When you go to the library what is the Bible not?

It is not with the history books yet it is a historical document. It is not with the literature yet it is a literary work. It is not with the ction yet some say it is ction. It is not with the non ction yet we hold that it is. It is not with the self help yet it offers help in every situation. It is not in new age yet it speaks to all ages. It is not with the arts yet it is a work of art. and....... It is not with the sciences yet it contains valid science Scientic work must / involve: Observation Formulated Hypothesis Experimentation Predictability Control Data Collection The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Psalm 111:10) The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge(Proverbs 1:7). Natural Man = Unsaved Carnal Man = Saved but lives in his own strength Spirit Man = Led predominantly by the Spirit (Romans 7-8) But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14). HOW DO WE UNDERSTAND WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? Imagine you go to your moms and there is a kettle of water happily boiling on the stove. Somebody says to you: Why is the water boiling? You say: Why, because here is a source of ferrous heat underneath, which causes an agitation of the molecules of water, which keeps moving faster and faster till

the internal energy, manifested as pressure, overcomes the atmospheric pressure, and the water breaks to a boil. Your mom comes into the kitchen, hears this explanation, and says: Well, the water is boiling because I am going to make tea. There are different levels of causation, as you can see. You explained the how as to a very limited cause and effect context (science). Your mom told you the why as to the real reason behind that event (personal action, ID, teleology). By the way, this type of distinction is as old as the hills, and any intelligent Christian and also any non-Christian philosopher knows it. When a scientists interpretation of data does not match the clear meaning of the text in the Bible, we should never reinterpret the Bible. God knows just what He meant to say, and His understanding of science is infallible, whereas ours is fallible. So we should never think it necessary to modify His Word. Genesis 1 denes the days of creation to be literal days (a number with the word day always means a normal day in the Old Testament, and the phrase evening and morning further denes the days as literal days). Since the Bible is the inspired Word of God, we should examine the validity of the standard interpretation. OLD EARTH VERSUS YOUNG EARTH YOUNG EARTH VIEW - 6000+ years OLD! EARTH VIEW - 4.55 billion year +/- 2.1% (2,166 years either way) Believing in a relatively young Earth (i.e., only a few thousands of years old, which we accept) is a consequence of accepting the authority of the Word of God as an infallible revelation from our omniscient Creator. Ken Hamm: We sat down with a highly respected world-class Hebrew scholar and asked him this question: If you started with the Bible alone, without considering any outside inuences whatsoever, could you ever come up with millions or

billions of years of history for the Earth and universe? The answer from this scholar? Absolutely not! And the fact is, every single dating method (outside of Scripture) is based on fallible assumptions. There are literally hundreds of dating tools. However, whatever dating method one uses, assumptions must be made about the past. Not one dating method man devises is absolute! Even though 90% of all dating methods give dates far younger than evolutionists require, none of these can be used in an absolute sense either. The rst period of Isaiah's ministry was during the reign 735 - 715 BC during the fteenth Hezekiah's rule. Archimedes of Syracuse (circa 287 BC - 212 BC), was a Greek mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, physicist and engineer. Archimedes spells out the law of equilibrium of uids, and proves that water around a center of gravity will adopt a spherical form. This is probably an attempt at explaining the observation made by Greek astronomers that the Earth is round. Note that his uids are not self-gravitating: he assumes the existence of a point towards which all things fall and derives the spherical shape. Isaiah 40:22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. Earlier than that Job - the ancient text that predates the writing of Genesis (as an oral tradition) tell us: Job 26:7 He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing.

Intelligent design: is the assertion that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process - IT IS NOT AN UNDIRECTED PROCESS Intelligent Design = GOD ------1 with 37 O'S------ A 1 with 37 0s behind it. REALLY BIG NUMBER! We Live in a Finely Tuned Universe. There is this ne tuned universe that we live in. Constants must align in a very narrow range to work. And if just one thing is out of whack then it renders all the other constants null. 1:10th power = 1 (10x itself = 1 for the purpose of measuring massive/dense things) 1:10/37th number of protons to neutrons 1:10/40th gravity force at work 1:10/55th expansion of the universe 1:10/59th mass of the universe decay rate of protons if greater: life would be exterminated by the release of radiation if smaller: universe would contain insufcient matter for life One part in 1:10/37th is such an incredibly sensitive balance that it is hard to visualize. -------- THE INFAMOUS BEANS ----------Creation scientist - Hugh Ross !Cover the entire North American continent in dimes all the way up to the moon, a height of about 239,000 miles (In comparison, the money to pay for the U.S. federal government debt would cover one square mile less than two feet deep with dimes - Though sadly thats growing.) Next, pile dimes from

here to the moon on a billion other continents the same size as North America. Paint one dime red and mix it into the billion of piles of dimes. Blindfold a friend and ask him to pick out one dime. The odds that he will pick the red dime are 1 in 1:10/37th power. 1 in 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.... Yep. Sir Fredrick Hoyle an atheist until that time, said that this suggestion of a guiding hand left him "greatly shaken." "Would you not say to yourself, "Some super-calculating intellect must have designed the properties of the carbon atom, otherwise the chance of my nding such an atom through the blind forces of nature would be utterly minuscule." Of course you would . . . A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a super intellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as with chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature. The numbers one calculates from the facts seem to me so overwhelming as to put this conclusion almost beyond question" Earth moves at 67,000 MPH Rotates at 1,000 MPH - No wonder we are dizzy! Sun to the earth Earth gets 99% of its energy from the Sun 4,000,000 tons of energy per sec Over an 11 year cycle varies less than 1/10th of 1% @ a distance of 93,000,000 miles Earth tilts 23.5 degrees if not it would become tidally locked Why tilt? 40% pull sun - 40% from the moon 39% no life.....41% no life..... Hydrogen must convert .007 of its mass to helium to sustain life .008 no life - .009 no life 21% oxygen

23% oxygen no life.....20% no life..... 3.4% salt in the ocean exact percent salt in human bloodstream 100's of these numbers that are precisely dependent upon each other If one move out of whack the rest adjust and they too move out of whack A nely tuned rhythm to the universe created by God. GENESIS 1:6 And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water."! So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morningthe second day. Separation in Hebrew is "havalah" - in the midrash there is this sense of the impact of this havalah - it is said that as the waters below and above were separated the God heard the waters below weeping because they were so far from their maker.... The Expanse is the Hebrew noun "rakia" is a word that has no other appearance in the Hebrew language The verb form of the word is used to denote hammering and pounding out of metal. The attening of something - Again a very tactile, sensory experience for the reader. Note that each instance that experiencing the text is in a way that simple people - not theologians, not lay people, not scholars - BUT simple people to understand and experience.

This work "rakia" in being the essence of attening is also then denoting the work of extending. To atten something out is to extend it or make it bigger THINK ABOUT ROLL OUT DOUGH TO MAKE A PIE OR COOKIES. Lets go a bit deeeeeeeeper! Where is the world's largest ocean? Oceans and the atmosphere constantly interact with each other, especially in transferring energy; for example: ---evaporation from warm oceans removes latent heat from the atmosphere as it introduces water vapor ---surface winds drive the ocean currents, moving warm water polewards and cold water equatorwards. The atmosphere and oceans alter continuously, in response to each other. Remember in ancient times we talked about the thought that the world existed in a bubble? Scientic thought - in the Bible? Scientic versus Ancient. Our atmosphere and ocean share much in common. Both consist of uids-matter that ows--and have currents that circulate throughout them. Both create pressure that changes with depth and provides buoyancy--for sh in water and balloons in air. The forces that apply to movement through air apply to movement through water as well. We are bottom dwellers in a "sea of air." Ecclesiastes 1:6 Blowing toward the south, Then turning toward the north, The wind continues swirling along; And on its circular courses the wind returns.

Ecclesiastes 1:7 All streams ow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again. And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so.!God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he calledAnd God saw that it was good. "seas." Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morningthe third day. The water is an interesting thing. We see that the means of creating the expanse is to give division from the waters above from the waters below. Why? Rain versus oceans. "God made" - The is the! which means the divine intention becoming reality. This is by deed and not necessarily by word. Bara which we looked at in verse 1 is by deed and by word. Psalm 33:6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. This is different - this is by action not by word. This part is unclear... "And it was so" This is becoming the standard formula for Hebraic repetition in poetry. It does a few things for us here. First it points to Gods consistent nature - God is consistent in creation not just by action, deed, but also in word. Then we also see that there is a majesty to it - also it is the only repetitive utterance of Gods initial commands present in His original command. Why isnt the creative acts of day two good?

Also we nd that in each case the utterance is followed by divine speech "and it was good" - interesting here is that we move into another creative action. This is because the rain "water above" is of no value without the land below it. POUR WATER INTO A CUP Now day three is interesting because it is divinely interconnected to day two. The rst cannot happen without the second, and the second means nothing without the afrmation of the rst. Below the sky - is the waters of Earth - again our point of connection to the text. The dry land - yep. Now, lets get in deep. Here God does something very interesting. Something He has not done yet thus far. God creates but then God allows the creation to mediate in creation. What? "Let the earth sprout vegetation" God empowers creation! Let is God releasing - but then there is another verb present "to sprout" that denotes that God is allowing the creation to create - to do as He is doing though it is being done without personality. The Rabbi's would say that this is God activating nature. NATURE: The forces and processes that produce and control all the phenomena of the material world (The laws of nature) VERY INTERESTING ----- Remember all the little g gods of the world when this creation story moves onto the scene? EL - FATHER GOD SHAM - GOD OF THE SKY BAAL - LIGHTENING

YOM - WATERS OM - GOD OF HEAVEN N LEEL -! WATER NT - GOD OF AIR NA-NA - GOD OF THE MOON UTU - GOD OF SUN AND JUSTICE NINHURSANGA MOTHER GODDESS OF FERTILITY In this singularity - Elohim is taking the idea of nature which was personied, and deied in the ancient world and emptying it of its sanctity. Elohim is clearing out the closet for a better idea. HIM. Here God shows us that nature governs over the earth but only by the will of the one that uttered its ability to create, and govern in the rst place. Nature and God are not separate - the acts of nature are not separate - they are interconnected - and connected to this God, Elohim. Vegetation - In the hebrew this is a generic term to mean plants and fruit trees. This is spoken here but its importance is revealed in verse 29-30 SEED BEARING. Elohim allows here the idea of a creation that creates again. Creation does not become just a single act of doing, but now a multiplication of doing. Think discipleship.... According to their kind.....Another interesting idea based on what we are learning through science.. In group one God is creating in group two will see that now God is lling. God is afrming His actions in day one, two, three by lling in day four, ve, and six.
DAY ONE DAY TWO DAY THREE

DAY FOUR

DAY FIVE

DAY SIX

1:14-19 And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. 16 God made two great lights - the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning the fourth day. Here again we have God bringing this idea of light into existence. This corresponds to verse 3 but is different. The reason for this is that God wants us to understand that the light in verse 3 is divine light - luminaries - while this light is organic light. Sun moon and stars. Again this was an ancient thought at the time of the writing of Genesis. That the lights in the sky were somehow connected with Gods. But here God denes for us the difference of the divine and the organic or created realm. God assigns a function here. The lights regulate the rhythm of life on the earth. Argue with why one comes after the other? Evening and morning idea. Plants come at the erev and then at boker we see the creation of the thing that will govern their life. The idea of set times - This by the inclusion of the words days and years speaks not only to the duty of the sun moon and stars but also to the feasts festivals - and holy days. Leviticus 23 7 Feasts 1-PESACH (Passover) March / April

2-SHAVUOT (Pentecost) 50 days after Passover 3-ROSH HASHANAH (Feast of Trumpets) 4-YOM KIPPUR (Day of Atonement) 5-SUCCOTH (Feast of Tabernacles) September 8 days "wilderness" 6-CHANUKAH (Feast of Lights) 7-PURIM (Feast of Esther) + 1 the SHABBAT (Sabbath) To give light on the earth. The light from above comes downward to us. Now this is a story in perspective to us. So it is written in that format. PETE HANSEN - We cannot make assumption about what other planets are doing because we do not have their perspective. Then it falls into the realm of imagination and that my friends is always ripe with aw. In Hebrew this light in the sky carries with it the connotation of no signicant role being ascribed to it. Nahum Sarna says! - The silence in the text speaks to us. SILENCE - SPEAKS God said, "Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and birds that y above the earth across the expanse of the sky.' God created the great sea monsters, and all the living creatures of every kind that creep, which the waters brought forth in swarms, and all the winged birds of every kind. And God saw that this was good. God blessed them, saying, "Be fertile and increase, ll the waters in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." And there was evening and there was morning, a fth day." The process of creation has now advanced to sustain life. God has put into place the components that will allow life to live. The waters here do not have a personality as they do in pagan mythology (tiamat, apu in the Enuma Elish) It produces something (marine life) only in response to the divine command Let the water teem (Hebrew word Sharats - teem swarm multiply)

Living creatures Hebrew word "nefesh hayyah" to animate life which embodies the breathe of life. It is distinct from plant life! which the text does not give the same! life to. Hebrew word Nephesh - Creatures with will and emotion) Hebrew word Ramas - to creep, move lightly, walk on all fours) "And it was so" is missing here but appears in the Greek text of the Septuagint version Across the expanse of the sky - the Hebrew Rakia (hammered out) literally over the face of this is from the viewpoint of earth - us as an observer looking up God created this is the rst use of "bara" since its initial use in verse one. "Bereshith bara Elohim et hashamayim" Seamonsters - hmmmmm...we could talk dinosaurs in the bible but we wont... :-) God blessed them animate creation receives the gift of fertility- the gift of making more Believe that the universe speaks to you And you will be privy to endless chatter Believe that God leaves secrets messages to uncover And your life will be an endless treasure hunt If you Believe that this is simply nonsense Then you will encounter a world that is mute and devoid of guidance Messages from God are everywhere... Listen Watch Hear the whisper God is leading you down gentle paths. Rabbinic Sages