Genesis One - Who Are You?

I used to wonder why God gave us Genesis chapter 1. Why does He tell us what happened at the beginning? Why is it important that we know where everything came from? Isn't it enough to know there is a God and He sent His Son to save us from sin?

No, it isn't. The Bible does not make sense without Genesis chapter one.

An objection I frequently hear is that God must be a wicked, evil, unjust god if he condemns someone to eternal hell for stealing a paper clip. How can people be condemned to eternal punishment for doing one small thing wrong.

Of course we sin much, MUCH more than stealing just one paper clip, but the principle is that if we break just one of God's laws, it is the same as breaking them all and we are condemned to eternal hell. So in theory if the only wrong thing you do throughout your entire life is to steal one paper clip, you are as a result of that theft going to spend eternity in hell. And Genesis One tells us why this is just and right.

Genesis 1:26 says: "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image: in our likeness, and let them rule...'"

Genesis 1:27 repeats this twice more: "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."

In just these two verses God tells us that we are created in His image. We bear God's image. As His image bearers we represent who God is to the rest of the universe... such as the rulers and authorities in heaven (Ephesians 3:10).

What are the Ten Commandments? Are they a set of rules for us to follow? Sort of. But they are much more. The Ten Commandments describe God's character. They describe who God is. That is why as God's image bearer we must live in obedience to the Ten Commandments. If we break these commandments we are misrepresenting who God is to the rest of the universe. That is why if we break just one commandment it is the same as breaking them all. Because by breaking one commandment we have misrepresented God. It does not matter which commandment you break, you have misrepresented God as being something He is not.

That is the true nature of sin. To sin is to break God's law. (1 John 3:4) And to break God's law is to represent the eternal God as breaking His law. It is to wrongly represent the one and only God, who is eternal, as being a liar, a thief, and adulterer, a murder... And the just and fair punishment is an eternal punishment.

That is why Genesis chapter one is important. It tells us who we are... we are the image of God. And it tells us who God is... our creator and the creator of the universe and all that is in it. The One who created the universe just by speaking the word. The One who is so great He can measure the universe with the width of His hand. (Isaiah 40:12)

We all misrepresent who God is. We are all sinners. We are all rightly condemned to eternity in hell. That is the penalty we justly deserve. The only way we can be saved from this penalty is if someone else is willing to pay this penalty for us. If someone else is willing to step into our place and take the punishment we justly deserve.

Someone has done this... Jesus Christ.

Scientist and What They Believe

We are very pleased to now have a free MP3 podcast available from Dr. Donal Chittick.

Dr. Chittick is a well-known lecturer on the subject of creation. He is witty, knowledgeable and an engaging speaker. In this message, from his 2007 lectures at Ecoloa Bible College, answers the questions:

What are the belief options for origins?

Why is there so much disagreement?

Which side, creationism or evolutionism, has more evidence?

Is the idea of creation against science?

After you listen to this message, please feel free to leave a comment on this blog post.

Use this link to listen to the podcast or download the MP3 file: Scientists and What They Believe (scroll down to the bottom of the page).

The Jesus Code

A plain reading of the Bible tells us that both people and dinosaurs were created on day six of creation. That means that people and dinosaurs must have lived together. Could this be true? If it is, shouldn't there be evidence such as ancient art that shows people and dinosaurs together?

We have just posted an MP3 podcast called "The Jesus Code" on our web site. It looks at 1000 year old art from around the world to find out if people and dinosaurs really lived together.

The Entire Bible

What is the Bible about? There are many answers. The Bible tells us many things. For example, it reveals (at least in part) who God is and what His character is like.

Fundamentally, however, the Bible is about the answers to just three questions. How you answer these questions determines your worldview. A worldview is how a person looks at and understands the world. Here are the questions:

Who am I? -- this is answered in Genesis chapter one.

What went wrong? (Why are there suffering and problems in the world?) - this is answered in Genesis chapter three.

What are we going to do about it? - this is answered by the rest of the Bible. After Genesis chapter three the rest of the Bible is about how God deals with what went wrong in Genesis chapter three.

The answers to these three questions are summarized by three words: creation, fall and redemption.

Creation - We are created by God in the image of God. This means God has the right to make the rules, which He has done, and we must follow those rules (laws) or face the consequences of breaking God's laws. Just as, in our own small way, when we create someone we make the rules that govern how it operates. For example, mankind has created various systems of roads and laws that govern how each road system works.

The Fall - What went wrong? All of humankind (at the time that was just Adam and Eve) disobeyed God and that brought sin (law breaking) into the world. While we like to compare ourselves with other people and conclude that we are good, the truth is that we are not good. When compared to God's standards (the Ten Commandments for example), we are inherently bad. By nature we are law breakers.

Redemption - What has God done about this? When you break the law you must pay the penalty. You have earned that penalty. The penalty for breaking God's law is death (hell). What God did was to sacrifice His own Son, who died on the cross to pay the death penalty YOU owe. Jesus Christ died in your place, because you have broken God's laws. Now God gives you a choice. If you believe this and trust that Jesus Christ died to pay the penalty for YOUR sins (law breaking), then your debt is paid and you may enter heaven. However, if you reject this gift from God, then God honors your decision and you must then pay the penalty you owe yourself... you go to hell.

Genesis 1:24-25

"And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so."

"And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good."

What did God create on day six? He created all the land animals as well as man.

Is a dinosaur a land animal? Yes, it is.

So if dinosaurs are land animals, and God created the land animals on day six of creation, when were dinosaurs created? On day six, the same day that mankind was created.

The story is revealed in the Jesus Code. Read about dinosaurs and men living together.