GENESIS
• PART TWO
• RECAP
GENESIS
 First book of the Bible.
 Moses is the author.
 Genesis means “beginnings”.
 Names of God: Elohim, Jehovah, Adonai.
GENESIS
•
•
•
•
God’s Plans before Creation
God as Creator
The Nature of God
Age of the Earth - old (45 billion years)
- young (<10 000 years)
• Satan’s Fall
THE SPIRIT OF GOD
First mention of the Spirit of God is to bring light to a dark
place; to restore order to a barren, waste place.
He is the change agent.
THE SIX DAYS
Is Genesis Chapter 1 poetry or narrative?
Did the events really happen, or is this a piece of poetry
describing the “unexplainable” to uneducated people?
THE SIX DAYS
Study done on 97 passages of scripture comparing the
types of verb used in poetry and narration.
Comparison made with different passages describing the
same event – one as narration, one as poetry, e.g. the
Flood, crossing the Red sea, etc.
THE SIX DAYS
Figure 1. 3-D plot of paired-texts data, showing contrasting finite verb distribution for
narrative versus poetry texts portraying the same event. Click on image to enlarge
THE SIX DAYS
Figure 2. Logistic regression curve showing the probability a passage is a narrative
based on its ratio of preterites to finite verbs. Click on image to enlarge
THE SIX DAYS
Using this study it can be shown by analysis of
verb usage that there is a 99,99% probability that
Genesis Chapter 1 is narration and not poetry.
THE SIX DAYS
THE SIX DAYS
FIGURATIVE OR LITERAL
• Evening (dusk or night) and morning (dawn or
break of day) mark the start and end of each day.
• The word “day” is used over 2 000 times in
Scripture to mean a literal 24 hour period, unless
qualified, e.g. Day of Judgement, Day of the Lord,
etc.
• Exodus 20:8-11: the reason man works for 6 days
is because God did so.
EVOLUTION versus CREATION
•
Evolution
No Creator needed.
•
Creation
Creator needed.
•
Development by blind chance,
random happenings.
•
Development through plan
and purpose.
•
Starts with matter and energy (non
person).
•
Starts with God (person).
•
Purposeless universe.
•
Purposeful universe
(evidence of design).
•
Morals based on God’s
•
No absolutes or morals.
absolutes.
SCIENTIFIC METHOD
Scientific knowledge has progressed so dramatically largely because science
limits itself to questions that can be objectively answered by repeatable and
verifiable observations.
Like many other human activities, building concepts and theories in science
begin with hunches, dreams, wishful thinking, educated guesses (hypotheses),
serendipity (lucky accidents), or some subjective flash of insight. But the
concept or theory earns the right to be called “scientific” if (and only if) it makes
testable predictions that are verified by direct or indirect observations in the
field or laboratory. And other scientists must repeat the tests and get the same
results. That’s the scientific method: an ever-widening cycle of subjective ideas
tested objectively by repeated observations in the scientific community.
(Building Blocks in Science by Gary Parker, p. 18)
IS EVOLUTION SCIENCE?
Evolution never was, never will be, and never could be
scientific. Evolution belongs to the domain of history and
historical method, not of science and the empirical scientific
method. Historical method involves gathering unique bits of
data, weaving them into a timeline of events, and defending
one’s story against others to see if any can be subjectively
established “beyond a reasonable doubt”. For example,
there are many historical theories on the fall of Rome and
tons of evidence (writings, artefacts, etc.), yet we cannot
rerun Roman history to see which theory is correct, as
empirical science would require.
(Building Blocks in Science by Gary Parker, p. 22)
APPARENT AGE OR REAL AGE?
• How old was Adam the day after he was created as a
mature adult?
• How old was a tree hours after it was created, with fruit
on it (Genesis 1:12)?
• How old were the rocks a few days after they were
created?
EVIDENCE OF CREATION
Note that you don’t have to see the creator, and you don’t
have to see the creative act, in order to recognise evidence
of creation. What does it take to recognise evidence of
creation?
The ordinary tools of science: logic and observation.
“Creation” is simply the logical inference from our
observations of certain patterns of order – and that is true
whether the creative intelligence is human, Martian, or the
transcendent Creator God of the universe!
(Building Blocks in Science by Gary Parker, p. 12)
EVIDENCE OF CREATION
Romans 1:20
“From the creation of the world His invisible
attributes, that is, His eternal power and
divine nature, have been clearly seen,
being understood through what He has
made. As a result, people are without
excuse.”
EVIDENCE OF CREATION
Psalm 19:1, 2, 4
1. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the
sky proclaims the work of his hands.
2. Day after day they pour out speech; night after
night they communicate knowledge.
3. Their message has gone out to all the earth, and
their words to the ends of the inhabited world.
EVOLUTION
NATURAL SELECTION
PUNCTUATED EQUILIBRIUM
INTELLIGENT DESIGN
GEOLOGICAL COLUMN
• Layers formed at a uniform rate.
• Historical record of earth’s changes.
• Fossil record shows development of life from
beginnings (bottom layers) to present (top layers).
GEOLOGICAL COLUMN
Problems encountered:
• Not occurring anywhere on earth’s surface at present.
• Bones and shells today are eroding faster than
sedimentation process.
Detail and completeness of fossils indicates rapid burial
rather than slow sedimentation.
Radioactive dating methods cannot be used on
sedimentary rocks (the ones containing fossils), only on
igneous rocks.
FOSSIL RECORD
• Incomplete sequence of fossils showing progressive
change in successive strata.
• Large “gaps” in the fossil record. “It is not even possible
to make a caricature of evolution out of palaeobiological
facts. The fossil material is now so complete that the lack
of transitional series cannot be explained by the scarcity
of the material. The deficiencies are real, they will never
be filled.
(The Neck of the Giraffe by Francis Hitching, p. 22)
FOSSIL RECORD
• Genetic “barriers” discovered recently, causing species to resist
change.
• Missing links:
Professor Anthony Hallam of the Department of Biological
Sciences of Birmingham University, England, told a conference
on evolution in Chicago in 1980 that his studies of Jurassic bivalves showed emphatically that over periods of 10-12 million
years they changed hardly at all, except in size. After this period
of stasis they became, or were replaced by, a markedly different
species.
The growing realisation that a pattern of stasis and extinction is
the rule rather than the exception shows not just that the fossil
gaps are real (which more or less everybody now accepts), but
also that they are highly mysterious, significant, and very
unhelpful to Darwinism.
(The Neck of the Giraffe by Francis Hitching, pp. 44-45)
GENETIC BARRIERS
The main function of the genetic system, quite clearly,
is one of renewal, of maintenance of the status quo, of
establishing limits to change. Living cells duplicate
themselves with near-total fidelity. The degree of error
is so tiny that no manmade machine can approach it.
There are also built-in constraints. Plants reach a
certain size and refuse to grow any larger. Fruit flies
refuse to become anything but fruit flies under any
circumstances yet devised. The genetic system, as its
first priority, conserves, blocks and stabilises.
(The Neck of the Giraffe by Francis Hitching, p. 61)
GENETIC BARRIERS
The natural limit on the amount of variation that can
be induced in a species is merely the expression of
the fact that nowhere in the animal or plant kingdoms
is there a species that is capable of the infinite
biological plasticity demanded by evolution theory,
capable of unlimited adaptation to different
environments and different modes of life.
Living organisms are systems with limited potential for
change in which variation of one characteristic reacts
on other characteristics, usually with unfavourable
results.
(The Facts of Life by R. Milton, pp. 164-166)
MISSING LINKS
Richard Leakey has quoted fellow palaeontologist
David Pilbeam as saying:
“If you brought in a smart scientist from another
discipline and showed him the meagre evidence
we’ve got he’d surely say, ‘Forget it; there isn’t
enough to go on.’ Neither David nor others
involved in the search for mankind can take this
advice, of course, but we remain fully aware of the
dangers of drawing conclusions from evidence
that is so incomplete.”
(The Facts of Life by R. Milton, pp. 224-225)
HOW DID LIFE BEGIN?
OZONE LAYER PROBLEM
Russian biochemist A.I. Oparin claimed:
“Although it was impossible to create life from non-life in our
present oxygen-heavy environment, (oxygen literally eats up any
primitive organic chemical such as an amino acid), this might not
have been the case in conditions billions of years ago but without
oxygen, there is no ozone canopy to protect Earth from the Sun’s
ultraviolet rays. Nowadays this canopy effectively shields us from
certain death.
So with oxygen in the air, the first amino acid would never have
got started; without oxygen it would have been wiped out by
cosmic rays …. In other words, the theoretical chances of getting
through even this first and relatively easy stage in the evolution of
life are forbidding.”
(The Neck of the Giraffe by Francis Hitching, p. 67)
COMPLEXITY OF SIMPLEST CELL
The origin of even the simplest cells poses a problem
hardly less difficult. The most elementary type of cell
constitutes a “mechanism’ unimaginably more
complex than any machine yet thought up, let alone
constructed by man.”
(The Neck of the Giraffe by Francis Hitching, p. 68)
IRREDUCIBLE COMPLEXITY
Even the simplest life form is incredibly complex. There
is no scientific explanation for how the first living cell
came into existence. All the structures and chemical
reactions in a “simple cell” have to be in place
simultaneously in order for it to function. The simple cell
is, in fact, an example of “irreducible complexity”.
(The Heavens Declare the Glory of God by Dr Michael Jarvis)
IRREDUCIBLE COMPLEXITY
Atheist scientist, Richard Dawkins, admits that, for the
human eye to come into being by pure chance is
about 1 in 1055.
Dawkins suggests a long sequence of “hypothetical
steps” that might have led to the human eye.
However, unfortunately for Dawkins, the fossil record
does not show these hypothetical steps.
IRREDUCIBLE COMPLEXITY
• Swallowtail butterfly metamorphosis
• Bombardier beetle
• Silvery skin of fish
IRREDUCIBLE COMPLEXITY
The silvery skin of fish is designed to provide a reflective surface
that enables them to remain camouflaged and unnoticed by
predators, in the greenish gloom of the sea. To achieve this, the fish
secrete millions of tiny nitrogenous crystals in layers on their skin
and scales. To increase the efficiency of their reflective coating the
fish secrete multiple layers of mirror crystals sandwiched between
layers of cell tissue. But to be effective, the layers have to be
arranged exactly one-quarter of the wavelength of the incident light
apart. For the greenish light of the undersea world, this means a
separation of seven millionths of a centimetre. Does anyone really
believe that this precision was achieved by random mutation?
(The Facts of Life by R. Milton, p. 275)
CREATION OF MAN
Genesis 1:26
PURPOSE
To be the image of God in the world, i.e. to show what
God is like. Man’s attributes and behaviour would
display God’s character.
To be God’s representative, or ruler, on earth:
v 26 … have dominion/rule over every living creature
v 28 … subdue the earth
IMAGE OF GOD
IMAGE: Hebrew – “shadow”
Adam was a limited, “two-dimensional”,
colourless, textureless, tasteless, odourless
shape/picture/representation of God.
LIKENESS: Hebrew – “similar to”; “in the same
manner”; “having similar characteristics”
IMAGE OF GOD
God is Spirit (John 4:24) and has no body.
Anthropomorphism – speaking of God in human
terms (eye of God, arm of God, heart of God) refers to God’s character in a way that is easy for
us to better understand God.
IMAGE OF GOD
MALE OR FEMALE?
• Adam was created with both male and female
characteristics (Genesis 5:1-2) in order to better
portray God’s character.
• God is neither male nor female, but rather both.
IMAGE OF GOD
LOVE AND MARRIAGE
Male and Female were separated into two bodies in order
to overcome Adam’s loneliness. Adam’s body was made
from the ground (2:7), and Adam was made alive by God’s
Spirit.
The animals were made from the ground (2:19).
Eve was made from Adam’s flesh and bone (2:21-23).
Adam now lacked that which was in Eve – he could only be
completely whole when joined to Eve.
IMAGE OF GOD
LOVE AND MARRIAGE
• Adam’s love for Eve, and his desire to be with her
– this marriage of two beings into one – represents
God’s love for us.
• Christ’s love for His Church is represented by a
man’s love for his wife (Ephesians 5:25-33).
IMAGE OF GOD
FATHERHOOD/MOTHERHOOD
Good fathers copy/emulate God because they are made
in God’s image.
Good mothers show the love of God because they are
made in God’s image.