During Sunday School this past Sunday, we began a study of Genesis. We started in Genesis 1:1 and we tackled the first full chapter of Genesis in our first week. I believe that we had a great conversation on Sunday, but it was not without some controversy. The difficulty seemed to stem from the fact that within our congregation there are many different perspectives on how we should interpret the creation story as given to us in Genesis 1 & 2.
What I have surmised during the past 4 years as the Pastor of EFUMC, is that the consensus among us, is that God accomplished creation through the use of evolution. I have challenged this assumption during the past few months through my preaching, specifically through the sermon series entitled “The 7 C’s of Human History.” If you haven’t yet, I would encourage you to go back and watch these sermons.
During Sunday School this last Sunday, I made a claim that I am sure was difficult for those in attendance to hear. I would like to review it now, as I believe that it is a critical one in the life and practice of the Church.
As we worked our way through Genesis chapter 1, the main point of disagreement between me as the teacher, and everyone else in attendance, seemed to be the age of creation. I contended that the Bible’s explanation of “6 days” was actually six literal days, while my other class members seemed to subscribe to an interpretation that views “6 days” as six eras, or six long, undefined periods of time, as explained by secular evolutionists.
We debated this for a while in class, but due to our time running out, I closed our time together with a question. This question, to me, reveals the strongest point against the theory of evolution and other similar interpretations, such as the big bang and other old Earth theories, from a Christian perspective. I left this question for those in attendance to work through during the week and promised that we would pick back up there the following Sunday. I would also invite you all to wrestle with this same question and join us on Sunday for the continuation of this conversation as we continue into Genesis, chapter 2.
Here is the question – How do Christian Evolutionists reconcile the following?
The main message of the Gospel is that Jesus was incarnated, died and was raised so that each and everyone of us can be resurrected as well. The wages of sin is death and Jesus fixed the sin problem in us, so that we would no longer die. Death was the problem that became the problem through the first sin of Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve were created to live forever. There was no death before original sin.
Unfortunately, if you believe in evolution’s explanation of the creation account in Genesis 1& 2, then you are affirming that death has always been a part of God’s design for Creation, since evolution is built upon the foundation of death. If God has always used death to create humanity, then what did Jesus save us from? Why did Jesus have to die on the cross and be resurrected?
If we cling to the articles of belief in evolution as a Church, then not only does Genesis not make any sense, but the whole story of the Bible, and especially the Gospels cease to make any sense.
As a Church, it is imperative that we spend some time reevaluating our thinking on this.
I prefaced the above question with the contention that what we think about Genesis will not impact our salvation. We can have a false understanding of creation and evolution and our mortal souls will not be in jeopardy. But, this poor thinking about God and life, definitely will negatively impact our ability to witness to the truth and power of God in this world.
As the vessel by which God has chosen to share the Gospel message with the world, we have a responsibility to get it right.
Only five of us were in attendance on Sunday for Sunday School so I would encourage you all to go to the website, www.efumchurch.org, and watch the video from Sunday. We will continue our study of Genesis this Sunday after fellowship time. I believe that a church wide engagement with the Word of God is imperative if we are going to grow as a congregation and align with the will and purposes of God.
