Creation debates.

Ernie and I were talking the other day about the Bible. I love it when we get into one of our deep discussions on the Bible and I cherish the knowledge and wisdom we receive from God when we do this. The other day we were talking about how so many Christians argue over stuff of the Bible and I must say how grieved the Lord must be by this. I am pretty sure He never intended His Word to become the tool many use to divide themselves. The Bible does point out that families will be divided over the Truth (Matthew 10) but I am for certain that when divisive talk/actions are directed brother against brother over the Bible and not even actual written Truths only perceived knowledge... It has to grieve the Holy Spirit who is ready to open us up to His wisdom if we can only shut up.

There is a major debate in the theological world over creation verses evolution. Now I do not think any of these thinkers in this particular debate question the relevance of God in the story. The question and conflict all revolve around the how. Now many times I have written about how "how" is NOT important. The who is important. I have never eluded to what exactly I believe. Today you will get some insight on my thoughts, but no definition. I just want to share what Ernie and I discussed and what we realized the Bible does not say. How many questions are being "answered" by the theologians or well meaning believers which really have little Biblical support .

One big question is the age of the earth. I for one do not read the millions of years to my kids when it is written in books for this is usually stated as fact, but there is no fact on exactly how old the earth is. I believe it was created a short time ago in the realm of the millions of years argument. Here is my question for those answering questions and telling us exactly how old the earth is or is not (and I want a Biblical answer): How old did God make the earth and/or how old was Adam when he was made? We know God made Adam a man not a baby so was he 18, or 30, or 500, or 1000 years old. The Bible does say how old Adam was when he died, but did this aging begin when he actually started aging or at his creation when he would not have been growing older (isn't aging a gradual encroachment on death). How old was the earth then at its creation? 1 year old, or 500,000,000 years old? So the age of the earth I do not think will ever be answered by humans. It may be billions of years old. It may be older than that.

Another question is how did man coexist with dinosaurs if the animals were made the same day as people? Well, where did God place Adam? Was he out in the world or secluded in a perfect little Eden? We do not know how long Adam and Eve lived in this perfect garden. We do know that at the fall when Eve was cursed with painful childbirth that in order for this to have meant a hill of beans to her as a curse, she would have had to experience painless childbirth so how many babies had she had painlessly? 1 baby or 5,000 or ??? Maybe none, but who really knows? So we do not know how long they had lived in the garden or how long maybe the dinos lived outside. We can assume that the curse is the beginning of all death and that maybe even animals would not have died or been killing other animals before this time. So maybe this is a moot point about man living with dinos.

Another question I have is about the serpent. We always picture this snake in the tree tempting Eve, but this is not Biblical. What did the serpent look like before the curse? Before the fact that he would be condemned to his belly and eating the dust? I would think he would have had to have been up off the ground and one to be reckoned with in order for him to have bared any merit in a conversation with Eve. Now, I do believe that Satan was controlling this animal, but do you think he would have chosen some subtle kitten to tempt Eve or an animal with some presence? I am just saying! Could the upright reptiles of the dinosaur era have been the reptiles that now crawl on their belly, and don't most if not all do this now? And if so were they in the garden as herbivores before the fall? There is no answer here just all questions.

Another thing I have always wondered is what if Eve had said no? What would the world be like today? Well after years of me asking this question to others and myself and now Olivia asking me this question I have found an answer. It would be no different or it would be one where Satan were trying hard to cause the fall. I wonder how many times Satan had tempted Adam or Eve in some manner. I know how smart Satan is, but was he that smart automatically or did he work at it tempting Adam and Eve over and over until he finally found the biggest weakness in man and succeeded? If Eve had said no to the serpent, what would he have tried next? Would he have stopped? I don't think so. It doesn't matter, God knew what was eventually going to happen and He had plans of a Savior. Plans for One who would finally defeat Satan for good.

One more question that seems to cause division... How long was the day in the 6 days of creation? Well if anyone cares, it was a day of light and dark. To God a day is 1000 years and 1000 years is a day, so we know that to us it was a cycle of light and dark. Now the actual day- night cycle of light and dark governed by the Sun was not made until day 4 so who can say how long the first 3 days were? God said it was one day, but like the Bible says (2 Peter 3:8) 1 day is 1000 years.

So, I hope my little devil's advocacy game here will point out the irrelevance of the divisiveness of the creation story. Just remember what is important. God made the earth and everything in it (Acts 4:24). This is the important Truth in the Bible. If you want to know how, don't look for the answers in the Bible, seek God and one day I promise you, if you have nothing better to do at His feet, I am sure He will answer those questions. Just don't take yourself so seriously as to judge other Jesus followers by what you have concluded in you quest to figure God out. Keep your conclusions to yourself and don't bank your faith on something proving God because Satan will wipe out your faith if you are proving it. The definition of faith is believing without proof (Hebrews 11:1). Don't use the Bible as a way to figure God out like a text book. I have said it over and over. Don't do it. You will not figure Him out and will eventually give up and become calloused. Just use it to get to know God and His gift of salvation.