Concordia, Kansas
The
Right to Defend Truth
The post read something like this:
Should we be suprised? Not at all,
because God created ALL animals during the week of creation. He also made man. We lived together with ALL of God's creation. Job 40
speaks of the behemoth, a large sauropod dinosaur. There are references to the
leviathan- a sea dragon which was perhaps an aquatic dinosaur. The evidence is
there if you come seeking answers with an open heart.
Seeking answers? With an open
heart? Really? The pic attached went on to try and show some kind of ‘proof’
that man and dinosaurs were created on the SAME DAY! Say what? Man is millions of years old? That is truly news to me,
and I find it a quite hard truth to swallow. I was not and am not seeking
answers, but this was posted on MY WALL. Thanks for sharing what YOU believe in
but it is not the same thing ‘I’ believe in!
I went on to say that is
fascinating to find out that MAN is millions of years old, where they went on
to say, “Millions is a gross error.” Oh
dear, the very scientific proof you posted is NOT a gross error? Hmm… it’s the
internet. A pic was attached to it, so we know how factual that is, right?
So is man and dinosaurs thousands
of years old? Just a million? What?
I replied: So let me try and wrap my blonde brain around
this: Man and dinos cohabitated. God put them here, gave Adam a pen and paper
and said, "Start writing this down." Then the flood wiped out all the
dinos, (except a few stragglers, like the LochNess monster) then Noah
conveniently remembered the tale of the beginning of time, decided to start
taking notes himself, and a thousand or so years later, scientist started
trying to find the 'beginning of time'??? I'm confused now. Sure makes me want
to toss my bible out the window.
The discussion took a turn. I was
called ‘being negative.’ For what? Not believing your truth? My apologies, but
you don’t believe MY truth either. What I believe to be true was trying to be shattered like
a mirror on the floor. Was God a liar? NO!! I went to bed and prayed for an
answer.
I arose the next day to the answer
in Apologetics – defending my faith. Something I never felt I necessarily had
to do but here I was. My defense— yes, found on an Apologetic web site –AFTER I
drank in what GOD himself delivered to me.
Although some Christians claim the days of creation are
exactly 24-hours in length, it is apparent from the literal reading of
the Genesis 1 text that this is not so. Two days stand out, in particular. On
the third day, God created the plants. The particulars are important, so let's
look at what Genesis 1 says:
Then God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with seed in them, on the earth"; and it was so. And the earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:11-12)
The interesting part of the account is that God did not create the plants in the manner we might assume He did. Instead of creating a world filled with full-grown plants, God actually created seeds and planted those. We understand this from the word "sprout," which refers to God allowing the earth to produce plants through germination (sprouting). The Hebrew word dasha tells us that God used processes identical to what we see on the earth today. Plants spouted, grew to maturity, and produced seeds. Several kinds of plants are described. The Hebrew word deshe refers primarily to grasses; the word eseb refers primarily to herbs and the words peri ets refer to fruit trees. Some Christians claim that God could have sped up the process so that it all this sprouting and growing happened within a period of 24-hours. However, the text clearly states that the land produced the vegetation and trees. Conjecture about what God could have done to speed up the process have no biblical support and directly contradict what the text actually says. Since fruit trees take several years to mature and produce fruit, the third "day" must have been at least several years long.
Then God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with seed in them, on the earth"; and it was so. And the earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:11-12)
The interesting part of the account is that God did not create the plants in the manner we might assume He did. Instead of creating a world filled with full-grown plants, God actually created seeds and planted those. We understand this from the word "sprout," which refers to God allowing the earth to produce plants through germination (sprouting). The Hebrew word dasha tells us that God used processes identical to what we see on the earth today. Plants spouted, grew to maturity, and produced seeds. Several kinds of plants are described. The Hebrew word deshe refers primarily to grasses; the word eseb refers primarily to herbs and the words peri ets refer to fruit trees. Some Christians claim that God could have sped up the process so that it all this sprouting and growing happened within a period of 24-hours. However, the text clearly states that the land produced the vegetation and trees. Conjecture about what God could have done to speed up the process have no biblical support and directly contradict what the text actually says. Since fruit trees take several years to mature and produce fruit, the third "day" must have been at least several years long.
It went on to say:
The sixth day was also a very
busy "day." On the sixth day, God created the nephesh (soulish)
animals, including the wild animals (carnivores), cattle (herbivores) and
"creeping things" (rodents?) (Genesis 1:25). Then God created Adam,
the first man (Genesis 1:27, 2:7). He placed the man into a special garden that
He had planted (Genesis 2:8). Again, God was playing farmer by planting the
garden and letting it grow (Genesis 2:9). Adam was placed into the garden
"to work it and take care of it" (Genesis 2:15). We don't know how
long Adam worked the garden before God gave him another assignment. However, it
wouldn't have been much "work" if Adam was there for less than 24
hours. Next, God had Adam give names to "all the beasts of the field and
all the birds of the air" (Genesis 2:19). The process would have required
Adam naming tens of thousands of species (minimum). Even naming one animal
every ten seconds would have taken Adam several days, at minimum. Then God put
Adam to sleep and created Eve from part of Adam's side (Genesis 2:22-23).
Adam's response to Eve's creation is also telling, since upon seeing Eve for
the first time, Adam said "at last." This is not exactly the response
one would have expected from a man who had waited for less than one day (or
else Adam was the most impatient man in the history of humanity). So, we must
conclude that the sixth day was much longer than 24 hours, and probably took at
least several years, based on Adam's response.
And on:
Besides the biblical evidence that
at least some of the Genesis "days" are long periods of time, Genesis
2:4 refers to all 6 days of creation as one day:
This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven. (Genesis 2:4)
In addition, the seventh day of Genesis is not closed:
Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. (Genesis 2:3)
In all other days the text says, "there is the evening and the morning, the n day." In the book of Hebrews, the author tells us to labor to enter into God's seventh day of rest:
"For He has thus said somewhere concerning the seventh day, And God rested on the seventh day from all His works"... Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience. (Hebrews 4:4-11)
By any calculation, God's seventh day of rest from creating has been at least 6,000 years long, since it continues to today. God's seventh day of rest from creating will end when He creates the new heavens and new earth.
This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven. (Genesis 2:4)
In addition, the seventh day of Genesis is not closed:
Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. (Genesis 2:3)
In all other days the text says, "there is the evening and the morning, the n day." In the book of Hebrews, the author tells us to labor to enter into God's seventh day of rest:
"For He has thus said somewhere concerning the seventh day, And God rested on the seventh day from all His works"... Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience. (Hebrews 4:4-11)
By any calculation, God's seventh day of rest from creating has been at least 6,000 years long, since it continues to today. God's seventh day of rest from creating will end when He creates the new heavens and new earth.
And on:
Age of the earth according to science
The age of the earth can be measured by numerous different techniques, most of which provide just a minimum age. The absolute age of the earth has been most accurately measured through radioactive decay of its rocks. Because of plate tectonics (which recycles the earth's crust) and the late heavy bombardment, none of the original rock formations appear on the surface of the earth at this time. So, the oldest known rock formations have been dated to 4.0-4.2 billion years old. However, tiny zircons, some of the hardest minerals on earth, have survived these catastrophic events and have been reliably dated to 4.4 billion years old. Rocks returned from the Apollo moon missions, along with meteorites derived from Mars have been dated at 4.5 billion years old. Meteorites from the solar system that have landed on the earth have been dated to 4.56 billion years old, which establishes the date at which the solar system and all its worlds were created.
The age of the earth can be measured by numerous different techniques, most of which provide just a minimum age. The absolute age of the earth has been most accurately measured through radioactive decay of its rocks. Because of plate tectonics (which recycles the earth's crust) and the late heavy bombardment, none of the original rock formations appear on the surface of the earth at this time. So, the oldest known rock formations have been dated to 4.0-4.2 billion years old. However, tiny zircons, some of the hardest minerals on earth, have survived these catastrophic events and have been reliably dated to 4.4 billion years old. Rocks returned from the Apollo moon missions, along with meteorites derived from Mars have been dated at 4.5 billion years old. Meteorites from the solar system that have landed on the earth have been dated to 4.56 billion years old, which establishes the date at which the solar system and all its worlds were created.
This is what God placed on my
heart to defend MY faith. The poster stomped off and in an immature and VERY
un-Christianlike manner, never spoke to me again.
All because I don’t believe man
and dinosaurs cohabitated?
My wall, I defend. Your wall, I
chuckle and move on.
You writer, don’t sell something
you don’t have 100% TRUTH in. Back it up or look a fool!
Thank you for bearing with me
through this week-long series. I needed closure to this, and I got it.
God Bless!
1 Peter 3:15 "But sanctify Christ as Lord in your
hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give
an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and
reverence," 1 Peter 3:15
