Did God REALLY say He created everything in 6-morning-to-evening (literal) days? Is it essential to Christian Ministry & Education that He did?
The Father’s Heart Foundation’s beliefs and core values (link at bottom), as well as our vision for Christian education and discipleship, are founded not just on a general “Christian” belief system and moral code, but are grounded in a biblical worldview -a complete, biblical world view that begins with Genesis.
I will add footnotes* for a few points, but for others, you may use your own research to check - also, as a note, most of my knowledge on this subject is from personal research over several years - hence the lack of footnotes ;) .
In creating a culture - with a goal of creating a biblical and godly culture- we need a blueprint and a foundation... As is needed in creating anything from a lego structure to an apartment building, we all need a blue print, and we need to start with a solid foundation. We need an understanding of God’s Word for a solid biblical foundation. So, then, as Christians, we need to know “what is foundational”? What is “fundamental”? And why?
This is just to get us to think - this is far from exhaustive on both the topic of apologetics, and of world view. The focus for world view here is evolution (theistic or otherwise) vs a literal 24-hour-day-creation and why that matters to the rest of the Gospel. We would encourage you (whatever your beliefs) to read/listen/watch the theologians and scientists at Answers in Genesis and also John MacArthur (who even 20 years ago preached a sermon series on the “Battle for the Beginning”*1 and gave scientific evidence for the impossibility of Evolution) -and above all, to read God’s Word for yourself.
As founders and directors of The Father’s Heart Foundation, we have a background in theology and study of God’s Word, as well as an interest in and much research done on the subject of creation vs evolution. We have a solid (while not yet perfected) understanding of apologetics and exegesis. We have learnt exegesis vs eisegesis. we have also studied (both in school and through personal research) science - biology in particular. We also understand the difference between Observational Science and Historical Science, and how both the secular world and the “Christian” world have the same evidence of the past, but interpret it differently based on their starting points. Our starting point is the infallible Word of God. Our starting point is the Bible. Our starting point is using scripture to interpret scripture.
Exegesis: is drawing out a biblical text's meaning in accordance with the author's context and the obvious/clear discoverable meaning -always using scripture to interpret scripture.
“Interpreted by grammatico-historicaI exegesis, taking account of its literary forms and devices, and that Scripture is to interpret Scripture. [They] deny the legitimacy of any treatment of the text or quest for sources lying behind it that leads to relativizing, dehistoricizing, or discounting its teaching, or rejecting its claims to authorship” (Sproul 1996, p. 52).
Eisegesis: is when a reader imposes their interpretation of/on the text -adding man’s world view and man’s “knowledge” into the text.
Why do we believe that a literal interpretation of Genesis IS foundational to the Gospel and to our understanding and living out the entire Word of God?
First, to clarify, this is NOT to say that a literal interpretation of Genesis is necessary for sincere salvation - confessing and believing that Jesus is Lord - that is not ours to judge. It does have an affect on the authority of God’s Word and affects the salvation of future generations- We do believe that it IS necessary for preaching and teaching the Gospel and making disciples though - a main reason for the existence of FHF).
The world has hijacked the word “science” and even Christian seminaries (so this generation of pastors and Christian professionals and many missionaries!!) as well as a lot of popular theologians (even some of my personal favourite Bible-teachers) have had a shift in understanding and have a felt need to use eisegesis with Genesis because they have heard that “science” proves millions of years.
But there are 2 types of science: Observational Science and Historical Science. And observational science has not proven evolution -actually a lot of prominent observational scientists have rejected evolution (whether accepting a biblical creation account or not), and there are numerous “real scientists” who do not conform to the belief in evolution *2, because evolution actually doesn’t make logical scientific sense*3 when you understand science today (especially things like DNA and genetic coding!). Even when looking at actual survey data of Christian educational institutions,*4 the science department (who understands science) is more likely to believe a literal account of Genesis and disbelieve evolution, than the Bible/Theology department, who adds evolution to the Bible rather than practicing exegesis, because they have believed scientists (not science, but scientists!) who claim that their historical science is “scientific fact”.
Observational Science or Operational Science, can - as is implied- OBSERVE and be observed: it is testable and repeatable. For Observational science there is NO conflict with scripture, and there are myriads of biblical creationists who are leading scientists in different scientific fields, not to mention that most of the “founding fathers” of science believed in a biblical, exegetical, literal interpretation of Genesis *5.
In Historical Science, we cannot of course repeat the past. We all have the same observable evidence, but we interpret it based on our foundation or starting point. The evidence itself cannot, for example tell us how old it is or how it was formed. So, in Historical Science, we have only 2 options: to listen to MAN’S WORD or to GOD’S WORD.
We can look at rock layers, canyons, volcanic islands, and fossils for example and use man’s word to interpret the evidence, or we can look at God’s Word; we can look at the biblical account of history that says that there was a global flood that destroyed the whole earth (minus the 8 humans and the 2 of every KIND of animal -plus extras for sacrifices). IF there was a global flood, we would expect to see millions of fossils, buried in rock layers around the world (and would expect to see things like fossils of sea creatures on the tops of mountains, and see things like the Grand Canyon, which would have formed in a similar way to the canyons, peat, and fossilized forests which formed in a matter of days, not millions of years, when Mount Saint Hellen’s erupted in our own generation, (which was observed)... And that IS what we see (millions of fossils laid down in rock layers, etc.) The evidence actually PROVES the Word of God... by the way, if you believe in Noah’s flood and evolution, they cannot go together -if Noah’s flood was real and came after evolution, it would have destroyed the evolutionary fossil record! And it is scientifically impossible for it to have been a local flood and cover mountains! -but again, this is about not believing God’s Word and using eisegesis rather than exegesis!
2 Peter 3: 3-7 talks about scoffers who deliberately forget about the catastrophic creation and catastrophic global flood (which relates to assuming that the earth has aged at the same rate over “millions of years”, rather than acknowledging that God could create a “mature earth” -just as He created Adam as a man and not as a baby, and that the earth we know now has changed since/while being destroyed by a global flood! “Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.”
...that is just one partial example and is not the entire focus of this blog/essay, so we will move on to talk more about how this is foundational - our focus/subject of world view and apologetics here is not just about disproving evolution (though that CAN be done when we understand science AND WHEN WE TRUST IN THE AUTHORITY AND INFALLIBILITY OF GOD’S WORD). So, more on God’s Word:
We have a written account of our origins by our Creator God! He was there. HE wrote it. And He cannot lie! His entire Word is infallible and authoritative, and if the beginning is not true, then we can’t claim any of it to be true...even atheists - including some of the most prominent atheistic humanistic evolutionists have said we cannot throw out Genesis and claim the rest as infallible! Both past and present -ie Richard Dawkins (present) and Thomas Huxley (Darwin’s contemporary who actually popularized Darwin’s theory, calling himself “Darwin’s Bulldog”, and also coining the term “agnosticism”) - Huxley wrote an essay on the impossibility of compromising the Jewish historical account of Genesis while continuing to hold onto the New Testament which is completely founded on the literal-historical account of Genesis. Huxley was an evolutionary humanist and saw the truth that compromise is impossible and hypocritical - either believe the entire book or throw the entire book out - Huxley’s goal was to throw it out! *6). They (atheists) understand that we can’t throw out Genesis (nor add evolution to Genesis) and still claim the rest of God’s Word as Truth; yet some Christians think we can...
I just have to place a quote here, from Huxley’s essay (keep in mind, that this is an evolutionist - THE evolutionists who popularized Darwin’s Theory! -who wants to throw out the whole Bible!):
“I am fairly at a loss to comprehend how any one, for a moment, can doubt that Christian theology must stand or fall with the historical trustworthiness of the Jewish Scriptures. The very conception of the Messiah, or Christ, is inextricably interwoven with Jewish history; the identification of Jesus of Nazareth with that Messiah rests upon the interpretation of passages of the Hebrew Scriptures which have no evidential value unless they possess the historical character assigned to them. If the covenant with Abraham was not made; if circumcision and sacrifices were not ordained by Jahveh; if the "ten words" were not written by God's hand on the stone tables; if Abraham is more or less a mythical hero, such as Theseus; the story of the Deluge a fiction; that of the Fall a legend; and that of the creation the dream of a seer; if all these definite and detailed narratives of apparently real events have no more value as history than have the stories of the regal period [208] of Rome–what is to be said about the Messianic doctrine, which is so much less clearly enunciated? And what about the authority of the writers of the books of the New Testament, who, on this theory, have not merely accepted flimsy fictions for solid truths, but have built the very foundations of Christian dogma upon legendary quicksands?”
The whole Genesis debate is really about authority -which has implications for other areas of life. If we believe that the Bible is God’s Word then it IS an authority (the authority); if we take away the authority of Genesis, then we take away the authority of the entire Word. Is God our authority or is man our authority.
So, how/why is Genesis key or foundational to the Gospel? You can see the difference in even how the first apostles/missionaries preached the Gospel. Peter, in preaching to the Jews (Acts 2), who understood a literal interpretation of Genesis and had the entire Jewish history, was able to present Jesus Christ as the Messiah. Paul, in Athens (Acts 17), preaching to the Greeks had to first take them back to the BEGINNING. They didn’t know their origins, they didn’t know what sin was or why they needed a saviour...Christ is a stumbling block to the Jews and is foolishness (confusion) to the Greeks. We, as a culture in North America and now even in the Church (!!) are turning into “Greeks”!
Here is a point form breakdown of (just some) of the foundational doctrinal issues that come from understanding a literal interpretation of Genesis:
- Our Origins according to God (this has implications for ALL of life)
- That we are one race, not many races of people (which is now scientifically proven through studying DNA, but was already known to those who understood and believed Genesis). This foundation/doctrine has major implications in valuing people who evolution would place as less evolved (black people and aboriginal people for example) -which results in prejudice and sometimes even subconsciously looking down on other “races” - when we believe God and His Word, we know that from Adam and Eve ALL people have descended and we are all one race, with one blood, and one common ancestor, created in the image of God!
- Origin of male & female (all gender issues/doctrines), & Marriage (of one man to one woman)
- The Fall: what sin is, how and why mankind and the earth are cursed, origin of suffering and death (without this doctrine we do not need a saviour - if Genesis is not true and literal that’s Jesus is not needed!!) And without which doctrine, we cannot claim a loving God because evolution claims millions of years of death, disease, and suffering, which then theistic evolutionists claim He called “good”. Our loving God is NOT a God of suffering and death - suffering and death is man’s fault and is the punishment and curse resulting from our sin and rebellion.
- Blood sacrifices/atonement -and origin of clothing
- Promise of the Messiah -and origin of prophesy
- Need for a new heaven and new earth
- Flood and fossil record
- Genealogies and dates that actually tell us (very closely), the approximate age of the earth (6,000 years)
- Etc. -study it yourself
What about adding millions of years into the text? Aside from that being eisegesis and not exegesis nor using scripture to interpret scripture, and aside from what Huxley said about compromise, if you add evolution into Genesis, then even the order of events is “wrong” (what is created or what evolved in what order), it just cannot logically be done. Either God lied in Genesis or God never lies! Of course God “could have” used evolution, but he didn’t, he told us exactly how He created (and when -if you study the entire Bible and look at the genealogical record from Adam to Abraham (approx. 2,000 years), Abraham to Jesus, approx. 2,000 years, and Jesus to present time (approx. 2,000 years) = approximately (just over) 6,000 yrs.
One last thing about Genesis and exegesis is the use, meaning, and interpretation of the Hebrew word Yom (day). Hebrew scholars throughout all of history and all Hebrew lexicons all agree that when the word Yom is used with a number and/or when the word Yom is used together with the words “evening, morning, daylight, night” it ALWAYS means a literal 24 hour day. Always. Throughout the entire Bible. In all other hundreds of cases. So when Genesis says “evening” and “morning” and Day/Yom “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7” it is using all criteria for a literal 24 hour day! Why throw that out in Genesis? Why re-interpret the word Yom only in Genesis 1-3? That is Eisegesis. it is trying to stuff man’s ideas (secular, humanistic, the religion of naturalism, atheism) into God’s Word, rather than using all of the rest of God’s Word to interpret itself. It is making God’s Word into something it is not - making us “need” a priest or teacher or “catholic-style” outside, man-made interpreter rather than taking the natural, obvious, child-like, easy to understand, no-need-of-outside-interpretation view of taking God at His Word.
Using Eisegesis to reinterpret Genesis, adding secular humanistic historical science into Genesis, is allowing ourselves to be polluted by the world - going against the second half of James 1:27, which says of true religion, “..and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
With the implications of realizing that the North American/Western Church has compromised the Word of God and has used eisegesis in Genesis, we at FHF have been pushed into a new realm of study and into a looking at the cultural shift in North America - we need to be more clear in our beliefs and in our expectations, guidelines, and requirements for staff and missionaries.
Our staff training will continue to begin with going over world view and understanding what a biblical world view is and why it is important. There is a huge need to teach how to give a defence, and how to be discerning. We need to read and study God’s Word AND to learn/teach apologetics. Even the best theologians (and scientists) can be wrong and should not “be a priest” for us. We need to know and study God’s Word for ourselves.
In a culture that is so permissive and focuses so much on “self-esteem”, and on “acceptance”, there is a danger to not judge at all. Apologetics is key - from Genesis to Revelations, children need to understand biblical foundations and thinking, and to learn how to GRACIOUSLY give a defence for what they believe. Children at FHF will be taught such apologetics (from infancy, as Timothy was taught).
As Christians, we actually have a role to judge biblically, and Christian leaders have the responsibility to judge. Judgment must also include love, acceptance of people where they are at (but not accepting their views/sins), praying for people, and learning to show love -while still as an organization needing to draw lines.
It is about reaching and teaching the heart - not legalism, but relationship; a relationship based on TRUTH. God wants worshippers who worship in spirit AND in truth.
I hope that you are encouraged to look more closely at this (and other subjects). To study and know God’s Word for yourself, using exegesis not eisegesis. Learning and putting into practice apologetics; knowing and living out the Word of God, and being able to give a defence. Contending for the truth! Submitting to the authority of GOD and of HIS Word. Judging but not being “judgemental”, discerning, and striving to live a life of holiness (as we are commanded to do). And in everything, doing it for the glory of God, worshipping Him in spirit and in truth.
If you would like to read more about the CORE Values of FHF and learn more about who we are, you can go to our website, here: https://www.fhfusa.org/our-values
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*1. Battle for the Beginning, John MacArthur, 1999 (buy or listen for free online): https://www.gty.org/store/topical-series-store/255
*2. Modern Scientists who believe in a 6 day creation:
*3. Logic & facts: Evolution explained/refuted in 6 easy to understand, mini videos https://answersingenesis.org/kids/videos/series/check-this-out/
*4. Christian Colleges Survey: https://answersingenesis.org/college/many-christian-colleges-receive-a-failing-grade/
*5. Historical scientists who did not believe in evolution: https://answersingenesis.org/creation-scientists/historical/
*6 The Lights of the Church and the Light of Science (1890); https://mathcs.clarku.edu/huxley/CE4/Lights.html