Thursday 5th December 2019 Prayer Devotion
Scripture Reading:- Genesis 1:1-31
Topic:- Science Versus God’s Creation [2]
Text:- Genesis 1:3
B. It is true that God chose to give Genesis 1-3 originally to people who lived in the ancient Near East. But because God is God, he can say something different from what the surrounding cultures believed. And indeed he does.
1. Genesis 1-3 contrasts markedly with the ancient Near East because it proclaims that there is one God who made everything. It departs from the surrounding polytheism. Likewise, if God wishes he may say things different from what the ancient cultures may have believed about the natural environment.
2. We can also subtly miss the point of the Bible if we think that it has to be technically precise in a scientific way, in order somehow to “measure up” to the quality and prestige of modern science.
3. God in his wisdom chose to write Genesis not primarily to technical specialists in sciences, but to all kinds of people in all kinds of cultures, including prescientific cultures.
4. He, therefore, speaks in ordinary ways, on the level of ordinary experience. As full human beings, we need to know what he says about sin and redemption, more than we need to know technical insights from science.
C. Dealing with Apparent Discrepancies:
1. So what do we do if we find an apparent discrepancy between Genesis 1-3 and what modern scientists claim about the origin of the world? It should be an occasion to reexamine Genesis 1–3 and to reexamine the claims of modern scientists. Misunderstandings can creep in within both areas.
2. Interpreting EdenVern S. Poythress:
Highlighting proper hermeneutical principles for interpreting Genesis 1–3, this book offers a clear direction for approaching these early chapters correctly.
3. But it would be a mistake to force Genesis 1–3 into a mold already formed by modern scientific claims. That would result in a distortion of the meaning of Genesis 1–3. And it would also involve naively accepting scientific claims, rather than critically sifting them.
4. Actually, the sound approach is to try to fit science into the view of the world that the Bible gives us, especially in Genesis 1–3. We live in God’s world. And we are made in the image of God, which gives hope for scientific investigation: scientists made in the image of God can try to think God’s thoughts after him on a creaturely level.
5. Further Exploration:
a. The process of reexamining science is a complicated one.
b. Fortunately, we have books where Christian authors with a loyalty to the divine inspiration of the Bible try to approach the questions in detail.
c. They sometimes disagree with each other. But the task is a worthy one: to try to understand the ways of God in governing the world, within the framework provided by the understanding that God gives us in the Bible.
Prayer Point:- Oh Lord God, I stick to Your Word alone, nothing will blindfold nor take Your Word away from me, in the name of Jesus Christ.
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