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Hear the Bible COME ALIVE IN SONG!
Sermon onEvolution and CreationBy Brian Pepper There is an old legend about a beautiful swan. On the banks of a pond there was a crane waddling about looking for tasty tit bits in the mud. Suddenly the crane spied the beautiful swan. “Where did you come from, the crane asked.”From heaven," the swan replied. "Where is heaven?" the crane wanted to know. The swan began to tell the crane all about heaven; the wonderful crystal streams, the beautiful Tree of Life that spans the river and all the rest. The crane wasn't very interested. He said, "Are there any snails there?” "Snails, why of course not," the swan replied indignantly. “Then I am not very interested," said the crane. And that is the same attitude we find in the world today. The majority are too busy looking for their own pleasures to be worried about the hereafter. The Bible believing generation has just about passed away.
Today there are very few who hold to the complete Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. You take the Book of Genesis. No matter how you try, you just cannot harmonize the teachings of Genesis
with what the majority of modern scientists teach today.
The big question is either the world is 6000 years old as the Bible claims or it is 600,000,000 years old. Yes, it is important to find out the truth.
Evolution and Creation both Faith Based In spite of the dogmatic assertions of many scientists that evolution has been proved, a study of the facts reveal that this is not so. But on the other hand the Scriptural view cannot be proved either. It also must be accepted by faith. Hebrews 11:3 says, "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." We believe that the Bible account is much more reasonable, much more scientific, and requires a lot less faith to believe than the theory of evolution. As Christians we need to remember that Christ accepted the writings of Moses as being truth. It was Moses who wrote the account of creation in Genesis. Life must have a Source I would like you to notice the Biblical account. Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." That is a most profound statement. "In the beginning God...” You must have a start. Life cannot come from something that does not have life. There is no spontaneous origin of life. It must have a source. Evolution presents no source regarding life, but the Bible declares "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." God created the world, and that includes the solar system.
The World made from the Invisible Hebrews 11:3 says, "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." In this verse St Paul tells us that this world was made of something that is invisible. And how true this is. All material things are made of energy according to nuclear science. So you can see how wonderfully the Word of God demonstrates this scientific fact. “Things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." It has been proved conclusively that the things we see are made of invisible things such as molecules and atoms. We are told that God spake and turned the invisible into visible. Did the Earth break off from the Sun? There have been textbooks which taught that the earth broke off the sun and spun around and around until it became a ball and that it still on fire in the middle. However this conflicts with the statement "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
The first chapter of Genesis also indicates that our whole solar system was created on the first day of Creation week. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” This shows very clearly that earth could not have broken from the sun for they were both created at the same time. Many Scientific Theories proved Wrong over time You can be assured that any scientific theory that is contrary to the Bible in time will be proved wrong. Many different theories have been held by scientists through the years in an endeavour to prove that the world is millions of years old. One by one these theories have been discounted. An illustration of this is the stalactites. Stalactiites The scientists have claimed that the period of their growth at present time reveals the age of the stalactites. To disprove this theory I want to bring to your attention the fact that stalactites have been known to form within a period of a few years. Over in Melbourne, Australia under the War Memorial a large stalactite formed in only a few years. Petrifaction Another example is the theory regarding petrifaction i.e. the turning of wood and other substances into stone. A farmer in Tasmania was replacing a fence that had been in for over 70 years. He dug out of the ground the bottom of a post that had become opalized. He sent it to the scientists to examine and they dated it at 10,000 years. Obsolete Scientific Books Another thing that has been hushed up; In the Louvre Museum, Paris, there are scores upon scores of scientific books that are obsolete, yet when they were printed they were considered by science to be the most up to date of their day. In every one of these books are so called scientific "facts" which are contrary to the Bible. Age of the Earth That the scientific estimate of the age of the earth is pure guess work is evidenced by the tremendous differences among scientists regarding the age of the earth. They differ by hundreds of millions of years. I would suppose that the best known method of measuring is the radio - carbon method. But this theory is based on the assumption that the activity of carbon has always been the same; that the cosmic rays have always been constant. And this is where this theory breaks down. It is now known that cosmic rays show striking fluctuations even over the few years that scientists have been measuring them. Whether the cosmic rays are as intense as they were 5000 or so years ago is anybody's guess. No one knows. Therefore to use such a method in an endeavour to show that the earth is older than the Biblical account is not acceptable. The First Day In Genesis 1:3, "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” In a matter of minutes God caused our sun to begin its solar activities. Verse 5 says, "And God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. And the evening and the morning were the first day." The first day was produced by the rotation of the earth in the presence of sunlight, just as the days are produced today. The first day and all the days of the Week of Creation were literal 24 hour days. They were not long periods of time as some claim. On the first day with heavy clouds and water vapour it would be like a very wet day. You know that it is daylight but because the sky is heavy with water vapour the sun has no chance of shining through. The Second Day Genesis 1:6 says, "And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters." The next day God made the firmament. The clouds or water that had previously rested upon the ocean covered earth were lifted and an atmospheric heaven was created below them. This word firmament refers to the atmosphere. The atmosphere is a very remarkable thing. The composition of the atmosphere reveals wonderful design and maintenance. The atmosphere always remains the same. If a little more nitrogen were added, the body processes would slow down and death would eventuate. If a little more oxygen were added the body processes would burn out with the same result. A little more laughing gas and we would all laugh and laugh until we died. So you can see the atmosphere was made for life to exist in it and after all these years it still remains the same. The Third Day Genesis 1:11 says, "And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so." Grass is a wonderful thing. Mostly it is coloured green, a colour designed to collect the right amount of light from the sun. It is right here that I want to throw in a question. "If these days of creation were long periods of time, say thousands of years, then what would happen to all the vegetation? Yes! What would happen to it? Everyone knows that the life cycle of a plant is short. We have just noticed that on third day vegetation was created. How long would it survive without sunshine? For it wasn’t until the fourth day that the sun shone in its fullness. And Adam did not live a 1000 years. I assure you that each one of those days of creation were 24 hour periods of time. The Fourth Day Genesis 1:16 says, “And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: He made the stars also." It is the sun that turns the earth on its axis. One revolution takes exactly 24 hours. It never varies. Some scientists believe that the sun broke off a planet and the earth off the sun. If that was the case, how can they explain why in its movements the earth never varies even to a fraction of one thousand of a second? One scientist said that the sun will be burnt up in 70,000,000 years. In that case he is unlikely to see it. While we are on the subject of the sun, and moon and stars, it is interesting to notice that Saturn has nine moons whirling around him and Jupiter has eleven. The remarkable thing is that these all revolve in perfect order. And who controls all this? Why the wonderful God of the universe. The Fifth Day Genesis 1:20 says, "And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven." The original Hebrew says "Let the waters swarm…" And how true that is. It has been estimated that if one pair of Mackeral - if left unmolested would fill the ocean in ten years. If the Herring were unchecked, they would multiply to such an extent that they too would fill the oceans. When we look at the fish world we find some amazing things. Take for instance the shape of the fish; the way they glide through the waters. Their scales are a wonderful protective covering. Then they are equipped with bi-focal lenses which are well suited for under water. Bi-Focal lenses! Why that is staggering isn’t it. Sea anemones have spikes and once a fish touches in then it is paralyzed. In Africa there is an electric catfish that carries a "battery" around its body just under the skin. It can give a very severe electric shock. This is just another wonderful evidence of creation. When I was a lad a song came out which was very popular it was called "Which came first the Chicken or the Egg?" Well according to the text a full grown chook came on the scene first, the egg came later. When you look at the design of the birds it is nothing less than amazing. Birds are the most perfect example of streamlining in all biology. Their bones and body temperature reveal that they were formed to produce the greatest buoyancy. The Sixth Day Genesis 1:24 says, “And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so." Everything brings forth "after his kind”. And now we are coming to the crowning work of creation. The Earth was being prepared for Adam and Eve or mankind. What would we do without the cattle? They provide food and clothing and other blessings. Wool is a wonderful material. It keeps us warm on the cold days. Cow’s milk is the perfect food. Scientists have tried to reproduce milk synthetically but without success. The Cow's Stomach An amazing thing is the cow’s stomach. It is quite complex. It really has four stomachs. First of all when the cow swallows its food it passes into tie first and second stomachs. Most of you have seen a cow resting and then all of a sudden it gives a kind of hiccup and up comes that ball of grass to be chewed all over again. On the second swallowing it passes along a groove in the roof of the second stomach, and goes into the third compartment. Chemical digestion takes place in the fourth stomach which alone has gastric glands in its walls for the secretion of digestive juices. Now the question is this. Who is down there to direct the food? The scientists say that it evolved. That is a lot harder to swallow than the cow’s cud. After Their Kind The Bible says that they would bring forth "after their kind.” It would be terrible if you went out to milk the cow and it had turned into a lion. However it would be far worse if you were expecting a grandchild and it turned out to be a monkey. But you know that will never happen because God said that everything produces "after his kind". The Crowning Work of Creation And now we come to the crowning work of Creation. Genesis 1:26 says, "And God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." Man was made in the Image of God. What a wonderful heritage; having the same form. For the Scripture says that we are made in "the likeness of God". Man is really a marvellous being and is capable of great things. He is able to draft plans of great towering buildings. Did you know that up to recent times the Empire State building in New York was the tallest structure in the world, rising to a height of 1246 feet above the street; higher than Centrepoint Tower in Sydney. It was completed on May 1, 1931. Are you aware that the top of this building has swayed back and forth for 56 years; that it has withstood countless storms. However man is not only able to design, to plan, to construct great buildings; but he is able to work through the most difficult mathematical problems; to break through the barriers of space, and to explore other planets in our solar system, to perform wonders in the field of medicine and surgery, in scientific research and discovery, in electronics. In whatever field he has endeavoured to work in man has achieved outstanding success. The Bible says that man was made in the “likeness of God'', with the ability of being able to think, to reason, to be creative, to worship, to reach out to his God by faith. A faith that accepts God as Creator and Redeemer. |
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