Cedarville Magazine, Spring 2017

Is it really important for a place of higher learning like Cedarville University to take a stand on the six literal days of creation? In many ways, I believe it’s almost a litmus test of an institution’s stand on biblical authority. What we’re really talking about is an authority issue. Does it matter what God’s Word says? Two-thirds of young people are walking away from the church by college-age, and very few are returning. The secular media has basically thrown God out in many ways, and these students have been taught ideas that contradict the Bible. These young people weren’t taught how to defend the Christian faith. They weren’t taught to always give an answer (1 Pet. 3:15) —and that word “answer” comes from the Greek word apologia , from which we get the word “apologetics.” There’s been a great lack of teaching of apologetics in our Christian institutions, in our homes, and in our churches. WHAT WILL WE BELIEVE? In 2 Corinthians 11:3, God has a warning for us through Paul: Beware lest somehow as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness that your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. God is warning us that the devil is going to use the same method on us as he did on Eve, to cause us to doubt the things of God. So let’s go back to Genesis and find out the method he used on Eve. The serpent came to Eve and said, “Did God really say?” The first attack was on the authority of the Word. I believe the devil has said, “Look, you people today, you can teach your kids about Jesus and the resurrection; you teach them Bible stories. But you know what I’m going to do? I’m going to convince them to not believe the Book.” If I were to go to most churches that preach the Gospel and say to them, “Where do you get the idea that Jesus rose from the dead or the virgin birth?” they’d say, “The Bible.” Yet, from my own experience and the research we’ve done, if you were to say to them andmost of our Christian academics in our Christian colleges, Bible colleges, and our seminaries, “Now in Genesis the Bible teaches that God created in six days; there was male and female when God created man; man was made from dust and woman was made from his side; marriage is to be between male and female, Adam and Eve, the first marriage — a man and a woman; death came after sin; and there was a global flood that covered the highest hills under the whole heaven.” You know what I hear? “Oh no, we can’t believe that!” They can believe in the resurrection, virgin birth, and Jesus feeding thousands with just five loaves of bread and two fish. But Genesis? Because of science, they don’t want to accept it as truth. This is an epidemic in our Christian world. WHAT DOES A “DAY” MEAN? Let’s consider the Hebrew word for day used for each of the six days of creation, the word yom . What does it mean? Most words have two or more meanings, depending on context. Let me use my Australian context here. Back in my father’s day, it took 10 days to drive across the Australian outback during the day. That one sentence uses the English word “day” with three different meanings. Back in my “father’s day” references a period of time; it took “10 days” references 10 literal 24-hour units of time; driving across the Australian outback during “the day” references the daylight portion of a day. If we go to the well-known Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon , the first example when day is qualified by evening and morning is Genesis 1:5, which is the first day of creation. Or, we can use a more modern lexicon like the Koehler-Baumgartner Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon , which has a heading “day of 24 hours.” What’s the first example? Genesis 1:5. Two leading Hebrew dictionaries give the first day of creation as an example when the word “day” means an ordinary day. Why is that? § § The word “day” is used with a number 410 times outside Genesis 1, as in “on the seventh day that they rose early, about the dawning of the day” (Josh. 6:15), and it always denotes a normal 24-hour day. § § The phrase “evening andmorning” is used 38 times outside Genesis 1 by itself, without “day” as part of the phrase, which in context refers to an ordinary day. § § The phrase “evening or morning” occurs 23 times outside Genesis 1, each time coupled with the word “day,” and it means an ordinary day. § § The word “night” is used with “day” 52 times outside Genesis 1, and, again, it refers to an ordinary day. So we know when “day” means an ordinary day: when it’s qualified with number, when it’s joined with Is it really impor tant for a place of higher learning like Cedarville University to take a stand on the six literal days of creation? In many ways, I believe it’s almost a litmus test of an institution’s stand on biblical authority. Cedarville Magazine | 5