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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
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