Poulsbo Community Church

We had such a great discussion last night that we didn’t have time for the video … so although we were planning to not have class next week, we will show the video for Lesson 3 on October 28^th, starting at 7:00 PM.  It shouldn’t take more than an hour—in it, Kurt Wise presents his reasons for taking a Young Earth position so you won’t want to miss it.  Bring your favorite coffee drink, popcorn or even a treat to share during the video—afterwards, a group of us will be preparing for the Precept Training on Friday so you are welcome to help us or just have an early night!

The author of Hebrews tells us that faith is the assurance [= substance] of things hoped for, the conviction [= evidence] of things not seen … and that it is by faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.  Recognize that this is not blind faith as the world thinks of faith—did you notice “substance” and “evidence”?  The biblical idea of faith has as its object God, Himself—it is confidence and trust that He is who He says He is, that He did what He said He did and that He will do what He has said He will do.  I just can’t say it any better than Wayne Grudem in his Systematic Theology, Chapter 35:

The word “faith” … is sometimes used today to refer to an almost irrational commitment to something in spite of strong evidence to the contrary; a sort of irrational decision to believe something that we are quite sure is not true!  (If your favorite football team continues to lose games, someone might encourage you to “have faith” even though all the facts point the opposite direction.)  In these two popular senses, the word “belief” and the word “faith” have a meaning contrary to the biblical sense.  The word “trust” is closer to the biblical idea, since we are familiar with trusting persons in everyday life.  The more we come to know a person, and the more we see in that person a pattern of life that warrants trust, the more we find ourselves able to place trust in that person to do what he or she promises, or to act in ways that we can rely on.

Do you see why it’s so important for you to be in Scripture, the very word of God?  In it, you come to know Him and how He works, nugget by nugget, and you increasingly put more and more of your trust in Him.  This is the life of faith!

Last night, we reviewed Lesson Three, Days 1-3.  This is great interpretation practice!  The best interpreter of Scripture is Scripture, so we looked at many cross references.  We found that—across many speakers, authors and books in the old and new testaments—the Bible itself consistently treats the “days” of creation as literal 24-hour days and the account of creation in Genesis as literal, historical fact.  Seeing this is also great application practice because we must decide:  since God has said this, will I trust it because I trust Him?  Even where scientific opinion appears to be in conflict?  Even if it’s different from what I thought to be true?  Even if someone with their own TV show tells me otherwise?  We must always start with God’s Word and examine everything else according to it, versus the other way around—and this includes science.

We also worked together on Lesson Three, Days 4 & 5.  Thanks very much to Melinda Weer, for giving us a very clear breakdown of the different views on p.30—and for fueling our curiosity about geology!  Here's our work from class on the approximate age of the earth, according to Scripture—scholars used many other passages, but including these, to build the chart at the bottom of p.27.  Oftentimes God is extremely specific when He speaks, e.g. compare what God tells Abraham in Genesis 15:13-16 to the average newspaper horoscope, “Beware of relationship issues today,” and you’ll see what I mean!  So If God is specifically spelling out that the earth is thousands—not millions—of years old, shouldn’t we take Him at His Word?

Here’s another quote from Grudem on the subject—this is in Chapter 15 of Systematic Theology:

When all the facts are rightly understood, there will be “no final conflict” between Scripture and natural science.  The major point [of Francis Schaeffer’s book, No Final Conflict] is that in both our understanding of the natural world and our understanding of Scripture, our knowledge is not perfect.  But we can approach both scientific and biblical study with the confidence that when all the facts are correctly understood, and when we have understood Scripture rightly, our findings will never be in conflict with each other; there will be “no final conflict.”  This is because God, who speaks in Scripture, knows all facts, and He has not spoken in a way that would contradict any true fact in the universe.  This is a very helpful perspective with which the Christian should begin any study of creation and modern science.  We should not fear to investigate scientifically the facts of the created world but should do so eagerly and with complete honesty, confident that when facts are rightly understood, they will always turn out to be consistent with God’s inerrant words in Scripture.  Similarly, we should approach the study of Scripture eagerly and with confidence that, when rightly understood, Scripture will never contradict facts in the natural world.  Amen!

Homework over the next two weeks (we’ll only watch the video on October 28^th, not discuss anything) is all of Lesson Four.  It is a very long lesson but I know it will bless us as we look closer at the days of creation—for example, if the sun isn’t created until the fourth day, where did the light on day one come from?  It will give you just a little glimpse of the perfection of God’s Word as we use Scripture to interpret Scripture.  And, there’s a little something for everyone in the lesson—parts of it may stretch you a bit but do your best, e.g. at least read the summaries at the end of the scientific articles and at least use stick figures to do the illustrations.  I will send word study helps to the newer students by email.

May God richly bless you as you seek to know Him more and as you respond to His love for you!

Love,

Leeta

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  For in [the gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH."