ScriptureStream

Why is it necessary to study evidence for the Bible?

Do you really believe the Bible?

A survey of 10,000 ministers in various denominations in the US in 1987 showed that most did not!

How can we prove the Bible is literally the word of God?

Internal evidence

Acts 18:28

Prophecies of the Messiah

At least 16 were fulfilled in a 24-hour period, many by Jesus’ enemies.

Zechariah 9:9; 11:12-13; 13:7; Isaiah 53:7; Psalms 22:16, …

External evidence

Psalm 8:8 – “paths of the seas” (written ca. 1000 B.C.)

Isaiah 40:22 – “circle of the earth” (written ca. 700 B.C.)

1492 A.D. – Christopher Columbus

1520 A.D. – Man discovers the world is round. Ferdinand Magellan’s crew circumnavigates the globe.

Leviticus 17:11 – “life of the flesh is in the blood” (“life” used in the sense of “breath”) (written ca. 1450 B.C.)

19th century – Still practicing blood letting.

George Washington killed by blood letting.

Job 38:1-6, 12-14 – “changed like clay under the seal”, i.e., the earth rotates like clay under a seal (written ca. 2000 B.C.)

Jeremiah 33:22 – “the host of heaven cannot be numbered”

Hebrews 11:12

150 B.C. – Hipparchus: < 3000 stars

150 A.D. – Ptolemy: 1020 stars listed

1608 A.D. – Galileo: Stars uncountable

Current estimates: More than 2 trillion galaxies, more than 7x1022 total stars

Genesis 17:11-12 – circumcision on the 8th day (written ca. 1450 B.C.)

There is a cascade of reactions involved in the clotting of blood, which results in production of fibrin.

Fibrin clot acts like a stringy fishnet to hold red blood cells together.

Vitamin K is required by the liver for the formation of prothrombin and Facts XII, IX, and X. Vitamin K is generated by bacteria in the body.

Prothrombin peaks at 110% of normal on day 8, making it the best day for surgery.

Faith is a must! Hebrews 11:6

There are those who claim to believe in the God of the Bible, but actually do not.

Who is the God of creation?

Genesis 1:26-27

Immutable, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, sinless

Father (John 3:16), Son (Hebrews 1:8), and Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3-4)

One God, three separate individuals.

Paganism/polytheism is belief in multiple deities. God is one!

Exodus 5:1-2 – Pharaoh asked this question.

Exodus 3:13-14; 6:2-3 – Jehovah is the personal name for God, for the Godhead. The name means, “I am” or “the existing one.”

Matthew 3:3 – Jesus is Jehovah! (quoting Isaiah 40:3)

Jehovah is one God. Three persons with the same attributes.

Immutable

Omniscient

Psalms 139:1-6; Matthew 12:25

I Kings 8:39 – Only God knows the hearts of men.

Matthew 12:25; Luke 6:8-11 – Jesus had this ability.

Omnipotent

Genesis 17:1; 1:26-27

John 1:1-3, 14

Colossians 1:16-17

John 10:17-18

John 2:19

Jesus retained his power and raised Himself from the dead.

Omnipresent

Psalms 139:7-12; Colossians 2:9; John 1:48-50 – The all-seeing eye of God!

John 3:13

Sinlessly perfect

Hebrews 6:18

Hebrews 4:15 – Jesus was tempted but was sinlessly perfect.

Jesus never wanted to commit sin. We should learn from His example.

Hebrews 10:31; Isaiah 45:9; II Thessalonians 1:7-9

The gospel – the good news.

Obeying the gospel: II Thessalonians 1:3-9

Romans 14:11

Since the 1800s, the social gospel has become more prevalent as people stop searching for truth.

Darwin started as a theology student but ended up as an atheist.

If there is no God, there is no basis for morality. I Corinthians 15:19, 32

The consequences of atheism and evolution

Hebrews 11:6 – We must have faith!

Hebrews 11:1

Some do not engage more in personal evangelism because of a lack of faith.

Biblical faith: something you know, not because you’ve seen it, but because you’ve examined the evidence.

Romans 10:17

Faith is the strong conviction that causes you to stop doing what you want to do and start doing what God wants you to do.

I Peter 3:15

Jude 1:3

Acts 18:28; Philippians 1:16

Does God exist?

Does something exist?

Has something always existed or has something come from nothing?

Is this always existent something material (physical) or non-material (spiritual)?

The two basic laws of all science:

1st Law of Thermodynamics: Energy can be converted from one form to another but cannot be created or destroyed.

2nd Law of Thermodynamics: The total amount of entropy is always increasing. Isaiah 51:6

Material things run down, thus they cannot exist forever. Thus the always existent something is spiritual – God!

Yes, God does exist!

Atheists do not approve of their concept of God; therefore, they do not think He exists.

Atheists say pain proves there is no God.

The opposite is true.

What kind of world would it be without the protective mechanism of pain receptors?

There are additional reasons for pain.

Free will allows us to suffer from personal wrong choices.

Free will allows us to suffer from the wrong choices of others.

There are other ways to prove the existence of God.

Law of teleology – where there is design, there is a designer.

Psalms 19:1; 139:14

The cell membrane shows intelligent design!

Romans 1:20

Why not theistic evolution?

Because evolution is scientifically wrong!

The Bible indicates that man and dinosaurs lived side by side.

An iron hammer was found embedded in rock containing fossils.

A trilobite fossil was found inside a human footprint

The “horse series” of evolution

What about evolution’s “Biogenetic Law?”

“Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny.” – Coined by Ernst Haeckel

The idea that embryo development goes through adult forms of ancestors as they develop.

Haeckel redesigned the middle stages to support his idea. It was a fraud discovered in 1921.

The fraud continues to be taught because it gives comfort to those who approve of abortion.

Because evolution is Biblically wrong

The Bible’s order of creation totally contradicts theistic evolution.

There are no bad mutations or trillions of dead ends in Genesis. God said His creation was good!

The Bible does not allow for vast periods of time, only six literal days.

Genesis 1:5 defines one, 24-hour day!

Exodus 20:8-11

The impact of evolution on society

“Survival of the fittest” = “Might makes right”

“If it feels good, do it.” – Darwin, paraphrased

How has indoctrination with evolution affected our society?

It has not helped us spiritually!

It has not helped us academically.

It has not helped crime or suicide rates.

John 8:32

Museums of natural history all over the world proclaim Darwin’s theory of evolution.

Genesis 1:1-2:3 – Is this fact or fiction?

Evolution – fact or fiction?

What is evolution?

The general theory of organic evolution.

It is a theory – not a fact.

All living things have arisen from a single source (molecules to man, “Atom to Adam”)

This should not be confused with the “special theory” of evolution. This is breeding genetically compatible living things together. This kind of evolution is a fact!

Evolutionists’ “bait and switch”

Variation in a kind vs. change from one kind to another.

Peppered moth – “Darwin’s missing link”

Proof of evolution?

Falls far short of a mechanism for evolution.

This is just a change of demographics.

Also, the moths fly at night and do not rest on tree trunks!

Later experiments showed that moth colors did not change to match the tree trunk colors as expected.

Evolution is not a scientific theory

Evolution is unproven and not subject to the experimental method.

Evolution is a philosophy which relies on time for its miracles. That makes it a religion!

The only proof for evolution is not wanting to believe in creation.

Evolution is a religion that:

Is atheism

Contradicts the 2nd law of thermodynamics

Contradicts the law of biogenesis

Preaches the false concept of spontaneous generation

Evangelizes by “academic peer pressure”

Science against evolution

Is evolution even mathematically possible?

What are the odds that unthinking molecules could eventually become a thinking human being?

The “simple cell” contains 1012 bits of information, equivalent to a hundred million printed pages.

Evolutionary trees did not “evolve” from fossil data.

There are no transitional fossils at all!

The actual content of the geologic column

The process of fossilization itself indicates a massive catastrophe, not slow deposition.

The abundance of polystrate fossils causes problems for the slow deposition theory.

What is the age of the fossil strata?

What is the method of formation?

What about dinosaurs?

Bombardier beetle

John 8:32; Romans 1:16

Faith is under attack!

Exodus 20:8-11 summarizes Genesis 1-2.

Evolutionary view of history

Evolutions believe “time,” not God, “performs miracles!”

Time does not minimize the problems of evolution!

Two reasons the earth is 6,000-10,000 years old:

Genesis 1-11 indicates this.

Science indicates a young earth and a global flood.

False theories

Gap theory

Progressive creation theory

Day age theory

Framework hypothesis theory

Scientists try to date the earth by two main methods:

The relative dating method:

How old is the fossil embedded in the rock? Find out by determining how old the rock is.

How old is the rock? Find out by determining how old the fossil is that is embedded in it.

Circular reasoning!

The absolute dating method

Radioactive decay measurements

Only used for igneous rocks – NOT sedimentary rock.

The issue is not the rate of decay. It is about the assumptions used in the calculation:

Constant rate of decay

Always a closed system

Knowledge of initial conditions

Presence of daughter elements at the beginning makes rocks date old at the start!

Radiometric dating has proven to be hugely unreliable on rocks for which we know the age. How can we trust it for rocks of unknown age?

Other indications of a young earth:

Population growth rate for humans has been about 2% per year through recorded history, even with wars and natural disasters. From a single couple, you’d reach 7 billion people in 1,100 years. There is no way humans can be millions of years old with anywhere near that sort of growth rate!

Earth’s magnetic field

The field has been steadily decaying since we started measuring it in 1829.

If the earth was ancient, the magnetic field would have started out like a neutron star!

Ocean sediment accumulation rate shows a young earth. If the earth was ancient, the sediment would be over 100,000 feet thick. Instead, it is roughly 1200 feet thick.

Salt content of the ocean indicates a young earth. Starting from fresh water, the water would attain its current salinity in roughly 60,000 years just by natural processes.

The shape of galaxies

Some misquote II Peter 3:8, saying that for God, one day is a thousand years.

The verse doesn’t say that. It says “But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.”

The context is speaking of how time doesn’t matter to God in terms of fulfilling His promises.

Old earth theories:

Try to redefine a day

Try to redefine God

Contradict Jesus in Mark 10:6 by making man a recent newcomer to the planet

Make Jesus and Paul out to be liars

What difference does it make?

Acts 2:47; I Peter 2:5; Ephesians 2:21

But by what procedure does one become a member of a local church?

What is the purpose of local church membership?

Who is really in the local fellowship?

One that joined and is actively serving God with the local church.

Those who cease to function in their service to God are not really in local fellowship. I Corinthians 5.

Is a local church to control its fellowship?

Yes! I Corinthians 5

Acts 9:26 – The saints tried to keep Paul out when they thought he was a threat.

What is to be the action of a member toward one who has been refused fellowship?

II Corinthians 6:14-17

II Thessalonians 3:14-15

I Corinthians 5:11

When one insists on having company with one who has been withdrawn from, what is to be the action of the local church?

That member must be disciplined as well and withdrawn from if necessary.

Numbers 16 – Israelites who sympathized with the rebellion of Korah were killed.

What about students? They are members where they are working and worshiping at the time.

John 2:13-17

2020 Theme: Jesus, lesson 2

Jesus brought a spiritual kingdom

Isaiah 9:7

Amos 9:11

John 6:13-15, 35, 45-51; 8:31-33; 18:36-37

Luke 17:20-21

Matthew 16:19 à Acts 2

To advance in this kingdom, develop your heart

Quit focusing on physical things.

Fight spiritual battles

Jesus would leave, and people would need to get to work!

Daniel 2:44

Isaiah 9:7

II Kings 25:5-7 – The physical kingdom was destroyed. The Jews expected a Messiah that would keep this from ever happening again.

Mark 8:27-33; 9:31-32; 10:32-34 – The Messiah would be killed?!

Matthew 4:18-22; 9:9; 10:1-8 – Jesus was recruiting apostles and preparing to leave!

Luke 10:1, 16

John 14:26; 16:13

We have to take on the responsibility before us.

Jesus defanged Satan, but sin is still our choice.

Hebrews 2:14

I Peter 5:8

James 4:7

Matthew 4:1-11

Jesus taught us how to resist Satan.