the creed - i believe in creation

I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker

of heaven and earth: And in Jesus Christ his only

Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose

again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the

right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy

catholic church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins;

the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen

The Creed

I BELIEVE in CREATION

The Creed – I Believe in Creation

" In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

- Genesis 1:1

“Astronomy leads us to a unique event, a universe which was created out of nothing, one

with the very delicate balance needed to provide exactly the conditions required to permit life, and

one which has an underlying (one might say ‘supernatural’) plan.”

- Arno Penzias, Physicist, Nobel laureate


“Out of nothing didst Thou create heaven and earth – a great thing and a small – because Thou are Almighty and Good, to make all things good, even the great heaven and the small earth. Thou

wast, and there was nought else from which Thou didst create heaven and earth.”

- Augustine, Confessions



“An atheist before Darwin could have said, following Hume: "I have no explanation for complex biological design. All I know is that

God isn't a good explanation, so we must wait and hope that somebody comes up with a better one." I can't help feeling that such a

position, though logically sound, would have left one feeling pretty unsatisfied, and that although atheism might have been logically

tenable before Darwin, Darwin made it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled

atheist.” - Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker

What about Evolution?

Question: Does evolution answer the question of existence?


“It seems to me that Richard Dawkins constantly overlooks the fact that Darwin himself, in the fourteenth chapter of The

Origin of Species, pointed out that his whole argument began with a being which already

possessed reproductive powers. This is the creature the evolution of which a truly

comprehensive theory of evolution must give some account. Darwin himself was well aware that he had not produced such an account. It

now seems to me that the findings of more than fifty years of DNA research have

provided materials for a new and enormously powerful argument to design.”

- Anthony Flew, philosopher and former atheist

What about Evolution?

Key Question…

“How did God create all that we know?”



Three Possible Creation Scenarios

1. Ex Materia 2. Ex Deo 3. Ex Nihilo

Christianity teaches an Ex Nihilo creation


Plato taught that matter was eternal and in his work Timaeus , he gives posits the Demiurgos (although there is some foreshadowing of this being in previous works) who is the world former of the Good that Plato writes about in his work the Republic. The Demiurgos works in an ex materia way. He is also a producing cause and not a purposing cause. Finally, the Good is not a personal God of any kind to be worshipped nor is it a creator. Plato is the only Greek philosopher to believe time had a beginning.

Ex Materia – Out of Existing Matter

Key Points: Matter is eternal; creation=formation; Demiurgos is a former not producer; God is not sovereign over everything.


Aristotle posited the one he called “The unmoved mover”. To Aristotle, the universe is eternal and the unmoved mover or “First Cause” was Pure Form or Actuality and not infinite. Like Plato’s Good, it was also not a being to be worshipped, but unlike Plato’s Demiurge, the First Cause is a final and purposing cause, but still should not be equated to the same efficient/producing cause of Christianity that brought the universe into being out of nothing since Aristotle held to an eternal universe.

Ex Materia – Out of Existing Matter


Plotinus’ cosmogony is that God is ‘one’ that created the world ex deo, that is, out of himself. This act is a process of emanation, where the One unfolds itself as a seed unfolds into a flower. His attempt to explain unity and diversity: • Many beings exist • All multiplicity is based on prior unity • There must be an absolute unity that is the basis

of all multiplicity • This absolute unity cannot be a being as it is the

source of all being and being involves multiplicity • This One absolute unity must necessarily unfold

itself to produce self-consciousness, called Intellect

• As the One unfolds itself outwardly, it produces the World Soul, or the “many”

Ex Deo – Out of God


Comparing Greek and Biblical Views

One B

eing

Biblical Ex Nihilo

Plotinus Ex Deo

Plato Ex Materia

Aristotle Ex Materia S

eparate Beings

Initiator Father One Good Universe

Creates by Son Intellect Demiurge Unmoved Mover

Gives Life Spirit Soul World Soul Soul

Remember that the Greek thinkers arrived at their conclusions via General Revelation alone.

The Creed – I Believe in God

" In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of

the waters.“ (Genesis 1:1-2)

Biblical Creation

Herbert Spencer was an evolutionist/scientist who said all reality is made up of 5 components: Time, Force, Action, Space, Matter

“In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the earth.”

Time Force Action Space Matter


God is to creation like a painter is to their painting, or a sculptor is to their sculpture… He

created the world and manifests Himself in it. The universe and world are not “of” God

(pantheism) but distinct from Him.

Correct Way to Think about Creation

Creator Creation

Uncreated Created

Infinite Finite

Eternal Temporal

Necessary Contingent

Changeless Changing


Apologetic Proofs for Creation

• Everything that begins to exist must have a cause • The universe began to exist • Therefore, the universe had a cause

Kalam Cosmological Argument – Originating Cause

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” - Genesis 1:1



• Everything in the universe is dependent (contingent) • If every part of the universe is dependent, then so is the

whole • Therefore, the universe is dependent right now on some

independent / Necessary Being for its present existence

Vertical Cosmological Argument – Sustaining Cause

"He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together." Colossians 1:17 "And He ... upholds all things by the word of His power..." Hebrews 1:2-3



• Behind every complex design is a designer • The universe has a complex design • Therefore, the universe has a designer

Teleological Argument – Argument from Design

“Biologists must constantly keep in mind that what they see was not designed, but rather evolved.”

– Francis Crick, co-discoverer of DNA



Teleological Argument – Argument from Design

“...as I became exposed to the law and order of the universe, I was literally humbled by its unerring perfection. I became convinced that there must be a divine intent behind it all... My experiences with science led me to God. They challenge science to prove the existence of God. But must we really light a candle to see

the sun?” (Dr. Wernher von Braun, the father of rocket science)

1. Anthropic Principle 2. Irreducible Complexity 3. Specified Complexity



Teleological Argument – Anthropic Principle • Oxygen currently makes up 21 percent of the atmosphere. Were it 25

percent, fires would erupt everywhere and if it were 15 percent, humans would suffocate.

• If gravity was altered by 0.00000000000000000000000000000000000000001 percent, the sun would not exist and the moon would crash into earth. Further, if the centrifugal force of planetary movements did not precisely balance the gravitational forces, nothing could be held in orbit around the sun.

• If the universe was expanding at a rate one millionth more slowly than it is, the temperature on earth would be 10,000 degrees.

• If Jupiter was not exactly where it is, earth would be bombarded by space material that would threaten life on the planet.


“Now some people have tried to avoid this conclusion by saying that we shouldn’t be surprised at the incredible fine-tuning of the universe because if

the universe were not fine-tuned, then we wouldn’t be here to be surprised about it. Given that we are here, we should expect the universe to be fine-tuned. But the fallacy of this reasoning can be made clear by means of an

illustration. Suppose you’re traveling abroad and are arrested on a trumped up drug charge and dragged before a firing squad of 100 trained marksmen to

be executed. The command is given: 'Ready. Aim. Fire!' You hear the deafening roar of the guns. And you discover that you are still alive, that all

the 100 trained marksmen missed! Now what do you conclude? 'I really shouldn’t be surprised at the improbability of them all missing because if they hadn’t missed, then I wouldn’t be here. Since I am here, I should, expect them

all to miss.' Of course not! You would rightly conclude that they all missed on purpose, that the whole thing was set up, for some reason, by someone. In

exactly the same way, given the incomprehensibly improbable fine-tuning of the universe for intelligent life, it is rational to conclude that this is not the result of

chance, but design.” - William Lane Craig



Teleological Argument – Irreducible Complexity

Charles Darwin admitted that, “If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down.” Scientists now know that many

such entities exist. In Darwin’s time, scientists could not see into what biochemist Dr. Michael Behe calls “Darwin’s black box”,

which is the cell. Darwin thought the cell to be a simple structure, however time and scientific advances have proven him wrong.

Instead, there is advanced complexity all the way down.



Teleological Argument – Specified Complexity

Darwinist Richard Dawkins admits that the message found in just the cell nucleus of an amoeba is more than all thirty volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica, with the entire amoeba itself

having as much information in its DNA as 1,000 complete sets of the Encyclopedia Britannica. The important thing to

understand is that the makeup of these entities is not random, but instead the information is highly organized.

“It is important to understand that we are not reasoning by analogy. The sequence hypothesis applies directly to the protein and the genetic text as well as to written language and therefore the treatment is mathematically identical.”

- Herbert P. Yockey, Biologist


“Incidentally, is it not to be wondered at that our archaeologist immediately infers intelligent origin when faced with a few simple

scratches whereas some scientists, when faced with the 3.5 billion letter sequence of the human genome, inform us that it is to be

explained solely in terms of chance and necessity?” -John Lennox, PhD, Mathematics, Philosophy

“If science is based on experience, then science tells us that the

message encoded in DNA must have originated from an intelligent source. What kind of intelligent agent was it? On its

own, science cannot answer this question; it must leave it to religion and philosophy. But that should not prevent science from acknowledging evidences for an intelligent cause origin

wherever they may exist.” - Dean Kenyon, Biophysicist

The Creed – I Believe in God

The Power of General Revelation

“But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! ” – Romans 1:19, The Message


Seven Orthodox Views of Creation

I. Young Earth – Earth is thousands of years old. 1. Standard Six-Day Creation 2. Ideal-Time

II. Old Earth – Earth could be millions/billions of years old. 1. Long ‘Days’ 2. Revelatory-Days 3. Day-Age 4. Literary Framework 5. Gap /Ruin-ReconstructionView


Young/Old Earth Agreements /Disagreements

I. Agreements 1. Direct supernatural creation of all forms of life 2. Opposition to Naturalism (no supernatural cause) 3. Opposition to Macroevolution 4. Historicity of Genesis account

II. Disagreements 1. Age of the earth 2. Literal days/allegorical days view of Genesis account

Age of the earth should not be a test for orthodoxy


Days of Creation

29

FORM FULLNESS Day One Day Four

Day Two Day Five

Day Three Day Six

1:3-5 • Speak light into existence • Separate light/dark • Ordered Time

1:14-19 • Speak Lights into the Expanse to • Separate/Rule Day/Night for Signs, for seasons, for Days/Years light/dark

1:6-8 • Speak to Separate Waters • Order: Waters below Expanse Waters above

1:20-23 • Speak Waters to Team with Fish • Separate Birds to Fly in Expanse • Bless

1:9-13 • Speak to Separate Waters Below so Dry Land Appears • Name: Earth/Sea • Speak Earth to Sprout Plants

1:24-31 • Speak Earth to Bring Forth Living

Creation in Kind • Let Us Make Man in Our Image • Let Them Rule • Bless • Divide Plants


Scripture Refutes Macroevolution

“Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw

that it was good … God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good … Then God said,

“Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so. God made the

beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was

good.” - Genesis 1:11-12, 21, 24-25


Scripture Refutes Macroevolution

“All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men,

and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and

another of fish.” (1 Corinthians 15:39)


Scriptures Speaking to Creation

“You alone are the Lord. You have made the heavens, The heaven of heavens with all their host, The earth and all that is on

it, The seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them And the heavenly host bows down before You.”

(Nehemiah 9:6)

“The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge. There is no

speech, nor are there words; Their voice is not heard.” (Psalm 19:1-3)


Scriptures Speaking to Creation "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, And by the

breath of His mouth all their host.“ (Psalm 33:6)

“It is I who made the earth, and created man upon it. I stretched out the heavens with My hands And I ordained all their host.”

(Isaiah 45:12)

“Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb, “I, the Lord, am the maker of all things,

Stretching out the heavens by Myself And spreading out the earth all alone,” (Isaiah 44:24)


Christ as Instrumental Cause

“ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being … He was in the world,

and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.”

(John 1:1-3, 10)

“yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by

whom are all things, and we exist through Him.” (1 Corinthians 8:6)


Christ as Instrumental Cause

“For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for

Him.” (Colossians 1:16)

“God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to

us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.”

(Hebrews 1:1-2)


The Brilliance of Christ in Creation

John Polkinghorne, British particle physicist and professor at Cambridge, noted that the

expansion and contraction rates were so precise in the nanoseconds of the Big Bang, that it would be

like taking aim at a one-inch square 20 billion light years away and hitting

it bull’s eye on the first try. “Gentlemen”, said Polkinhorne,

“there is no free lunch.”

Why a Right View of Creation Matters

1. Creation has a bearing on how one views the Creator

Only God as described in the Bible is uncreated, infinite, eternal, necessary, and changeless. A cosmogony position that holds to anything else will be flawed in literally every direction in

which it expands

“The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that

no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God.” – A. W. Tozer



2. A Good Apologetic Demands a Right View of Origins

Every philosophical system and worldview must pass through the same series of questions to determine where they stand in regard

to reality:

1. Where did all of ‘this’ come from and how did it come? 2. What has gone wrong with the world? 3. How will the world be set right from the state it is currently

in?




“Take away the first three chapters of Genesis, and you

cannot maintain a true Christian position nor give

Christianity’s answers” – Francis Schaeffer

The God Who is There


3. A Correct view of Ourselves Demands a Right View of Origins

“You and me baby me ain't nothin' but mammals So let's do it like they do on the Discovery Channel”

- Blood Hound Gang




In Mary Shelly’s (who was not a Christian) book Frankenstein, Dr. Frankenstein is a doctor who creates a perfectly benign and peaceful being. The more the creation observes human behavior, the more it begins to mimic human behavior and starts to become

evil. The creation confronts the doctor and tells him that when he was brought into this world, he didn’t understand why people

needed government and controls and police, but as he observed people and read history, he turned away in horror at what man was

capable of. People could be kind, but also evil. Why both – where does that capacity come from? The creation concludes

this: you were created in the image of a perfect being, and you’ve fallen away from it.


"By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that

what is seen was not made out of things which are visible."(Hebrews 11:3)


“For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him

be the glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 11:36)

Originating Cause Sustaining Cause

Final Cause








The Creed

I BELIEVE in CREATION

the creed - i believe in creation

Spiritual

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producer god

personal god

ex nihilo creationthe

atheistthe creed

confessionsthe creed