The 7 C’s Of A Firm Foundation

This study begins first with a study of Genesis 1-11. Why is that? Nearly every Biblical doctrine is based on scripture in this section. The theme of creation and restoration are consistent from Genesis to Revelation. Knowing how the Bible ties together helps to build a firm foundation for your faith. What are the 7 C’s of a firm foundation? They are:

·         Creation (the original perfect work)

·         Corruption (the original perfect creation altered due to sin)

·         Catastrophe (the Flood)

·         Confusion (spread of the populations after Babel)

·         Christ (promises of the Messiah who would restore all things)

·         Cross (what Christ restored to believers)

·         Consummation (God’s restoration of His creation to perfection again).

The Basic Study

This study guide consists of 22 lessons:

·         16 lessons cover the details presented in Genesis 1-11 regarding Creation, the Curse, the Flood, and the dispersion of people from the Tower of Babel

·         6 lessons cover the Old Testament prophecies from God promising a Redeemer for His people, the scriptures showing how Jesus fulfills those promises, and what God plans to do to restore His creation back to its initial perfection and even better!

Process of Bible Study: Each lesson includes core questions covering the passage narrative. These core questions will take you through the process of inductive Bible study—observation, interpretation, and application. The process is more easily understood in the context of answering these questions:

·         What does the passage say? (Observation: what’s actually there)

·         What does it mean? (Interpretation: the author’s intended meaning)

·         How does this apply to me today? (Application: making it personal) Questions identified as “Appreciation Application” and “Appreciation Assignment” lead you to introspection and application of a specific truth to your life. You will be given opportunity to use creative means to express God’s faithfulness to you in your life’s journey.

Study Enhancements

Deeper Discoveries (optional): Embedded within the sections are optional questions for research of subjects we don’t have time to cover adequately in the lessons or contain information that significantly enhance the basic study. If you are meeting with a small group, your leader may give you the opportunity to share your “discoveries.”

Study Aids: To aid in proper interpretation and application of the study, five additional study aids are located where appropriate in the lesson:

·         Historical Insights

·         Scriptural Insights

·         Scientific Insights

·         From the Hebrew/Greek (definitions of Hebrew/Greek words)

·         Focus on the Meaning

·         Think About It (thoughtful reflection)

Helpful Bible Study Resources

Because this study includes historical narratives set in various time periods, this is an excellent opportunity for you to learn how to use a Bible handbook, commentary, study Bible text notes or other sources to discover information about the time period in which each person lived as well as the towns, the occupations, and other cultural information that would add understanding to your study. This is totally optional. If you choose to do this research, you will enhance the discussion for everyone else as you share what you have learned at appropriate times in the small group discussion.

Two websites are recommended as quality sources for credible creation science information (www.answersingenesis.org and www.icr.org). Both are trustworthy in both their source of information and in their professional way of handling controversial subjects.

Three other websites are especially beneficial for gaining historical, archeological, and theological information—www.christiananswers.net (for archeology information), www.probe.org (lots of historical info, apologetics plus other topics of interest) and www.bible.org (lots of reference stuff).

What We See In God’s World Agrees With What We Read In God’s Word!

The very first book in the Bible, GENESIS, is an account of the origins and history of all life and the universe. It tells of the creation of different kinds of animals and plants and of the creation of Adam and Eve, the first people. This book explains the entrance of sin and death into the world, and a judgment by water when a worldwide flood destroyed the original world. We are told of the event of the “Tower of Babel” that is important in understanding cultures and nations existing today. Knowing what happened in the past can give us a basis for explaining the present. If we start with what has been revealed about the events of the past, we have the ability to come to some right conclusions about geology, culture, geography, biology, etc. If we have the revealed Word of One who knows everything, then a basis exists for having right interpretations about the facts of the present. If we ignore that, then we can never know for sure whether our interpretations are right! Science is constantly changing. But, the Word of God remains unchanged.

Please Be Assured Of This…

You can still be a Christian and believe that the earth is 4.5 billion years old and evolution was the method by which you got here. Salvation is based upon faith in Jesus Christ alone. The developers of this study guide ask that you give the Scripture a chance to give answers to your questions about origins. We’ll do our best to provide information for you. We want to help you learn how to think for yourself about this issue.

Our Approach For This Study…

It is reasonable to consider the earth and universe to have been created in 6 days in a perfect state, affected by the Curse and death after creation, then completely reshaped by a global Flood—all less than 10,000 years ago. What we see in God’s World agrees with what we read in God’s Word!

“All biblical doctrines have their foundation ultimately—directly or indirectly—in the book of Genesis. The doctrine of marriage; why we wear clothes; the reason Jesus came to die on a cross; why there’s death in the world; why man has dominion over the earth—all of these are dependent on a literal Genesis. The only reason we understand the meaning of sin is because we read about the literal rebellion of the first man when he disobeyed God. Actually, if Genesis were taken out of the Bible, you’d have to throw the rest away. It’s all dependent on the historical accounts in this first book.” (Answers in Genesis Weekly News, October 10, 2003)

Creation is a hot topic. In fact, the validity of everything recorded in Genesis 1-11 is a hot topic, though not a new topic.

The concept of some type of naturalistic explanation for the origin of the earth, universe and its inhabitants has been around since the ancient Greeks. But it did not affect mainstream life until a couple of scientists promoted their ideas through books in the 1800’s—Charles Lyell (who proposed that the earth was much older than what the Bible said it was) and Charles Darwin (who is known for pushing biological evolution as an alternative to creation).

Then in 1925, the brand new ACLU decided to target a law in Tennessee that demanded creation to be taught in school. They found a man willing to be the scapegoat—John Scopes—although he had only been a substitute teacher for 2 weeks in a biology class and had not really taught evolution. The message perpetuated by the ACLU throughout the trial was that science was the new source of authority and truth. The Bible was no longer relevant. It was simply the fallible work of humans. Christians must let scientists interpret anything that deals with origins.

What’s ironic is that every single piece of evidence produced in that trial has since been shown to be false. About 10 years ago, TIME magazine ran an article about its own senior editor, Charles Alexander, which said:

“In the years before he got into journalism, senior editor Charles Alexander taught science at two high schools in Tennessee. He told his students about early man and the origins of life and touched on the dinosaurs, ‘And, just about everything I taught them,’ he says, ‘was wrong.’” (TIME magazine, March 14, 1994, p. 4)

Knowing Where To Start

What is my point? You have to know where to start. Decide what will be your source of truth. Science is constantly changing. But, the Word of God remains unchanged.

“All biblical doctrines have their foundation ultimately—directly or indirectly—in the book of Genesis. The doctrine of marriage; why we wear clothes; the reason Jesus came to die on a cross; why there’s death in the world; why man has dominion over the earth—all of these are dependent on a literal Genesis. The only reason we understand the meaning of sin is because we read about the literal rebellion of the first man when he disobeyed God. Actually, if Genesis were taken out of the Bible, you’d have to throw the rest away. It’s all dependent on the historical accounts in this first book.” (Answers in Genesis Weekly News, October 10, 2003)

The very first book in the Bible, GENESIS, is an account of the origins and history of all life and the universe. It tells of the creation of different kinds of animals and plants and of the creation of Adam and Eve, the first people. This book explains the entrance of sin and death into the world, and a judgment by water when a worldwide flood destroyed the original world. We are told of the event of the “Tower of Babel” that is important in understanding cultures and nations existing today. Knowing what happened in the past can give us a basis for explaining the present. If we start with what has been revealed about the events of the past, we have the ability to come to some right conclusions about geology, culture, geography, biology, etc. If we have the revealed Word of One who knows everything, then a basis exists for having right interpretations about the facts of the present. If we ignore that, then we can never know for sure whether our interpretations are right! Science is constantly changing. But, the Word of God remains unchanged.

Foundations For Our Trust In The Word To Be True:

There are 3 scriptures that are foundations for our trust in the Word to be true:

2 Timothy 3:16 says, “Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,”

1 Thessalonians 2:13 says this, “…when you received God’s message that you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human message, but as it truly is, God’s message, which is at work among you who believe.”

In John 17:17, Jesus said, “Set them apart in the truth; your word is truth.”

Taking Captive Every Thought:

Knowing where to start, we can do what is said in 2 Corinthians 10:4b-5. “We tear down arguments and every arrogant obstacle that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to make it obey Christ.”

Think with me about the messages you are receiving to your thoughts through the media about this issue:

1) Science is the source of authority and truth.

2) Evolution is scientific fact. Untouchable. Not going away. Satan’s best counterfeit of creation.

3) The Bible is only a human work.

4) Christians, stay out of anything that deals with origins. Stick to religion.

So, how do we respond? To many, compromise is the only comfortable solution. Sadly, most religious leaders have done just that. In fact, many religious leaders are even holding science as absolute authority. This is most often because of 2 things: 1) the fear of being ridiculed as happened in the Scopes trial and 2) not knowing that true science has facts that support Scripture.

Half of us are probably not affected by this. The rest of us are split personalities. Just say,” believe Genesis” and our thoughts are going crazy on one side of our brains! Our minds fill with “yeah, buts”. And we think of every TV show, every book and magazine that teaches with confidence that this earth is billions of years old and man evolved from animals. We say to ourselves, “What do I do with those thoughts?”

In this study, we hope to help you take those thoughts captive so you can be whole again. We ask you to come to this study with an open mind. You will not get all your questions answered. Maybe not even half. However, you can ask the One who knows all to reveal to you some ways for you to believe that His record of beginnings is literally true.

Please Be Assured Of This…

You can still be a Christian and believe that the earth is 4.5 billion years old and evolution was the method by which you got here. Salvation is based upon faith in Jesus Christ alone. We only ask that you give the scripture a chance. We’ll do our best to provide information for you. We want to help you learn how to think for yourself about this issue.

Our Approach For This Course…

It is reasonable to consider the earth and universe to have been created in 6 days in a perfect state, affected by the curse and death after creation, then completely reshaped by a global Flood— all less than 10,000 years ago. What we see in God’s World agrees with what we read in God’s Word!

So, let’s get started!

Day One Study

Read Gen. 2:4-25.

1. What activity did God provide for Adam after placing him in this perfect garden? Why? See also Genesis 2:5 and Ecclesiastes 2:24-25.

2. Read the command God gave to Adam in v.16. Man already had knowledge of “good.” All he had seen and experienced was “good.” Discuss God’s command regarding the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil—what it involved, what would be gained/lost, why choosing to eat from that tree would be so bad, . . .

3. By having access to the fruit of the Tree of Life, God showed that His will and intention for them was life—continual physical life. [See last lesson for discussion of the Tree of Life.] The results of eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was death, best translated “dying, you shall die.” Why do you think the penalty was so severe for choosing to disobey?

4. Read Romans 16:19. What is God’s desire for us still?

5. God gave man the tools of intelligence, observation, and language. Discuss the task God gave to Adam in Genesis 2:18-20.

6. As God brought certain animals to Adam, what is soon determined? Read also Ecclesiastes 4:9-12.

7. Compare and contrast the timing and method of the creation of Adam to that of Eve. [For additional insight, see 1 Corinthians 11:8, 9, 12 and 1 Timothy 2:13.] What significance can you see to the similarities? What about the differences?

From the Hebrew: Although made in the image of God, a perfect handiwork, Adam was not complete. In fact, this is the first thing in creation that God calls “not good.” God decided that Adam needed a helper. The Hebrew word ezer means “one who assists another in reaching complete fulfillment.” It is used 19 times in the Old Testament: 4 times as equal to equal, 15 times as God to man, NEVER used as an inferior helping a superior. For example, see Isaiah 41:10 and Psalm 10:14.

8. Discuss Adam’s response to her. [Note: The Hebrew word translated “woman” (ishah) is the feminine form of ish, which is translated “man.”]

Day Two Study

9. Read Genesis 2:21-25 again. Notice the progression of “leave,” “cleave” and “unite.” Define these three words using a dictionary:

·         Leave—

·         Cleave—

·         Unite—

10. So, what was God’s intention for Adam and Eve and their descendants? See also Malachi 2:15-16 and Jesus’ support of this in Matthew 19:4-6.

11. The first marriage was performed (“husband” and “wife” are used in Genesis 3). This was God’s institution. He invented it to be one man, one woman for life. Discuss Genesis 2:25. What does being naked without feeling any shame mean?

12. Review Genesis 1:28-31. Together, male and female, God gave them a function on earth that was equal in responsibility and accountability. What are their responsibilities?

13. So, what does God declare in verse 31 about His creation that would include “woman?”

Think About It: Could all the events recorded on the 6th day of creation really have taken place during a normal, 24-hour-type day? The Bible does not say that Adam named all the living creatures on that day, only those God brought to him from three groups—livestock (cattle), beasts, and birds. In the opinion of many researchers, the purpose of Adam’s task may have been to discover his unique aloneness. The number of animals would be determined by how long it would take Adam to fully get the point!! So, would the God who spoke everything into existence have difficulty creating the animals, creating Adam, planting a Garden, talking to Adam, bringing certain animals to Adam, waiting for Adam to name the animals and creating Eve—all in a day’s time? The answer is a definite NO!!

14. Appreciation Application:

If you are married—

·         Meditate on these questions: How could you be more helpful to your husband? How could you deepen your companionship as a couple? Your romance? What can you do to better unite with your husband to become truly “one flesh” in your relationship?

·         Plan to give your marriage priority this week over other relationships and activities—over children and their activities, church responsibilities, school, job, house, perfectionism, shopping, etc.

Think About It: “Marriage is the decision to identify with another person and adopt a ‘team approach to life.’ Identification is the building of a partnership. We must therefore ‘die to singleness in order to be alive to marriage.’” (Tim Stevenson, T.E.A.M. Training)

If you are single—

·         In what ways can you help your male friends become the kind of man that God wants them to be?

·         How can you improve your working relationship with males who are fellow servants of Christ to spread His gospel?

Day Three Study

Appreciation Assignment:

Read and think about the following quote.

“She is his (man’s) peer in capacities of intellect, moral worth and sensibilities. She can think, feel, imagine, reason; she can sell goods, plan buildings, make statues, diagnose diseases, construct philosophies or write epics. In a word, what is open to a man as a human being is open to her.” (Dr. Allen Ross, Hebrew Scholar)

We must understand who we really are as women, by God’s design, in order to have a proper view of our value as persons and our responsibility to function as God intended. God did not make either man or woman to be independent of one another nor did He make woman to be inferior to man—intellectually, emotionally, morally, or spiritually. Knowing these truths will free you to become the woman God wants you to be.

15. Spend some time thinking about your having been made a woman rather than a man. List all the benefits and blessings of womanhood. Use your creativity to praise your Creator for His marvelous design.

Deeper Discoveries:

·         Go to www.answersingenesis.org. SEARCH for “human family,” “marriage,” “creation of woman” or similar phrase. Select an article to read or video to watch. Also visit www.icr.org and search.

·         Do the “Creation Answers: Interpretation Practice” worksheet that follows this lesson.

Creation Answers: Interpretation Practice

“How to Interpret What You Read and Hear”

Interpretation Principles

For anything you read or hear, follow the steps below to separate the actual facts being presented from biased interpretations or assumptions being stated as fact.

1. Look for the facts. Discern facts from interpretation. Mark the facts. Then, mark the interpretations or assumptions.

2. Question the assumptions used to derive the facts and/or interpretations.

3. Consider the same facts with the assumption of Biblical history.

Example:

Original: “Chilled Crawfish” By Alexandra Witze, Dallas Morning News, 7/13/1998

Ordering crawdads on ice has a new meaning now that geologists have found the oldest fossil crawfish ever — in Antarctica. The discovery of the 280 million-year-old crustacean suggests that the climate around the South Pole was relatively balmy at the time—at least in the streams and lakes where crawdads live…

The scientists found just a fragment of the ancient crawfish in the Transantarctic Mountains in the central part of the continent. The fossil was a part of a claw that had been gnawed on by a predator, perhaps in search for a primitive etouffee. The researchers also found large burrows, dated to about 240 million years ago, that had been dug by crawfish in another part of Antarctica. The burrows indicate that crawfish had evolved their social activity much earlier than scientists had thought.

The fact that crawfish could live in the lakes of Antarctica at the time supports other evidence that Antarctica was experiencing a warming trend at the time, the scientists wrote.

Evaluated: Facts Are Marked In Bold Letters; Interpretations And Assumptions Are Italicized.

Ordering crawdads on ice has a new meaning now that geologists have found the oldest fossil crawfish ever — in Antarctica. The discovery of the 280 million-year-old crustacean suggests that the climate around the South Pole was relatively balmy at the time—at least in the streams and lakes where crawdads live…

The scientists found just a fragment of the ancient crawfish in the Transantarctic Mountains in the central part of the continent. The fossil was a part of a claw that had been gnawed on by a predator, perhaps in search for a primitive etouffee. The researchers also found large burrows, dated to about 240 million years ago, that had been dug by crawfish in another part of Antarctica. The burrows indicate that crawfish had evolved their social activity much earlier than scientists had thought.

The fact that crawfish could live in the lakes of Antarctica at the time supports other evidence that Antarctica was experiencing a warming trend at the time, the scientists wrote.

Conclusion:

What did researchers find? A portion of a claw identified to be from a crawfish in Antarctica. What are the assumptions? The age of this fossil piece, the social structure of the animals that it represents, and the presence of burrows. Structures identified as burrows may or may not be real. They could be escape attempts from creatures being buried by sediments in the Flood.

Interpretation Practice

In the articles below, mark the facts (underline, circle, colored highlighter, etc.). Then, mark the assumptions/interpretations with a different mark. Compare your evaluations with the ones given at the end.

#1 “Arctic Redwood” From GSA Today, January 2002

‘Spectacularly preserved’ Metasequoia wood has been found at the Fossil Forest site of Axel Heiberg Island (Canadian High Arctic). ‘Some of this stuff looks about like driftwood on the beach, but it’s 45 million years old,’ said one researcher. ‘These fossils are chemically preserved at a level you usually would expect to see in something that’s only 1,000 years old.’

#2 “Bees’ Nests Baffle Boffins” From Daily Telegraph (London), May 26, 1995

Ancient bees’ nests in Arizona’s Petrified Forest are baffling evolutionists. How, they ask, could the bees have survived for more than 100 million years before the evolution of the flowers they fertilize and depend on for nectar?

Paleobiologist Dr Stephen Hasiotis, from the US Geological Survey, discovered that fossilized logs in the Petrified Forest are riddled with holes which he believes are the nests of bees. The logs with the nests are dated at 220 million years old on the evolutionary time-scale, while the flowers that provide nectar for bees allegedly date from only half as long ago. Evolutionists are forced to conclude that either flowers appeared earlier, or the first bees did without flowers for a long time.

#3 “Evolution In Pollution?” From ANSTO, Www.Ansto.Gov.Au, 17 Sep 2002

Under a headline ‘Darwin’s theory holds true in Northern Territory,’ the media release from the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation explained that, ‘thanks to 40 years of evolution,’ fish in Australia’s Finnis River have learned to live with copper pollution from mine wastes.

‘Each year a majority of rainbow fish were killed in the first flush of heavy metals downstream at the start of each wet season,’ said one researcher. ‘However, the few remaining fish passed their ability to survive onto their offspring.’ But the downside is that the adaptation to high levels of pollution ‘may have occurred at the expense of some other traits that are important for their survival.’

#4 “IIwis Reduce Their Bill” From Nature, Vol. 375, May 4, 1995

A Hawaiian bird is evolving a shorter bill, evolutionary researchers claim. They say that the iiwi (pronounced ee-EE-wee), a honey-eater with a long, down-curved bill, has changed its eating habits because its main food source, the lobelioid flower, has become rare.

The iiwi’s long bill is ideal for extracting nectar from the base of the deep corollas of lobelioids. But with the large-scale disappearance or extinction of several species of the flowers, the iiwi now feeds largely on the flowers of the ohia tree. Other honeyeaters that feed on ohia flowers have short bills, because these flowers lack corollas. Researchers who compared the size of living iiwis’ bills with the bills of museum specimens collected before 1902 show that the length of the iiwi’s bill has shortened 2-3 per cent. Other features have remained stable.

#5 “‘Superbug’ Did Not Evolve” From Nature, 1 August 2002, P. 469

A new strain of Staphylococcus aureus which is resistant to the antibiotic vancomycin has been found in a hospital patient in Michigan, USA. DNA sequence analysis revealed that the new strain did not ‘evolve’ resistant genes, but acquired them by gene transfer from relatively harmless gut bacteria called enterococci, carried by the same patient.

#6 “Evolutionary Back-Tracking” From Science, 10 May, 2002, Pp. 1112–1115

Fossil tracks from a sandstone quarry in Canada—made by a 30 cm (1ft)-long arthropod (a segmented animal with external skeleton, like a millipede)—have astounded experts because they are in Cambrian rock, allegedly 544 million years old. The date at which sea animals came ashore was once claimed to be the Silurian, which allegedly started 440 million years ago. Then it was the Ordovician, which started 490 million years ago, and now this evidence pushes it ‘back’ another 40 million years.

The date at which many-celled animals first arose has also been pushed back. Current theory says it was 600 million years ago. But now impressions in sandstone rocks of Western Australia that appear to be the trails of an earthworm-like creature have been ‘dated’ at over twice that age, from 1.2 to 2.0 billion years old. For evolution-believers, this leaves even less time for evolution to have supposedly wrought its work.

#7 “Living Fossil — No Evolution Of Budgies” From The Sydney Morning Herald, February 15, 1996.

The only known fossils of a budgerigar (bird) have been found in Australia by a museum scientist. They are identical to the bones of modern budgies. Three fossilized outer wing bones and a foot bone were found in the Rackham’s Roost site at Riversleigh in northwest Queensland.

Discoverer Walter Boles, from the Australian Museum in Sydney, believes the bones are about 4 million years old. He says they are ‘indistinguishable from a modern budgerigar’.

#8 “Japanese Researchers Find Dolphin With Remains Of Legs” From Fox News Television, November 5, 2006

Japanese researchers said Sunday that a bottlenose dolphin captured last month has an extra set of fins that could be the remains of back legs, a discovery that may provide further evidence that ocean-dwelling mammals once lived on land. One researcher said, “I believe the fins may be remains from the time dolphins’ ancient ancestors lived on land … this is an unprecedented discovery.”

Fossil remains show dolphins and whales were four-footed land animals about 50 million years ago and share the same common ancestor as hippos and deer. Scientists believe they later transitioned to an aquatic lifestyle and their hind limbs disappeared. “A freak mutation may have caused the ancient trait to reassert itself.” 

How Well Did You Do?

Did you notice how much of each news article was based on assumptions and evolutionary theory rather than fact? These are some of the differences we saw in the articles.

#1 “Arctic Redwood” From GSA Today, January 2002

‘Spectacularly preserved’ Metasequoia wood has been found at the Fossil Forest site of Axel Heiberg Island (Canadian High Arctic). ‘Some of this stuff looks about like driftwood on the beach, but it’s 45 million years old,’ said one researcher. ‘These fossils are chemically preserved at a level you usually would expect to see in something that’s only 1,000 years old.’

Comment: The fossilized wood looks young but is given an old age because of evolutionary bias.

#2 “Bees’ Nests Baffle Boffins” From Daily Telegraph (London), May 26, 1995

Ancient bees’ nests in Arizona’s Petrified Forest are baffling evolutionists. How, they ask, could the bees have survived for more than 100 million years before the evolution of the flowers they fertilize and depend on for nectar?

Paleobiologist Dr Stephen Hasiotis, from the US Geological Survey, discovered that fossilized logs in the Petrified Forest are riddled with holes which he believes are the nests of bees. The logs with the nests are dated at 220 million years old on the evolutionary time-scale, while the flowers that provide nectar for bees allegedly date from only half as long ago. Evolutionists are forced to conclude that either flowers appeared earlier, or the first bees did without flowers for a long time.

Comment: Bees did not have to wait 100 millions years, because these vast ages are only interpretations of the evidence, not facts.

#3 “Evolution In Pollution?” From ANSTO, Www.Ansto.Gov.Au, 17 Sep 2002

Under a headline ‘Darwin’s theory holds true in Northern Territory,’ the media release from the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation explained that, ‘thanks to 40 years of evolution,’ fish in Australia’s Finnis River have learned to live with copper pollution from mine wastes.

‘Each year a majority of rainbow fish were killed in the first flush of heavy metals downstream at the start of each wet season,’ said one researcher. ‘However, the few remaining fish passed their ability to survive onto their offspring.’ But the downside is that the adaptation to high levels of pollution ‘may have occurred at the expense of some other traits that are important for their survival.’

Comment: While the headline might shout that evolution is true, closer reading shows that it was not evolution but simply natural adaptation. Fish which already had the genetic makeup to survive copper pollution were present in the population, i.e. no new genes evolved. And in common with many similar examples of adaptation to some new harsh external factor, ‘at the expense of some other traits’ suggests a mutational loss of information.

#4 “IIwis Reduce Their Bill” From Nature, Vol. 375, May 4, 1995

A Hawaiian bird is evolving a shorter bill, evolutionary researchers claim. They say that the iiwi (pronounced ee-EE-wee), a honey-eater with a long, down-curved bill, has changed its eating habits because its main food source, the lobelioid flower, has become rare.

The iiwi’s long bill is ideal for extracting nectar from the base of the deep corollas of lobelioids. But with the large-scale disappearance or extinction of several species of the flowers, the iiwi now feeds largely on the flowers of the ohia tree. Other honeyeaters that feed on ohia flowers have short bills, because these flowers lack corollas. Researchers who compared the size of living iiwis’ bills with the bills of museum specimens collected before 1902 show that the length of the iiwi’s bill has shortened 2-3 per cent. Other features have remained stable.

Comment: A variation in beak size is not evidence of bird evolution. Such minor changes merely offer better survival advantage, but are no evidence that birds evolved from non-birds, as evolutionists claim.

#5 “‘Superbug’ Did Not Evolve” From Nature, 1 August, 2002, P. 469

A new strain of Staphylococcus aureus which is resistant to the antibiotic vancomycin has been found in a hospital patient in Michigan, USA. DNA sequence analysis revealed that the new strain did not ‘evolve’ resistant genes, but acquired them by gene transfer from relatively harmless gut bacteria called enterococci, carried by the same patient.

Comment: That is, the information was already present. In every case known, antibiotic resistance is never the result of new genetic information evolving into existence.

#6 “Evolutionary Back-Tracking” From Science, 10 May, 2002, Pp. 1112–1115

Fossil tracks from a sandstone quarry in Canada—made by a 30 cm (1ft)-long arthropod (a segmented animal with external skeleton, like a millipede)—have astounded experts because they are in Cambrian rock, allegedly 544 million years old. The date at which sea animals came ashore was once claimed to be the Silurian, which allegedly started 440 million years ago. Then it was the Ordovician, which started 490 million years ago, and now this evidence pushes it ‘back’ another 40 million years.

The date at which many-celled animals first arose has also been pushed back. Current theory says it was 600 million years ago. But now impressions in sandstone rocks of Western Australia that appear to be the trails of an earthworm-like creature have been ‘dated’ at over twice that age, from 1.2 to 2.0 billion years old. For evolution-believers, this leaves even less time for evolution to have supposedly wrought its work.

Comment: Evolutionary ‘dates’ are really just relative positions in the strata that were mostly laid during the global Flood. Dates getting ‘pushed back’ simply means that a fossil has been discovered at a lower level. Thus, we can expect this phenomenon to keep recurring.

#7 “Living Fossil — No Evolution Of Budgies” From The Sydney Morning Herald, February 15, 1996.

The only known fossils of a budgerigar (bird) have been found in Australia by a museum scientist. They are identical to the bones of modern budgies. Three fossilized outer wing bones and a foot bone were found in the Rackham’s Roost site at Riversleigh in northwest Queensland.

Discoverer Walter Boles, from the Australian Museum in Sydney, believes the bones are about 4 million years old. He says they are ‘indistinguishable from a modern budgerigar’.

Comment: The bones are exactly like a modern bird’s bones. Why assign them such an old age? This occurs most of the time with fossils.

#8 “Japanese Researchers Find Dolphin With Remains Of Legs” From Fox News Television, November 5, 2006

Japanese researchers said Sunday that a bottlenose dolphin captured last month has an extra set of fins that could be the remains of back legs, a discovery that may provide further evidence that ocean-dwelling mammals once lived on land. One researcher said, “I believe the fins may be remains from the time dolphins’ ancient ancestors lived on land… this is an unprecedented discovery.”

Fossil remains show dolphins and whales were four-footed land animals about 50 million years ago and share the same common ancestor as hippos and deer. Scientists believe they later transitioned to an aquatic lifestyle and their hind limbs disappeared. “A freak mutation may have caused the ancient trait to reassert itself.” 

Comment: According to Dr. David Menton of Answers in Genesis, the extra fin-like structure is due to a mutation in the dolphin’s genes (similar to mutations that cause people on rare occasions to develop extra fingers). Using this to support alleged dolphin evolution shows that evolutionists are grasping at straws—or perhaps fins—in their ongoing quest for transitional forms. There are no fossil remains showing that dolphins and whales were once four-footed creatures, only through imagination.

Day One Study

Read Genesis 3:1-6.

Who Is This Serpent? The serpent, one of the subtlest of God’s creation, is recorded to have spoken to Eve. The Apostle Paul obviously accepted the historical account of the serpent—and his ability to deceive—as a real phenomenon. To the Christians in Corinth, the apostle wrote, “I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 11:3). In Revelation, John describes Satan when he notes, “And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world (Revelation 12:9; 20:2).”

1. In Hebrew, the word Ha-satan (literally, “the accuser”) describes Satan’s nature as an accuser, adversary and a hater. [Note: By the time of 1 Chronicles, the article was dropped and Satan had become a proper name.] What is revealed about him in the texts below?

·         Job 1:7, 9; 2:2—

·         Zechariah 3:1-2—

·         Ephesians 6:11-12—

·         1 Peter 5:8—

2. How did Jesus describe Satan in John 8:44?

3. Deeper Discoveries: (optional): for those who like to do research: Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the prophets of God may have given us the history of Satan. Lucifer is spoken of in Isaiah 14:12-15, a passage which refers initially to the wicked “king of Babylon” but which also exposes the evil one who indwelt and energized him. Similarly Ezekiel 28:11-19 is addressed superficially to the “king of Tyre” but penetrates to the one who also possessed and empowered him. Read Isaiah 14:12-15 and Ezekiel 28:11-19. What information is given about this created being?

4. Back to Genesis 3:1-6, how did the serpent rephrase what God said to Adam in Genesis 2:16-17? What did he (Satan) emphasize?

5. Which portion of the serpent’s statements are true and which are false?

TRUE—

FALSE—

6. Compare Eve’s response in 3:2, 3 with what God actually said and did in 2:9, 16-17. Please note that the literal translation of the Hebrew at the end of 2:17 is “dying, you will die.”

Eve’s Response—

God Actually Said and Did—

7. So, in what way did Satan lead Eve…

·         To doubt God’s Word?

·         To distrust God’s character?

Day Two Study

8. Eve was ensnared by allowing herself to become deeply involved in a dialogue with the seductive Deceiver. Contrast this with how Jesus responded to Satan in Matthew 4:4-10.

9. a. Why do you think Eve gave in to the Serpent?

b. And, why do you think Adam also ate the fruit?

c. At any point, could either have said, “No?”

10. What are the three main areas of temptation that still apply to us today? See 1 John 2:15-16 plus any other cross-references. [Examples: Romans 13:14; Ephesians 2:3; James 4:4.]

11. What is the difference between being tempted and the actual act of disobedience (sin)? Support your answer with scripture.

Appreciation Application:

12. The good news is that we don’t have to live in fear and defeat because of temptation and the problem of sin around us daily. As the one who remained faithful in temptation, He (Jesus) became the model for all believers when we are tempted. We have an Advocate. Read Hebrews 4:15. In times of temptation, what does the Bible say about the living presence of Jesus helping and encouraging us?

·         Matthew 6:9-13—

·         1 Corinthians 10:13—

·         Hebrews 2:18—

Day Three Study

Appreciation Assignment:

13. Meditate on the fact that God is good, and His Word can be trusted. Be thankful for the privilege of having God’s Word in your own spoken language. Record your thoughts in the space below.

14. In the early part of this millennium, many men lost their lives in their efforts to provide English-speaking people with Bibles in the English language. The best way to express your gratitude is by reading it. Read the Bible at least 15 minutes a day for the next month.

Deeper Discoveries:

·         Go to www.answersingenesis.org. SEARCH “sin, angels, Satan” or similar phrase. Select an article to read or video to watch. Also visit www.icr.org and search.

·         Go to www.bible.org. Choose any of the Bible study tools available. Research the origin of sin and Satan.