Saturday August 11, 2012

Read Genesis 10-12

 

The bigger issue for advocates of the poetic school is the belief in, or reinterpretation of, 7 literal, 24 hour days of creation.

 

Most would argue, quite correctly, that ‘day’ can mean many lengths of time and not necessarily 24 hours.  The following sentences all use the word ‘day’ differently.

The old days were so much fun

The other day I went to the shop.

I slept all day yesterday.

 

Most Christian evolutionists would agree that they simply interpret the text differently at this point.

 

Yet such interpretation is not in line with the rest of Scripture. Surely if my interpretation negates or contradicts the rest of Scripture, my interpretation needs revising!! Surely we’d be arrogant and ungodly to argue that the Bible needs revising!

 

So... does the rest of the Bible support seven literal days of creation? If it does, then I am compelled to read Genesis literally. If it doesn’t, I am free to interpret Genesis differently.

 

The Law given by God at Mount Sinai (which definitely cannot be regarded as poetic by any stretch of the imagination) restates unequivocally that creation was in 7 literal days. Any other reading of Genesis 1 makes the law completely nonsensical and inapplicable to even those who reach the age of Methuselah.  In Exodus 20:8-11 we read :-

"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.

For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.  (Exodus 20:8-11 NIV)

 

The law bases the Sabbath rest on six literal days of creation. If, for example, we interpret the days of Genesis 1 as referring to millions of years then the law states that we must work for six lots of millions of years before taking a Sabbath rest.  It is simply bad exegesis to say that the ‘days’ of Genesis 1 are millions of years but the ‘days’ of the Torah (which are plainly and obviously referring to Genesis 1) are literal 24 hour days.

 

It is bad theology to argue that though the world was created over billions of years when God tells us it was in 7 days in Genesis 1, so that He could then command His people to keep the 7th day as a Sabbath based on what is effectively a lie in Genesis 1! God simply does not operate in this shifty fashion.

 

Consider the effect that such an interpretation has on the rest of the law. Even if we limit ourselves to the Ten Commandments for brevity we could easily argue as follows. God didn’t really create the world in six days, therefore the Sabbath principle can’t hold for the end of every six days’ labour.  We just need to have a break every now and then. After all the law is based on the stories and myths of Genesis.  But with that kind of loose exegesis we need to remember Exodus 31:14. God takes Sabbath observance very seriously and very literally.

(Exodus 31:14, NIV) 'Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it must be put to death; whoever does any work on that day must be cut off from his people.

 

Now if the Sabbath rest is not literal then God’s other commands aren’t necessarily literal either.  I can murder because God really meant, ‘Do not murder someone without due cause’.  Genesis 9:6 condemns murder because humanity is created in God’s image. But if Genesis 1-3 is poetry then we need not hold to this literal interpretation. Indeed, if we take a consistent stance with those who choose to reinterpret the first 3 chapters, we can’t believe this command against murder at all!! And adultery is ok if I am not having my needs met in my marriage.  God said, ‘Do not commit adultery’ but what He really meant was, ‘Don’t do it unless you have good reason’.  And if the law is thus interpreted how do we make any sense of our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount? What do we make of the Lord Jesus’ words about humanity being made at the beginning as male and female? He never ever mentioned man and woman being made after billions of years. According to evolution mankind appeared very late on the scene, yet Jesus said ‘in the beginning He created them male and female.’ (Mat 19:4 (NIV), Mark 10:6 (NIV)).   What began as a non salvation issue quickly evolves into a salvation issue that jeopardises and undermines the authority of both Jesus and Scripture.

 

The flow on effect of not believing Genesis is that the law is not to be taken literally. If it cannot be taken literally then we end up with the deconstructionist confusion of postmodernism!  If the law is fallacious or non-literal the ridiculous notion follows that God would be unjust in His judgements of sinful mankind!  Yet Isaiah 24:5 states clearly that the earth will be judged because mankind has broken the law!  Re-interpreting the creation account allows us the freedom to re-interpret the law which immediately removes God’s just judgement and vengeance upon the sinfulness of mankind. If we are not judged then we really don’t need Jesus to die on the cross for us and to defeat death by rising from the dead. Genesis 1-3 is truly not a salvation issue because there is no need for salvation!

 

Prayer:

¨ Pray that more churches would willingly take up the battle to defend the truth right where it is being attacked - at the start of the Word of God. Pray that the church would be able to stand, fight and be able to defend the Scriptures from cover to cover.

¨ Pray that organisations like Creation Research would have the resources they need to continue defending the Scriptures. Pray that churches will be exceedingly generous towards them.