Welcome to Science, Scripture, and Salvation, a radio ministry of the Institute for Creation Research. In this program, we want to encourage you in your Christian faith by showing how scientific evidence supports the Bible, particularly the Genesis account. The book of Genesis lays the foundation for all matters addressed in the rest of the Bible. The nature of God, His sovereignty in creation, man's purpose, sin, marriage, family, and why we need a Savior are all introduced and explained in Genesis. When we see that the first and most foundational book of the Bible can be trusted in all matters, including science, it builds confidence in the rest of the inspired word all the way to Revelation.
On today's show, we'll get some insights from Brian Thomas, science writer with the Institute for Creation Research. Here's Brian Thomas. I just finished looking at poll results, looking at the trends in beliefs in America. For the first time in decades, we have a new generation coming up that, according to these polls, believes less and less. In recent creation, they believe less and less frequently that we came from Adam.
in the recent past, only thousands of years ago.
So we have more and more folks who are believing the evolutionary alternative, this alternative history, which demands that humans did not come from Adam, but we came from apes millions of years ago, not thousands of years ago. And this belief really characterizes much of the church today. We have at the Institute for Creation Research a distinctive in really standing on a straightforward history that's in Genesis. And I want to talk today about a biblical basis for recent creation. In other words, I want to talk about how important it is and how we can know for sure that the Genesis.
Account of history is really true. And as Christians, as those who believe the Bible and who have trusted Christ, who have believed the gospel, if you call yourself one of those kinds of folks, then the scripture from which we obtained the gospel, this power of God unto salvation, that very same scripture relies on the history that's in Genesis for the very foundation of that gospel.
So in order to be a logically consistent Christian, I think it's high time that we sort of take some examples from the New Testament in particular that I don't want to look at today that really focus our minds on the logical necessity of recent creation. It really puts all the pieces together for us, biblically speaking. But I want to start by just a brief story. I remember backpacking just a few years ago and on the trail I just run into a fellow and I tried to get to know him. What do you do for a living?
And you know, general conversation. Then I tried to steer it toward a spiritual conversation and what do you believe? And he said, Oh, I'm a Christian and what do you believe about Genesis? I asked him. He said, Well oh, well, that's I think that's probably mythical.
I said, wow So it's not history? You don't think it's history? No, it can't really be history. And then I said, Well, can you name for me any of the New Testament doctrine? You said you believe the New Testament, right?
He goes, yes, yes, yes. Any New Testament doctrine that does not rely on Genesis as history. He thought about it for a while and I gave him some time to think about it. And then he stopped, and I remember this distinctly. He turned around with his big backpack on and faced me, because I was behind him, and he said, He's with a big smile, I'm I'm a New Testament Christian.
And then he just kept marching on in front of me, and I thought Okay, wow.
So a New Testament Christian does what? What does that mean?
Well, in his case, it means he wants to avoid the tough question of origins in Genesis. But I'm here to say that the contributors to the New Testament, these apostles who wrote the New Testament, they did not avoid the tough questions about Genesis. They stood against their culture. Against the weird beliefs that their culture was teaching about origins, and they stood directly on Genesis as history. For example, Peter said, In 2 Peter 3:2, he actually warned these scoffers.
It says this: that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets.
Well, what words does he want us to be mindful of? He wants us to be mindful of the words in the Old Testament, the Old Testament prophets. He says, Set your thinking based on the way they taught.
Okay, these Old Testament prophets. And then also be mindful of the words of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior.
Well, what are the commandments of us, the apostles? What were those words of the prophets? and he specifies just three verses later, These scoffers willingly forget that's like they don't want to know, and they steer around it, just like the guy on the trail. They willingly forget this fact, this historical event, that by the Word of God the heavens were In other words, God created the heavens and the earth.
So by the word of God, God created the heavens. And by the word of God, he created in other words, he spoke it into existence. And that's exactly what Genesis 1 says. That's exactly what 2 Peter 3.5 reiterates.
So he's referencing the spoken path. Power of God's spoken word as the origins of all things. This is Peter now. And then he says, they willingly forget that the earth is standing out of water and in the water, and by that water the earth was destroyed.
So they're willingly forgetting, they're pushing out of their minds the creation and the flood.
So, creation. And the flood. That's Genesis. That's early Genesis. And so we have here in 2 Peter a direct inference or a solid reference to Genesis as history.
And we have a few more of these, so stay tuned as we look at a couple more New Testament contributors and see what they say about the early chapters of Genesis. We're going to take a short break. Stay with us. Dinosaurs are fascinating creatures. Seeing their fossils inspires a sense of awe and wonder that sparks the imagination.
We're learning more about them all the time, but many questions still remain: Are dinosaurs really millions of years old? Did they live at the same time as humans? How do they fit with the Bible? And why are they extinct today? The Institute for Creation Research addresses these questions and more in their full color and easy-to-read book, Guide to Dinosaurs.
Guide to Dinosaurs delves into the history of dinosaurs, fossil discoveries, dinosaur kinds, and what the Bible has to say about these mysterious creatures. It serves as a helpful resource for parents and kids alike. Order your copy of Guide to Dinosaurs from the Institute for Creation Research by calling 800-628-7640 or Visiting icr.org. That's 800-628-7640. Or visiting icr.org.
Welcome back to Science, Scripture, and Salvation, a radio ministry of the Institute for Creation Research. Here's Brian Thomas. So we are looking at the biblical basis for recent creation. We've said that Peter believed in recent creation. What about Luke?
I find it interesting that Luke records Zacharias' speech in chapter 1. And Zacharias, John the Baptist's daddy. When his tongue was loosed, And now he's able to speak after having been divinely made mute. He says, Blessed be the God of our fathers. And he's talking about our fathers, these prophets.
The ones who came before us. Basically he's saying these are amazing days that we're living in. And it In Luke 170, he mentions this within his prayer. Zacharias says, As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets, Who have been Since the world began.
Now that's really, really different. Because if prophets have been around since the world began, that means there is no time, there's no space on a timeline to have billions of years of dinosaur eras or big bang epochs or anything like that. It's from the beginning, since the world began, boom, right then at the beginning, we had prophets. And he spoke by the mouth of those prophets. who have been since the world began, not billions of years after some kind of Big Bang beginning.
So here Zacharias, faithfully recorded by Luke, also expresses a biblical basis for recent creation. Then in Luke 3:36, so this is the same New Testament author, Luke, he says, The son of Noah, The son of Lamech, the son of Methuselah, what's he doing? He's giving the genealogy of the Lord Jesus, and he goes all the way back. Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Canaan, the son of Enosh, the son of Seth. The son of Adam Who was the Son of God?
Now listen, if we're going to say that we came from apes over millions of years, then we have to take this scripture and cut it out of our Bibles. But what authority do we have to do that? God was there, Adam was there, they wrote the things that they saw, they described the things that they witnessed. Modern scientists were not there. Who are we to take modern scientists' speculations about the past?
Scientists that, I might add, are scoffers and they have a bias against God's Word from the very outset. Let's not take their words above the words of the one who was there, the one who started it all, the Lord Jesus Christ. What about Paul? Does Paul have anything to say about recent creation? We run over this verse quite often.
Romans chapter one, verse twenty. It says For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made So we often emphasize the creation aspect of this verse. Saying that everybody knows it's clearly seen, God's invisible qualities are clearly seen through that which is made. But this also says that His attributes have been clearly seen. For how long?
Since the creation of the world. How can you have people understanding God Through that which he has made, From the beginning of the world, if you don't have people there at the very beginning of the world. Again, there's no room for millions of years. of epochs and eras and periods and none of that. All the epochs and eras and periods that we read about in geologic contexts, these are concepts that have been attached and pinned onto rock layers, but all these rock layers were just deposited in Noah's flood thousands of years ago.
So the flood really explains the rock layers. You don't need epochs and periods and all this stuff. We have the words of the ones who were there.
So Paul, and even Jesus himself, the Lord Jesus, he was a recent creation advocate. At least he just took Genesis straightforwardly. He says, Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes. And he talks about them. From the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zachariah, and this is Matthew 23.
Jesus is talking about Abel.
Well, where do we get the concept of Abel? Genesis 4. And what about Mark 10, 6? Jesus said, From the beginning of creation, not billions of years after some big bang beginning, but from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. Wow, he quotes Genesis one and Right there.
as though it's history. He says, For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife. Then he quotes Genesis chapter two and the two will become one flesh.
So we have Genesis 1. Two, Genesis four, he's referencing these, he's quoting these as though they're history. Listen, if you're a New Testament Christian... It's time to become a full Bible Christian. Because all these New Testament contributors were full Bible people, and we find our basis, our confidence.
Our history is The basis for which we have our hope. We have all of that in the New Testament and the Old Testament. The New Testament authors substantiate and undergird and believed the Old Testament. We should too. Thank you for joining us on Science, Scripture, and Salvation, a radio ministry of the Institute for Creation Research.
That's all the time we have for our program today, but we would love to connect with you through our website at icr.org. For over 45 years, ICR has equipped believers with evidence of the Bible's accuracy and authority by showing how science supports the Genesis creation account. Our scientists research the evidence for creation and communicate their findings through books, articles, DVD series, and conferences. Please visit our website at icr.org for more information about the latest scientific discoveries, to subscribe to our free magazine and devotional, and to locate our next creation conference at a venue near you. All of this and more at icr.org.
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