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KWASIZABANTU
MINISTER'S CONFERENCE 6
MARCH 2001, 19:00 Prof
Grady McMurtry
Foundations:
A contrast of Two Worldviews
There is no more fundamental truth than creation. In Mark 12:28-30 we read Jesus repeat the first and greatest commandment from the old testament: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord" and "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. What does these stand for: · heart - our innermost being · soul - our life · mind - our intellect · strength - We must do the above three with all our strength Let's come back to the third point - our intellect. Nowadays this point is not emphasised - it is mostly emotional nowadays. I came to Christ through a totally intelligent decision. I studied all my degrees as an evolutionist. I taught evolution to my students. But at 27 years of age I had a look at the evidence for myself. I looked at the claims of Jesus Christ and saw that either He was Lord or Liar. I have been a seeker of truth all my life. So, I studied the Bible and its history using my knowledge and acquired skills. And so, having gone through all the evidence I saw that Jesus Christ was telling the truth and I proved His truth to myself. Now, if you are a true seeker of truth, you must except it when you find it, whether you like it or not. But what about the world? They ask very good questions, like: · What about the dinos? · What about the millions of years? And then the Christians shrink back if they cannot provide good answers to their questions. However, worse still, the evolutionists get confirmed in their belief when the Christians cannot provide good, solid answers. But there are good answers to the world's questions. My
background I studied at the university of Calafornia, Berkerley and taught at the same university. But it was all evolution with no alternatives. I was not taught to think critically. One must have something to compare with to be able to think critically. In other words, I was not educated, but indoctrinated. I was only taught one side of the issue. It was only memorisation, which is not a good education technique. Ones acceptance of creation or evolution determines ones worldview. A worldview is like a lens through which you see the world, and the shape of the lens is determined on your acceptance of creation or evolution. Let me just mention a few examples: If you accept evolution, then you will say that abortion is fine. But if you accept creation, then abortion is murder. The same goes for euthanasia, homosexuality, etc. Let me make this very important statement: Every thought we think is either in obedience or disobedience to God. Comparison
between Creation and Evolution: Evolutionists: Atheistic evolutionists say that they don't believe in anything eternal. But I am going to prove to you that they are lying. They do believe in eternal things. Let us start with the single greatest scientific principle, the principle of cause and effect: It states that for every cause there is an effect. Now let us use this principle on an atheistic evolutionist. I have been an evolutionist and have taught it at university, so I know the standard evolutionary answers to different questions. Firstly, ask them where people came from. The standard answer: mammals. So according to the above-mentioned principle, mammals were the cause and people the effect. So, let us continue. Where did mammals come from. From reptiles. And so we can continue. Man ß mammals ß reptiles ß amphibians ß fish ß single celled creatures ß rocks At this point the evolutionist will look you straight in the face and say that rocks came alive by random chance. And then, where did the rocks come from? From Hydrogen and Helium is the standard answer. And then, continuing just one more step, the truth finally comes out. Where did the Hydrogen and Helium come from? There are two standard responses to this question: 1) A solemn silence OR 2) The evolutionist will straighten up, look very knowledgeable and say: It was just always there. And so, we finally come to the conclusion and have proved that they too believe in eternity. All evolutionists have to believe that mass, energy and time are eternal. And that random chance acting on these produced everything we see today. Creationists: They also believe in eternity. They believe in an eternal God who created everything we see and left an eye-witness account of it. He also loves and cares for His creation. Christianity comes with the owner's manual. If there is any problem we can look up its solution in the Bible. Let's look at Ps 11:3: If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? We can see three important points here: 1) There exist people who are righteous 2) They have a foundation on which they have built 3) If their foundations are destroyed they have no hope. In 1 Cor 3:11 we read: No other foundation can be laid than that which was laid, which is Christ Jesus. In Col 1:16 we read that Jesus Christ is the creator of the universe together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. And in the messianic Psalm 118 we find that Jesus in the chief corner stone who was rejected by the builders. In Hebrew the word for chief can also mean the first or primary. Now let me illustrate it with the following illustration: If the corner stone of a building is placed 1mm out of place, it does not sound much. But let us then go a 100m down the side of the building and we find that that 1mm causes the next wall to be misplaced by a number of metres. Now this is just an earthly building. But, suppose now, that Jesus Christ is placed out of place in your life right in Genesis, at the creation of the world. Now we do not go 100m down, but 6000 years. What a mess will your life not be? The first 11 chapters of the Bible is its foundation. The rest of the Bible is the structure. We find that all the significant Christian doctrines start right back in the first 11 chapters of Genesis. Let me give you a partial list, so that you can see this for yourself: life, death, man, woman, human relationship, marriage, food, clothing, kinsman redeemer, blood atonement, crucifixion. Let us turn to John 5:45 - Jesus is speaking to the sanhedrin. Now who were they? They were the 70 righteous Jewish elders of the nation of Judah. They were divided in two: the Sadducees and the Pharisees. The Pharisees believed that the whole old testament were God's Word. They also believed in a personal, bodily resurrection. The Sadducees only believed that the first 5 books of Moses were God's Word and the rest was just good poetry and history. They also did not believe in any bodily resurrection. But both had the following in common: They both believed that the first 5 books of Moses were God's Word. But what did Jesus say to them. He (Jesus) will not accuse them to the Father, but Moses in whom they trusted will accuse them. Because Moses wrote of Him (Jesus). If they did not believe Moses' writings, neither will they believe His words. He used an ancient argument: Any appeal to Moses was an appeal to Genesis and Creation. So, He said in effect that if they did not believe the Creation account of Genesis, then they had no need of Christ. If death and suffering for millions of years was common, then one man's death on a cross does not mean anything. But, if death entered to all as the result of one man's disobedience, then one man's obedience until death can also atone for all. Now, someone might say: It doesn't matter how I got hear (i.e. via creation or evolution), but I am here. Now I must just concentrate on what to do with the rest of my life. What a foolish argument! What you believe where you came from will ultimately determine what you believe where you are going. If you believe that you came just from mud by random chance, then you will also believe that you are just going to return to mud. But, if you believe that you were Created by Someone for a special purpose, you will also believe that you are going to be accountable to him about your life here and now. So, if there is no Lawgiver, you are your own lawgiver, and the philosophy of your time of the last 50 years or so will determine your destiny. In the 1960's the motto was: If it feels good, do it. In the 1970's: If it doesn't hurt anyone it is fine. In the 1980's and 1990's: Even if it hurts someone, it is still fine, because I write the rules about what is right and what is wrong. Why do people want to believe in evolution? Because then there is no lawgiver, and I am my own lawgiver. This is the only way to intellectually justify sin. Sin is then when I break my own law. But, because I am the lawgiver, even if I brake my own law, I just rewrite the rules so that I have not sinned. And so I can live a sinless life without Jesus Christ. Let's look at another universal principle of science: Certainty. To be absolutely certain about anything, one must know everything there is to know about that thing. But there is no human being that can do this. In other words we cannot be absolutely certain, unless we know Someone who knows everything and hence is absolutely certain about everything. Evolution is a religion. Evolutionists just have limited knowledge and hence they must believe in evolution. But their very theory denies the existence of anyone that can have all the knowledge and hence be certain. However, Creationists also believe by faith. Although it is an evidence-based faith, they still don't know it all and hence must still believe in Creation. But here is the difference: We Creationists know One who has all the knowledge - the Creator of the universe, and we have a personal relationship with Him. Our faith is thus based not on our own certainty, but upon the certainty of one who is absolutely certain whom we know. And hence we are absolutely certain. Now, which is better? A faith based in uncertainty or one based in certainty? Paul states it this way: We have a logical, intelligent, evidence based faith. Every law of science, natural process and physical evidence is consistent with creation. To the contrast, there is not one of the above that can be explained or predicted by any theory of evolution. In
conclusion: Truth is a Person and not a concept. Jesus says in John 14:6: I am the way, the truth and the life. Here we see that He does not say that he speaks the truth, but that He Himself is the truth. God created us to have fellowship with Him. He wants to love us and wants us to love Him. Anyone that sees and experiences this love just finds it multiplying day by day. But those who reject their purpose for which they were created, flies off in man-made philosophies to their own destruction. Some
questions and answers: Q: Where did Cain get his wife? A: He married sister. The Bible states that beside the three sons that were named in the Bible (Abel, Cain and Seth), that they still had many other sons and daughters. Someone might be shocked by this and say: So the whole of the human race exists because of incest. However, the law against incest was not given until the time of Moses who lived about 2500 years after Adam. Even Abraham married his half-sister, Sarah, 300 years before Moses. The law against incest was given by God to protect the human race against genetic sickness. Close relatives have a greater chance to have the same genetic flaws and hence their offspring will be handicapped and deformed. But at the time of Adam, the genetic code was still close to perfect and hence no genetic deformity would result from close marriages. Q: Where does evolutionists get their millions of years from. A: In a nutshell - they suck it out of their thumbs. All the stories of the millions of years the universe existed was already in place in evolution even before any dating-technology existed. And all dating methods that exist today have at least four major flaws which disqualify them completely scientifically to be used. However, to the contrary, there are more than 200 scientific methods that show that the earth must be young. |
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