The
SUSQUEHANNA SENTINEL
[Editor’s Note: Because of limitations of space, we have abridged
the following article with the author’s permission. The article
can be found in its entirety in Truth Magazine, January 18, 2001 edition.]
Marilyn vos Savant holds the Guinness record for having the highest IQ.
She writes a column, "Ask Marilyn," for Parade Magazine. In a recent
article she spoke these words concerning the "Big Bang" Theory: "The theory
holds that, billions of years ago, everything in the universe was contained
in an area smaller than the head of a pin (!) and that this minuscule speck
of unbelievably dense and incredibly hot matter suddenly exploded violently.
That sounds just plain nuts, right?
"But do you believe it? If so, how do you support your belief that
the entire cosmos was once smaller than a polka dot? (With a strong line
of reasoning? Some solid evidence? Anything at all?). If you cannot,
welcome to the world of faith: You're accepting what you've been told by those
you respect. And that's what creationists do. They just respect
different folks." Yes, like God and Moses.
For a thing to be scientific, it must be repeatable, observable,
and testable. The "Big Bang" is not repeatable. If it was, we
could all see it and there would be no debate. The "Big Bang"
is not observable, since it was a one-time event supposedly billions
of years before man. It is not testable...
Let us consider the nature of an explosion. Defenders of a Creator
have often argued rightly that a wristwatch does not happen as the result
of an explosion. Nor does a set of the Encyclopedia Britannica result
from an explosion in a print shop. Neither does a new Cadillac result
from an explosion in a junkyard. The reason we so argue is because
it is not the nature of an explosion to result in a higher degree of order.
Destruction and disarray are always in the aftermath of explosions...
I submit that no one can name an explosion that did not destroy something
in the physical realm. I further submit that Big Bang theorists have
it backward. The Bible teaches that is the way it is going to end.
"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent
heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up" (2
Pet. 3:10). There's your Big Bang. But it comes at the end,
not the beginning. And did you notice the results of that explosion?
Destruction. The same that happens in all explosions...
"And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.
And the evening and the morning were the first day" (Gen. 1:5). If
this is not an inspired definition of what a literal day is, then we are
at a loss to define it. It consisted of darkness, called "Night" and
"evening"; and light, called "Day" and "morning." That's still what
we call it today. This definition is very specific. There are
some figurative or generic uses of the word "day" in the Bible and even in
Genesis (Ezek. 7:7; 2 Cor. 6:2; Gen. 2:4), but we do not have a period described
as "evening and morning," "darkness and light," and "night and day" used
to describe anything but a literal day. In understanding any language
we always approach it from the literal meaning first, before consider a figurative
meaning...
It has been suggested that we are on "God's time" in Genesis 1, thus these
are not literal days, as we normally understand them. On the contrary,
Genesis is a revelation from God to man and is written for man to read and
understand. God accommodates man and speaks of numerical days in sequence...
Time means nothing to God. He is not limited by it (2 Pet. 3:8).
It is almost an oxymoron to speak of God and time together. He does
not give the days numerical names for His benefit, but for man's understanding.
Why would God speak in numerical terms that suggest a sequence of events
if he intended to be nebulous and indefinite? Are there "gaps" of approximately
one billion years between each of the days? To affirm there were is
to speak where the Bible is silent...
Genesis is not an attempt to explain things naturalistically because
it is above nature -- supernatural. If a supernatural event occurred
then science will never be able to explain it, test it, or measure it.
The supernatural is far beyond the realm of science. Science explains
things on a naturalistic basis. Thus, science cannot explain the virgin
birth, restoring human limbs to the maimed, how Naaman was healed of leprosy,
prophecy, speaking a foreign language one has never learned, calming a storm,
casting out demons, or raising the dead. These are totally out of the
realm of the science of nature.
...It is significant that miracles were completed within brief periods
of time and not dragged out for long periods to the point that one could
not tell that a miracle had occurred...
Was each day of creation a partial miracle, culminating in one complete
miracle when it was all over? For example, on the fifth day, God did
not partially create a whale to be completed at a later time, but the job
was completed on the same day.
Could God have done everything in one day instead of six? Yes, but
remember that God was also setting a pattern for man's work week (Ex.. 20:9-11).
This would destroy the pattern that Moses gave. It still would not
mean that the creation of sea and air animals were only partial or incomplete
miracles. At the end of each day, "God saw that it was good."
He miraculously created on each day what He intended to create on that day.
Everything said on the subject shows it was immediate at his command (Ps.
33:7-9; Heb. 11:3).
To bridge the gap between special creation and macro evolution we may
be tempted to accommodate a naturalistic unfolding of events. It is
easy to fall into the "billions of years" to explain what happened.
In dealing with those who accept macro evolution, we point out that evolution
means the development of something existing, into something else.
Therefore, evolution cannot really explain the origin of anything.
A theory of how things developed does not explain how they got here
in the first place. Evolutionists attempt to solve this problem by
having recourse to vast periods of time. When asked how the universe
and man came to be, they reply that there was a gradual development,
which took vast ages. But the mere lapse of time does not explain
anything. The lapse of time is not, itself, a cause of any effect.
What is needed is not ages of time, but an adequate cause. As someone
aptly remarked, "All eternity is not sufficient to complete that which
has not yet been begun."-
There is nothing in the Bible that compels us to believe the days of creation
were vast periods of time (billions of years) or that there were gaps comprised
of trillions of days between the days named. The only days we know
of are the ones stated...
Why accommodate a theory that some well-known scientists have said is
faulty? "The evolutionary trees that adorn our textbooks have data
only at the tips and nodes of their branches. The rest is inference,
however reasonable, not the evidence of the fossil record" (Stephen J. Gould,
Natural History, Vol. 86, 13). "The extreme rarity of transitional
forms in the fossil record persists as the trade secret of paleontology.
We fancy ourselves as the only true students of life's history, yet to preserve
our favored account of evolution by natural selection we view our data as
so bad that we never see the very process we profess to study" (Stephen J.
Gould, Natural History, May 1977, 14). Concerning the "Big Bang Theory,"
Sir Fred Hoyle said, "As a result of all this, the main efforts of investigators
have been in the papering over of holes in the big bang theory to build up
an idea that has become ever more complex and cumbersome... I have little
hesitation in saying that a sickly pall now hangs over the big bang theory.
When a pattern of facts becomes set against a theory, experience shows that
the theory rarely recovers" (Science Digest, May 1984, 54).
While these quotes have been around a few years, have we been overwhelmed
with new discoveries that have totally reversed what these men said?
Most fossil discoveries have ended up being placed in evolutionary branches
that do not lead to the dawn of man...
There are no natural or supernatural limits to God's power. As
the angel said to Abraham when Sarah laughed at the idea of giving birth
in her old age, "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" (Gen. 18:14).
Could God have done it in a literal six days? If so, then where is
the problem? The voice of Jesus echoes the same sublime truth.
"The things which are impossible with men are possible with God" (Luke 18:27).
And, "With God all things are possible" (Matt. 19:26). God is unlimited
in power. He is omnipotent.
My goal has been to speak where the Bible speaks and be silent where it
is silent. The reader will have to judge if I succeeded. And
that's all I know.
EARLY
CHRISTIAN TOMB DISCOVERED IN ISRAEL
In December an Israeli news source, JCR News, released information that
archeologists have unearthed the first-century burial cave of a family of
Jesus’ disciples.
The cave, on a hillside above the Kidron Valley, contained coffins with
names engraved on them. These inscriptions identified the cave as
the burial vault of the Barsabbas family. This family apparently was
prominent in the early church. Joseph Barsabbas was one of the two
men nominated in Acts 1 to replace Judas Iscariot as an apostle. Then,
in Acts 15, Judas Barsabbas accompanied Paul to Antioch.
Jewish historian Prof.. Ory N. Mazar affirms that “at least some members of this family were among the very first disciples of Christ.”
Additional evidence in the tombs, such as coins and artifacts, shows the tomb was sealed less than a decade after Christ’s crucifixion, he said.
Romans 1:16-17 - For I am not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every
one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein
is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written,
"The just shall live by faith."
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