Doctrine #3 – Creation: God Makes

How is the Trinity involved in Creation?

• • Genesis 1:1-2 – In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
  • John 1:1-3 – In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God [God the Father], and the Word was God [God the Son]. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing that was made.

What does the Bible say about Creation?

• • Genesis 1:1-2 – In the beginning [reshit], God created [bara not asah] the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form [tohu] and void [bohu], and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

How is Creation helpful to introduce people to the God of the Bible?

1. 1. Ontological Argument from Highest Ideal – Human beings across cultures have conceived of a divine being called God. Since our mind can only conceive of what exists, God must exist.
   2. Teleological Argument from Design – The complexity of human life on the earth, including the intricacies of the human body, require an Intelligent Designer, who is God. Additionally, the Fine Tuning Argument states that the combination of constants that must fall within narrow limits (e.g. gravitational force, gravity, distance from the sun, carbon dioxide levels, etc.) reveal God’s handiwork.
   3. Cosmological Argument from First Cause – For every effect, there is a cause beyond itself, and this planet, along with the life it contains, come from God as the outside cause. Furthermore, as the Second Law of Thermodynamics and the Big Bang Theory conclude, the universe is winding down to an end and is therefore not eternal.
   4. Kalam Argument from Time – The existence of time necessitates a beginning as the reference point from which time proceeds. That eternal reference point outside of time, which brings time into existence, is God.
   5. Axiological Argument from Morality – The existence of commonly shared universal moral laws across history and nationality (e.g. murder is immoral) reveals that God is the moral law-giver over the universe.

Where did Creation come from?

• • Hebrews 11:3 – By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
  • The Pattern of Genesis 1:

1. 1. Announcement: “And God said.”
   2. Commandment: “Let there be.”
   3. Separation: God separated the day and night, water and land, animals and plants.
   4. Report: “And it was so.”
   5. Evaluation: “And God saw that it was good.”

What are the various Christian views of Creation?

1. 1. Historic Old Earth Young Creationism – Old earth, young humanity, 6 literal days
   2. Young Earth Young Humanity Creationism – Young earth, young humanity, 6 literal days
   3. Old Earth Creation or Intelligent Design – No evolution, God speaks in metaphors and not specific periods of time, not 6 literal days
   4. Literary Framework View – Old earth, old humanity, Genesis is poetic imagery and not literal, not 6 literal days
   5. Evolutionary Creation – God worked through the evolutionary process and humanity has evolved from lower life forms over long periods of time, not literal 6 days

What does Creation reveal about God?

• • Psalm 19:1 – The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
  • Romans 1:20 – …his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

1. 1. God is eternally uncaused and exists before His creation.
   2. God is living and life comes solely from Him.
   3. God is independent while the rest of Creation is dependent upon Him.
   4. God is transcendent and separate from His creation.
   5. God is imminent and actively at work in His creation.
   6. God is personal and, because we are made by Him, we have personhood.
   7. God is powerful and made everything from nothing by Himself.
   8. God is beautiful and creation reflects His beauty.
   9. God is creative and made us to create.
   10. God is orderly and His creation reflects His order and remains orderly until sin.
   11. God is good and everything He makes is good.
   12. God is a prophet who speaks Creation into existence by His Word.
   13. God is good as everything He makes He declares good.
   14. God is gracious as He blesses His creation, including the man and woman.

Are the 6 days of Creation literal 24-hour days?

• • Each day is numbered and referred to as “morning and evening” (Gen. 1:5, 1:8, 1:13, 1:19, 1:23, 1:31)
  • Exodus 20:11 – For in six days [yom] the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

How old is the Earth?

• • Genesis 1:1-2 – In the beginning [reshit], God created [bara not asah] the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form [tohu] and void [bohu], and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

1. 1. Old Earth Non-Christian View
   2. Old Earth Christian View
   3. Young Earth Christian View
   4. Old Earth, Young Humanity

What are some of the problems with atheistic evolution?

1. 1. Promotes racism – Charles Darwin (1859) “The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.”
   2. Nothing made everything?
   3. Chaos made order?
   4. The world is designed but there is no Designer?
   5. Impersonal made personal?
   6. Unintelligence made intelligence?
   7. Biased
   8. Atheism is unlivable

What alternative is there to Creation?

1. 1. Atheism – There is no God and all that we have is a material universe.
   2. Panentheism – There is no personal God but rather an impersonal force in us and in all the world (Star Wars, Avatar, Wicca).
   3. Deism – If there is a personal God, that God lives separate from our world and does not get involved in our affairs.
   4. Creationism – God is the Creator who is separate from his creation, but is actively involved connecting the heavenly/spiritual and earthly/physical realms into one reality and we exist to worship the Creator and not the creation.

Homo-cosmology

1. 1. No distinction between God, the Creator, and Creation (pantheism & panentheism)
   2. No distinction between God and mankind (spiritism = look in)
   3. No distinction between good and evil (postmodernism)
   4. No distinction between mankind and animals (radical animal rights activism)
   5. No distinction between men and women (transgenderism, homosexualism)
   6. No distinction between mankind and creation (radical environmentalism)

Conclusion

• • Revelation 4:11 – Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.