EXEGETICAL ARGUMENTS FOR A YOUNG EARTH Exegetical From the noun exegesis Exegesis = to lead out That is, to lead out of a passage of Scripture the meaning that this passage intends to convey, or letting the Bible speak for itself. Also known as hermeneutics or, simply, the interpretation of
the Bible. The opposite: eisegesis, to lead into That is, to read into a passage of Scripture the meaning that you were hoping to find. Stephen C. Meyer, Discovery Institute Intelligent Design movement, Philip Johnson, University of California, Berkeley, law professor emeritus, Darwin on Trial (1991)
Signature in the Cell (2009) Reasoning, or inference, to the best explanation, devoid of presuppositions. Also called abductive reasoning. Genesis 1 The preeminent text in all of Scripture, along with Genesis 2, which extends the account Prose vs. Poetry (in the context of the larger question of history vs. legend)
The meaning of the word day The question of interpretation: the natural or straightforward meaning of the text Eighteen miracles of creation Genesis 1 and Rom. 5:12 In addition, the evolutionist or the old-earth creationist has a problem in Rom. 5:12, Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all
men, because all sinned What is the problem? The story of the Fall into sin appearing immediately after the creation account. Joel Heck, In the Beginning, God Reasons to Believe: this only refers to human death The Language of Genesis One A simplicity and clarity of style Verses 6-7, and 9-10, water and seas rather
than river or lake or sea Verses 11-12, vegetation, plants, and trees, not fescue, and sycamore trees Verse 16, two great lights, the greater light, and the lesser light rather than the sun and the moon Verses 24-25, terms for various types of animals The idea of naming The Genealogies of the Old Testament Genesis 5, the only place in Scripture where the
age of the father at the birth of the son is mentioned 1 Chron. 1:1-3, the same ten people that are implied by Jude 14 with its reference to Enoch as the seventh from Adam The historical nature of the Old Testament is powerfully affirmed by these genealogies. In addition, the complete list of genealogies in 1 Chronicles 1-9 suggests a limited length of time not even approaching tens of thousands of years.
The Historical Nature of Genesis A recent DVD, Is Genesis History? with Del Tackett, Kevin Anderson, Steven A. Austin, and Thomas Purifoy The colophons of Genesis (P. J. Wiseman, Ancient Records and the Structure of Genesis: A Case for Literary Unity, 1936, 1985) The recurrent catch-lines or colophons in Genesis, in this formatThese are the family histories (generations) of . . .,are clues to the literary structure of Genesis and
indicative of its origin and transmission. In no instance is an event recorded in the twelve sections of Genesis that the person (or persons) named in the account statements could not have written from intimate personal knowledge or from contemporary information. Implications Denials of the historical nature of Genesis or the Exodus or the Conquest allow some scholars to relegate the Pentateuch to legend or invention.
Hence, David Rohl and Patterns of Evidence provide important corrections to the attitudes of many toward Scripture. However, as in other areas, we meet entrenched opinions or convictions and an unwillingness to consider other positions. But if historical is taken seriously and if we have no gaps in the historical record, then the relatively abbreviated nature of that record points to a young earth. General Arguments
Lee Strobels The Case for Christ regarding the resurrection and the New Testament contains the same type of answers we would have for challenges to the historicity and accuracy of the Old Testament. The Dead Sea Scrolls and the findings of archaeology strongly support both the straightforward reading of the Old Testament as well as the accuracy of Hebrew manuscripts of books of the Old Testament. The lack of reference (admittedly, an argument from
silence) in Scripture to long ages of time. General Arguments The occasional distinction between primeval history and patriarchal history, but why would the authors of Genesis shift from non-specific history to specific history between chapters eleven and twelve? The historical nature of the Old Testament from the first chapters of Genesis to the last chapters of Malachi. This is not to deny the large portions of the Old
Testament that are poetic in nature, but even poetry conveys a great deal of literal truth. Jesus comments about Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and the Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, Jonah, etc. The New Testament Every New Testament author and many New Testament
characters Jesus, Paul, Peter, James, and John The New Testament Every New Testament book except Philippians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, 2 John, and 3 John mentions creation. Every chapter of Genesis except seven (20, 24, 34, 36, 40, 43, and 44) is mentioned in the New
Testament as historical. Events from each of the first nineteen chapters of Genesis are mentioned in the New Testament. Just as in the Old Testament, so also in the New Testament, we find no indication of long ages or evolutionary development in living beings. Some Statistics The New Testament contains a number of passages that mention creation in one form or
another. They appear as: 1. Echoes or allusions (53). 2. References to the beginning of time (10). 3. References to events during the creation week (38). 4. Significant events during creation that are dated to a recent period of history (11). TOTAL: 112 1. Echoes or allusions John 1:1, In the beginning
Second Cor. 5:17, a new creation. 2. Brief references to the beginning of time Matt. 24:21, the coming distress will be greater than any distress since the beginning of the world. 3. References to events during the creation week Rom. 4:17 says, He [Abraham] is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believedthe God
who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were. Better translation: and calls things which have no existence into existence. (Creation out of nothing) 2 Cor. 4:6, For God, who said, Let light shine out of darkness, made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. Here Paul quotes Gen. 1:3, taking it as straightforward history, and he connects the creation of light with the Gospel.
4. Eleven Significant events that are dated to a recent period of history 1. Matt. 19:4, Havent you read, he replied, that at the beginning the Creator made them male and female, 2. Matt. 19:5-6, and said, For this reason a man will leave his father and mother to be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one.
Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate. 4. Eleven Significant events that are dated to a recent period of history 3. Matt. 19:8, it was not this way from the beginning. (on divorce) 4. Mark 10:6 (see two slides ahead; = Matt. 19:46) 5. Mark 10:7-8, For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,
and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate. 4. Eleven Significant events that are dated to a recent period of history 6. Luke 11:50-51, Jesus connects the murder of Abel to the foundation of the world, i.e. its creation, not to an event that happened millions of years later. 7. Rom. 1:20, For since the creation of the world Gods
invisible qualitieshis eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. This implies that people have been around since the creation of the world, as was already suggested in Matt. 19:4-6 and Mark 10:6. This is incompatible with Old Earth thinking. 4. Eleven Significant events that are dated to a recent period of history 8. Heb. 9:26, If Christ had to offer Himself
repeatedly like the Old Testament priests, Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. Three Timelines Mark 10:6, But at the beginning of creation God made them male and female. Darwinian Evolution: 14.6 billion years Old Earth Creationism: 14.6 billion years
Young Earth Creationism: < 10,000 years The beginning of time Right now The Devil 9. John 8:44, the devil was a murderer from the beginning. 10. 1 John 3:8, He who does what is sinful is of the devil,
because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. As we read Genesis 1-3, we are not given a clear chronology, but we get the impression that the Fall happened relatively soon after the completion of creation. Chapter three follows immediately after chapter two with no intervening phrase, such as After some time or Many years later. Therefore, if the devil was a murderer from the beginning, he was around at the beginning and the story of the Fall happened near the beginning.
4. Eleven Significant events during creation that are dated to a recent period of history 11. Jude 14, Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied 1. Adam, Gen. 5:3 2. Seth, Gen. 5:6 3. Enosh, Gen. 5:9 4. Kenan, Gen. 5:12 5. Mahalalel, Gen. 5:15 6. Jared, Gen. 5:18
7. Enoch, Gen. 5:21 See also 1 Chron. 1:1-3, Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah. Since I dont have any more copies of that book www.cph.org Soli Deo Gloria
