Want to learn more about Origins? Use these Bible Studies for personal devotion, group Bible studies, or teaching a church class. Below are links to the lessons in this 13-part series.
Recently, a terrorist moved into my neighborhood. Never
has anyone broken into our home. I feel safe walking in my
neighborhood at night. The terrorist, however, is trying to change
all that. She started a neighborhood watch and began regularly
sending us police reports about arrests and crime in the general
area. My eyes are now opened to the fact that crime could visit me.
We are starting a new series of “eye-opening” lessons. If you thought
that the creation debate involved dusty, largely-irrelevant issues on
which Christians could reasonably differ, this series will teach you
otherwise. It will reveal that some of the most burning issues of
today have their roots in the creation debate. If you doubted that
Satan exists and is engaged in a strategic war against God, this
series of lessons, like my neighborhood terrorist, will disabuse you
of that. Hold on to your hat as we begin to explore how the Biblical
account of the Creation impacts many other doctrines of the Bible!
Let’s assume that you are going out to buy a new car
this week. Except for paying for it, that would be a lot of fun,
right? Think about what qualities you would like in a new car? What
qualities would you avoid? Now consider two new cars. One was created
by the finest auto maker who has production and design capabilities
which are out of this world. The other is the result of setting off
bombs in a junkyard. There is no design or purpose to the explosions.
After a lot of explosions, they let it sit around and accumulate
stuff until it is fit for you. Which do you choose? The handmade
product, or the junkyard product that has been ripening? Let’s
explore this more as we plunge into our study of creation in the
Bible!
Evolutionists and assorted “Old Earth” advocates like
to point out that the Bible is not a science book. It is not about
biology, chemistry, physics or genetics. I think we can agree on
this. So, the question is, “What is the Bible about?” I suggest it
is about God and man and their relationship. Consider how the plain
language of Genesis 1 impacts the relationship between God and
humans. If God truly spoke the universe into existence, and the
major sections of the project were each completed in twenty-four
hours, what were God’s options? Could God say “undo,” “redo,” or
“reset?” The answer is, “of course,” and that speaks volumes about
God’s deliberate decision to stick with His erring creation. What a
God of love! Let’s jump back into our study of the Creation week!
One problem that some Christians, especially new
converts, seem to have is difficulty in distinguishing between
theological issues which are important and those which are not. These
Christians waste all sorts of time paying attention to things which
do not matter. Is that true with the creation account? Is this
something that does not matter? Is the debate between the creation
account and the evolutionary theory a waste of time? Let’s plunge
into our study of the Bible and see what we can discover on the
topic!
Do you know moral people who do not seem religious or
believe in God? On what is their morality based? Today, we have
competing views on what is moral. On one side is a belief in
equality – that all ideas, all philosophies and all opinions are
equal and should be equally valued. On the other side, the Bible
declares that some opinions are worthy of eternal life and some
worthy of eternal death. Equal opportunity is equal opportunity for
salvation. Differences in life, even disabilities, are opportunities
to bring glory to God. These are much different views of what is
right, moral and just. Let’s jump into our study of creation and the
Bible and see if we can better understand this!
Making a mistake is critical to improving. The mistake
reveals what went wrong and how to improve in the future. The world
is filled with two classes of people: those who mostly learn (if at
all) from their own mistakes, and those who mostly learn from the
mistakes of others. Learning from the mistakes of others is not only
less painful, but much more efficient. You get the benefit of the
improvement without suffering the loss of the mistake. Our lesson
this week is about the mother of all mistakes – the fall of humans
into sin. Let’s dive into our study of the Bible and see what
valuable lessons we can learn from the mistakes of Adam and Eve!
I’m currently reading the book Antifragile by Nassim
Taleb. Except in the area of physics, Taleb thinks that tinkerers,
rather than scientists, are responsible for most of our “scientific”
advances. A poster child for Taleb’s theory is Steve Jobs, a college
drop-out who helped to create Apple computers in his garage. When it
comes to the clash between science and the Bible, I’m not too sure it
is helpful to say to pagans, as Taleb would say, “You’re not too
smart and you lie about your accomplishments!” However, there is
substance to the claim that we are a lot less smart than we think –
especially when humans challenge God. Our lesson this week is about
the reasons for our limited knowledge, so let’s jump into our lesson
and learn more!
There is an old saying that if we give a person a fish,
that will help for one meal. If we give them a fishing pole and
tackle, that will make the person self-sufficient. How does God take
care of us? Is He handing out fish all the time, or has He given the
universe a “fishing pole?” Although I think we can only scratch the
surface of this because of limited human understanding, God has
shared some information with us. That information guides us as we
carry on God’s work of provision for those less fortunate. Let’s jump
into our study of the Bible and see what we can learn!
Have you wondered why Satan approached Eve when he
sought to drag humanity into sin? Genesis 3:6 says that Adam was
“with” Eve, but it does not say exactly when he arrived. The fact
that God tells Adam that his sin was to “listen to your wife”
(Genesis 3:17), as opposed to listening to Satan, makes it clear to
me that Adam was not present when Satan tempted Eve. What should we
conclude? The original sin included, as a crucial part, an attack on
marriage! The assault has not stopped. Today, we have a serious
conflict between the secular morality of equality of ideas and
marriage. We also have an unprecedented number of adults who never
married, and we have terrible divorce statistics. Let’s jump into our
study of the Bible and see what God has to teach us about marriage!
“It’s all going to burn.” A young friend of mine would
greet all bad news about his possessions with that statement. What
happens to your stuff is unimportant, he thought, because it will
ultimately be destroyed. Does that make sense to you? Is that the
proper Christian attitude to have about possessions? Is that the
attitude we should have about our stewardship of the earth? How about
the care of our bodies? Let’s jump into our study of the Bible and
find out!
Think about a time when you forgot an event important
to your spouse, a family member or a friend. What was your excuse for
forgetting? My excuse is that I’m too busy, meaning that I am
focused on something else. Frankly, I hate that excuse because it
suggests that something else in my life is more important. When it
comes to the Sabbath, God has taken away that excuse. He invites us
to put away everything else and put our focus on the reason for the
Sabbath. Let’s jump into our study of the Bible and find out more
about God’s view of the Sabbath and what it means to us!
My dear Jewish friend dismisses Jesus as “that
itinerant teacher.” He does not believe that 2,000 years ago God
became man and authoritatively dealt with the sin problem. What is
God’s answer to these kinds of charges? How many times have you sat
in your home and thought that it was created out of nearby trees by a
terrible wind storm? How about five million years of storms? What if
you threw in a few earthquakes? No one thinks their fine home came
about by accident. God essentially says “I created you and the earth,
and so you can believe that I am able to become a human and defeat
sin.” Let’s plunge into our Bible study and learn more about the link
between the Creation and our salvation!
Have you ever taken a picture and realized that the
focus was on the wrong point? This morning I read a headline that
said 1/3 of the people who die of old age are affected by dementia.
If you look forward to retirement, do you also look forward to
dementia and a nursing home? I used to look forward to retirement,
until I decided that I was not going to retire if I could help it. Am
I now looking forward only to dementia and a nursing home? No. Like
the picture with the wrong focus, I’m slowly refocusing on my real
“retirement” – heaven! Let’s jump into our study of the Bible and see
what we can learn about heaven – the “Creation, Again!”
