Romans 1 and the Eclipse

Here is a talk I gave on Wednesday July 19, 2017 at First Baptist Church, Ashdown. I use Romans 1 to talk about modern scientists.

Romans 1 and Science

Days without the Sun?

One of the most popular questions received by young-earth creationists, other than "Where did Cain get his wife," has to do with the order of creation events. The questioners wonder how the earth could have been made in six literal days, if the sun wasn't created until day four. After all, a day is defined by the position of the sun. So how could there be three days before the sun was created?

The truth is, you don't need a sun to define days. All you need are regular repeating intervals of light and darkness. We read in Genesis 1:1 that the first thing God created was space and earth. So we have a rotating planet. In Genesis 1:3 we see that the next thing God created was light. Most likely, as soon as God said "Let there be light." the entire earth was illuminated. Light came from all directions and had to be coalesced into a single source in verse 4.

Now there is a rotating earth with light on one side and darkness on the other. That's all that is needed for the term "day" to be used. Verse 5 specifies that there was evening and morning, that is, the earth was rotating out of and into the light just as it does today. This is one reason why I believe the six days of Genesis have to be six literal days. How can you apply the terms evening and morning to an unspecified length of time? Also, the terms "first day", and "second day," etc. point to literal 24 hour periods. If I was talking to you about my vacation and said "On the third
day there," you would assume I meant the third literal 24 hour period.

On the fourth day, then, God takes the light and confines it to a source. Actually several sources, for he makes all of the stars on this day, not just the sun. But the light already existed, now there's just this big ball of plasma for it to come from. An interesting parallel can be found in the description of the New Earth in Revelation 21:23. It says that the New earth won't need a sun for God will provide the light from his own shekinah. That is his own glory. Maybe that's how there was light before the sun in the beginning. We'll never know the source of the first light. After all, the Bible is not a science book, as skeptics are quick to point out. But it is a history book, so we can believe it when it describes the creation.

You have no free will (if you're a 'scientist')

Here is what, in my mind, is the final clinching argument against scientific naturalism. For the scientifically-impaired, naturalism is simply the belief that everything that has or will happen in the universe can be explained by purely natural meaans. That is, there is no supernatural. This belief is the foundation of such scientific theories as the big bang, evolution and, in fact, all “true science” according to the definition of science as set by the National Science Foundation.
As I have mentioned before in my article The Problem with Science, the underlying fault with this belief is this. If there is, in fact, a supernatural force, it is not even taken into account as a possibility as the cause of any events. However, there is somethng that we do everyday that I believe requires the presence of a supernatural, which I believe to be the God of the Bible.
The very fact that we are able to debate it proves a supernatural force exists. This argument is so simple, I'm surprised it is not brought up more often. Follow my logic.
According to naturalistic belief, all processes of living things are essentially chemical in nature. Unless you believe in some magical force called “life” which would be supernatural in itself. Actually I think some biologists do believe in the mystical “life.” They just don't admit it. “Life finds a way.” says Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park.
Anyway, if all biological processes are chemical in nature, then they all simply follow the laws of chemistry and occur according to the nature of chemical reactions. For example, in 10^th grade biology we were all taught the various chemical reactions that make up the processes of photosynthesis or DNA replication. Now understand that in a purely naturalistic universe, all chemical processes are the result of the law of cause and effect. In other words, if this molecule comes within a certain distance of that molecule they will always react in a certain way. In a purely naturalistic universe there is no randomness. All molecules are where they are because some other effect caused them to be there.
Now if this is true, then the same types of processes occur in the brain. After all, thoughts, according to naturalistic science, are simply caused by chemical reactions. As stated before, these reactions are caused by certain molecules being in certain places at certain times. But these places and times are determined by previous reactions. This series goes all the way back to our conception, which itself was caused by molecules being in certain places at certain times.
Therefore, in a purely naturalistic universe, there is no such thing as a random thought. All thoughts you have ever had were the result of chemical reactions which were caused by previous chemical reactions, etc. You have no free will even regarding your thinking, unless you believe that something called “the mind,” which Christians would call the soul, directs these molecules to be in certain places at certain times causing certain thoughts. But that would be supernatural. Otherwise, even the actions of the mind would be the result of cause and effect.
So, if you believe in a purely natural universe, you are saying that we can actually know nothing to be real because all thoughts were pre-determined at the time of the Big Bang (if there was one) and all aspects of the universe (even thoughts) are simply the results of series of chemical reactions. If you have an independent thought that you caused, then you must have a supernatural mind that can direct the chemicals that cause your thoughts. 

Listen to me talk

I found the link to the talk I gave on the six days of creation several years ago. Here it is.






Thanks to archive.org for hosting it.

Some Old Notes Part 1

I keep a notebook with my Bible and, whenever I feel inspired, I write some thing that occurs to me. Basically, these are things that I've been meaning to post for a log time but have never gotten around to; mostly because they are just snippets of things I jotted down.


I came across this the other day. It is a question regarding the age of the earth. As you probably know, since it's most likely what you were taught in school, most scientists teach that the earth is around 4.5 billion years old and man did not appear until only around one million years ago. Now this is certainly at contradiction with the Bible because, if you add up the genealogies in the Bible back to Adam, we find that Adam was created only around 6000 years ago. Many well meaning Christians try to believe in Adam but also accept the old earth theory.


The question I jotted in my notebook is this "If the purpose of the universe is for God to have fellowship with man, why did he wait billions of years before he created him? What would be the point of an earth with many plants and animals existing for at least millions of years and even going extinct before man was created? The only reason for there being an old earth is because it would have taken millions of years for the species we currently see, including man, to evolve. If you believe in your heart that man evolved from a lower form, then there's no reason to believe in God because evolution could have occurred without him.


This is one reason why I believe in a literal six day creation approximately 6000 years ago. God created the entire universe just for man. He created man on the sixth day while all of the plants and animals he originally created were still alive. Remember, death is the result of sin, so nothing could have died until Adam sinned. The main reason I believe is because that's what the Bible says, unless you try to shove modern scientific ideas into it.


By the way, If you are coming to my Sunday School Class tomorrow, please read Genesis 41. We will be discussing "Overcoming Hard Times" by looking at how Joseph prepared Egypt for the great famine.


If I don't post again before Tuesday, Happy Veterans' Day to all of my fellow former servicemen.

Buy my NEW book

Beginnings: A Commentary on Genesis 1-4 is now available at http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/BrianVermeer
for only $1.99. You can get it in a variety of e-book formats.

It is a verse-by-verse explanation of the first four chapters of Genesis (Creation through Cain and Abel.) In a very easy to read format, I cover the many difficulties that some have with this, the most disputed section of the Bible.

If you haven't bought my first e-book Answering Darrow : What William Jennings Bryan Should Have Said (Thank you to the four of you who have.) It is still available at the same site for only 99 cents, as well as at other major online retailers.