Sermon Details

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Here Jesus Himself allows no room for millions or billions of years of time before mankind came on the scene. Jesus identifies the creation of Adam and Eve with the beginning of the existence of this creation, not after a long period of time. So if you embrace the Gap Theory you now have to figure out how you are going to reinterpret Jesus’ statement in Mark 10:6.

Another problem with the Gap theory along with all other Old Earth theories require that there were billions of years of death and suffering on the earth long before the sin and fall of man. In

Here again there is no room allowed for long periods of death of the dinosaurs and other living creatures to produce a fossil record predating the arrival of man. Death came into the world through man’s sin. Once again you have to figure out what you are going to do with this verse if you embrace a theory of an old Earth of millions of years.

The Gap theory requires an unnatural reading of the original Hebrew text. The most natural, literal reading of verses one through five using the most basic rules of interpretation indicate that all five verses took place within the first day of creation.

", edited by Terry Mortenson, and Thane Ury.)

The Lord has recorded His history of how He created the universe in such a way that it is impossible to try to blend creation with evolution without making utter nonsense of the Biblical account. There are at least 33 significant discrepancies between the Biblical account of creation and evolution which are impossible to explain away. I will try to cover most of these discrepancies over the weeks ahead as we work our way through the first chapters of Genesis. Either the theory of evolution is wrong or the Bible is wrong. Harmonizing the two is not an option that God has left open. Evolution, although immensely popular among a fallen race in rebellion against their Creator, is really just a hypothesis in search of evidence, to give it credibility. Followers of Evolution falsely promote their beliefs as proven fact but there is no proof. I challenge you to examine the growing body of evidence against the evolutionary theory being published by credible scientists. We have some of that material available in our library.

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" and it very effectively exposes the strong religious bias of much of the established scientific and educational community and their closed minded rejection of any view that disagrees with their own evolutionary perspective. As you watch this documentary you will become aware that there is something very dishonest and deceitful going on in our scientific and educational establishments all in the name of science. Evolutionary science is not true open minded science so much as it is a religion bent on ignoring the claims of the Bible.

Both evolution and the teaching of the Bible must be accepted by faith. Both claim that their view is true. The Bible has stood the test of time. Though it has been challenged on many points by millions of critics, over many centuries, it has never yet been proven to be wrong in any of its teaching, including its teaching in Genesis. We believe that the truth of Scripture and the facts of science will never contradict each other. Certain interpretations of Scripture and some opinions of scientists will contradict each other, but genuine science will always be in agreement with Scripture.

We have many resources in our library written by scientists that demonstrate how fossils and geological evidence can be interpreted in a truly scientific way that is consistent with the claims of Scripture.

There are many valid and true scientific teachings and authorities that can supplement the Bible. But there is no other teaching or authority that equals, outweighs or overrules the Scripture. And when it comes to establishing the doctrine of our church we must look to the word of God alone. We accept man’s teaching when it harmonizes with scripture. But when man’s teaching forces us to re-interpret scripture in an unnatural way we must stand on the Word of God. Science has often been wrong and has often changed its theories, but the word of God is forever established in heaven and has never been proven wrong.

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(Travis Freeman, "Do the Genesis 5 and 11 Genealogies Contain Gaps?", Ibid. p. 309)

Such a young date for the earth seems to the evolutionary mind to be a ridiculously short time; just as the evolutionists billions of years seem to the biblical mind to be a ridiculously long time. It should be understood that all calculations of the age of the earth used by evolutionary scientists are based on a number of unproved and, un-testable assumptions. Contrary to their claims, there is no proven scientific evidence to support the evolutionists’ claims of billions of years.

(William Barrick, in Coming to Grips with Genesis, p. 253)

But

"Behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD; so what wisdom do they have?"

The last 200 years of church history have recorded many examples of the disastrous consequences of compromise with evolution. Just one tragic example of the consequences of compromise with the teaching of an earth that is millions of years old is Charles Templeton (1915-2001). As a contemporary and friend of Billy Graham, he also was a gifted young evangelist from Canada who led many to Christ as he preached to thousands in North America and Britain. In fact he was considered by many to be an even more gifted evangelist than Billy.

But he had questions about evolution. He went to Princeton Seminary in the late 1940’s looking for answers. But by that time this seminary was immersed in liberal theology. Templeton’s professors [like many other Bible College and Seminary professors still today] convinced him that he must accept evolution and millions of years, thereby destroying his faith in the foundational book of the Bible and undermining his faith in the gospel.

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