General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 59th Session

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General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Kwabena Donkor

Yes, Creation!

Evolutionary thought, Spiritualism and the End of Time

Lee Spencer

How Many Dinosaurs Were On the Ark?

Ariel Roth

Some scientific data that favors a recent creation

Stan Hudson

The Biblical creation is central to the local church

Greg King

Is Biblical Creation Passé?

Nikolaus Satelmajer

Rollin Shoemaker

Sabbath and Creation

Paleontology and the Bible: Science in action

John Baldwin

Why Does a Good Creator Permit Evil?

JoAnn Davidson

...and it WAS good

Jim Gibson

Lions in the Garden of Eden

Richard Davidson

Does Genesis Really Teach a Recent, Literal, Seven-Day Creation Week and a Global Flood?

Tim Standish

DNA and Design

Jacques Doukhan

Creation, the Heart of SDA Theology

How to share creation in outreach on secular campuses

Do millions of years solve the problem?

Ed Zinke

Theistic evolution and the end of Adventism

Ronny Nalin

Dealing with uncertainty

Ted N.C. Wilson

God’s Literal, Six-day, Recent Creation--The Church’s Position

Creation and Evolution: A brief history

Clifford Goldstein

Seventh-day Darwinians


A little story that comes to mind. It was over 40 years ago that the 3 Apollo 8 astronauts, Frank Borman, William Anders, and James Lovell, were hurtling through space some 240, 000 miles from our planet. They orbited the moon about 10 times. On 1 of those orbits they were only 69 miles above the desolate gray surface that at that time no human had ever walked upon. And it was on 1 of those orbits that they took that famous picture that some of you might recognize, it was later taken and made into a stamp by the U.S.

Postal Service, the famous photo of a very bright Earth hanging above the surface of the moon. Well, it was on Christmas Eve that it came time for Borman's statement. You see, 6 weeks prior to the launch of Apollo 8, a NASA official had called Frank Borman and had told him, we figure that more people will be listening to your voice than the voice of any single person down through history at any 1 time, and we wish you would have a message to say that would be appropriate for the entire planet. Well, try that challenge on for size. Borman pondered his assignment.

What message could be appropriate for an entire planet? What message could he bring that would embrace Christian and Jew and Muslim, Protestant, and Catholic, and African, and Asian, and South American, and North American, what message could speak to us all? And I think the message that he chose to bring to planet Earth on that Christmas Eve 1968, in my view, was the most relevant message he could share. Because he began with these words, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And for the next few moments, Borman and his fellow astronauts alternated reading, reading the first 10 verses of Genesis chapter 1.

Borman later wrote in his memoirs, he said, while out in space, I had an enormous feeling that there had to be a power greater than any of us. Borman was a Christian and he wanted to communicate something of that reality to his listeners back on planet earth. Well sadly even though the creation message was highly valued by Borman and his astronaut colleagues, in some circles it has fallen on hard times nowadays. There are a lot of people living on this planet as they think about origins and even a number of Christians who think that the biblical creation story tells us little or nothing about how life began on this planet as to where we came from and why we are here. But I'm thankful for the opportunity to participate in these Yes Creation seminars because I'm grateful to belong to a church that values the message of biblical creation.

I believe that the book of Genesis is the best source we have for where we came from and why we are here. In other words, it speaks to issues of origins, it speaks to our reason for existence. And so I would say that the message of the biblical creation story is not passé, a word of French derivation that means outdated, antique, unfashionable. But I believe that the biblical creation story speaks eloquently to our day and age. Just a review of a couple of biblical verses before I go through my reasons why.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands, how long? It stands forever. And then a verse from the New Testament. What does Jesus say in John 17? Your word is truth.

Okay, I'd like to run through quickly 10 reasons why it really does matter what we believe about creation. You know 10 is a good biblical number isn't it? A number of completion and fulfillment and a round number it works well in the decimal system. Let's go through 10 reasons. Reason number 1 because the Bible sets forth a position on creation.

Now many Christians are aware that the book of Genesis speaks to creation but I did not realize until I started studying this topic throughout scripture how pervasive the creation message is in all of the Bible. Let's mention a couple of verses. Exodus 20 verse 11 in the 10 Commandments. For in 6 days the Lord made the heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and He rested on the Sabbath day. Psalm 33 verses 6 and 9, what do we read there?

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made and by the breath of His mouth all their hosts. For He spoke, what does the Bible say? And it came to be, He commanded and it stood firm. I like this quote from the Great Controversy, page 595. God will have a people upon the earth to maintain the Bible and What does it say?

The Bible only is the standard of all doctrines and the basis of all reforms. I want to be a part of that people. How about you? Reason number 2. Not only is it true that the Bible takes a position on creation, but Jesus took a position on creation.

Now somebody might say, well where do you find that? Well let's look at a couple of verses. Matthew chapter 19 verse 4 says, Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female. What is that a reference to there my friends? That's a reference to the biblical creation story and there's only 1 creation story and you can look at a number of, There's a multitude of origin stories that are available from the ancient world.

There's only 1 creation story that tells us that male and female, humanity, were made at the very beginning. Not after a long period of millions of years of a developmental creation, but the 1 who created them from the beginning made them male and female. And then Mark chapter 2 verse 28, an important verse for us, It says, the Sabbath was what? Made for man, not man for the Sabbath. As many biblical scholars have recognized, that is an allusion to the creation story, to the creation narrative.

The Sabbath was made for man. Again, those are the words of Jesus. Whenever Jesus references not only the creation story, but the first 11 chapters of Genesis, Jesus refers to these narratives in a way as that he considers them historical and reliable. Now somebody might say, well wasn't Jesus just buying into the primitive mindset of his day? I mean Jesus lived in a pre-scientific age.

Maybe that was his mindset. I find it interesting and perhaps particularly well illustrated in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus does not hesitate to take a detour from the prevailing worldview, does he? When people held views that were wrong, Jesus wanted to move them in the right direction. You have heard that it was said, Jesus would declare, but I say something else.

So Jesus certainly had ample opportunity. If people had been wrong in their understanding of earth's origins, Jesus could have corrected that. Reason number 3, because the Bible's teaching on creation is closely related to its teaching on the plan of salvation. Now what do we mean by that? Well, Rachel in her presentation nicely alluded to the whole creation being subject to frustration, longing for the redemption that is going to come.

I think that is nicely crystallized in Romans chapter 5 verse 12. Therefore, just as sin came into the world through 1 man, and what came through sin? Death came through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. This is a very important point in scripture, the origin of death. And according to Paul's understanding of the plan of redemption, the origins of death is laid at the doorstep of the entrance of sin into the world.

The issue is this my friends, God did not create a world that was replete with suffering and predatory activity and death. God created a world that was good and perfect and beautiful and the death has come about as a result of the actions of the enemy and human free choice. That leads us nicely into reason number 4 because the Bible's description of creation parallels its description of heaven. In other words, the new earth constitutes a what? A restoration.

How can you restore something to a state that never existed in the first place? Revelation 22 verse 1, Then the angel showed me on either side of the river the tree of life. Now where do we first meet the tree of life in scripture? Where do we first meet that? In the Garden of Eden, in the book of Genesis.

The tree of life with its 12 kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. Revelation 21 verses 3 and 4. God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more." Don't you look forward to that day? And what you see is that the Bible comes full circle.

Just as the volume Patriarchs and Prophets begins with that 1 little 3 word sentence. God is what? Love. And then you come to the end of the book Great Controversy, having covered the whole conflict of the ages series, you come to that 3 word sentence once again. What do we read?

God is love. Even so, the Bible is coming full circle. You have a paradise at the beginning, you have paradise lost, and then at the end of Revelation you have paradise regained. What a beautiful picture you have there. Reason number 5, I think a very significant reason is because of the implications it has for the character of God.

What do we mean by that? Well at the heart of the biblical message is the emphasis that God is love. 1 John chapter 4 verse 8. God is love. It is the main theme of the message of Scripture.

Genesis 1.31 reads, And God saw everything that he had made, and it was very good. Now, If you don't have a creation in the beginning that was very good, if you never have a time that things were perfect and lovely without sin, without death, without tragedy, that besmirches the character of God. How can you say that God is love if the method He uses to create is the law of claw and fang as some have said. I was talking with a fellow pastor 1 time and I think perhaps just for purpose of argument and discussion, he was suggesting the viewpoint that a perfect world would exist in the end, that God would restore a perfect world of some kind, but that it had never existed in the beginning. And so we were dialoguing a bit about this.

And I said, well, based on the Genesis account, when it says God saw all that he had made and it was very good and based on the idea that Revelation paints the picture of the new earth as a restoration. Where was that perfect earth in the beginning? If you only operate with the record of death that you see in the fossil record, Where was that perfect world? And he said, well, to be consistent with my position, I would have to say that it only existed as an ideal in the mind of God, but never existed in reality. Well, my Friends, that would beg the question, if the perfect world at the beginning only existed as an ideal in the mind of God, is it possible that the earth restored would only exist as an ideal in the mind of God?

I believe as Scripture says, we have not followed cunningly devised fables, but we have a sure and certain hope. Reason number 6, because of the implications it has for the attributes and the sovereignty of God. What do we mean by that? Psalm 19 states it nicely and that verse was used on the brochure for advertising the Yes Creation presentations. The heavens declare the what?

Glory of God and the sky above proclaims His handiwork. I believe that if you look at the biblical creation story, and it's a wonderful story, if 1 is able to read it in the original language, there's a majesty and a cadence that is found there. It's interesting, in English it takes 4 words to say, let there be light. In the Hebrew it only takes 2 words. Some might translate it light be.

Eugene Peterson in his fine paraphrase simply says, light, 1 word. But the point he's emphasizing is that God is a God of omnipotence and sovereignty and power reigning over the universe and 1 of the main distinctive features of the biblical message. In contrast with the other origin stories from the ancient Near East is that God is not part of the natural world. He's not identified with the forces of nature, but God is sovereign over the natural world because he created it all. Aren't you glad you serve a magnificent and powerful and awesome God?

Number 7, because of the implications it has for the value and the worth of humans. I think this is 1 of the most important contributions of the biblical creation story. The theological contribution of Genesis 1, 26 and 27. Then 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 birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth. So God created man in His own image.

In the image of God He created him, male and female He created them. There is no more profound statement in all of scripture about the dignity and worth and value of humans than the 1 that you find in Genesis chapter 1. God created humans in his image. What is the alternative position? I like this quote from Stephen Jay Gould, who until his death was 1 of the most, 1 of the foremost evolutionists in the United States, taught at Harvard as a paleontologist.

Why do humans exist? He says, I do not think that any higher, and notice he has that in quotes, I do not think that any higher answer can be given. We are the offspring of what? History. And must establish our own paths in this most diverse and interesting of conceivable universes.

1, notice carefully the words, indifferent to our suffering and therefore offering us maximal freedom to thrive or to fail in our own chosen way." Notice it is an interesting title to his book that is being quoted there, Wonderful Life. Somebody might ask, if the universe is indifferent to our suffering, if we are the offspring of history, somebody might legitimately ask, why is life so wonderful anyway? Another quote, and There's something that is very striking about the clarity of these quotes. George Gaylord Simpson, man is the result of a purposeless and natural process that did not have him in mind. What does the last sentence say?

He was not planned. Reason number 8, because of the implications it has for our understanding of the Sabbath. What does the Bible say? And on the seventh day God finished the work that He had done, And he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation." Isn't it a beautiful experience when every seventh day the Sabbath comes around to be linking arms with those who have worshipped God on His Sabbath day going back to the creation week to the origins of this earth when God blessed the seventh day and made it holy.

Reason number 9, because of the implications it has for the nature and the sanctity of marriage. Where did marriage come from? Is it a divinely ordained covenant or Is it simply something that exists to assist with the propagation of the species? Is it a piece of paper that we get from our human government or is it a divinely ordained institution? The Bible says, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become 1 flesh." I think there are some significant implications for the validity of marriage and the permanence of marriage if we adopt another perspective.

Reason number 10, because of the implications it has for our evangelistic proclamation. Now some have said that if we would only modernize our views, that we would come more into the modern age, that our message would be more attractive to thinking people. Is there evidence that we might mention along those lines? Well, first let's look at what Jesus says. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

That would be the Word of God right? Now Some have said that if the SDA Church would be intellectually honest and accept some form of evolution, more people would join our church. We do have examples of what has happened when churches abandon beliefs of Orthodox Christianity. When churches move away from the inspiration of the Bible, from the virgin birth, from the reality of the second coming. I took my doctoral program at a Presbyterian school And my good Presbyterian friends are constantly embroiled in a number of discussions about whether Jesus was truly divine and whether he is the Son of God and how we might understand this, was he truly raised from the dead.

When we abandon our belief in what Scripture says, it does not help us out in our evangelistic proclamation. But I would say, my friends, even if it did, our main concern should be to proclaim God's Word and His truth. In other words, even if it were more popular, I should be intent on being faithful to the Word of God because His Word is truth. Just in conclusion, I believe we have in the Seventh-day Adventist Church a concept that we call present truth. What is present truth?

It is a truth that is in danger of being disregarded, a truth that is maybe being overlooked, a truth that is being slighted. I believe because it is so foundational to Scripture. I believe that all of Christian belief in some way grows out of the creation story. I believe that biblical creation is present truth. Thank you.

Series

Yes, Creation!

Is Biblical Creation Passé?

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Other Teachings in Series

Evolutionary thought, Spiritualism and the End of Time

19m

How Many Dinosaurs Were On the Ark?

17m

Some scientific data that favors a recent creation

20m

The Biblical creation is central to the local church

17m

Is Biblical Creation Passé?

21m

Sabbath and Creation

19m

Paleontology and the Bible: Science in action

19m

Why Does a Good Creator Permit Evil?

18m

...and it WAS good

19m

Lions in the Garden of Eden

17m

Does Genesis Really Teach a Recent, Literal, Seven-Day Creation Week and a Global Flood?

21m

DNA and Design

21m

Creation, the Heart of SDA Theology

23m

How to share creation in outreach on secular campuses

20m

Do millions of years solve the problem?

16m

Theistic evolution and the end of Adventism

22m

Dealing with uncertainty

11m

God’s Literal, Six-day, Recent Creation--The Church’s Position

28m

Creation and Evolution: A brief history

30m

Seventh-day Darwinians

13m

Sound Doctrine