Jesus believed that Adam and Eve were real historical people.
Joel Kontinen
Genesis is the key to understanding the Bible. Chapters 1-11 tell us about:
· The origin of the universe
· The origin of man
· The nature of man
· The origin of sin, suffering and death
· God’ goodness and faithfulness
· The horror of sin ( the Fall, the Flood, the confusion of languages at Babel)
· The biblical model of marriage (one man, one woman)
In addition:
· Genesis is the key to understanding the gospel and atonement.
. Genesis is history.
· A consistent Christian worldview requires us to accept Genesis as a historical account of beginnings.
· We cannot defend Christianity or even proclaim the gospel logically, if we do not accept the historicity of Genesis.
Theologians have developed many explanations (for instance, the gap theory, the day-age theory, theistic evolution) in order to make the creation days in Genesis compatible with the assumed millions of years of geology.
The theories have huge problems:
· Has God really said?
· Who is our ultimate authority?
· Radiometric dating methods are based on assumptions. It is impossible to test whether the assumptions are reliable.
· Carbon-14 in diamonds, dinosaur soft tissue, comets
· In the Old Testament, day + number always means a literal day.
” 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.” (Exodus 20:11).
God does not say one thing in the Bible and mean something else. He did not need billions of years for creating the universe. In the New Testament Jesus turned water into wine in a second and raised Lazarus from the dead in an instant. He is almighty.
Jesus regarded Genesis as history:
· ” Haven’t you read?”
· ” At the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female’.” (Mark 10:6)
· “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead." (Luke 16:31)
· "I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?" (John 3:12).
· ” What may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” (Romans 1:19-20)
(Scripture passages from the NIV.)
Accepting evolution would distort the Bible and give a false testimony of God.
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