Author: Paul A. Bartz
Modern sociology, which is based on evolution, cannot be “cleaned up” and made Christian. The very foundation of modern sociology is corrupt and anti-Christian. Sociologists hope to reach their goals by rewriting history and manipulating people into thinking they are right. When people see this, they realize that something is wrong. But the problem lies at the very foundations of sociology. Since it is based on evolution, sociology has no idea of the source or purposes of human practices and beliefs.
The book of Genesis contains more than just the origin of the world. In Genesis we find the origin of all of the basic beliefs and practices of mankind. We learn that there is not just a God, but we learn that He desires a personal and individual relationship with people. We learn that there are absolute rights and wrongs. In Genesis we learn the origin of clothing and marriage, and that unborn children are human beings, too. Genesis shows us why man needs to believe in a God, and why man needs to feel at peace with God.
Lets say that your son comes home one day and announces that he wants to marry Bill. What do you tell him? “Christians don’t do that”? That’s no good, because today people who claim to be Christians do marry same sex people. (You can explain that such people are not really Christian, but it will do little good.) The solution is in Genesis 2:18-24. God made the first pair Adam and Eve, not Adam and Bruce. When the man, Adam, needed company God did not make another man for him, but a woman. The origin of marriage helps apply its meaning today.
How do you convince your daughter to dress modestly? Again, you can use the “Christians dress this way” approach, but that is legalistic and really doesn’t explain why. But in Genesis 2:25-3:7 we read about the origin of clothes. In their innocent state nakedness was not wrong. But just as sin distorts everything else, it also distorts nakedness. After sin, even the hint of nakedness inflames the mind in sinful and destructive directions. Clothes, then, are intended to remove stumbling blocks from those around us, and ultimately, help keep us out of compromising situations.
In Genesis 16:11 we find Hagar “with child,” but she has not yet given birth. As we read the context around this verse, we see very clearly that the unborn child, from the moment of conception, is treated by God and man as a human being. Just as Adam and Eve were human beings from the beginning of their existence, so human beings today are fully human from the moment of their conception. To kill an unborn baby in the womb after conception is the same as killing an adult human being. It is not society or Supreme Court decisions which make abortion right or wrong, but God who decides it is wrong! This basis gives depth and meaning to the passages later in Scripture which deal more explicitly with abortion. Most clearly, society does not determine what is right or wrong. God does, and the origin is in Genesis.
Does Genesis allow for theistic evolution, or does theistic evolution devalue the Gospel? Again, the answer is found in Genesis. God created man by Hand, forming him of the dust of the ground and personally breathing into him the breath of life. Eve was also made by Hand, personally by God. And once they were created we see how God visited them personally, as we visit one another. The God of Genesis has not decided to deal with man through impersonal mechanistic agents of process. He has made man so that He could have someone with which to deal personally and individually. To say that God could have used evolution to “create” man is to deny this personal involvement of God with man. The heart of God’s concern and personal love today is found in the Gospel.
Genesis also shows why man universally seeks peace with God, or with his conception of God. We see in Genesis that man was made for fellowship with God. When sin broke that fellowship, man ceased to be at peace. All of Adam’s children, that is all men, all cultures, know the void of being unable to fulfill the ultimate human purpose. This highlights the centrality of the Gospel of Jesus Christ – God’s solution to this problem. Through the forgiveness of sins which Christ has earned for all men on the cross, peace has been made with God. The gift of this peace comes by the forgiveness of sins which is ours through faith in Christ as our Lord and Savior. From Genesis we see how central the Gospel of Jesus Christ is, and how universal its preaching must be!
Footnotes:
1985 Bible Science Newsletter.
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