Christian Evolutionists Vs.

Overview Categories/ issues with Christians who believe in evolution –Theistic evolution, Progressive creation, Gap theory, Local flood, framework hypothesis, etc. Our experiences Interpreting Genesis Sharing our faith with other Christians

Identifying Beliefs How many of you know a Christian who believes in evolution or an “old” earth? Your examples –What do they believe? –When/why did they start? –How much do they know about what they believe? –What rules of interpretation do they follow? –Is it reflected in their beliefs about other doctrinal issues?

“We believe, teach, and confess that the only rule and norm according to which all teachings, together with all teachers, should be evaluated and judged (2 Timothy 3:15-17) are the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures of the Old and New Testament alone. For it is written in Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” St. Paul has written, “even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8). - Concordia, The Lutheran Confessions, A Readers Edition of the Book of Concord, p. 491.

“Biblical Glasses” God’s word always comes first Martin Luther on the corruption of the authority of scripture: “For you are to deal with scripture in such a way that you bear in mind that God Himself says what is written. But since God is speaking, it is not fitting for you wantonly to turn His word in the direction you wish to go.” What are some other Biblical doctrines that man seeks to fit into his own framework of understanding?

The Genesis account Literal days vs. symbolic or “day-age” days –“Yom” = day in Hebrew –Using the rules of interpretation from last week, the context/usage makes it very clear Yom with a number Evening and morning Genesis 1:14 Exodus 20:8-11 Jonah 1:17 Genealogies (Gen 5, 1Chron 1, Luke 3)

Genealogical Timeline

Hebrew scholars Professor James Barr, Professor of Hebrew at the University of Oxford. “Probably so far as I know, there is no professor of Hebrew or Old Testament at any world-class university who dares not believe that the writer(s) of Gen intended to convey to their readers the ideas that creation took place in a series of six days which are the same as the days of 24 hours we now experience…”

Hebrew scholars “In the hundreds of other cases in the Old Testament where yom stands in conjunction with an ordinal number (first, second, third, etc.), e.g. Exodus 12:15; 24:16; Leviticus 12:3, it never means anything other than a normal, literal day.” - Robert L. Reymond, Ph.D., A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith, 1998, p “There is nothing in the Bible to obviate the idea that the days in Genesis were 24 hour type days.” - Dr. Robert Cole (Ph.D. Semitic Languages), “A PhD looks at the Genesis Days”

Death before the fall? Some Christians argue that ancient fossils were formed before Adam and Eve were created –Genesis 1:31 Animal death vs. plant death –Genesis 1:29-30 What does scripture say about sin and the fall? –Romans 5:12 –Genesis 3:17

What glasses are you wearing? "It is apparent at the most straightforward understanding of the Genesis record, without regard to all of the hermeneutical considerations suggested by science, is that God created the heaven and earth in six solar days, that man was created in the sixth day, that death and chaos entered, the world after the fall of Adam and Eve, that all of the fossils were the result of the catastrophic universal deluge which spared only Noah's family and the animals therewith." - Pattle P.T. Pun, A Theology of Progressive Creationism - Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith

What glasses are you wearing? "It is apparent at the most straightforward understanding of the Genesis record, without regard to all of the hermeneutical considerations suggested by science, is that God created the heaven and earth in six solar days, that man was created in the sixth day, that death and chaos entered, the world after the fall of Adam and Eve, that all of the fossils were the result of the catastrophic universal deluge which spared only Noah's family and the animals therewith." - Pattle P.T. Pun, A Theology of Progressive Creationism - Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith

Talking to other Christians Don’t forget the worldview –Remember to get out in the open any differences in how central the Bible is to our faith Our worldview is the 2 Timothy 3:16-17 –We use scripture to interpret scripture –We believe in letting God tell us what He did rather than us telling him what He did The slippery slope of picking and choosing –Without biblical glasses, all of scripture becomes sinking sand –Remember Paul’s example: 1 Corinthians 15:12-14

Luther thought of everything … “How long did the work of creation take? When Moses writes that God created heaven and earth and whatever is in them in six days, then let this period continue to have been six days, and do not venture to devise any comment according to which six days were one day. But, if you cannot understand how this could have been done in six days, then grant the Holy Spirit the honor of being more learned than you are." - Martin Luther on church leaders who thought God created in one day

More resources Isaiah 55:8-9 For more information on various forms of biblical compromise – Final week: Reviewing and using what we’ve learned

Genesis 1: And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, Exodus 20: "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Jonah 1: But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights. Genesis 1: God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. Genesis 1: Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground— everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so. Romans 5:12-14 – 12Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned— 13for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. 14Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come. Genesis 3: To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 2 Timothy 3: All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 1 Corinthians 15: But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. Isaiah 55:8-9 - For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. 9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.