Sharing the Creation - 180013

0:04 [Music] 0:30 welcome to the creator revealed 0:33 I'm Tim Standish and I'm a scientist I 0:37 work at the Geoscience Research 0:39 Institute in Loma Linda California I am 0:43 also a Christian that means that I 0:48 believe the Bible and I believe the 0:51 account of creation that's recorded in 0:55 the Bible amen and we have enjoyed so 0:58 much the knowledge that you have shared 1:01 with us during this series and this is 1:04 something that you know when we all 1:06 encounter people who believe differently 1:09 than we do but when you encounter 1:12 someone like that how do you share these 1:16 beautiful evidences of the biblical 1:19 creation that is really a very tough 1:23 question and it's one that obviously 1:25 I've struggled with a lot because I have 1:28 many friends and I've had colleagues 1:31 over the years who have very different 1:34 views about origins but the first 1:39 question I think we need to address is 1:40 why would we bother to tell them what's 1:43 so important about this so let's turn to 1:46 the Bible because it actually gives us 1:48 the reason this is revelation 14 6 and 7 1:54 it's probably a familiar text to many 1:56 people but I want you to look at 1:58 specifically what it is telling 2:01 believers to do then I saw another angel 2:06 flying in the midst of heaven having the 2:08 everlasting gospel so hey this is 2:10 important this is the everlasting gospel 2:12 and what is to be done with it it's to 2:15 be preached to all those who dwell on 2:18 the earth to every nation tribe tongue 2:21 and people 2:24 wow that's everyone this is it this is 2:28 it this is this is the one I know that 2:31 when I was young I heard people talking 2:33 about the gospel and and I'd ask him 2:35 well what what is the gospel and usually 2:37 it was well Jesus died on the cross or 2:39 you know we've been saved from our sins 2:41 and that that 2:42 is the gospel without a doubt but here 2:46 it's coming at it from a little bit of a 2:48 different angle it's one that I as a 2:50 scientist can actually understand 2:54 hopefully reasonably well so so I I've 2:58 read this text to this point and it's 3:00 gotten me quite excited okay here it is 3:03 and this angel is saying with a loud 3:05 voice fear God and give glory to him for 3:09 the hour of his judgment has come and oh 3:13 dear me if it stopped there I would be 3:16 thinking rule that's pretty bad news 3:18 judgment I don't like that but remember 3:21 we're talking about God's judgment here 3:23 this is righteous judgment this is not a 3:26 betrayed judgment God is not wanting to 3:30 come and destroy his creation actually 3:34 God's judgment is the restoration of his 3:38 creation this is an amazing this is 3:41 fabulous good news any judges in favor 3:44 of the Saints precisely precisely and it 3:47 goes on and it tells us this is this is 3:49 what we should be doing it says worship 3:53 Him who made heaven and earth the sea 3:57 and the springs of water so this is this 4:02 is it this is the everlasting gospel 4:04 that we as Christians all of us have 4:07 been called to preach to all the world 4:09 and as we can see at it's very core is 4:13 the creation amen worship of the Creator 4:17 God who is coming back to do a new 4:20 creation here it's fabulous fabulous 4:24 news to me understanding the Creator 4:27 that God is is it helps us under mean if 4:30 we understand this character we 4:32 understand creation better but if we 4:34 understand creation we understand his 4:37 character better because his invisible 4:40 attributes are shown in the things that 4:42 he is creating the creation is such a 4:44 powerfully beautiful thing who wouldn't 4:47 want to share it and who wouldn't want 4:49 to worship a God like I know it's 4:51 amazing so what I've got here 4:55 six things that we can do that I believe 4:59 will be helpful as we seek to share this 5:03 wonderful truth with the world number 5:07 one only ever speak on subjects you know 5:12 more about than the person you wish to 5:15 convince in other words in other words 5:20 Shelley Quinn don't go to a geologist 5:24 with his ph.d who is an atheist and try 5:27 to explain everything to him when he 5:30 knows more than I exactly okay exactly 5:33 what we have all of us is a testimony 5:37 and that testimony is unquestionable 5:41 that is your experience so you certainly 5:46 have that but also you know for example 5:49 if you're a pastor or you're a student 5:51 of the Bible it is highly probable that 5:54 you know more about the Bible than the 5:57 person that you're sharing it with you 5:59 know be a source of information that 6:02 that person is not already expert in be 6:06 helpful in that way don't come in and 6:09 try to pretend that you know more about 6:11 their area of speciality than they do 6:13 that's simply not going to work it's 6:17 it's a temptation sometimes but don't do 6:20 that you will lose and you will not 6:22 honor Christ 6:24 now I want to give this quotation here 6:27 from Charles Darwin as an example of 6:30 something that anybody should be able to 6:33 spot okay this is there are areas where 6:35 you may not be a scientist but as you 6:39 see statements like this all Christians 6:42 should be able to recognize what it is 6:44 so let me read it and tell you about it 6:47 so Darwin wrote I would give absolutely 6:51 nothing for the theory of natural 6:52 selection if it requires miraculous 6:55 additions at any one stage of descent 6:57 and so Darwin would not approve of 7:02 progressive creationism the idea that 7:04 God created and didn't are 7:07 he put the materials out there then he 7:09 lets something developed and he did a 7:11 miracle and he lets something develop no 7:14 no he doesn't he is a materialist can 7:17 you see that it is his materialistic 7:19 philosophy this is a religious belief 7:21 that Darwin is expressing here we should 7:24 be able to recognize that this is not 7:26 science I mean if we observe a miracle 7:29 we should be able to document that as 7:31 scientists why would we not be who where 7:35 does this arbitrary rule comes from come 7:38 from that is philosophy or religion it's 7:41 not science so we should be able to tell 7:42 the difference at least to some degree 7:45 perhaps not a hundred percent of the 7:47 time but this is an example so as we 7:49 talk about these things keep an eye out 7:51 for that don't try to argue about the 7:53 science we probably that you probably 7:55 know less about but certainly you can 7:57 spot the religion in there okay because 7:59 we're religious people we believe the 8:01 Bible we're Christians a second 8:03 recommendation that I would make get 8:06 your facts straight 8:07 and then stick with them stick with the 8:09 facts don't don't don't go in with some 8:14 half-baked crazy theory and hyperbole 8:17 exactly if you hear somebody who you 8:21 know sounds like they're making really 8:23 dramatic claims and things check double 8:26 check triple check those make sure 8:29 that's really true because if you go in 8:31 there and you have your facts wrong I'm 8:36 afraid you're going to lose your 8:37 credibility and that loses you your 8:39 ability to share Christ with people yeah 8:44 the Bible talks about this sort of thing 8:46 lying lips even if it's unintentional 8:48 lying lips or an abomination to the Lord 8:51 but those who deal truthfully his 8:54 delight so these are things that the 8:56 Bible actually lays out for us as well 8:58 better to keep silent than to say 9:01 something that turns out to not be true 9:08 number three avoid speculation you know 9:12 the world is full of people who are 9:15 speculating about everything all the 9:18 time it seems to be the hobby 9:20 choice that's right we're Christians we 9:24 like facts we like reality we don't have 9:28 to make up stories and speculative 9:30 things we don't have to have imaginary 9:32 extra universes and stuff like that when 9:36 you wait you know I see people doing it 9:38 on a regular basis and generally 9:41 speaking these speculations are to fill 9:44 in gaps where there are questions some 9:48 questions actually we do not have 9:50 answers to we don't know everything 9:53 neither does anybody else 9:55 if somebody's acting like they know 9:57 everything they are simply ignorant 10:00 themselves or they're trying to trade on 10:03 your ignorance makes me think proverbs 10:05 4:18 that the path of the righteous 10:08 grows brighter and brighter until the 10:10 coming day so we're in a continual 10:12 learning process it's an act like we 10:15 have all the truth or no it's wrong that 10:17 would be absolutely wrong here Paul 10:20 writes about this let no one deceive you 10:23 with empty words for because of these 10:25 things the wrath of God comes upon the 10:27 sons of disobedience we should not be 10:30 deceitful or speculative or use empty 10:33 words to try to convince other people 10:35 there's no better going either way 10:37 number four seek to understand what's 10:40 holding the person back from believing 10:43 it's almost never the science so let me 10:46 let me just point this out scientists 10:48 are human beings here is a wonderful 10:50 quote this is this is from a philosopher 10:53 I believe it's not recent but it is 10:55 still it's true human nature doesn't 10:57 doesn't change he wrote it is a form of 11:01 scientific idolatry supposing that 11:04 scientists are entirely free from the 11:06 passions the direct men's actions and we 11:09 should have little patience with it 11:11 scientists are human so let's look at an 11:15 example of this in Charles Darwin's 11:18 writing this is in his autobiography he 11:21 writes I can indeed hardly see how 11:25 anyone or to wish Christianity to be 11:28 true for if so the plain language of the 11:31 text seems to show that the men who 11:34 do not believe and this would include my 11:35 father brother and almost all my friends 11:39 will be everlasting punished and this is 11:42 a damnable doctrine and you know I have 11:47 to agree with him with the final 11:49 sentence at least that teaching and it 11:53 is in error and and I grew up believing 11:56 that we were going to be burned forever 12:00 and it wasn't until I did a deep Bible 12:03 study on this and realize the truth God 12:06 isn't like that God is not like that we 12:09 have a beautiful wonderful God to 12:11 not a God who is wanting to throw us in 12:13 the Hellfire and burn us there for 12:14 eternity and that's pretty clear in the 12:17 scriptures 12:17 Darwin was taught that falsehood but it 12:22 put fear into him and I will tell you 12:25 the I encounter people all the time who 12:27 throughout this very argument absolutely 12:30 it's not logically atheist it is not 12:33 logical yeah okay if that God exists man 12:37 you better sit up and take notice but 12:39 this is not the God of the Bible amen 12:42 amen 12:43 number five do not argue to show that 12:46 your right and the other person's wrong 12:47 I mean come on we want to we think 12:50 Christianity is about love and humility 12:53 and we're trying to save these people 12:56 not make them look foolish and I chose 12:58 to illustrate this Ephesians 4 14 and 15 13:01 we should no longer be children tossed 13:04 to and fro and carried about with every 13:06 wind of doctrine by the trickery of men 13:08 in the cunning craftiness of deceitful 13:11 plotting but speaking the truth in love 13:15 may grow up in all things into him who 13:20 is the head Christ this is this is what 13:24 you know this is what we're trying to do 13:26 as Christians we're not trying to make 13:27 ourselves look smarter or more correct 13:30 than everyone else and finally I 13:32 encourage people to share what is 13:35 beautiful about the creation and 13:37 encourage contemplation of this rather 13:39 than fixating on questions for which 13:42 there is no answer there are plenty of 13:45 unanswered questions out there 13:46 well we'll find answers to many of them 13:49 we'll have to wait until Jesus comes yes 13:51 yes but but there are profound beautiful 13:55 truths in Scripture that we have to 13:58 share and those truths are evidence in 14:03 the Bible as well that's what we have to 14:07 share let's share that glorious truth 14:10 great advice great advice and has Paul 14:13 told Timothy when someone disagrees with 14:15 you 14:16 you must gently instruct in hopes that 14:18 God will give them a change of heart 14:20 please stay tuned we'll be back in just 14:23 a moment with a special guest 14:26 [Music] 14:31 welcome back to the Creator revealed 14:34 we're talking today about how to share 14:37 your belief in God as our Creator and we 14:40 have a special guest whom I just loved 14:42 dr. Tom Shepherd yes your tongue 14:45 Shepherd and I go back many years we 14:48 taught together in Nebraska and now he 14:52 teaches in the Adventist Theological 14:54 Seminary at Andrews University in 14:57 Michigan and he has on one of his 15:00 signature ties today I bet he does as 15:02 well you won't be surprised by the style 15:06 but it could be anything so welcome 15:09 welcome dr. Shepherd thank you so much 15:12 for joining us so we've been we've been 15:14 talking about how to share this doctrine 15:18 of creation with other people people who 15:22 don't already believe now you're a 15:24 theologian and and you're a pastor I 15:27 know you have a pastor's heart and so 15:31 I'm wondering from your perspective 15:33 obviously I've just talked about it from 15:36 the perspective of a scientist but from 15:38 the perspective of a pastor what are the 15:42 most effective ways of sharing the 15:45 creation and what might be some things 15:49 that we would like to avoid doing if we 15:52 want to be effective okay the first 15:56 thing is you never win an argument so 16:00 it's never good to argue with people 16:02 about about creation if they don't 16:06 believe it's not good to push it on them 16:10 I believe that sharing creation is 16:13 actually part of sharing the gospel so 16:15 in fact it's a very natural place to 16:18 begin in sharing the gospel because it's 16:21 the beginning of all life on this planet 16:24 and our universe so it depends on the 16:29 situation in which I would find myself 16:31 or who I would be with exactly how I 16:33 would approach this but if I gave a 16:36 scenario where I was traveling this next 16:39 week I'll be traveling with students to 16:41 Denver for professional meetings and 16:42 maybe I'll be sitting sonex's 16:45 somebody my way of sharing the gospel 16:48 with people starts with what I call 16:50 tagging it's not actually for me it's I 16:53 heard this from somebody else and when 16:56 we were little kids we play tag and it 16:58 was tagging you're it 17:00 so in sharing the gospel in this way and 17:03 just having a normal conversation with 17:05 somebody about who you are what you do 17:07 that kind of thing you share something 17:09 that is part of your spiritual life for 17:13 me it's fairly easy I tell you I'm a 17:14 teacher and they say oh what do you 17:16 teach and I say well I teach the New 17:18 Testament in the Bible and a seminary I 17:20 have just tagged them I have just told 17:23 them I'm a spiritual person and our does 17:26 that interest you 17:27 so if they tagged me back and they say 17:30 oh you teach New Testament that's really 17:33 interesting they've just said I'm also a 17:35 spiritual person and I'd like to talk 17:36 now if they say oh do you play golf too 17:41 then I may know that they may not want 17:45 to talk about spiritual things and I 17:47 might tag them again but I'm not going 17:48 to push some money but let's suppose 17:50 that somebody has you know showed an 17:52 interest and so there it comes up the 17:56 subject of creation of course there are 17:59 many people who are like unbelievers our 18:02 number of unbelievers and how do you 18:04 reach out to them I think one of the 18:06 best ways is to share with them the 18:09 benefits of believing in creation things 18:12 like God is watching over us God is 18:15 caring for us that there's a clear 18:18 beginning so there's a clear end where 18:20 we're headed and it's going to be 18:22 glorious according to the Bible I also 18:25 believe that sharing people the idea of 18:28 the image of God that we are made in His 18:30 image and the holistic anthropology of 18:33 the Bible I mean in simple terms to 18:35 share with people shares with them the 18:38 benefits of this great doctrine of 18:41 creation you know that's that's really 18:45 interesting because it's it's 18:46 interesting to me to see this that's a 18:48 very clever technique this tagging 18:50 tagging technique but I was also you 18:54 know I was here nodding and agreeing 18:57 because of course 18:59 I think that we do agree on a number of 19:02 these things and especially especially 19:04 on this point of presenting the beauty 19:06 of what's there the attractiveness of it 19:09 yeah if we make Christianity and the 19:12 idea of creation unattractive of course 19:14 people are going to want to do it now I 19:16 actually have another question it's it's 19:20 related you're going to a professional 19:22 meeting next week and for better or for 19:28 worse I know that there are a lot of 19:32 theologians who have quite unbiblical 19:39 ideas about the creation so the question 19:43 that I have is how do you deal with 19:46 people like that they would be spiritual 19:49 people already so how do you deal with 19:52 it okay of course I'm not gonna argue 19:56 with them if they want to share then I 20:00 would present my position on the 20:03 creation in the scripture as a 20:04 historical event now among theologians 20:07 the question of the historicity of the 20:09 first 11 chapters of the book of Genesis 20:11 it's a big a big issue in a big debate 20:14 that they go over but I would share 20:19 maybe some aspects of the creation story 20:23 that point towards it being not just 20:26 sort of poetry but it being linked into 20:30 history the Sabbath is actually one of 20:32 those characteristics the Sabbath 20:35 command enshrines that whole idea of the 20:37 creation then in six days God made the 20:40 heaven in the earth so we we probably as 20:44 professionals would talk about some 20:46 aspects of the text that would go beyond 20:48 what you know I might share if I was on 20:51 an airplane sitting next to you know 20:52 just just somebody who hadn't had that 20:55 kind of experience before what about 20:57 what about given your expertise in the 20:59 New Testament I I think about my 21:01 discussions earlier with with Shelly 21:03 about you know she she says I was a New 21:07 Testament Christian Am I 21:12 so you're a you're a professor of New 21:15 Testament they're in the seminary is is 21:22 the creation there is is there a 21:25 starting point that you might choose in 21:28 the New Testament instead of arguing 21:30 about those first eleven chapters of 21:33 Genesis back in the Old Testament of 21:36 course sure absolutely the the creation 21:42 doctrine is found throughout the New 21:44 Testament I have a presentation that I 21:46 gave you that time I could share the 21:48 whole thing it takes probably about at 21:50 least half an hour or I could go on and 21:52 on and on 21:56 throughout many many books of the New 21:58 Testament creation is this foundational 22:01 kind of concept let me share one that's 22:03 in the book of Matthew chapter 19 22:06 Pharisees were asking Jesus whether it 22:09 was all right to divorce and Jesus was 22:12 very much in in favor of staying married 22:15 and not getting divorced and the basis 22:17 of his argument was that God made male 22:20 and female and he the man leaves his 22:22 father and mother is joined to his wife 22:24 so Jesus took the stories of creation as 22:29 historical events because if if if it's 22:32 not historical his argument fails and so 22:35 Matthew 19 is one of those very clear 22:38 indications that in the New Testament it 22:41 accepts the historicity of those 22:43 creation accounts and there's there's 22:45 many examples like this throughout the 22:48 New Testament that point in the same 22:49 direction you know you know one of the 22:51 things that really impressed me when I 22:54 was reading through the Bible and I do 22:56 this ever every now and again is where 22:59 the creation shows up and one of because 23:03 because I'm pro I'm not really a 23:06 theologian or anything I like those 23:08 action books the book of Acts is full of 23:13 all of these things and I was shocked to 23:16 note how often the creation is discussed 23:19 there it's very very interesting where 23:23 it shows up and you know when you can 23:26 I'm sorry I was just gonna say if you 23:28 consider the book of Romans and the 23:30 whole idea of the fall and the first 23:33 Adam and I mean the whole plan of 23:35 salvation is built around this story of 23:38 creation yes 23:40 I mean Romans is filled with the idea of 23:42 creation and the book of Acts as tim has 23:46 stated also when paul goes and talks to 23:49 the greek philosophers in on mars hill 23:52 then he refers to creation and that's 23:55 the one of the basic parts of his 23:57 argument missionaries actually find it 24:00 useful when they're going to traditional 24:02 cultures to start with the story of 24:04 creation as part of sharing the gospel 24:07 because it's it's so foundational that 24:10 god created the world the world went 24:13 wrong God restores the world in the 24:15 gospel if you don't have the basis in 24:17 creation in the fall you don't have a 24:19 reason for the redemption that's found 24:22 in Christ so it's all interlinked 24:24 together these ideas of creation and 24:26 scripture and sharing with them it's one 24:29 of those things is really very 24:31 impressive about the Scriptures the way 24:34 these these books had many different 24:37 authors but the same inspiration and 24:39 everything into links in a very clear 24:42 and logical way there isn't a different 24:45 gospel in the Old Testament than there 24:47 is we've always been saved by grace 24:51 through faith 24:52 exactly well dr. Shepherd I want to 24:54 thank you so much for joining us it's 24:58 been a real pleasure to see you again 25:04 give your sweetheart a hug from me thank 25:09 you very much god bless you know when we 25:12 were talking there about the book of 25:14 Acts and Paul on Mars Hill or sometimes 25:17 it's called the areopagus there in 25:20 Athens it reminds me of a time when I 25:22 was with a friend and we were walking 25:25 through Athens and climbed up the hill 25:28 towards the Acropolis there and we saw 25:30 this big plate bronze plate and we 25:35 started reading it it was in Greek and 25:37 lo and behold it 25:39 the story it was the the story that's 25:43 laid out there the sermon that was given 25:45 by Paul it was so impressive and right 25:49 there and that it was probably a time 25:52 when I was so profoundly struck by the 25:54 fact that he actually starts off his 25:57 sermon with all of these philosophers 25:59 with hey I'm gonna introduce you to the 26:01 unknown God you know who he is this is 26:05 the creator god yes and then he builds 26:08 everything else off that it's quite an 26:10 impressive impressive thing yeah again I 26:15 always go back to the idea that God had 26:18 Christ was the lamb slain before the 26:22 foundation of the world so God has had a 26:25 plan in mind 26:26 he created a perfect creation but in his 26:30 foreknowledge he knew what was going to 26:32 happen and the sacrifice he'd have to 26:34 make and this is heinous this is the 26:37 beautiful story that's the gospel the 26:39 beautiful reality we as Christians have 26:43 to share with the world amen and we hope 26:46 that this series has provided you a 26:49 foundation and an understanding that 26:52 you'll get out and share Jesus today 26:57 [Music] 27:24 you