I decided to do something a little different this time. I decided to write a chapter in a new book and post it on the Internet. I want to get some feedback. I want to see if people think this is the sort of book this world needs at this time. It would be great if people took the time to contribute some constructive thoughts. It would be great if we could witness God’s Spirit working all around the world to bring together a number of ideas.
I’ll post sections on some social media sites. But you have to go to the website page to read the entire chapter. You can leave your comments there. That way I will have a reference in one general location.
This book is going to take a look at how mankind has been digressing over the years. Are computers and cell phone making mankind smarter or dulling our God given senses? We will also take a look at how much mankind has forgotten over the years. When we put this together the facts will amaze you.
Adam and Eve
To understand how the earth is digressing, we have to look at how man began on this planet. The only reliable record we have of creation is found in the Book of Genesis.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (Genesis 1:27 KJV).
No one can argue the point, man and women were created in God’s image. What is God’s image? Can anyone say they are an image of God? Is any leader today or any historical figure an image of God? Take a look in the mirror. Can you say you are an image of God? Let’s take a look at the Hebrew definition of image.
IMAGE
H6754
צלם
tselem
tseh’-lem
From an unused root meaning to shade; a phantom, that is, (figuratively) illusion, resemblance; hence a representative figure, especially an idol: – image, vain shew.
It’s not by accident the word image was derived from an unused root meaning. Think about that on a spiritual level for a moment. We were created in God’s image. By the time the Bible was translated into English and supported by Hebrew and Greek dictionaries, the word used to describe our origin was an unused root meaning. That should give us a clue showing us how far this world has digressed. Let’s look at a few other words used to define the word image.
To shade, a phantom. That does not sound like a direct copy of God, but only a shadow of God. Were we created as a direct image of God or a mere shadow of our Creator? The words shadow and phantom are followed by the word illusion. What is an illusion? Wikipedia describes an illusion as:
“An illusion is a distortion of the senses, which can reveal how the human brain normally organizes and interprets sensory stimulation. Though illusions distort our perception of reality, they are generally shared by most people.”
As this world digresses, senses are lost. Before we can relate to how senses have been lost or altered from the time of creation, we have to understand a bit about creation at the very beginning. Let’s see how the Bible described creation.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. (Genesis 1:1-5 KJV).
The first thing God did was create light. How did God create light? Has any man created light? Sure we have light bulbs in all shapes and forms. Fire also sheds light. But how was light actually created? Did God create light on the first day so He could see what He was doing? Or was light created on the first day to shed a little spiritual light on the subject? Let’s take another look at those few verses.
The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. Let’s compare darkness to light. They are opposites. In the spiritual sense darkness and light oppose one another. What does that tell you about what happens when God steps onto the scene?
“Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when it is bad, your body is filled with darkness. Make sure that the light you think you have is not actually darkness. If you are filled with light, with no dark corners, then your whole life will be radiant, as though a floodlight were filling you with light.”
\(Luke 11:34-36 NLTse).
We could write an entire sermon on light and darkness. But that is not the intent of this book. For the time being we will concentrate on finding God’s image. An image that has been all but lost in this day and age.
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. (Genesis 1:6-8 KJV).
There could be a lot of different takes on this part of creation. People have a difficult time distinguishing between light and darkness. Now we get into the subject of earth and sky. But wait. There is no earth yet. All we have so far is water covering the earth and a mist of water above the earth God called Heaven. There is another clue showing what we are missing today. Look at the Internet. What do you see? We see people all over the world using the earth, or earthly wisdom to interpret the Bible. When the earth began, Heaven was above the earth in both the physical and spiritual sense.
And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day. (Genesis 1:9-13 KJV).
On the third day God took the earth that was under the water and brought it to the surface. What question does this raise today? This verse flies in the face of science. Most scientists disagree with the flood. They know if a flood can be proven, God could be scientifically proven. Science wants us to believe water just happened to be on this planet. That is why it is so important for science to prove water exists, or did exist on other planets. Why do you think they spend billions of dollars to go to Mars to look for that? Water. How smart is that. We have more water on this planet than we know what to do with. Why travel millions of miles to go to a planet with no sign of water to look for water? Some scientists will stop at nothing to prove God does not exist. But God had them figured out long before He created Adam. God had water to prove He exists. He also has light to prove He exists. And it gets better as we move along in the creation story.
And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. (Genesis 1:15-19 KJV).
This is where is begins to get really interesting, when God created all the planets and stars. Let’s take a quick look at those stars. We know the earth is round. Well most people believe the earth is round. We’ll stick with that belief for now. The earth rotates on its axis we refer to as the north and south poles. Those poles have magnetic fields. We normally concentrate on the north pole. We use that magnetic field to navigate. For generations people have been using the sun to tell time, and stars to navigate by night. We know the earth rotates and has been rotating at a consistent speed and in a consistent orbit for as long as anyone can remember.
At this point we could get into hundreds of scientific fields to prove God exists. But all we want to do for now is gain a better understanding of God to see what image Adam was created in. All of those stars, plants, moons, and galaxies required a complicated set of mathematical equations before the first series of stars and planets could be hung in the sky. God created and hung all of them in one day. No one can even count all the stars. God created all of them and placed them in individual orbits in one day. That proves, God know His mathematics, Not even a computer could calculate all that information in one day.
So far God has light, water, and now mathematics to prove He exists and created this world and the universe. But some scientists want people to believe all those stars and planets just happened to form in perfect orbits. If the earth’s orbit varied by just a few degrees, this planet would either burn up or freeze to death. Science could tell you that if they wanted to. But for some reason, science doesn’t think it can exist along side of God the Creator.
There is a little story in the Bible explaining why mankind has a difficult time accepting God without question. You see, Adam and Eve were not alone on this planet. There was a snake in the grass. Actually a serpent in a tree. God placed one tree in the middle of the garden He arranged for Adam and Eve. It was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And that tree was off limits.
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Genesis 2:16-17 KJV),
Why did God decide to place a tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the middle of the garden, then tell Adam, if he ever ate from it, he would die. That sounds rather drastic. There had to be a good reason for that type of test.
It just so happened that one day Adam’s wife Eve decided to listen to that serpent hanging around in that tree. The serpent was Satan in disguise. But Eve had no way of knowing. Or did she? Eve did know that there was something in that tree she didn’t have, and she wanted it. Eve didn’t know anything about good or evil. That is rather difficult for us to imagine. But taking that fruit somehow gave her knowledge about good and evil. At first Eve had something Adam didn’t. So she convinced Adam to eat some fruit. That would once again level the playing field between the two of them. All it did was got them kicked out of the garden. Instead of living in a garden with all the fruit, nuts, and grains they could ever want, Adam had to sweat his butt off to put a meal on the table.
Now we have to look back and look at a few facts. Adam was created in God’s image. He was only a shadow of God. But did God explain to Adam, those stars were in the sky for a reason? Did God give Adam insight into how those stars moved and how Adam could tell the time and seasons by looking at the stars? Did God go as far as giving Adam the ability to understand the complex mathematical equations it took to put all those stars in planets in their perfect orbits? Was Adam a mathematical wizard? We have to look at a few pieces of evidence in the Bible to figure that one out.
We also know God created all the grass, trees, flowers, plants, insects, fish, birds, and animals on this planet. To create a bird that could fly, God had to know about the physical, scientific laws of gravity, lift, and what we refer to as flight. God had to create wings that worked. And worked the first time. More proof God is a mathematical genius. Some insects can walk straight up walls. The earth has this thing we refer to as gravity. Those bugs had to be engineered with the strength to grip what appears to be smooth surfaces, and the tools to grip them with. Those insects had to have a brain to decide where to move and how to control legs, eyes, and other senses. Some lizards have pads on their feet that can grip glass. Some animals climb trees. God had to calculate and design hands, feet, and tails so those animals could move through trees with ease. Then we have flying insects with wings that fold under hard protective shells. Some scientists insist it is mathematically impossible for the bumble bee to fly. Maybe there is something they don’t know. God created muscle systems and a system to power those muscles. In short, God created living machine that are still impossible for men to duplicate.
When it came time for Adam to leave the garden and eek out a living in this world now altered by sin, did God teach Adam the skills required to survive? There is a little side story I’d like to look at. Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them. (Genesis 3:21 KJV).
God killed the first animals, skinned them, and sewed cloths to protect Adam and Eve from the coming cold. Can you image a God working with His hands to kill an animal He created, take off its skin, and sew those skins to make a set of clothing for the human beings that disobeyed one simple command? It seems we can learn a lot about God when we read what is written about Him.
But what about those skills? What evidence do we have in the Bible that shows us Adam had a brain and knew how to use it?
And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; (Genesis 2:21 KJV).
Not only does the Bible tell us God had surgical skills, the Bible also tells us Adam had to possess quite a brain to name all those animals. There had to be hundreds, maybe thousands of them. Adam not only had to come up with all those names, he had to remember all of them. Sit down and see if you can write out a hundred names. How long would that take you? Adam did it in one day. We have the evidence, God gave Adam a brain with the ability to think, and remember.
Science tries to convince us that man evolved from lower life. So thousands or millions of years later, someone developed the ability to speak and communicate. According to the Bible, Adam was able communicate on day one.
We still have to take a look at what God would have taught Adam and Eve. At first they tended the garden God planted for them. God must have taught them gardening skills. But did it stop there? Was that all Adam and Eve knew? They had to know much more than gardening to survive alone in the world. What about shelter? Did God build Adam and Eve a house? Did they figure that one out on their own? Or did God teach Adam a few basic construction skills? Don’t forget, we have to prove every detail from the Bible.
For generations it was traditional for fathers to teach their sons the family trade. Jesus’ father was a carpenter. Joseph taught Jesus how to be a carpenter. We also have tons of verses in the Bible describing mankind as a form of God’s son. God looked at Adam as a son. After making clothing by hand, God would not have turned Adam out into the world without teaching Adam. When we look at the beginning of Genesis, what was God’s trade? What was God’s job? God was an inventor, engineer, and Creator. That tells us, God would have passed those skills onto Adam. We know Adam had a mind to think, and a great memory. The only thing we don’t know is, how much information about creation and science God shared with Adam. Scientists like to insist their brains evolved without any influence, guidance, or help from God. Scientists insist mankind developed over long periods of time on their own. If God was willing to kill the first animals to make clothing for Adam and Eve, do you think the support from God stopped there? Or do you think that was only the beginning?
The only evidence we have that Adam was thrown into this world with no skills is the word of scientists and philosophers. Not one of then was there at the time. Not many of them bother to read the Bible. The majority of them dedicate their lives to disproving the Bible. In other words, even if they approached the Bible, it would be with a pile of preconceived ideas. They would take out a few sentences and twist them around to support their personal theories. In the end, we would get no where, and their man made theories would prove nothing. Do you really believe man evolved from lower life forms? Do you really believe that this Universe was created from a mass of nothing that somehow condensed and exploded? Do you really believe that explosion placed all the stars and planets in perfect orbits around one another? Where did the oxygen, helium, hydrogen, and other elements come from? Do you really believe a set of basic elements can meet in a pond of water someplace and decide to combine in a specific order to create a single cell living organism? If evolution is true, why don’t we have living, thinking oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen molecules able to combine with other molecules at will to create new forms of life? If those elements had billions of years to learn how to create living organisms, why did they decide to give up that learned skill? And how did simple one cell organisms decide they needed eyes, feet, legs, ears, hands, and other appendages to be able to compete in a world they were creating? I remember hearing a story that went much like this.
A group of scientists got together to match their combined wits against God. They told God they could do anything He could. Without a word, God knelt down on the ground, gathered a mound of dirt, formed it into an image of a man, and breathed on it. The scientists looked a the man stand up, and began having a conversation with God. After a short time, God turned to the scientists and said, “your turn.” The scientists gathered around each other to have a private conversation. After some time one of the scientists approached God and said, “we can do it, but it will take some time.” With a smile on His face, God said, “okay, but you have to get your own dirt.”
How little we know about dirt. How does dirt give life to plants and trees? How do trees and plants produce seeds and fruits from elements inside dirt? How do plants convert simple elements into edible food? Plants and trees have some type of internal factories to convert elements from the ground and air to create life. Plants can do more than the greatest minds in the world. God placed that knowledge inside those plants and trees.
Without a doubt it takes a great degree of faith to believe in either a living God with the ability to speak life into existence, or basic elements with the ability to either create life through planning, or by a complete accident. We either have to accept a Creator God who came from, no one really knows or is able to explain. Or we can choose to believe in the ability of basic elements to combine and reconfigure themselves into what ever shape they choose. Or whatever shape they happened to form by accident. In either case, man still has a mind to gather evidence to make a choice.