews who heard and saw Him. They rejected His claim to be God. Even if they were not in the crowd shouting for His crucifixion most would have agreed with the demand that one they considered a blasphemer be put to death.

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March 20, 2015

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Creation, Genesis, Origins, Radio Show

If the Bible is right about creation, why doesn’t it say anything about dinosaurs?

Dinosaurs are a topic of great fascination. Whether it be through incredible CGI in popular movies, massive skeletal displays in museums or colorful pictures in children’s books, dinosaurs have captured the imagination of many people. For some dinosaurs are seen as a trump card disproving creation. Some ask if God created the dinosaurs then why aren’t there any still alive today. Some ask if God created dinosaurs why doesn’t it say anything about dinosaurs in the Bible. Some think that because dinosaurs are so different from anything alive today they must have lived eons ago and thus the Bible’s description of creation is wrong.

All of these assumptions and conclusions can easily be answered with a little consideration of what the Bible teaches. The Bible does talk about dinosaurs, directly and indirectly, though it doesn’t use the word dinosaur. The reason the Bible does not use the word dinosaur is very simple. The first major English translation of the Bible still being used today is the King James Version. The King James was translated in 1611. The word dinosaur was not coined until the early 1840’s by a scientist named Richard Owen. Any reference to dinosaur’s before that date would have used a different word or words. In the Biblical passages that describe great beasts reminiscent of dinosaurs the newer Bible translations often use the same words used in the King James translation. Simply put, the word dinosaur is not found in the Bible because of it’s relatively recent invention.

Though the word dinosaur is not found in the Bible, what is found are descriptions of beasts that appear to be dinosaurs. Two such descriptions stand out from the boo of Job. A creature called Behemoth is described in Job 40, and Job 41 describes a beast known as Leviathan. Neither of these are fictitious animals and they are creatures that would have lived in the region around Job at the time he was alive. About 4,000 years ago God instructed a man to remember a pair of massive animals that he would have seen and been familiar with. The description of Behemoth in Job 40:15-24 pictures a massive creature that eats grass like cattle, has bones of great strength, has colossal strength, lives in swampy regions and around streams, is confident against all foes because of it’s great strength and has a tail like a cedar tree. Some are tempted to suggest the Behemoth was just a large elephant or rhinoceros, yet no creature other than a dinosaur fits the descriptions of massive size and strength coupled with a tree-like tail. Though the Bible does not use the word dinosaur, it certainly describes dinosaur like creatures.

God created all animals on the fifth and sixth days of creation. This includes the lumbering dinosaurs like the Apatosaurus, the fast moving dinosaurs like Velociraptors, the soaring dinosaurs like Pterodactyls (yes, I know they are not technically dinosaurs) and the swimming dinosaurs like Plesiosaurs. After creation man sinned against God and brought the curse of sin on the whole world. This curse includes suffering and death. As a result of man’s sin, many species of animals have gone extinct in the past and are going extinct today. Though some of the dinosaurs were unique and awe-inspiring, their size and strength does not mean they were not created by God. Though all the dinosaurs are extinct today, their disappearance from the Earth does not mean they were not created by God. God created all animals, including the dinosaurs. Man’s sin is responsible for their extinction, not evolutionary epochs.

Tune in this Sunday at noon on WRUP 92.7 FM to hear the first half of a special roundtable discussion about creation and evolution.

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March 18, 2015

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Current Events, Life Questions, Marriage

What does the Bible say about divorce?

Divorce is a major problem in our nation. The current statistics suggests half of all couples who marry will get a divorce. Though the recent marriage debates have been focused on homosexual marriage, divorce is an issue dealt with in the Bible. The Bible addresses divorce in clear and concise language. The Bible also makes a couple statements about divorce that are not immediately clear and understandable. In an article of this nature space and time do not allow a thorough discussion of all the passages related to divorce. Therefore, the focus in this particle article will be the clear Bible passages about divorce. The more difficult questions and passages relating to divorce will be left to be addressed by themselves in later articles.

God designed marriage to be permanent. Genesis 2 tells that God created man, woman and marriage. In God’s creation work He gave the parameters for marriage and by which all marriages are still bound. Genesis 2:21 says, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they two shall be one flesh.” In Mark 10 Jesus is asked about the lawfulness of divorce for any reason. In His answer, Jesus quotes Genesis 2 and then adds this statement, “What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put assunder.” Marriage is designed by God to be a permanent union of one man and one woman. Divorce is a violation of that Divine direction. The original created order still orders marriage.

Because of man’s sin God does at times permit divorce. The question about divorce brought to Jesus in Mark 10 found it’s Biblical support in Deuteronomy 24. The Old Testament law provided an orderly means for a man to divorce his wife if he found some uncleanness in her. The law of Moses provided reasonable instructions for civil divorces to maintain order in the state and to provide protection for those involved in divorce. These Old Testament instructions do not require or approve of divorce, but give direction for orderly civil conduction a difficult matter. In Matthew 19:9 Jesus refers to Deuteronomy 24 and tells the uncleanness for which divorce is allowable. “Whoseover shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery.” Jesus says divorce is permissible in cases of sexual unfaithfulness.

One other Biblical passage seems to permit divorce, 1 Corinthians 7. In that chapter Paul says that in the case of an unsaved spouse leaving a saved spouse, the Christians is to let him (or her) go. The Christian is not to seek a divorce, but if the unbeliever divorces him, the Christian is not to oppose it. Sexual unfaithfulness and an unbeliever’s desertion are the only two exceptions found in the Bible which permit divorce. These exceptions are not indications of general approval for divorce, but provide a measure of protection to more or less innocent spouses in a couple specific cases.

God never commands divorce, even in those cases in which divorce is permitted. The one married to an adulterer is not bound by the Bible to get a divorce. In fact, the Bible gives specific examples of individuals who were married to serial adulterers and remained married to the glory of God. The believer was never to court divorce from an unbeliever. He was instead to promote a healthy, whole union for the eternal benefit of the children and the unsaved spouse. Divorced is at times permitted but never commanded.

In the end the issue when discussing marriage and divorce is not an issue of happiness, freedom, tolerance and mental health. The issue is what God’s Word says. God designed every marriage to be permanent. Man’s continued sin corrupts that design, but the plan remains unchanged. Every marriage is a union put together by God and should not be torn apart by any act of man. Though God gives a couple exceptions allowing for divorce, He does so for the protection of marriage and not the frivolous dissolution of the marriage covenant upon any pretext.