Pastoral Musings

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Apologetics, if they are actually effective, serve the church more than they serve the unbelievers.  That is my opinion, but I must ask how many people have come to Christ through learning that Noah’s ark could indeed hold all of those animals?  That would seem to serve to confirm the faith of a person more than convert an unbeliever.

No.  What we need to help us reach the unbeliever is something stronger than an argument for the existence of God.  We need something stronger than creation science, or worldview conferences, though they are certainly helpful for those within the fold.

We need something strong enough to convince a person who is hostile to the faith.

We need something strong enough to overcome the hostility to Christianity and Christians.

We need Spirit-filled Christians.

We need Christians who live out their convictions.

We need Christians who are genuine, sincere, and obviously real.

In short, we need true Christians, and not the anemic hodge-podge that we have are today.

“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. ” (1 Peter 2:11–12)

Related articles

• The Trouble With Defense: How Much is Too Much? (reclaimingthemind.org)
• Gospel Apologetics (revivalandreformation.wordpress.com)
• book review: van til’s apologetic (jude3project.org)

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Responsible Parties Under The Creation Covenant

I suppose that most, if not all, who believe in hereditary depravity understand Romans 5:12-19 to teach that sin entered the world through Adam. In such a context we deal with Adam as the one who plunged all of humanity into sin. What we neglect is that Adam was personally responsible for his own sin.

The statement made to him was that, if he ate of the forbidden fruit, he would surely die. While we might speculate about what might have been had Eve eaten the fruit and Adam refused, what we must deal with is the fact that, under the Creation covenant, there was personal responsibility.

The reason that I’m even taking the time to consider this is due to the precedent that would be set for personal responsibility under future covenants.

What are your thoughts?

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The Creation Covenant and The Noahic Covenant

When one takes into consideration the covenant with Noah in Genesis 9:1-17, the Creation blessing and dominion mandate of Genesis 1:26-31 seems to be a covenant as well.

The two both involve:

1. Creation: one brand new and the other in a sense renewed.
2. A command to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth.
3. The dominion mandate.
4. Blessing.

The parallels seem to point to the Noahic covenant as simply being a renewal of the Creation covenant.

Have you any thoughts?

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Time has hindered me from doing the overview of the Pentateuch that I wished to do. I would highly recommend that my readers check out “The Pentateuch As Narrative” and “The Meaning of The Pentateuch” by John Sailhamer.

In this post I’d like to briefly examine two very important biblical themes that find their beginnings in the Pentateuch.

First of all, the theme of The One True God.

Genesis 1:1 presents to us the understanding that the material world and time both began with God. This means that God is before matter and is eternal. It also means that God is Lord over matter and time.

The creation narrative in Genesis 1:1-2:25 also demonstrates to us that all the things that have been worshiped through the years (sun, moon, animals, man, food, sex, etc) were created by God. That means that they are not god, but are His servants.

Thus it is that Moses meets with God and is told that He is “That I AM”. That is, God is that One true God who exists by His own power. Exodus 3:13-15

When YHWH begins to show miracles by Moses and plagues Egypt, He does so by demonstrating that He is God, and sovereign over nature. In fact, when YHWH determines to finally deliver Israel from Egypt, He says that He will get glory over their gods and get vengeance on them, too. Exodus 12:12-14

Having come out of Egypt, Israel is given the law at Mount Sinai. In the law is the prohibition against idolatry, because YHWH is the One true God. Exodus 20:1-6

Israel commits the grievous sin of idolatry. YHWH shows His glory by graciously forgiving them, and promising to keep His covenant (though they did not keep it) to make them His people and bring them to the land of promise. Exodus 32:1-34:7 (This is why He is seen as unique and the One true God.)

In Leviticus 10:1-7, Nadab and Abihu, who were priests and sons of Aaron, offer foreign/strange incense on the altar. They stepped beyond the bounds of acceptable worship. YHWH immediately killed them, not only because of their drunkenness, but because of their presumptuous worship. Idols may allow practically any type of worship, but not the One true God.

Once again Israel is instructed to abstain from idolatry, because YHWH is the One true God. Leviticus 19:26-31

Moses commanded to take the firstborn of Israel and redeem them. The Levites are to take their place in the service of YHWH. Why? Because they belong to Him, and He is the Lord of all: the One true God. Numbers 2:40-50

The book of Deuteronomy is a rehearsal of all that had happened to Israel, and how YHWH had proved Himself to them, taken care of them, disciplined, them, and shown Himself to be the One true God. Cf Deuteronomy 32:39-40

The other important theme that is established in the Pentateuch is the theme of the Son.

After Adam and Eve sinned, they are promised a male deliverer who would defeat the serpent. This deliverer would be the seed of the woman. Genesis 3:15

Having born Cain, Eve seemed to think the Son had arrived ( Genesis 4:1 ), but sadly found that to not be true. Her hopes are later pinned on Seth who was given as a replacement of sorts for Abel ( Genesis 4:25 )

Later Lamech has a son he named Noah, thinking that Noah would give them rest from the curse ( Genesis 5:28-29 ) Both the flood and Noah’s subsequent fall demonstrate that Noah was not the promised Son.

The promise of the seed is continued in Abraham’s life Genesis 12:1-3;15:1-6;17:1-22;21:1-12;22:18)

Later the promise is narrowed to Jacob, and then to the tribe of Judah Genesis 49:8-12

Later, in Egypt, YHWH calls Israel His firstborn, reminiscent of Genesis 3:15.

When Balaam is called upon to curse Israel, instead He prophesies of a coming deliverer who shall conquer the enemies of Israel. Numbers 23:1-24:25 especially Numbers 24:15-24

Moses also tells Israel that from among themselves will come a prophet like Moses. This prophet will be a leader, deliverer, and mediator. The Word of God will be in His mouth, and people will be responsible to hear and obey Him. Deuteronomy 18:15-20

These two themes, along with many others, show that the Pentateuch can/should be viewed as a single, coherent book.

This is important when we consider the Scriptures. We can either pit one passage and one book against another and thus undermine one’s view of the authority of the Scriptures, or we can view the Scripture as a library of books with many themes threaded through it, and thus as a united book of books.

Not only so, but it also affects our understanding of the narrative of Scripture. When we see the various themes resurfacing throughout the Bible, we know that we are reading something that has a historical connection to the past of the world and Israel, but also something that is leading us to the fulfillment of the promises made by YHWH.

See all related posts: The Unity of The Bible

The Unity of The Bible: Genesis

These posts will be concise, because time is of essence to me, and I must spend much more time learning and ministering in my churches than I do blogging.

Genesis sets the tone for the rest of the Scriptures. That is seen in a number of ways, as will be evident by the repetition by the subsequent books of the themes initiated by God in Genesis. It is also seen in that Jesus refers to Genesis on more than one occasion for the purpose of teaching the people. Not only does that show the role of the Pentateuch in Jesus’ theology, but also the foundational nature of the book of beginnings. It is also seen in the fact that God created the heavens and the earth, then place man in paradise in Genesis; which theme is re-enacted by God creating new heavens and a new earth and placing man in paradise once again in the eschaton as seen in the book of Revelation.

It all begins with the assertion that God was before matter and time. In fact, God created matter and time. Thus He is Master and God of all matter and time. He is even God of animals and the heavenly bodies. This is why we shall find that He, and not they, is to be worshiped.

Out of the desert of an earth that was formless and empty, by Divine fiat, the earth was filled.

God is benevolent and kind, as seen in the fact that He sees His creation as good, and then blesses it.

God also blesses man and commands him to fill the earth.

Man is placed in a garden and given great permission to enjoy it. Only one prohibition is given.

Sin enters the world because man fails to trust and worship God, but rather believes the lie of the serpent and worships himself by seeking to elevate himself to the level of God.

Because of sin man is cursed and the earth is cursed.

God promises one who will come to deliver mankind and break the curse. Eve believes this promise and has hope that it will be fulfilled in Cain. After the murder of Abel and the curse of Cain, Eve still believes the promise, but seems to think that there’s greater chance of fulfillment through Seth. The emphasis is that she has faith that God will keep His Word.

The birth of Noah shows this anticipation of the promised Son. His father thinks that Noah will give them comfort and deliverance from the curse.

The world gets worse and worse, so God destroys it and reduces it to a wasteland. God, out of the wasteland, brings forth the earth and a new beginning for humanity. This is a parallel of the creation account of God bringing order out of chaos and filling the earth. Noah and the earth are blessed once again.

Noah proves that he is not the promised seed, because he, too, sins and brings a curse upon his descendants.

Man again seeks to exalt himself and make a name for himself. God curses them and scatters them so that they will go and fill the earth per His command.

Abraham is called and given the promise of having a name, and all being blessed through Him. This shows the expectation of the promised seed/Son of Genesis 3:15 is going to come through Abraham. The curse will be reversed through Abraham/Abram’s Son. The God who created all out of nothing will create of Abraham a great nation.

Abraham will be seen as one who fails and sins, too. Yet God graciously delivers him as he did Adam and Noah.

Abraham believes God and it is counted to him for righteousness. Abraham believed just as Adam, Eve, and Noah believed. Faith did not begin with Abraham, but he is the one who is set forth as our great example of faith.

Out of the wasteland of the barren, desert bodies of Abraham and Sarah a son is brought forth; ;just as God created order out of chaos in the creation of the world.

Abraham shows that his faith is in the Creator who is able to create ex nihilo (out of nothing) and raise the dead when he prepares to offer Isaac as a burnt offering to God. Because of Abraham’s faith, God promises that He will create a great nation of him, give him the earth, and will cause his seed (singular) to bless all the earth.

From this point on, the narrative shows the growth of the seed/family of Abraham. It is interesting to note that God continues to show ways in which He will use the least expected (just as one would think God would create using matter, though He actually did what we would not naturally think, and created matter itself.) and chose Isaac above Ishmael, second-born Jacob above first-born Esau, and young Joseph over the other eleven brothers.

Joseph is sold into slavery and ends up in Egypt. Out of the idolatrous barrenness of Egypt and the literal barrenness of famine, and the figurative barrenness of Joseph’s life (having been sold apart from family into slavery, then falsely accused and thrown into prison, yet exalted to great power) God shows His creative power and wisdom once again.

It is instructive to see that there is also the eschatalogical promise/prophecy of Jacob concerning his sons. Out of Judah is to come a lion and the ruler. This, we shall see, is a promise of the coming seed, the son of Jacob, the seed of Abraham.

When Joseph’s brothers appeal to him for mercy he declares his faith in God’s promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is this:

1. 1. God meant his decent into Egypt for the preservation of the life of Israel so that the seed-stock would be preserved.

When Joseph gives command that he not be buried in Egypt, he expresses his faith in the promise of God to Abraham and sons that they would inherit Canaan. Not only so, but he expresses faith in the promise of God to bring them out of Egypt where they were, by that time, servants to Pharaoh.

In other words, Joseph’s command concerning his body and burial is based upon faith in the promise of God to raise up a seed to deliver, and that He will raise that seed up through the family of Abraham. It is also based upon the fact that He will do so through the family of Israel in the land of Canaan. Doing so in the land of Canaan is another form of creation ex nihilo: God will create a great nation who worships the Creator, and He will do so in a land that is filled with people who worship idols instead of the Creator. Out of the wasteland of idolatry will be made a nation who worships the One true God.

In short, the themes established in Genesis are as follows:

God is before all and God and Master of all.

God creates ex nihilo.

God is benevolent.

God blesses all, but has cursed all because of sin.

God promises one who will break the curse and bring blessing.

Out of the family of Abraham God will create a nation and a seed. He will do so in the land of Canaan.

See introduction to this series here.

“And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness. And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. ” (Genesis 9:20–28, KJV)

Does This Passage Teach That The Negro People Are Cursed?

There are some who, to this day, teach that the Negro people are cursed and should be servants because of the sin of Ham which brought a curse upon Canaan¹. Does the above passage of Scripture teach that the Negro peoples are cursed? To put it concisely, no. It does not teach that the Negro people are cursed.

When one reads further in Genesis (See Genesis 10:6-20)he will find that the descendants of Canaan settled in the land called Canaan. One will find that what are called Negro people are the descendants of Ham’s son Cush. The Cushites settled in North Africa and not in Canaan.

Sadly, this passage has been used to encourage slavery, racism, and white supremacy. That is unbecoming a Christian people. Neither does it edify anyone. It simply needs to be discarded as inaccurate and sinful.

What is truly interesting is that there are sets of parents who have born children of different colors. In fact, there have been twins born and one of them was white and the other black.² Is one cursed and one ok? One could run into some very strange problems holding to this bogus doctrine of the Hamite/Canaanite curse being on the black people.

The Hamite/Canaanite Curse Being Upon The Negro Peoples Has More in Common With Darwinism Than With The Bible

The good folk at the Institute for Creation Research (ICR) have the following to say:

Social Darwinism, with its imperialist and racist emphases, became exceedingly strong in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and, even though it went into partial eclipse after World War II, its tragic aftereffects are with us still. Racism reached its zenith under Hitler in Nazi Germany, and the “biogenetic law” of Ernst Haeckel was largely responsible.

“Recapitulation was Haeckel’s favorite argument … Haeckel and his colleagues also invoked recapitulation to affirm the racial superiority of northern European whites, … Herbert Spencer wrote that ‘the intellectual traits of the uncivilized … are traits recurring in the children of the civilized.’ Carl Vogt said it more strongly in 1864: ‘The grown up Negro partakes, as regards his intellectual faculties, of the nature of the child…. ’ “”(Haeckel) became one of Germany’s major ideologists for racism, nationalism, and imperialism.”"In essence, Haeckel and his fellow social Darwinists advanced the ideas that were to become the core assumptions of national socialism.” Lest anyone misunderstand, although all the above authorities (as well as all those quoted previously in this paper) are evolutionists, they do not believe in either recapitulationism or racism. The quotations are necessarily brief, but they do not misrepresent their authors. Much more documentation to the same effect could be provided if space permitted. ³

Racism is a Darwinist idea. The last thing Bible-believing Christians should do is embrace a theology that has more in common with evolutionary theory than with the Bible. The Scriptures remind us that we all have one ancestor; Adam. In fact, the apostle Paul spoke of our descent in this fashion:

“God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; ” (Acts 17:24–26, KJV)

Inspired Scripture says that we are all from one ancestor. We are all made of one blood!

What Should Our View Truly Be?

There are a few important things that Christians should keep in mind while considering the issue of our associations with others:

1. We should mistreat no one. We are to love our neighbor as ourself. (See Matthew 22:35-40)
2. There is a need to be culturally conscious instead of color conscious. The division of people groups was so that we would seek God (See Acts 17:24-27). Multi-culturalism does much damage. All cultures are not the same. Neither are they equal. Culture is a vehicle that God can and will use as a tool to bring people to Christ. Mingling various cultures and individuals from various cultures could lead to confusion and strife. We must be conscious of culture when interacting with people so that we do not offend or take offense. Cross-cultural marriages will be very likely to be beset with extra difficulties, too. The Bible does not prohibit cross-cultural relationships, but we would do well to carefully consider culture when entering into relationships due to the difficulties that may arise due to cultural differences.
3. Christians should be concerned that their children marry Christians. (See 2Corinthians 6:14-18) That should be the distinction that concerns us.

1One can see an example of this in the following Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_Ham Accessed 04/26/2010

2See http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v3/n2/twins-black-and-white Accesssed 04/26/2010 See also http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2082429.ece http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,384862,00.html

http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/07/17/1205061.aspx http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15447465/ Accessed 04/26/2010

3http://www.icr.org/article/heritage-recapitulation-theory/ Accessed 04/26/2010

Theophilus was a Christian in the second century.  We are blessed to have some of his writings with us today.

Here are his comments concerning the flood and the age of the earth.

Chapter 19 (Click here for online version.)
Accurate Account Of The Deluge

And neither does he make out that there was a second flood: on the contrary, he said that never again would there be a flood of water on the world; as neither indeed has there been, nor ever shall be. And he says that eight human beings were preserved in the ark, in that which had been prepared by God’s direction, not by Deucalion, but by Noah; which Hebrew word means in English “rest,” as we have elsewhere shown that Noah, when he announced to the men then alive that there was a flood coming, prophesied to them, saying, Come thither, God calls you to repentance. On this account he was fitly called Deucalion. And this Noah had three sons (as we mentioned in the second book), whose names were Shem, and Ham, and Japhet; and these had three wives, one wife each; each man and his wife. This man some have surnamed Eunuchus. All the eight persons, therefore, who were found in the ark were preserved. And Moses showed that the flood lasted forty days and forty nights, torrents pouring from heaven, and from the fountains of the deep breaking up, so that the water overtopped every high hill 15 cubits. And thus the race of all the men that then were was destroyed, and those only who were protected in the ark were saved; and these, we have already said, were eight. And of the ark, the remains are to this day to be seen in the Arabian mountains. This, then, is in sum the history of the deluge.¹

Chapter 28 (Click here for online version)
Leading Chronological Epochs

And from the foundation of the world the whole time is thus traced, so far as its main epochs are concerned. From the creation of the world to the deluge were 2242 years. And from the deluge to the time when Abraham our forefather begat a son, 1036 years. And from Isaac, Abraham’s son, to the time when the people dwelt with Moses in the desert, 660 years. And from the death of Moses and the rule of Joshua the son of Nun, to the death of the patriarch David, 498 years. And from the death of David and the reign of Solomon to the sojourning of the people in the land of Babylon, 518 years 6 months 10 days. And from the government of Cyrus to the death of the Emperor Aurelius Verus, 744 years. All the years from the creation of the world amount to a total of 5698 years, and the odd months and days.²

1 . ANF, Theophilus to Autolycus, Book 3,Chp 19; Logos Bible Software

2 . ANF, Theophilus to Autolycus, Book 3,Chp 28; Logos Bible Software

The Genesis Flood And The Glory of God

(The Veracity of God’s Word)

1. Evidences for The Genesis Flood

   1. According to Dr. Duane Gish in his popular book Dinosaurs by Design, there are more than 270 such stories, most of which share a common theme and similar characters. So many flood stories with such similarities surely come from the Flood of Noah’s day. (www.answersingenesis.org Flood Legends)

   2. Why The Epic of Gilgamesh Does Not Undermine The Bible (Note: The Epic of Gilgamesh is a poem from the Babylonian area that was written near the 7^th century B.C. In it is depicted a story about a worldwide flood.)

      1. There are striking similarities between the two which point to a common source, which testimony from varied sources gives strong proof that there was an actual world-wide deluge.

      2. The Hebrew word translated “book” in Gen 5:1 actually refers to a written source from which Moses was getting some of his information (See TWOT) . The subject matter of Gen 5-11 is all related to Adam and his descendants. Thus, the flood account is actually a transcription of a much older record than many realize.

      3. Because Gilgamesh is polytheistic and Genesis is monotheistic, we conclude that Genesis is based upon an older account than Gilgamesh, because of evidence that monotheism (belief in only one God) preceded polytheism (belief in many gods). (See From Monotheism to Polytheism by Arthur Custance)

   3. Geological Evidences

      1. Providence Canyon is near the town of Lumpkin in southwest Georgia. Where there were once rolling hills covered with untouched pine forest, there is now a deep chasm with nine finger-like canyons. They range in size up to 50 metres (160 feet ) deep, 180 metres (600 feet) wide and 400 metres (1,300 feet) long.

         From the 1820s onward, clear-felling of trees (the roots of which deeply stabilize soil), to grow crops such as cotton and corn, set the scene for the start of rampant erosion, as the land was exposed to the ravages of water run-off during the area’s frequent heavy thunderstorms. The uppermost strata comprised the resistant iron-rich clay of the Clayton formation, and overlay the less resistant unconsolidated sands of the Providence and Ripley formations. Erosion accelerated once the water got beneath the red clay to the sands underneath.

      2. Back then, farmers did not preserve topsoil, or use fertilizers. Their habit was to exhaust the land with crops and then abandon it. By ploughing up and down hills, instead of across, they encouraged erosion gullies to form. Old people living in Lumpkin in the 1940s say they remember stepping over ditches only 1 to 1.5 metres (3 to 5 feet) deep on their way to school in the long-gone township of Humber in this area.

      3. Historical records show that the local Providence United Methodist church opened in 1832. The church had to be moved in 1859 because of the danger of being undermined by the growing canyon.

      4. Measurements taken between 1984 and 1994 confirm that the canyon is still growing mainly in width. Even now fences have to be relocated and roads rerouted because of these changes.

      5. So, it does not take millions of years for huge canyons to form—it just takes the right conditions. If it had not been seen to happen, hardly anyone would have believed it. Erosion after the global Flood would have been especially rapid through the still soft, freshly laid sediments. In fact, it has been documented in this magazine that erosion overall is happening so fast that the continents cannot be millions of years old or they would have all eroded away (www.answersingenesis.org Canyon Creation)

      6. Rapid burial is necessary to create fossils. Fossils are found all over the world. That could only have happened if there were a large, global catastrophe.

      7. Catastrophic evidences all over the world, such as marine fossils on crests of mountains.

      8. There is also evidence of recent bodies of water in present desert areas.

         (Nos. 6-8 from pg 685 The Genesis Record: Henry Morris; Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI)

1. Why This Is Important for Us to Consider

   1. Isaiah mentions it Isa 54:9 and considered it to be a true, historical account.

   2. Job (Job 12:15) the Psalmist (Ps 29:10;104:6-9) allude to the flood as the work of God.

   3. Jesus, the writer of Hebrews, and Peter (who mentioned it twice) considered it to be a true, historical account.

   4. Based upon Jesus’ and Peter’s usage of the flood account, to deny the flood is to deny future judgment.

   5. To deny the flood is to deny Jesus’ Divine nature. If He did not know that Noah’s flood didn’t really happen, He surely wasn’t God, who is omniscient. If He did know that the flood account was a myth and still referred to it as an actual, historical occurrence, He was not God, because He was being deceptive in leading people to believe an untruth.

   For information pertaining to the ark see:  Noah’s Ark Feasibility Study and Noah’s Ark Feasibility Study (PowerPoint Presentation)