Exodus 20:11

Consider the Sabbath commandment:

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it (Ex. 20:8-11).

We work six days (144 hours, twelve dozen) and rest one. These are not imaginary days – they are real. Creation Week occurred in six 24 hour (approximately) days. Creation In Six Days (CISD) is an important teaching of the Bible.

For in six days GOD made Heaven, Earth, and sea, and everything in them; he rested on the seventh day. Therefore GOD blessed the Sabbath day; he set it apart as a holy day (Ex. 20:11, Msg).

Exodus 20:11 is the Haec Credimus (“this we believe”) of the Creation Research Society:
Exodus 31:17 is a parallel passage:

It [the Sabbath] is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.

The Hebrew of Exodus 20:11 may be found here.

John Trapp commented on Ex. 20:11, “God took six days to make the world in, to the end that we might be in a muse when we think of it; and think on his works in that order that he made them.” [1]

Robert McCabe concluded, “… both passages [Ex. 20:11, Ex. 31:17] have been clearly understood as references to man imitating the divine pattern established in the first week of temporal history by working on six consecutive, normal days and resting on a literal seventh day…” [2]
Notes:
1) Online Bible (2004)
2) “A Critique of the Framework Interpretation of the Creation Week” by Robert McCabe in Coming to Grips with Genesis ed. by Terry Mortenson and Thane Ury (Master Books, Green Forest, AR, 2008), p. 243.

Creationism 101 with Joel Heck

Joel Heck has written In the Beginning, God: Creation from God's Perspective which is a superb coverage of the basics of creationism (Concordia, 2011). It’s short (80 pages) and is only $3.99 (what a bargain!).

Dr. Heck has a ThM in Old Testament from Trinity Evangelical Divinity and a ThD in Exegetical Theology from Concordia Seminary. He gives a detailed explanation of Genesis chapter one. He lists 17 reasons why yom means a normal day in Ge 1, including #12, the years lived chronicled in Ge 5 & 11 make sense only if day in Ge 1 refers to a regular 24 hour day. That is, if day means millions of years for Creation Week, then how do we understand Methuselah living 969 “years.”
Dr. Heck also argues against scholars who oppose taking Genesis chapter one as historical narrative. He also discusses OT & NT references that bolster a traditional reading of Genesis (a comprehensive compilation of these may be found here). There is an excellent 10 page summary of scientific research supporting fixity of kinds, the Flood and Young Earth Science (YES). If you know anyone who is sitting on the fence on the crevo issue please give them Dr. Heck’s book! Few other works provides so much bang (a BIG one too) for the buck.

It is a rare pleasure to find a theologian courageous enough to take the first chapter of Genesis at face value, disregarding those of his peers who feel they must kowtow to the latest fad in “science.” Dr. Heck explains the passage clearly, showing it is historical narrative supported by true scientific research—not myth, poetry, or vague allegory. -- Russell Humphreys

Michio Kaku - Epic Fail?

              *** UPDATE ***

Be sure to catch our latest video.  We tackle a potpourri of topics:  Thunder & C-14, Tree Rings & Ammonites,  Norman Macbeth (Darwin Retried), OMNI magazine & censorship ... #Rubio #NormanMacbeth #Darwin #AltMed #TreeRings

Hotep = B @ ☮

Physicist Michio Kaku (b. 1947) is the host of the radio show “Science Fantastic.” Kaku is a leading futurist and the co-founder of string field theory. His parents were held in an internment camp during World War II. While in high school, Kaku made his own particle accelerator! He caught the attention of atomic scientist Edward Teller and Mrs. Teller arranged for Kaku to receive a scholarship to Harvard. [1]

Kaku contrasts the God of Miracles and the God of Order (Einstein’s god), yet does not deny that miracles may happen. [2] However, he gives no examples of miracles that he accepts as historical. Empiricist philosopher John Locke (d. 1704) had no trouble with miracles [3]:

The evidence of Our Savior's mission from heaven is so great, in the multitude of miracles he did before all sorts of people, that what he delivered cannot but be received as the oracles of God and unquestionable verity. For the miracles he did were so ordered by the divine providence and wisdom that they never were, nor could be, denied by any of the enemies or opposers of Christianity.

Kaku overlooks the fact that science itself is based on Christian principles [4]:

As Francis Schaeffer pointed out, “Both Alfred North Whitehead [d. 1947] and J. Robert Oppenheimer [d. 1967] have stressed that modern science was born out of the Christian world view.” [5]
Kaku criticizes the traditional “proofs” for God’s existence and even brings up the issue of who made God. [6] One wonders if Kaku has even read the Bible. His denial of the Moral Argument is shocking, “The moral proof is by far the weakest, because morality can be viewed in terms of evolving social customs.” [7] Was the Holocaust an “evolving social custom?” Is abortion an “evolving social custom?” Kaku seems to accept Einstein’s god, that is the impersonal god of Spinoza. Einstein admitted that, “… the doctrine of a personal God interfering with natural events could never be refuted, in any real sense, by science …” [8] Although an evolutionist, Kaku still uses personal language, “… being blessed [by whom, God?] with the intellect to divine the ultimate secrets of nature gives meaning enough to life.” [9]
Kaku is fascinated with the possibility of time travel. [10] If we could make a History Observation Device, then we could settle the issue of Atom-to-Adam evolution and Young Earth Science (YES).

Math describes the universe well. Kaku admits that this is hard to explain, “… the precise reason for the miraculous convergence [between physics and math] seems totally obscure. No one has even a reasonable theory to explain why the two disciplines should share concepts.” [11] Since the Creator is a God of Order, it makes sense that the cosmos displays mathematical patterns – the equations of creation. He refers to Eugene Wigner (Nobel prize in physics) on this topic, who endorsed one of the earliest works on Intelligent Design in 1986. [12] [13] Physicist turned theologian John Polkinghorne said [14],

If the deep-seated congruence of the rationality present in our minds with the rationality present in the world is to find a true explanation, it must surely lie in some more profound reason which is the ground of both. Such a reason would be provided by the Rationality of the Creator.

Kaku praises Bernhard Riemann for his work in higher dimensions and even mentions his work defending the accuracy of Genesis. [15] Kaku claims that “geologic time” trumps Ussher. One wonders if Kaku has considered the facts that favor YES.

Saying to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ And to a stone, ‘You gave birth to me.’ For they have turned their back to Me, and not their face. But in the time of their trouble They will say, ‘Arise and save us.’ (Jer. 2:27)

If materialism fails and ID is the future, who is the Intelligent Designer?

How old is the Earth?  Is Darwinism valid?  How does the Renaissance of Catastrophism relate to the age of the world?  Is your favorite planet thousands or billions of years old?  Discover the shocking evidence in this powerful new book, YES – Young Earth Science by Jay Hall (at Amazon.com). 

Here are some cool Zazzle items on Young Earth Science (YES): 

Notes:
1) Hyperspace by Michio Kaku (Anchor Books, New York, 1994), pp. 6, 7.
2) Ibid., pp. 330, 331.
3) Head and Heart by Gary Wills (Penguin Press, New York, 2007), p. 126.
4) adapted from “How Should a Christian Relate to a Scientific Naturalist?” by J. P. Moreland in The Apologetics Study Bible ed. by Ted Cabal (Holman, Nashville, TN, 2007), pp. 946, 947.
5) How Should We Then Live? by Francis Schaeffer (Fleming H. Revell, Old Tappan, NJ, 1976), p. 132.
6) Kaku, p. 191-195.
7) Ibid., p. 192.
8) Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics by Norman Geisler (Baker Books, Grand Rapids, MI, 1999), p. 214.
9) Kaku, p. 334.
10) Ibid., pp. 232-251.
11) Ibid., p. 327.
12) Ibid., p. 328.
13) Origins and Destiny by Robert Gange (Word, Dallas, TX, 1986).
14) quoted in Creation by Alister McGrath (Fortress Press, Minneapolis, MN, 2005), p. 66.
15) Kaku, p. 30, 31.

Does your Hymnbook Teach Creation?

Does your fellowship sing songs glorifying the Lord as Creator of the Cosmos? Do your hymns mention Creation In Six Days (CISD)? Are there choruses that speak of the Fall and the Curse? What about the Flood or the Tower of Babel? Consider these selections that highlight creation and the early chapters of Genesis:

All creatures of our God and King

Lift up your voice and with us sing,

Alleluia! Alleluia!

Thou burning sun with golden beam,

Thou silver moon with softer gleam!

- St. Francis of Assisi

I'll praise my Maker while I've breath,

and when my voice is lost in death,

praise shall employ my nobler powers;

my days of praise shall ne'er be past,

while life, and thought, and being last,

or immortality endures.

- Isaac Watts

A number of Psalms emphasize creation: For a more complete list see the references here. Nicole Mullen’s tune “My Redeemer Lives” provides a strong creation message. In one performance she recited Psalm 8 before she sang this song. Answers in Genesis offers a music CD, Creation – The Story of Life featuring such artists as Mark Harris, Billy Sprague, Cindy Morgan, Larnelle Harris, Greg Long, Bob Carlisle and Lisa Bevill. Possibly the most popular song at creation conferences is “How Great Thou Art.” Consider these selections from Gadsby’s Hymns:

The spacious earth and spreading flood

Proclaim the wise, the powerful God;

And thy rich glories from afar

Sparkle in every rolling star. (#18)

When Adam by transgression fell,

And conscious, fled his Maker’s face,

Linked in clandestine league with hell,

He ruined all his future race:

The seeds of evil once brought in,

Increased and filled the world with sin. (#89)

Father, how wide thy glory shines!

How high thy wonders rise!

Known through the earth by thousand signs,

By thousands through the skies!

Those mighty orbs proclaim thy power;

Their motion speaks thy skill;

And on the wings of every hour,

We read thy patience still. (#207)

All creatures to his bounty owe

Their being and their breath;

But greatest gratitude should flow

In men redeemed from death. (#834)

The rolling sun, the changing light,

And nights and days thy power confess:

And the blest volume thou hast writ

Reveals thy justice and thy grace. (#1147) Noyes Fludde (Noah's Flood) is a 15th century “mystery play” and in 1957 Benjamin Britten turned it into an opera.

The Thirde Pageante of Noyes Fludd

I, God, that all this world hath wrought,

heaven and yearth, and all of nought,

I see my people in deede and thought

are sett fowle in sinne. …

Man that I made will I distroye,

beast, worme, and fowle to flye;

for on yearth the doe mee noye,

the folke that are theron. …

Therfore Noe, my servante free,

that righteous man arte as I see,

a shippe sonne thou shalt make thee … Homeschooler Jodi Benson (the Little Mermaid) sang a song for children about the Tower of Babel.

Keep from me Thy loveliest creature, till I prove Jesus' love infinitely sweeter – Charles Wesley

O Lord, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens! (Ps. 8:1)

The Iceman Cometh (Dembski version)

Young Earth Science (YES) holds that scripture and science supports the view the this planet is thousands of years old (not billions). William Dembski, the prominent Intelligent Design (ID) advocate, is somewhat sympathetic to YES: “I myself would adopt it in a heartbeat except that nature seems to present such strong evidence against it.” [1] Is this really true? Dembski counsels, “Young-earth creationists do not merely want to show why the other side is wrong; they also want to show why their side is right.” [2] They have done so Dr. Dembski.

Dembski claims that the multiple layers in ice cores in Greenland pose a problem for the YES idea of one Ice Age after the Flood. However, the layers are not always annual – many layers can occur in one year. J. Southon writing in Quaternary Research freely admits, “… the GISP2 (Greenland Ice Sheet Project) ice contains many subannual structures which mimic annual bands …” R. B. Alley et al. stated in the Journal of Geophysical Research, “… it is almost certain that variability exists at the subseasonal or storm level, at the annual level… We certainly must entertain the possibility of misidentifying the deposit of a large storm or a snow dune as an entire year…” The Post-Flood Ice Age would have produced “hyper-canes” at the poles which would make multiple layers in the ice record each year. [3]
One wonders how much of the excellent research on the Ice Age by Michael Oard and Larry Vardiman that Dembski has read:
Dembski criticizes the “post-flood rapid ice age model,” but fails to see its power and success in predicting the reality on the ground. [4] Evolutionists cannot explain the Ice Age and over 60 theories have been proposed. J. K. Charlesworth explains that there are “… an absolute riot of theories ranging from the remotely possible to the mutually contradictory and the palpably inadequate.” [5] The Flood implies the Ice Age! Volcanic ash cooled the earth; tremendous eruptions in the seas (Ge 7:11) heated up the oceans. This combination of higher precipitation, caused by the hot seas, and cooler summers produced the Ice Age after the Flood. This is the only model that successfully predicts ice sheets where we know they existed and it only takes a few hundred years! [6] This model gives thinner ice sheets than the mainstream view, but this makes it easier to explain the no-ice regions we find in Wisconsin. Assuming the widely accepted huge glacier thickness, we would expect a significant “bounce-back” after the tremendous weight of the ice melted – this would take about 25,000 years. Ohio, Illinois and Indiana show virtually no rebound. [7] Andrew Snelling explains, “… ocean temperatures increased [based on fossil oxygen isotopes] during deposition of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic strata, and then decreased during Tertiary (post-Flood) deposition.” [8] This is exactly what the Post-Flood Ice Age model predicts.

Dembski has a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Chicago. Mathematicians are always Killing Lies* – that is they are challenging false assumptions. One example is the old claim that you can only fold a paper in half seven times. YES advocates are also challenging falsehoods promoted by mainstream science. Commenting on ice cores, Dembski claims that Orthodox Protestants who take Genesis as Historical Narrative (OPGHN, “opgane”) are interested in “… devising loopholes to support an otherwise untenable position.” [9] Not so, my brother; in fact, the Post-Flood Rapid Ice Age Model (PRIAM**) is the only explanation that works and fits the data in the real world.
Dembski should take a hint from former aeronautical engineer and award winning SciFi author, James Hogan who said, “A comparatively young word [Y6K] – in the sense of the surface we observe today – is compatible with unguided Catastrophist theories…” [10] Hogan states that conventional dating, “was more a product of materialism’s fight with religion than an empirical construct … [it was] manufactured to provide the long time scales that Lyell and Darwin needed.” [11] Hogan maintains that, “Mountain uplifts and other formations show indications of being younger than conventional geology maintains.” [12] One example that Hogan presents that challenges standard dating uses thermoluminescence of lunar material which was dated at less than 10,000 years. [13] If the Moon is thousands of years old, then maybe the Earth is too!

The Ice Age is apparently referenced in Job, “From whose womb comes the ice? And the frost of heaven, who gives it birth? The waters harden like stone, and the surface of the deep is frozen” (Job 38:29–30).

Evolution itself has a chilling effect and Darwinism demands depression.
Don’t mock the faith! Have you no respect for religion…
- Larry in The Iceman Cometh by Eugene O'Neill

If I have told you of things that happen right here on the earth and yet none of you believes Me, how can you believe (trust Me, adhere to Me, rely on Me) if I tell you of heavenly things? (Jn. 3:12, Amp)

Notes:
1) The End of Christianity by William Dembski (Broadman & Holman, Nashville, TN, 2009), p. 55.
2) Ibid., p. 56.
3) Earth’s Catastrophic Past by Andrew Snelling (Institute for Creation Research, Dallas, TX, 2009, Vol. 2), pp. 778.
4) Dembski, p. 61.
5) quoted in Snelling, p. 770.
6) Snelling, p. 774.
7) Snelling, p. 776.
8) Snelling, p. 773.
9) Dembski, p. 61.
10) Kicking the Sacred Cow by James Hogan (Baen, New York, NY, 2004), p. 47.
11) Ibid., p. 175, Note: Hogan is endorsing Velikovsky’s opinion.
12) Ibid., p. 174.
13) Ibid., p. 206.

*Wilhelm Killing and Sophus Lie were mathematicians
**can you say “Troy?”

Science in Scripture

When we think of science in the Bible we often think of examples like the circuits of wind flow (Eccl. 1:6), the life is in the blood (Lev. 17:11) and the importance of hygiene (Lev. 15:13). Have you considered Isaiah 28:23-29 and 29:11-16 in this regard?

Is. 28:23-29 (NKJV)
23 Give ear and hear my voice, Listen and hear my speech.
24 Does the plowman keep plowing all day to sow? Does he keep turning his soil and breaking the clods?
25 When he has leveled its surface, Does he not sow the black cummin And scatter the cummin, Plant the wheat in rows, The barley in the appointed place, And the spelt [rye?] in its place?
26 For He instructs him in right judgment, His God teaches him.
27 For the black cummin is not threshed with a threshing sledge, Nor is a cartwheel rolled over the cummin; But the black cummin is beaten out with a stick, And the cummin with a rod.
28 Bread flour must be ground; Therefore he does not thresh it forever, Break it with his cartwheel, Or crush it with his horsemen.
29 This also comes from the LORD of hosts, Who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in guidance.

Comments:
v. 24: Timing is important in farming and this gives a motivation to know astronomy which helps us track the seasons (Ge 1:14). Farming has existed from the beginning (Ge 3:23, 4:2) and experiment improves agricultural methods.
v. 25: The location of where various grains are planted is important. Planting is rows is an orderly arrangement. What should be planted on the border? Trees or potatoes?
v. 26: God made man in his image and gives him wisdom and understanding (Job 38:36). The all-wise God gave us reason and the ability to discern the structure on the world. The cosmos is not random, but ordered. The Lord may have communicated the basics of horticulture to Adam during the “cool of the day” (Ge 3:8). Language and technical skill have been transmitted from father to son, parent to child for thousands of years. Some isolated people groups do not farm at all – the skill has been lost.
v. 27: Through experiment and experience we learn that we must use the right tool for the right job. You don’t kill termites with sledgehammers.
v. 28: Various grains must be treated differently. Distinct methods fit corn versus cotton. Many things in creation remind of us wheels. Design in creation can inspire human inventions. Many things are cone shaped (carrots, pine cones) and a truncated cone makes a great millstone.
v. 29: Science is possible because God gives us a sense that the Maker of the universe is a God of order and purpose. The equations of creation are not random. Consider the simplicity of Snell’s Law that describes how light bends when it hits water or some other medium (n is the index of refraction):
Design in nature exhibits the fact that God is “wonderful in counsel and excellent in guidance.” Consider the photosynthetic sea slug:
Is. 29:11-16 (NKJV)
11 The whole vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is literate, saying, "Read this, please." And he says, "I cannot, for it is sealed."
12 Then the book is delivered to one who is illiterate, saying, "Read this, please." And he says, "I am not literate."
13 Therefore the Lord said: "Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths And honor Me with their lips, But have removed their hearts far from Me, And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men,
14 Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work among this people, A marvelous work and a wonder; For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, And the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden."
15 Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the LORD, And their works are in the dark; They say, "Who sees us?" and, "Who knows us?"
16 Surely you have things turned around! Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; For shall the thing made say of him who made it, "He did not make me"? Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, "He has no understanding"?

Comments:
v. 11: Many evolutionists may say “I can’t read the Bible – that’s just myth.” But the Bible actually gives science its logical foundation. [1] The basis of science is biblical. God’s Word is revealed truth from the Creator of the Cosmos. If we want to know about the beginning we must go to the Bible. Scripture gives us True Truth, for God cannot lie (Num. 23:19). Jesus said that God’s truth is often sealed from the “wise and prudent” (Mt. 11:25).
v. 13: Evolutionary tradition, “commandments taught by men,” tells students to avoid research from creation organizations like CRS, ICR, AiG, CMI and others. Many are over-awed by scientific experts who pronounce the fact of evolution in the past, even though they were not witnesses to the events they describe.
v. 14: In the end, Darwinian “wisdom” will perish (2 Peter 3). The spurious speculations of the sages of science will ultimately fail.
v. 15: We can’t hide our sin from God (Num. 32:23). Could it be that the motivation for many who accept the molecules-to-man view of origins wish to explain God away to justify their ungodly lifestyle?
v. 16: Evolutionists deny their Creator – the Potter. You may have a Ph.D. in Biochemistry, but the Lord of heaven and earth knows infinitely more than you do. You can’t manipulate God. Yahweh is in control of the universe, not man.
Reflect on these quotes from G. K. Chesterton’s Father Brown (fictional detective) stories:

It's the first effect of not believing in God that you lose your common sense
(The Oracle of the Dog, 1923).
You hard-shelled materialists were all balanced on the very edge of belief - of belief in almost anything (The Miracle of Moon Crescent, 1924).

You may contact us through the email in our profile.

Note:
1) The Ultimate Proof of Creation by Jason Lisle (Master Books, Green Forest, AR, 2009), pp. 57-66.

The End of Christianity Revisited

William Dembski blames the alleged millions of years of death and destruction before the time of Adam as a retroactive punishment for the Fall in his book The End of Christianity. Apologist Ken Ham strongly opposes this position.

Here is a short response to Dembski’s book and a longer critique is found in An Open Letter to Intelligent Designer. Thankfully, Dembski has moderated his view somewhat and now accepts a Global Flood.