“BIG & small Questions of the Faith.” These recordings are my responses to major and minor theological questions that my family and Sunday School class have raised. I pray that they will serve the broader community of faith both by supplying biblically grounded and pastorally faithful content and by modeling how to tackle tough questions. I made these recordings while teaching my Sunday School class at Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, MN.
THE QUESTION: Does the Christian belief that the Bible is without error require holding that God created in six 24-hour periods and that the earth is roughly 6,000 years old?
1. Creationism and the Age of the Earth – Part 1 (Audio/PowerPoint)
2. Creationism and the Age of the Earth – Part 2 (Audio/PowerPoint)
3. Creationism and the Age of the Earth – Part 3 (Audio/PowerPoint)
4. Creationism and the Age of the Earth – Part 4 (Audio/PowerPoint)
// PDF // “CREATIONISM AND THE AGE OF THE EARTH” lecture notes, which cover the following areas:
- Theological Boundaries with Respect to Creationism (+ a Discussion of Dinosaurs) (30)
- Introduction (30)
- The necessity for the historicity of Adam and Eve (31)
- Support from Scripture that Evolutionary Creationism is not a justifiable conclusion when the biblical material is allowed to speak on its own terms (34)
- What about the dinosaurs (35)
- An Assessment of Genesis 1:1–2:3 (37)
- Different interpretations of Genesis 1:1–2:3 from the perspective of history and science (37)
- Initial support for a 24-hour mature earth view (37)
- Challenges to a 24-hour mature earth view with responses (38)
- Conclusions (45)
- A Biblical Case for a Young Earth (45)
- Introduction (45)
- The Biblical Support (46)
- Genesis 1:1–2:3 places the creation of humanity within the first week of creation. (46)
- The NT closely associates the history of Genesis 2–4 with the beginning of the world. (47)
- Genesis’ linear genealogies in Genesis 5 and 11 point to a recent humanity. (48)
- Mankind’s station as the climax of creation and sole image of God and Adam’s high role as head of the first creation supports a young earth. (50)
- Scripture usually portrays the suffering and death of living creatures––including animals––as part of curse, so millions of years of animal death and suffering pre-fall seems unlikely. (52)
- The shift away from animal predation in the new heavens and earth and humanity’s sustain consumption of meat in the new heavens and earth together suggest animal death and suffering arose at the fall and not before, which would imply a young earth. (59)
- Conclusion (66)
- A scientific assessment of a young earth model (66)
Related post: “How Old Is the Earth?”
