The first eleven chapters of the book of Genesis are
exceptional in the Bible for they tell the story of the world before the dawn
of recorded history. In that context, they describe an Amighty God, capable of
creating the universe out of nothing. Instituting all life forms and making
mankind in His image, these chapters draw a parallel between Elohim Yahweh and
the rest of the gods spawned in the imagination of fallen man, including our
modern ÒscientificÓ natural Great Singularity, or the Big Bang.
Since these chapters are not history, they are written in
an unique allegorical form. While they are truthful, they are stated in such a
way to be easily understood by any person who would read them. In that light,
there can be induced into the exegesis the possibility of error by taking the
passages too literally. Hence some
might hold that the day God describes as a literal present 24 hours. Others
might understand that God could create the daily occurrences in 24 seconds or
less, but in the creation week God is establishing the principle of the
Sabbath. In six days God created the heavens and the earth, on the seventh day
He rested.
There is no room however, within this allegory, for
wishful thinking or similar imaginations to allow for a gap theory or other
day-age nonsense. These seek to harmonize the Bible with modern atheistic
naturalism. However, on the other hand to force the whole of universal creation
into six thousand years, also tries to interpret scripture in a means that the
Biblical text does not support without outside paradigms, or preconceptions.
The first eleven chapters of Genesis, supports only what
most would call a young earth creation scenario. Period! In that context, the
Almighty, as described through out the pages of scripture, is capable of
performing these acts, at His leisure and is not hindered by the understanding
of fallen mankind.
That fall, described in Genesis chapter, 3 is also
critical in that it sets the back drop for the covenant of Grace offered years
subsequent in Jesus of Nazareth. This Messiah, would become the propitiatory
blood sacrifice, illustrated in the killing of the animals in this chapter,
their skins becoming a covering for their nakedness.
In the era of our modern, or post modern enlightenment,
many would seek to carry GodÕs allegory even farther, and insist that this part
of Genesis is nothing other than an restatement of ancient myths. However, to
do such, not only is a prescription for personal peril, but also an accommodation
to naturalism, or the recreation of the biblical God into someone who does our
bidding, or that we can understand. Just what Genesis three describes.
So this early portion of Genesis leaves us with a Godly
synthesized young creation, with an unique seed of mankind, not an evolutionary
process of animal adaptation. Within that context, sin and GodÕs restitution of
His holiness, through the foreshadowing of the justification offered in Jesus
Christ alone, is necessary to give us the unique and exclusionary paradigm of
historic Christianity.
As time marches on, we also move beyond the metaphysics
and philosophy of the creation account into the description of Noah and the
flood. Here the flood and the descriptive, or true science, it presents can be
seen by anyone who ventures into the natural world.
Here the reason for this universal flood is also stated
in allegorical terms, but certain principles emerge from the text that cannot
be discarded. And contrary to our modern deity of the Geologic Column, only
creation science offers answers to most of the complex geological questions of
our present natural world. Bands
of sedimentary rock high in the Himalaya, including Mount Everest, and other
mountain ranges can only be understood in terms of a catastrophe well beyond
the comprehension, or fabrication of human intellect.
Now when you add an ice age, subsequent to the flood
description, the whole time line gets quite complicated, unless you realize we
are now tallying events along a similar time line, thousands of years. That is
true whether you are a creation scientist or an naturalistic evolutionist.
Sadly, much of the efforts of many creation scientists
goes into debates over the epistemology of Genesis One, with no time left for
study of these apparent geological images, that are easily and best described
in terms of the Genesis Flood - Ice Age scenario.
For example, in Northeastern Washington, a few miles
south of the Canadian border, I can take you to a pure quartz outcrop, over
looking the Kettle River Valley.
There in the smooth quartz, one of the hardest minerals, you can see
deep striations, running in a north to south direction, some quite deep and
looking very recent. One can only assume that an ice sheet smoothed the
original contours and other hard rocks were responsible for cutting the
striations.
A little further south, in the area of Sherman pass in
the Kettle River range,you can readily see the limit of the glaciation at this
altitude. Those mountains south of the pass have sharp summits, with large
boulder fields on their slopes, those to the north have broad and rounded
summits, with vast areas of exposed rock.
As in our recent journey to Montana, I mentioned I was
infected with ÒSwept Away Syndrome.Ó Farther to the south we see the Channel
Scablands, Grand Coulee country, as well as many large lake bottoms, alluvial
deposits and the Palouse Hills. All formed in recent times by the action of
water, wind, and ice. All are best understood in terms of the universal Genesis
flood and following natural events.
For those who would like further information on the
subject of the flood the following books from the Institute for Creation
Research I can recommend. First the classic: Morris, Henry M./Whitcomb, John C.
Jr. ÒThe Genesis Flood - The Biblical record and its Scientific Implications;Ó
and then: Morris, John D. ÒTHE YOUNG EARTH.Ó But as I mentioned, much of this
and related materials is Grand Canyon, California type of stuff and really deals with the Genesis flood itself
and only in a limited way the geology of the land of we more northern natives.
Seeds for Prayer
My trip to Eastern Washington worked out much better than
I could ever anticipated. Thank you for your prayers. My big worry was my motherÕs stuff which was packed into my
step fatherÕs basement. When we arrived what I anticipated was at least a 3 day
job, now might be accomplished in 3 hours. They had organized everything and
separated it into appropriate piles. The estate lawyer also recommended a
estate sale specialist who will auction most of the stuff from his facility in
the Spokane valley. There are quite a number of antiques that could be
available if anyone is interested in purchasing them before the auction. Also a
lot of solid wood furniture of more recent, but collectible nature. I will also
be exchanging some of my oak dining room fixtures from over here, to be more in
line with my taste. The movement of most of her things is scheduled for July
20th. Please keep the move and the auction on your prayer list.
There is a lake cabin in her estate, that is not saleable
and hardly usable in current conditions, market and maintenance. Just how to
either fix it up to rent seasonably, or permanently sell is now being worked
through. Please intercede for wisdom and the right people to achieve GodÕs
desired outcome.
Finally, while I have been sleeping well, I have been
physically working long hours and not sleeping long enough. Last night I forced
myself to go to bed quite early and not rise until late, which helped considerably.
I however would feel much better with a more sustainable work schedule and a
reasonable nightÕs sleep. Please intercede for this required rest, and the
easing of current and recent past stress.