Date: September 10, 2018
Host: Jim Schneider
Guest: Mike Riddle
Listen: MP3 | Order
Mike Riddle is the founder and president of Creation Training Initiative. He’s an international speaker and teacher on biblical creation, apologetics, and Christian education. Mike has a wide range of experience from being a teacher in junior & senior high school, an adjunct professor, an instructor at the Institute for Creation Research Graduate School and an Answers in Genesis Speaker. He has developed and taught teacher training and communication skills worldwide.
Does it really matter what we believe regarding the subject of origins? According to Mike, a lot of churches and seminaries don’t think it matters, but it does make a very big difference in what we believe about the rest of Scripture. In fact, he sees the first 3 chapters of Genesis as being the reason the rest of the Bible took place.
It all centers around the idea of millions of years. Have the scientists proven that? No. If they had, how would we fit that into the Bible? You can’t. The Bible does not allow for that. After finishing His creation, God called it ‘very good’. So if creation took millions of years, what was taking place during that time? The fossil record was being formed. This means that God just called millions of years of dead things, ‘very good’. If there was all that death before sin, then we’re teaching that sin is not the cause of death. At that point we’ve just undermined the entire foundation of the gospel of Jesus by putting death before sin.
Some might say creation isn’t a primary issue. Mike asks people what the difference is between a primary and a secondary doctrine. Most people can’t tell him. They simply heard that statement somewhere. Mike explained that a primary doctrine is one that affects the gospel of Jesus and other parts of the Bible. Guess what the first chapter of Genesis affects? It affects the very foundation of the gospel along with many other parts of Scripture. This means the creation issue cannot be called a secondary doctrine because everything rests upon what’s communicated in the first 3 chapters of Genesis.
What about those who believe the Bible and science don’t mix and should remain separate? Mike responded by asking, ‘Who created all the science?’ He answered that by noting it was God and that God is not in a battle with himself. True science will always agree with God’s Word. Mike believes it’s a false understanding of science (evolutionism) that does not agree with the Bible.
So what then is true science? True science is that which we can observe and repeat and as Christians we’re not against the laws of science because we observe the effects of these laws. We believe life originated from a creator (God) because there’s no known process for getting a single biological cell. The only alternative is that life had to be created.
Then where did the universe come from? The evolutionists have 2 answers: It created itself or it’s always been in existence, neither of which is scientifically possible. So the only answer is that it was created which doesn’t violate any laws of science because our laws of science cover the material universe and God is not material.
You’ll want to have a pen and paper handy as you review this edition of Crosstalk because Jim has Mike deal with numerous other points related to creation such as:
–Is the Bible a science textbook?
–What should we make of the flat-earth movement?
–How can we know that what’s recorded in the first chapters of Genesis is literal
and historical and not figurative or allegorical?
–Why is Genesis under so much attack today?
–Could the ‘days’ mentioned in Genesis be long days?
–Did God create evil?
–How does Mike define a biblical worldview?
–What is critical thinking?
–What are the 4 foundational ‘power questions’ to ask an evolutionist?
The answers to these questions as well as others from Crosstalk listeners cap off a very interesting program that will bolster your faith in God’s Word.
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