Evidence for Faith in God

Sunday, September 26, 2004

Dr. Jim Baxter,

Head of Chemistry Department

Valdosta State University

Amazing Grace Sunday School Class

Evangel Assembly of God, Valdosta, GA

 

The Genesis Question by Dr. Hugh Ross - p. 184

 

“What Wheat Reveals” and “What Animals Reveal” about God’s creation. Agriculture and the domestication of animals show that civilization began in one place, and it all points to one place: Mesopotamia, the Fertile Crescent.

 

Primeval History – from Adam and Eve to Noah there were not as many people as could have been because of murder.  They lived a long time and were very wicked.  God reduced it to 8 people—Noah and his family. God killed all the people in the flood.  There was never a flood like this flood.  There have been local floods but not like that one.

 

After Noah, people did some better but not a whole lot better.  God was not caught by surprise.  So, God shortened people’s life span.  This lessened the amount of evil on Earth.

 

God wanted people to spread about over the Earth.  They didn’t.  They built the Tower of Babel—maybe a monument to themselves—maybe worshipping human nature—maybe saying, “Look at what we can do.  We’re supreme.  We can do all of these things.”

 

Next God changed the languages so that they would spread out.  If you can’t understand what someone is saying, you may be hostile toward them because you think they’re plotting something against you.

 

Noah lived 20,000 years ago.  The Tower of Babel was attempted to be built about 11,000 years ago.  Then Abraham came.  That’s where we usually start studying about people in the Bible.

 

Why do we study this?  We are interested in the results of science and technology that have come about over 1000’s of years with human progress.  We have cars, electricity, etc.

 

If we think Genesis is a myth, then we have no reason to believe the rest of the Bible.  If we went to church as a child, we believe the way our parents believed.  As we get older, we may begin questioning what we were taught as a child.  Then we look at the evidence.  As a child, you may have believed in Santa Claus.  After you look at the evidence as you get older, it dawns on you that Santa Claus could not exist.

 

Then you have believed in God and Jesus as taught to you when you were a child.  Then you start looking at the evidence.  You question it.  First, you had blind faith.  Then you realize that you can have informed faith.

 

For example, during WWII, the Japanese believed in Emperor Worship.  They would get in an airplane and crash it on purpose, and they believed that they would go to heaven.  That’s blind faith. There is no evidence for that kind of faith.

 

Faith based on fact.  When Jesus was born, he did not begin his ministry until he was an adult.  When he was dressed like the others, he looked the same as everybody else.  Then this man says, “I am God.  I am the Creator of the Heaven and Earth. I have come to fulfill all scripture and save all people from their sins.”  You would probably be very skeptical.  But … God (Jesus) knew that he needed to do something.  He didn’t want them to have blind faith.  The first miracle was to change water into wine.  That miracle changed one substance into another substance.  It was a creation miracle.  It got people’s attention.  Then this man, Jesus, did other miracles to prove that He was who He said He was.  He did them to say, “I am who I say I am.”

 

The disciples might not have really understood who Jesus was.  They saw Him take a few loaves of bread and a few fishes and make (created) them into enough food to feed thousands.  That was hard to believe because they knew him and where he lived.  They knew his family.  They said they believed but could they possibly really understand who He really was/is?

 

If God (Jesus) were to walk into this room, what would you say or do?  He already knows everything about us even the thoughts in our head.

 

The disciple, John, was at the Last Supper laying against Jesus’ chest and bragging that he was the one who Jesus loved.  When John saw Jesus in the Book of Revelations, he (John) fell down as one dead.  He truly understood then just who Jesus is—God, the Creator of the Universe.

 

When Jesus arose from the dead, they KNEW He was God.  The Romans really knew how to kill someone, and they knew what dead looked like.  Even if He were not dead, in 3 days he could not have been healed of all the injuries to His body from the whipping.

 

The disciples saw Jesus after He rose from the dead.  That’s why the disciples were all willing to be His witnesses and then were willing to die a martyr’s death.  They KNEW that Jesus was the Son of God, and that He really was who He said He was.

 

Our faith is not based on hearsay or myth.  It is based on eye-witnesses.  It is not blind faith.  It is a faith that can be proved with EVIDENCE.

 

The record of nature is as sure as God’s Word is because He created the world, and He created His Word through the writings of Moses and others.

 

Sometimes people misunderstand what the Bible says and sometimes misunderstand what the record of nature says.  We must find out what God’s Word really says.  It must be interpreted properly.  When you look at fossil records, it must be interpreted correctly in the proper timeframe.  Evolutionists try to explain how a fish crawled out of the ocean.  If we understand God’s Word and the record of nature, we can better explain it to others—Christians and non-Christians.

 

God created the universe out of nothing.  Scientists call that the “Big Bang” theory.  God created Adam and Eve very differently from the animals.  There were NO (not any) creations after Adam and Eve.  They were the last to be created.  The smallest bacteria and the largest dinosaurs were created by God.  There is really no argument with those who believe that everything began 6,000 years ago.  It’s OK to believe that.  When you look at the fossil records, there is evidence that there was life long before that.  It’s OK to believe that too. We both believe that God created them all. 

 

There are rings in the ice core.  There are a lot of events where they can count back 1000’s of years in the past and see what happened on the Earth.  There is overwhelming evidence for an old earth.  We don’t have a problem with anyone who believes in a young earth.

 

Some believe that the earth is 13.7 billion years old.  Some believe that it is 6000 years old.  Either one is OK to believe.  It is not heresy to believe either one.  Dr. Jim Baxter, Ph.D. in Chemistry believes in the old earth, but he doesn’t have a problem with anyone who believes in the young earth.

 

It has been proven that Neanderthals were animals.  The DNA proves it.  They were not related to human beings.  They did not have spirit.  We have a lot of good evidence to prove God’s creation and have more reasons to believe to believe in God and Jesus, His son—who died for our sins so that we can have eternal life.  You can find out more at:   www.reasons.org

 

Before troubles and storms hit,  be sure to know the character of God and have faith and trust in Him so that during the storm and in the trouble, we will be able to stand firm with knowing God is with you.