Rev. David Holwick ZD "Questions People Ask" topical series
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
September 29, 2002
Psalm 90:2-10
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I. Visiting the Museum of Natural History.
A. Vivid memories as a kid - and as an adult. Big skeletons with
huge teeth.
1) When did these things live?
2) What happened to them?
3) Where are they in the Bible?
Letter from a young person to God:
Dear God,
Is the world thousands of years old?
If it is, what religion were the dinosaurs?
Terry, age 10
(Question is so good, author made it title of book.) #2141
B. Broader question:
1) How does Science fit with Bible?
2) When they conflict, which is wrong?
3) Can a real Christian accept the results of science?
C. Conflict in the classrooms.
1) Cobb County, Georgia, will teach evolution & creationism.
Rev. Greg Ward, a Unitarian minister, called the board's
decision irresponsible:
"It's inappropriate for the Bible to be taught in
conjunction with science.
They just don't go together."
[1]
2) What do you think?
a) Many have no problem with getting spirituality
out of the Bible and ignoring the other issues
like miracles and historical issues.
b) But if Bible is truly Word of God, this approach is
too flippant.
D. Huge issue.
1) We are evenly divided on main issue.
American beliefs about origins; Gallup poll, Nov. 1991.
• 47% Recent Creation (39% of college students).
• 40% Theistic Evolution. (God-guided evolution)
Steven Jay Gould:
"great majority of deeply religious people"
• 9% Atheistic Evolution.
Taught exclusively in classrooms.
#22260
2) Many lose their faith as they study science.
3) Other resort to "God of the gaps" in human knowledge.
a) God is pushed farther and farther away.
4) Is there a solution?
II. History of science and Christianity.
A. Early science grew out of Christianity.
1) German physicist C.F. Von Wiezacker:
The concept of strict and generally valid laws of nature could
hardly have arisen without the Christian concept of creation.
Matter in the Platonic sense ... will not obey mathematical
laws exactly:
matter which God has created from nothing may well strictly
follow the rules which its Creator had laid down for it.
In this sense I called modern science a legacy, I might even
have said a child, of Christianity.
Eerdmans, p. 125
2) Many of the founders of modern science were deeply
religious men and committed Christians.
a) Johannes Kepler (who determined the shape of the orbits
that the planets follow around the sun)
b) Galileo (who first turned the newly invented telescope
towards the heavens to study them)
c) Isaac Newton (the brilliant physicist who formulated
the basic laws of motion and gravity)
d) Michael Faraday (the great experimenter in electricity)
e) James Clerk Maxwell (who formulated the laws relating
electricity and magnetism)
3) Listen to the following words:
"I give you thanks, Creator and God, that you have
given me this joy in thy creation,
and I rejoice in the works of your hands.
See, I have now completed the work to which I was
called.
In it I have used all the talents you have lent to
my spirit."
This was written by Kepler in one of his notebooks.
#22268
B. Growing indications of age of the earth.
1) Traditional dating by Archbishop Ussher (1600s) from Bible.
a) Very precise - creation on Oct. 23, 4004 BC, 9:00 a.m.
b) Newer versions, even Scofield, add question marks.
2) However, many ancient Christians scholars thought the
days of creation in Genesis were very long:
a) Origen, Basil, Augustine, and later Thomas Aquinas.
3) Growth of scientific methods to establish age.
a) Fossils, geology, carbon-14, tree rings, anthropology...
b) Apart from some evangelical scientists, almost all
scientists see the earth as being 4.5 billion years.
C. Science and religion become separated.
1) Many scientists consider Bible to be myth only.
2) Many Christians see science as antagonistic and anti-God.
III. What the Bible teaches on the age of the earth.
A. The case for a young earth.
1) Six days of creation.
a) Most natural to see them as 24-hour periods.
2) Genealogies can be added up.
3) Earliest society portrayed as Bronze Age in technology.
4) Adam and Eve are said to date from beginning of creation.
5) Scientific evidence of age is an illusion - God made it
to appear old, but it is actually young.
6) Gives the highest respect to the integrity of the Bible.
B. The case for an ancient earth.
1) "Day" is an ambiguous expression.
a) Can mean a much longer period, as in "Day of the Lord."
b) Famous verse on day with God being thousand years.
c) Sun is not created till the fourth day.
d) Third day, with land producing plants, seems to assume
more than 24 hours. (compare Genesis 2:5)
e) The seventh day, God's sabbath rest, continues to
today. Hebrews 4:4-10
2) Bible genealogies can be proven to have gaps.
a) Matthew's genealogy of Jesus drops three kings, counts
David twice.
1> Compare 1 Chronicles 3:11-12 and Matthew 1:9.
2> Three kings deleted (Joash, Amaziah, Azariah).
b) Luke's genealogy of Jesus adds Cainan to Genesis 11.
c) Comparison of Genesis and Chronicles shows even more
significant gaps in genealogies.
3) Plain statements on antiquity of earth.
a) Habakkuk 3:6 - ancient mountains and age-old hills.
b) Also Psalm 90:2-6, Proverbs 8:22-31, etc.
4) God would not deceive us by creating false appearances.
5) Does not mean Christians are "throwing out Bible" in favor
of Science.
C. My radical conclusion.
1) Bible is true - earth is ancient. Maybe 4.5 billion years.
a) Believing in an ancient earth does not make you a
heretic.
b) Believing in a young earth does not make you an idiot.
2) It is a secondary issue - salvation is more important.
IV. How to balance Bible and Science.
A. All truth is God's truth.
1) Truth must be properly understood.
2) We may misinterpret Bible.
3) We may misinterpret Science as well.
B. Bible is not always literal.
1) We take it seriously, on its own terms, but it contains
obvious figures of speech.
a) Isaiah 55:12
"You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the
mountains and hills will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field will clap their hands."
2) We must be careful not to make portions figurative that
are not intended that way.
C. Science is not always right.
1) It often treats itself like the true religion.
a) "Scientific American" book review - one new book
portrays Einstein as the new god of science.
The author is only half-joking.
2) Science can overstate its case.
a) Peppered moth case was a distortion of evolution.
3) As many scientists believe in a Supreme Being now as they
did 100 years ago.
V. So what about dinosaurs?
A. They were big!
1) Actually, they were all sizes.
2) They certainly are fascinating.
3) Where do they fit into the Bible?
B. Young earth view:
1) They were contemporary with early humans.
2) Noah's Flood wiped them out and buried them under layers
of debris.
a) Similar to Mount St. Helens disaster.
C. Ancient earth view:
1) God created dinosaurs.
2) They may have been wiped out by Noah's flood, but probably
were already long-gone.
3) Depending on date of Adam and Eve, they could have died
out before humans.
VI. The most important conclusion.
A. Whether earth is young or old, it is MUCH older than you.
1) You won't last very long, either. Ps 90
2) A short "breath of life" vs. eternity.
B. Dinosaurs are extinct and you will be, too.
1) Do something about it.
2) Know your Creator as your Savior.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
[1] "Georgia Board OKs Evolution Options," by Barnini Chakraborty,
Associated Press with America Online, September 27, 2002.
# 2141 "Dear God, What Religion Were The Dinosaurs?" by David Heller,
from his book but quoted in Redbook magazine, page 52, 1990.
#22260 "Biblical Age Of The Earth," by Don R. Patton, Ph.D. [unlisted on
page but inferred];
http://iwhome.com/spiritualquest/tracts/dp-age-b.htm
#22268 "Glorious Are The Works Of The Lord: Studying The Heavens," by
Dr. Bruce J. Hrivnak, February 15, 2001;
http://physics.valpo.edu/faculty/bhrivnak/rubel_lecture/
These and 20,000 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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