I was writing a very detailed blog post based on some “controversial” statements I made yesterday @ Courageous Church, but thought a conversation would be much better! I will include much of my thoughts in our conversation. First off, let me say
I believe the Bible.
I believe in science.
I believe in miracles.
I believe God is at the center of all 3.
The conversation I want us to have is important because so many people have real questions about the Bible, history, science, faith, and facts, but they are discouraged from ever really pursuing them or are given faith based answers that don’t really add up for people with no faith.
With that said, I am not sure I believe that Adam & Eve were the first/only human beings created in the world by God and that all human beings came from them. The Genesis account in the Bible does not say that, but instead says this in Genesis 1 about what God did on the 6th day:
26 Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” 27 So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
28 Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.” 29 Then God said, “Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food.30 And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—everything that has life.” And that is what happened. 31 Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day.
I believe that the Bible is an account of God at work in the lives of a very particular people group in a very small swath of land in a very remote area of the world. While God was at work there in a very special way, God was fully at work in other places and history/science bare this out very thoroughly. Furthermore, according to Biblical chronology (the dates, years, ages, etc. included in the Bible), most CHRISTIANS say that Adam & Eve were alive at around 4,000 BC (google it or read your personal favorite book about the Bible). This is a problem because actual factual history let’s us know that the Mesopotamians were fully active in 6,000 BC and that the ancient Egyptians were civilized between 5500-5000 BC.
Furthermore, I am not sure I believe that the great flood of Noah destroyed every human on the face of the earth and that all of humanity that was alive before that point in time died and that the world population started over from the people on that Arc. Most historians suggest that the flood of Noah took place at around 2300BC according to the chronology of the Bible and its history. The primary problem with this is that the world was diversely populated at that point in time before and after that period. Noah likely experienced a real flood in the world as he knew it.
A great flood that engulfed the world likely happened at some point in time in the world, but it certainly did not happen in 2300 BC which is the time period that the Bible and Christian historians suggest Noah was alive. Entire nations were fully active all over the world at that point in time and did not have a flood that killed them all and forced them to start over.
I believe in the Arc. I even believe in Adam and Eve. I even believe what the Bible says about them. We’ve just added some extra layers on there that, in my strong opinion, get in the way of many people ever accepting our faith. Hear my heart, I am not saying I have all of the answers, I just want to see how history, science, and the Bible can work together!
Now – let’s talk about it. I have left out most of my thinking on this topic so we can discuss it.
I’ll take your questions and answer them the best I can.
