Restoring our Biblical Foundation

Restoring our Biblical Foundation

Author: Kurt Streutker
Subject: Overview
Date:

Since Darwin’s Origin of Species, Christianity has been under relentless attack.

Evolution has been a very effective way to get people to question the authority of God’s Word. Unfortunately, many Christians have taken the beliefs of evolution and millions of years of death, struggle, disease, suffering, extinction and bloodshed and have forced them into Genesis.

Consequently, those who object to a literal Genesis, which is the foundation of all Christian theology such as Creation and the Fall, marriage, death and suffering, and redemption, actually undermine the Biblical foundation for the whole Christian faith and practice.

Millions of Years vs. Six Literal Days

The straightforward reading of Genesis clearly teaches that God created in six literal days. In Exodus 20:9-11, God bases our seven-day week on the days of creation: “Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath day of the LORD thy God…For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day.”

Why are so many Christians not prepared to accept the Genesis record of six literal days? It is because of influence outside the Bible. For example, Dr. P.T. Pun of Wheaton College, who does not believe that Genesis chapters 1-9 are to be taken literally, said, ” It is apparent that the most straightforward understanding of the Genesis record, without regard to all the hermeneutical considerations suggested by science, is that God created heaven and earth in six solar days…death and chaos entered the world after the Fall…catastrophic universal deluge…”

Why have so many theologians abandoned a literal Genesis to embrace evolution and millions of years? Could it be that they trust man’s theories more than God’s Word, or they seek the approval of men rather than God?

Death & Suffering vs. “It is Very Good!”

The Scripture teaches that God created a perfect, sinless world with no death and suffering. He based His declaration of the Creation as “Very Good” on His own character. Because of Adam’s rebellion, however, we are now living in a fallen, sin-cursed world. If this were the result of millions of years, as some have been taught, how could death, struggle, suffering, disease, mutation, extinction, cruelty, and bloodshed be “Very Good” before the Fall?

Furthermore, Acts 3:21 teaches that there will be a future restoration of the world to its original condition before the curse. We read that one day the animals will resume their original vegetarian diet. The wolf and the lamb will feed together and lion will eat straw like and ox, and so on. If death and bloodshed have always been with us, then what will be restored? More death and bloodshed?

Man’s Opinions vs. God’s Word

Evolution is not really science, but an anti-God religion which makes man accountable only to himself. With and evolutionary philosophy, you could justify your actions because it’s only a matter of one’s opinion. A Dateline TV interviewer (NBC, 1994) asked Jeffrey Dahmer why he committed such heinous, cannibalistic crimes. Dahmer said, ” If a person doesn’t think that there is a God to be accountable to, then what’s the point of trying to modify your behavior to keep it within acceptable ranges? That’s how I thought anyway. I always believed the theory of evolution as truth, that we all came from slime. When we died, you know, that was it, there is nothing…”

Dahmer was acting consistently with what he once believed. He went on to say, “…and I’ve since come to believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is truly God, and I believe that I, as well as everyone else, will be accountable to Him.”

With Creation as your foundation, however, it is a matter of the Creator’s Word being the absolute authority. Paul warned us, ” Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men, after the rudiments of the world , and not after Christ (Col:2:8).” Have we been duped into believing that the Creation/evolution controversy is only a side issue?

Allegory vs. Historical Narrative

Christianity is a reasonable faith based on actual historical facts. If the Virgin Birth, death, burial and resurrection of Christ are not all historical facts, then Christianity is based on fictional stories.

Equally important, if the historical narrative in Genesis is not accurate, then there is no foundation for the Christian Faith, because all Biblical doctrines are — directly or indirectly — tied to the first eleven chapters of Genesis (e.g. sin, marriage, etc.).

Therefore, we should take heed to Jude’s exhortation to, “… earnestly contend for the Faith which was once delivered unto the saints (Jude 3)” And most importantly, work to restore the Biblical foundation because, “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do (Ps.11:3)?” We will not see revival in our churches until the church recognizes this compromise and repents!

Kurt Streutker

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