4 Reasons to Believe in Creation

Those that believe in creation believe that the universe and all human life is the result of divine creation. For creationists, God is responsible for the creation of the entire cosmos.

While there are differing opinions among Christians regarding creation (e.g. young earth creationism, gap creationism, theistic evolution), almost half of Americans now consider themselves to be creation believers, with almost all of those acknowledging that God created the universe, as described in the Biblical accounts. A recent article in the Daily Mail states that:

“Nearly half of Americans believe God created mankind in a single day about 10,000 years ago, a literal interpretation of the Bible, according to a new survey that shows the view toward evolution in the United States hasn’t changed in 30 years.

About 46 percent of people say creationism explains the origin of humans. Just 15 percent say humans evolved without the assistance of God.” (Read the article)

With so many now believing in the creative work of God, it’s important to look at why creation continues to stand up, in spite of modern scientific theories which appear to contradict the Biblical accounts. We hope this list of four reasons to believe in Biblical Creationism will inspire your faith in God’s creative work, and strengthen it.

The Bible Reveals Creation

The Bible states over 30 times that God created all life including plant, animal and human.

The first two books of the Bible are even specifically devoted to the accounts of God’s creative activity and our origins. Genesis functions as the foundational book of the Bible and tells the story of the beginnings of the universe, the earth and humanity. The accounts of God’s creation serve to help us understand the book we are about to read, and to grasp God’s redemptive plan for the world.

As a complete work, the Bible reveals the nature of God through his creation, and through his relationship to creation – from Genesis to Revelation. The Primeval History laid out in Genesis 1-11 is referred to over 100 times throughout the New Testament alone, and is referred to by every New Testament author. The importance of the Genesis accounts of creation cannot be overstated.

A belief in evolution is a misreading of scripture as it cannot be reconciled with passages such as Genesis 1 or Exodus 20:11 which states:

“For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

Beliefs in anything other than God’s creation of the universe are inconsistent with the omnipotent, omniscient and redemptive picture of God that the Bible paints.

Jesus Confirmed Creation

Jesus referred to Genesis himself, on several occasions – always affirming his belief in the accounts as historical realities.

In Mark he states that:

“But at the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.” (10:6)

And in Matthew Jesus responds to the Pharisees questions on divorce:

“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” (19:3-6)

Jesus confirmed the accounts of Genesis: Adam and Eve were real people, as were Cain and Abel. Jesus also affirms the historical validity of Noah and the flood later on in Matthew.

For Jesus, the events described in Genesis were real events with real people. The historicity of The Primeval History is bound up with much of Christ’s teaching on theological matters. Understanding Jesus relies on our understanding of, and belief in, the creation narrative.

The Authority of Scripture Relies On It

If we deny creation, or allege that some passages should be understood as mere myth or allegory, then we are putting the authority of the canon at risk for two reasons:

Firstly, if these stories do not describe events as they state, then what other parts of the Bible might be misleading? Deciding not to believe in the creation accounts of Genesis will inevitably lead to questions about the reliability of other parts of the Bible, and the Bible as a complete work.

Secondly, if the Bible is in fact unreliable, then we undermine our own belief in God’s inerrant word. If we do not subscribe to the creation accounts which appear throughout the Bible, then we open the Bible up to be considered full of errors and not divinely inspired – as Christians usually understand it.

God’s Character is Grounded in Creation

The Bible reveals God’s nature through his creation. In the beginning we are created in his image. Throughout the Old Testament the people are called to be the people of a creative God and in the New Testament we see God revealed through Jesus, who was with the father at the creation:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” (John 1:1-3)

The New Testament even closes with the promise of a new creation, in which God will carry out his redemptive plans and see his kingdom reign on earth. In order to understand God, we must believe and recognise him as the creator of the entire cosmos. The Psalmist wrote that:

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” (19:1)

To exist within creation is to exist within the presence of God. God is deeply embedded into his creation.

To celebrate God’s creation, sign our petition to establish Creation Day as an official holiday

Is The Bible True? 8 Compelling Pieces of Evidence

The Bible

In order to understand the Bible and whether or not we can regard it as reliable, we must first understand something about the nature of the Bible. The Bible is not a book, so much as a collection of many books. The collection was authored by a number of different writers and editors over a period of over 1000 years before it was compiled into the single book that we now know as ‘the Bible’.

Though God did not physically write the Bible, Christians believe that the Bible is God’s word – inspired by God, written through everyday people to record the events of the Old and New Testament and to reveal himself to humanity.

The Bible is controversial today for several reasons. Firstly, it is filled with miraculous events which modern people find hard to accept as true events. Events such as the parting of the Red Sea, the splitting of the rock and Jesus walking on water are difficult for people to swallow, particularly in an age where anything that appears to supersede the natural world is dismissed or rejected. Secondly, the Bible makes very bold, existential claims about the world. It claims that God exists, that he reveals himself through his creation and through his son Jesus who is the saviour of the world and all of humanity. These things have often led people to doubt the authenticity, and relevance of the Bible in the 21^st century.

One of the issues that sceptics have is that Christians often quote the Bible, in trying to build their case for the Bible’s validity. This can be problematic because those who question the Bible do not view it as reliable, and thus, an appropriate source. A better approach is to present sceptics with mixed evidence, both from within, and outside of the Bible. This will exhibit the Bible for what it is – a reliable, accurate record which has been transmitted down through history and shaped into a canon that reveals God to the world.

The following is a list of eight compelling cases for the accuracy and reliability of the Bible.

Manuscript Evidence

“There is no body of ancient literature in the world which enjoys such a wealth of good textual attestation as the New Testament.”

– F. F. Bruce

Compared to other manuscripts and pieces of ancient literature, the amount of Biblical manuscripts in existence is phenomenal. The number of ancient Biblical manuscripts in existence far exceeds that of classics such as Plato, Socrates or Aristotle, and the accuracy of the transmission between manuscripts serves to prove just how extraordinary this piece of literature is.

The most famous Old Testament example of manuscript evidence is that of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were found in the caves of Qumran, Palestine in the 1940s. At the time of their discovery, there had been 2,000 years since the last penned pieces of the Old Testament and the finding of the manuscripts, yet, the match between the Hebrew Bible that we use today and the ones found in the caves is uncanny.

When it comes to the New Testament, more than 20,000 manuscripts are in existence, making the New Testament the most reliable document in antiquity. The second most available text from antiquity is Homer’s Illiad, of which just over 600 copies exist.

Sceptics will often claim that the Bible has been changed throughout history, and lacks the original, intended message of the authors but the physical evidence against this notion, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, is quite compelling. While the manuscripts do contain minor variants, they do not impact on the substance or the significance of key Old or New Testament beliefs and claims. It is also clear from the sheer number of manuscript copies that closely match the Bible in its current form, that the Bible has been preserved without any additions or major alterations.

The manuscript evidence reinforces the fact that the Bible has indeed, stood the test of time.

Archaeological Evidence

Time after time, modern archaeological discoveries have confirmed the historical and cultural accuracy of the Bible and its records.

Over 25,000 Biblically relevant archaeological sites have now been excavated, all of which have served as an amazing testimony to the legitimacy of the Biblical record. The historical reality of civilisation such as the Hittites, the Edomites and the Horites have all been confirmed through archaeological findings, as have many kings and kingdoms mentioned within the Old Testament. The Hittites, referenced throughout the Old Testament as a group of people living within the Canaanites, were thought to be nothing more than a Biblical legend, until their royal archives were unearthed in Turkey in 1906. Sceptics also believed that Solomon’s tremendous wealth, as described in 1 Kings was thought to be exaggerated, and embellished for literary reasons, but recovered records show that wealth in antiquity peaked around the time of Solomon.

No other piece of ancient literature has been as confirmed by archaeological studies as much as the Bible, and discoveries of this nature continue to demonstrate the credibility of the Bible.

Eyewitness Accounts

What makes the Bible unique from other ancient texts is also the nature of its authors – many of whom were eyewitnesses to the events described. We know from the New Testament and other historical writings that Christians were strongly victimised and oppressed for their beliefs, particularly by the Roman government. Some of the Biblical eyewitnesses went on to be persecuted and even executed for their commitment to the Christian message, begging the question….would a person die to protect texts that were not true? John Calvin wrote that:

“It is no moderate approbation of Scripture that it has been sealed by the blood of so many witnesses, especially when we reflect that they died to render testimony to the faith …with a firm and constant, yet sober, zeal toward God.”

All of the New Testament writers lived in the same generation of Jesus, and three of the writers were likely His apostles – Matthew, John and Peter. A strong case can also be made that these writers wrote the books that make up the New Testament prior to the destruction of the temple in AD 70. One portion of The Gospel of Matthew is dated to around 50 AD – 17 years after Christ’s crucifixion. This small interval between the actual events and the written accounts of them make the content within them more likely to be reliable than if there was a large interval between the two. The first account of the Buddha’s life did not get penned till 700 years after his death! The fact that these manuscripts, read by those living only 17 years after Jesus ministry do not differ from the Biblical material that we have today – 2,000 years later, reinforces the reliability of the Biblical texts.

It is also, certainly worth noting that the New Testament circulated during the lifetime of thousands of people who were alive at the time of Jesus’ ministry. If a book began circulating today that claimed that a man was the Son of God, and went onto describe a serious of miraculous events that took place – when in fact they didn’t – people would soon refute the book and correct the story. Interestingly, nobody in the generation in which the New Testament was circulating ever claimed the texts to be anything other than truth, indicating that they probably were.

Extra-Biblical Evidence

Sources outside of the Bible also confirm the events which are described in the Bible. Prominent Jewish historian Josephus confirmed the life of Jesus as well as the events surrounding his crucifixion under the Roman government and Roman historian P. Cornelius Tacitus, also referred to Jesus in his writings. The fact that the Bible finds support among secular historians such as Cornelius lends further backing to the idea that the Bible is an authentic, valid piece of literature and thus, should be treated as such.

Consistency

Though the Bible is made up of 66 books written over a long span of time, it consists of just one Metanarrative: one overarching story of God’s plan for redemption and salvation. While some modern books are compiled by multiple authors and editors, they do not achieve one single, unifying theme like the Bible does – this can only be accomplished when the book is underwritten by a single divine author.

The internal consistency and coherence that exists with the Bible is unique in that it represents a single theology, revealed and described through the framework of human history.

Jesus

One of the most compelling arguments for the truth and validity of the Bible, is that of Jesus Christ himself. Jesus is evidence for the Bible’s validity, for two distinct reasons:

Firstly, the four Gospels in the New Testament – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – all present an accurate, coherent record of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and in all four of the gospels, Jesus can be seen as regarding the Old Testament as holy and authoritative. For this reason, Jesus himself forms the sixth piece of compelling evidence that the Bible is true. Jesus said that “Scripture cannot be broken” and used it as a source of authority in his teachings. Jesus also confirmed historical characters from the Old Testament, including Jonah, Noah and Adam and Eve.

All of this amounts to one point: If we take the New Testament to be proof of Jesus and accept that He was God’s son, that he lived, was crucified and rose again on the third day, then we must accept the Old Testament – because Jesus did.

Secondly, Jesus very existence proclaims the reliability of the Bible. Of all the prophecies which are contained in the Old Testament, over 300 point to the ‘anointed one’. In light of what we know about Jesus birth, life, ministry, death and resurrection, we can include the reality of Jesus as evidence for the Old Testament. These 300 + prophecies were written hundreds of years before Jesus was born, yet, in being born, he fulfilled them all.

Scientific Consistence

Much of the Biblical material is consistent with modern scientific discoveries, despite being written long before our modern understanding of the world.

Here are some examples:

The Bible refers to the immeasurable number of stars in the heavens (Genesis 22:17, Jeremiah 33:22). We know that scientists today do not know the amount of stars in the sky, as only around 3,000 are visible to the naked eye.
Job described the earth’s suspension in space (26:7)
Psalms describes the hydrologic cycle of the earth and evaporation (135:7), as does Jeremiah (10:13) and Job (36:27-29)
Hebrews 11:3 describes invisible atoms, stating that “things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”
Modern medicine now knows that blood clotting in newborn babies reaches a climax on the eight day after they are born, before tapering off again. The Bible consistently instructs parents to circumcise their babies on the eight day after birth.

Endurance and Influence

Lastly, the most compelling piece of evidence that the Bible is true is the longevity of the book, and the impact that it has had on the world since its inception. For thousands of years, scholars, clergy and laymen have come to the Bible of their own accord – freely and without coercion. The Bible has influenced the legal system, ethics, art, music, literature, the calendar, money and marriage.

No other book in has ever had the impact on world history that the Bible has prompted.

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Was Jesus Vegetarian?

“Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.”

– Albert Einstein

These words from the patriarch of modern science himself, remind us that life was not ideally built for meat eating.

The Original Design

While a vegetarian diet is not a popular practice in the Western world and in modern Christian thought, the case for a vegetarian diet finds support in scripture. The first biblical writings are quite clear that meat was never part of the original design, with Genesis 1 depicting God’s creation of Adam and Eve, and then God providing them with plant life to sustain their diet:

^“Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to everything that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so.”

The newly created order offered ample resources for man and woman to freely consume plant life as part of the original design. Though some argue that this does not prove that humanity was only allowed to eat meat, the text certainly implies it. This, together with the introduction of death in Genesis 3 suggests that a meat based diet would not have been possible when God laid down the vegetarian mandate, as death did not exist for either humans, or animals up until the time of the fall.

In Genesis 3, sin entered the world, as did death, as a result. Because God’s original design was so intrinsically ruptured, the death and carnivory that was absent from the paradisal existence of Eden was suddenly introduced into the world. Consequentially, animals began to eat each other, and in Genesis 9 God allows meat eating among humans, to take place:

^“Every moving thing that lives shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.”

(To read more about the original design for a vegetarian life, check out Were Adam and Eve Vegetarians? The Biblical Basis for a Vegetarian Life.)

PETA

The Prominent animal activist group ‘PETA’ (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has recently made claims that the only acceptable diet is vegetarianism. Of course, this is not new, but what is new, is that they claim that the biblical depiction of Jesus demands vegetarianism, because Jesus was a vegetarian. The PETA website states the following:

“Many biblical scholars believe that Jesus was a vegetarian. Jesus’ message is one of love and compassion, and there is nothing loving or compassionate about factory farms and slaughterhouses, where billions of animals live miserable lives and die violent, bloody deaths. Jesus mandates kindness, mercy, compassion, and love for all God’s creation. He would be appalled by the suffering that we inflict on animals just to indulge our acquired taste for their flesh.

We all have a choice. When we sit down to eat, we can add to the level of violence, misery, and death in the world, or we can respect God’s creation with a vegetarian diet.”

PETA’s argument is that if we are to live out of the gospel of such a compassionate Christ, then we must question the morality of the animal slaughter markets that we are buying into, and sustaining by giving them our business.

Christianity

Throughout history, other religious traditions such as Hinduism have already adopted a meatless diet, yet Christianity has varied in its commitment throughout history, to compassion for God’s creation.

Prior to the Middle Ages, Christian vegetarianism was quite common, and was practised among several prominent monastic orders. Early church writings seem to indicate that meat eating was not a common practice up until around the 4^th century when the Emperor Constantine came into power and meat eating became the official mandate for the Roman Empire. Early church fathers such as St. Basil, Tertullian, Origen and Clement of Alexandria were all committed vegetarians who wrote about their convictions in great detail.

In modern times, major Christian leaders such as John Wesley also adopted a vegetarian diet and many Christian scholars of our time have come to conclude that a vegetarian diet appears to be more consistent with the content of creation scripture and of Christ’s teachings.

However, over time, Christianity has moved away from the vegetarian diet in favor of accepting a more Western way of living and eating in a way that conforms to popular culture. Recently however, there has been a shift amongst modern Christians, and a revival of sorts has begun to take place as more and more Christians perceive a vegetarian diet to be in keeping with the gospel message, and as relieving modern world problems such as hunger, obesity and poor health.

Jesus

The issue of whether or not Jesus was a vegetarian is ambiguous, but what is clear is that Jesus was at least ‘some sort’ of meat eater.

Luke records Jesus as eating fish,

“They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.” (24:42-43)

Jesus was also seen feeding the hungry crowds fish in Matthew (14) and is described twice, as having helped his disciples to catch such a large amount of fish that their nets almost broke.

Jesus can also be seen in the Gospel of Luke, eating a Passover meal which may have included lamb;

“Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.” (22:8)

Since Jesus was born into a culture of Jewish law, he not only participated in the Passover meal, but specifically instructed his disciples to prepare one for them to share. We also know from Luke 2:41 that Jesus had engaged in a Passover meal each year as a child. Scripture is not clear on whether this meal included lamb but in light of the historical and religious context of Passover it is certainly likely, though it is curious that there is no mention of his partaking in any red meat.

It is, however, undeniable that Jesus ate fish. Arguing for the ovo-lacto vegetarianism of Jesus, from a scriptural point of view, is futile. However, this is not to say that Jesus did not practice pescatarianism (a vegetarian diet that includes fish), and the textual evidence for such an argument is quite convincing. Though there are multiple references to Jesus eating, catching and using fish to feed others, references to Jesus eating or condoning the eating of red meat are completely absent. If Jesus ate meat, the New Testament is completely silent about it.

Whether or not Jesus himself was a vegetarian, 4^th century theologian Hieronymous certainly understood Jesus as being a more than adequate basis for adopting a vegetarian diet:

“The consumption of animal flesh was unknown up until the great flood. But since the great flood, we have had animal flesh stuffed into our mouths. Jesus, the Christ, who appeared when the time was fulfilled, again joined the end to the beginning, so that we are now no longer allowed to eat animal flesh.”

Eating a vegetarian diet might not be something we should do in order to mimic Jesus’ actions, but it is certainly a lifestyle that is in keeping with the wider message that Jesus brought, and with the atonement work that He set down .

In order for Christians to live out of the gospel, and out of Jesus’ message of compassion, Christians must treat animals with kindness, and must remain committed to the Biblical stewardship that was mandated in Genesis. While we know that humans were permitted to eat animals after the flood, to cause suffering to an animal or to kill when there is no legitimate need is contrary to Jesus’ message of love and benevolence, and goes against God’s original design.

Meat-eating is not a sin, but it is reasonable to conclude that it should only be done so within the wider framework of Jesus and the gospel message. Meat eating needs to be undertaken with empathy and confronted with grace, and should not be undertaken as an act of violence, or out of greed or extravagance. Despite the general acceptance within the Western world toward a meat heavy diet, Christians must address the issue of animal welfare within the wider context of the Christian message.

People can eat meat without doing so irresponsibly. We must transform our diets to reflect the humility and compassion of Christ, and of the gospel.

Should We Be Vegetarian?

Whether or not a Christian is a vegetarian comes down to personal choice. While there is compelling evidence that meat eating was not a part of the original design, and while the gospel is silent on the issue of Jesus eating red meat, the Bible is not black and white on the issue.

While Genesis 1 states that humanity was not originally designed to eat meat, Genesis 9 states that it is permissible. Jewish law in Leviticus then lays down further mandates regarding the eating of meat before Jesus eventually declares all foods as ‘clean’ (Mark 7).

The bible does not command meat eating so there is certainly nothing wrong with abstaining from meat. What it does command is that we should not force our dietary convictions on each other:

^“ The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them.”

-Romans 14:3

Whether or not you choose to eat meat should be a well thought out, and well prayed over, decision. Ultimately, it is between you and God. And remember…

“…whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

-Corinthians 10:31

To make the first step toward caring for your God’s creation, be sure to sign our petition to establish Creation Day as an official holiday!

PETA Quotation Source: http://www.peta.org/about-peta/faq/was-jesus-really-a-vegetarian/

The Human Obsession with Skin Tone

“Racism is man’s gravest threat to man – the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason.”

– Abraham Joshua Heschel

For centuries there have been people in societies all over the world that think they can justify their racist attitudes, often using the Bible as their weapon. In the midst of a new racist revival sweeping America, we must face up to what the Bible really says about different groups of people.

What Is Race?

Firstly, we must acknowledge that when dealing with race we are trying to separate people into different races, that really only belong to one: the human race. Jews, Asians, Indians, Caucasians etc. are all ethnicities within the human race. Other than slight variations or exceptions, every human being possesses the same physical traits. We all have two arms, two legs, eyes, nose mouth and more. We also know from Genesis that every man and woman was created in the image of God himself, making us not simply ‘One Nation’, but ‘One Race’…under God.

Several Biblical writers address the human condition and what it means to be one race under God. John 3:16 says that^“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son…” and Romans 10:12 tells us that “…there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.” Both John and Romans is referring to the entire human race. This includes every country, every ethnic group and every person. Our Lord is the Lord of all.

People come in all shapes and sizes, varying according to their size, hair and eye colour, facial features and much more. Every human being looks different. However, historically, people have had the tendency to try and group people according to these physical traits, in order to fit them into a framework of racial characteristics.

This has resulted in people treating people differently and making assumptions about people based on those characteristics. Some have even gone so far as to presume that these differences should represent differences in the way that people are valued and can live.

The Biblical Basis for Racism

God’s word is final and conclusive when it comes to issues of race. The world is inhabited by only one race: the human race.

We know from Genesis that God created one man and one woman, through whom all humanity exists, and that every person on earth can be traced back to these two people since Eve was called the ‘Mother of all the living’. Interestingly enough, even the most recent scientific evidence suggests that all humans originated in one place, slowly populating the rest of the world.

Yet, one question remains: how did there come to be so much variation within the human race? Genesis 11 depicts ‘The Tower of Babel’ – an event where God confused the language of humanity in order to separate them and scatter them across the world. As a result, groups of people became socially, geographically and genetically isolated, marrying and breeding within each other. This means that generation after generation were living within their own micro-cultures, doing things differently and maintaining their physical traits through selective breeding. These ethnic similarities within groups have come to be known as racial differences but this is incorrect. There is still only one race: the human race.

A Horse of a Different Color

When it comes to skin color, there has also been a mass miss-understanding. Amongst the people that make up the one race, there is also just one colour of skin: brown.

Everyone’s skin color is made up of brown a pigment called melanin. Every person on earth has skin that contains two main forms of melanin: eumelanin and pheomelanin. It is the proportion of each that is possessed that determines the tone of one’s skin. This means there is no fundamental difference in people to determine skin color. Every person born is a person with some-determined amounts of brown. People then fall into a spectrum of brown, whether that is light or dark brown.

The proportions are determined by several factors: one is geographical location. People who live in areas closer to the equator tend to possess darker skin, as this offers a certain amount of protection from the intense sun in these regions. Melanin is also thought to protect the skin against radiation damage, thus acting as a cancer preventative. In high altitude areas where the sun is less intense, residents need to produce Vitamin D efficiently and so tend to have lighter skin. These characteristics would eventually be carried through the gene pool and would have resulted in isolated populations taking on these characteristics within their groups. The result is today that people with dark skin tend to have dark skinned children, and those with light skin tend to produce lighter skinned children.

Eyes carry the same geographical characteristics. Melanin is also present in the eyes, protecting them from ultraviolet light. It is widely known that grey, blue and green eyes are more sensitive to light and have a higher risk of incurring sun-related problems.

We All Bleed Red

Unfortunately, generations of ideas about race can become so ingrained that it’s difficult to completely purge them out of society and out of the individual mind. However, these misperceptions must be addressed.

Every human being is a human being. Each one was created in the image of God and descended from our created ancestors Adam and Eve. When cut, every human bleeds red blood. The term ‘race’ is meaningless. There is only one race: the human race.

“From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth”

Acts 17:26

We can correctly speak of differences in our ethnic traditions and cultural settings but we are still the same. We all bleed red.

What Would Jesus Do?

Jesus commanded us to “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” His father loved us in the same way; ^“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son…”

We must practice the love that the Father and the Son have demonstrated by loving every human being. When we mistreat people we are committing a grave sin: we are mistreating a person whom God loves, whom he created in his own image and whom Jesus died on the cross to protect.

Those who have demonstrated racism, discrimination or who have failed to love others with the love that God has shown us, must repent and ask for forgiveness, so that we may one day live in the true realisation of Galatians 3:28;

“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

To honour God’s creation, be sure to sign the petition to establish Creation Day as an official holiday!

Matters of Eden: How Long Were Adam and Eve in the Garden?

Adam and Eve were living in the paradisal conditions of Eden for some time before they ate from the tree and were subsequently driven out of the garden…but how much time did they actually spend in the Garden of Eden?

We do have some biblical evidence which can help us to make estimated guesses at the timeframe of the couple’s Edenic life. While we have no way of concluding for sure exactly how long the two were there, there are several reasons to believe that they only resided within the utopian garden for a short time before the expulsion.

Creation Week

Genesis 1 describes the week where God created the world from nothing. The world is described as being brought into existence through the creation of the heavens and the earth, vegetation, animals and finally, humanity. After God’s creative work, he observed what he had made and declared it to be good, before taking the seventh day to rest from his work.

From this we can gauge two things;

Firstly, we can conclusively rule out Adam sinning on the sixth day, as God declared everything to be good. Secondly, we can also rule out the idea that Adam sinned on the seventh day, as God consecrated it as the Sabbath.

From this we can conclude that Adam could not have sinned between his creation and God’s sanctification of the Sabbath, ruling out creation week all together.

Adam’s Age and Progeny

Adam’s age can help us to gauge an upper limit on how long he and Eve might have spent in the garden.

Genesis 5:5 states that “Altogether, Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died.” We also know from Genesis 1:14 that the world was being measured in times, days and years by this point, so we can take this figure at its face value. From this we can conclude that no matter how long Adam and Eve were in the Garden, it could not have exceeded Adam’s lifespan of 930 years, since we know that Adam was expelled from the garden.

Further to this, we know that Adam and Eve had children outside of the garden. Genesis 4:25 says that Adam and Eve had their child, Seth, after Abel’s death. We know that this is post-Eden and we also know from Genesis 5:3 that Adam was 130 years old when Seth was born. The reference to Abel’s death also makes it clear that there was a significant time gap between the birth of Cain and Abel and the birth of Seth. Genesis 4:17 suggests that Cain was married at the time of his murder of Abel which would place him as a late teen or adult.

Since scripture makes it clear that Seth was born outside of the garden, after the events of Cain and Abel, when Cain was old enough to be married and working the land, we can conclude that Adam and Eve could not have been in the garden for more than 110-115 years, and certainly not more than 130!

Issues of Conception

Since we know that God created Adam and Eve with perfect bodies, free from health issues, some have suggested that this perfect state would have produced rather quick conceptions, free from the fertility issues that abound in the modern day. In the modern world, we know that healthy fertile women have an 85% chance of becoming pregnant within a year. A perfectly formed women, without the complications of the modern world would probably get pregnant much quicker than this, but we can at least conclude that the chances of their Edenic residence was not likely more than a year.

We also know from Genesis 1:28 that shortly after their creation they were commanded to “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth”. This suggests that the pair would have begun actively trying to reproduce immediately, and thus cannot have resided in paradise for very long, as the conception and birth of a child produced from Adam and Eve is not described until after the expulsion in Genesis 4:1.

Based on this evidence, we can speculate that if the couple spent more than a year in the garden between their creation and the fall, Eve would have conceived, or even given birth to children before being deceived and expelled. We cannot say for certain that there were no children present at the fall, whether in-utero or running around beneath the tree in question, but it seems unlikely given the complete silence regarding children until the fall, and the sudden appearance of them after the expulsion. The only conceptions or births recorded are described outside of Eden, which can only lead us to believe that Adam and Eve were not in the Garden of Eden long enough to have had children or even conceived any.

The Serpent

The last piece of biblical evidence we have to support a short-stay in Eden is that of the serpent from Genesis 3.

Based on the evidence elsewhere in the bible of the way that the ‘serpent’ works, it seems unlikely that he would waste time before seizing his opportunity. In Matthew 4, Jesus was only in the wilderness ‘forty days and forty nights’ before ‘the tempter’ came to undermine God’s authority once more. Another example is Job 1 where Satan is commissioned to interfere with the life of Job, and goes immediately to take up this position.

The ‘tempter’ would know that timing is everything. The longer he waited to strike with Adam and Eve, the more devoted and obedient the pair would be to God, since his presence in the garden and his relationship to the pair was very close and tangible.

Satan would have made no hesitation to set about undermining the relationship between Adam and Eve as early as possible, further reinforcing the theory that Adam and Eve did not live in Eden for very long before eating from the tree and being driven out.

To honour God’s creation, be sure to sign the petition to establish Creation Day as an official holiday!