Prof Zebulon No E139

A) Creation (Dating methods)

There are scientific ways of measuring the age of rocks, wood, fossils, bones and any other organic material and any other organic material; Carbon-14 or Radiocarbon (¹⁴C) is one of them. Ordinary carbon or ¹²C as well as ¹⁴C are found in the carbon dioxide in the air which is taken up by every living thing so, elephants or the leaves in a tree contain carbon. If we measure how many ¹²C atoms there are for every ¹⁴C atom there is in a living thing, this is called the ¹⁴C/¹²C Ratio. It remains fairly constant as long as there is life, but as soon as the plant or animal dies, the ¹⁴C begins to decay and is not replaced, so the amount of ¹⁴C starts decreasing. In other words, the ¹²C/¹⁴C Ratio gets smaller. Voila, we have a “carbon clock” to measure the age of things that were once living. This method cannot be used to measure rocks or fossils; other methods are used for that. The past is not open to normal experimental science, so a scientist cannot do experiments on events that happened in the past. God once said to Job “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” (Job 38:4). There are several methods to measure the age of rocks or fossils such as: Potassium Argon, Rubidium Strontium, Lead Isochron; we won’t look at them because it gets much too complicated. There is, however, something that can be said about these methods. A group of scientists measured the same rocks with these three methods and three different ages were derived. Potassium Argon revealed an age of 10,000 years; Rubidium Strontium gave an age of 1, 270,000 years and Lead Isochron gave 2,600,000 years. Not even close!! Millions or thousands?? The age of things can be measured by what information is available to mankind: evolutionists use man’s chronology, creationists use the Bible’s chronology. Which one do you think is more reliable?

C) The Church (Does the Church Fulfill Israel’s Program?)

Many volumes have been written in answer to this question because there are two very distinct possible answers and students of Scripture have had to choose between them. They are:

1) God’s program for Israel is fulfilled in the Church. The Old Testament is reinterpreted by the New Testament and the prophesies for Israel in the Old Testament must not be taken literally but applied to the Church. God made specific promises to Abraham in Genesis 12: 1-3 “1 Now the LORD said to Abram, Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; 2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” Abraham’s descendants include Jews, Christians and Moslems; therefore, there is no distinction between Israel and the Church; both are recipients of God’s salvation by grace. Prophesies for an earthly kingdom must not be taken literally; the kingdom is in heaven.

2) God has two different programs – one for Israel and one for the Church   The Church is not mentioned in the Old Testament (a mystery – Ephesians 5:42) and it is not a nation but rather an open fellowship of people who believe that Jesus is the Messiah. A sharp distinction must be made between the descendants of Abraham in general and the descendants of Isaac (Jacob – Jews and Esau – gentiles). The Church was created to be the channel of God’s grace since Israel failed miserably to do this. However, God has not forgotten His people and will bring them back to the land one day. Romans 11: 25, 26 says “25 or I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. 26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:”

The LORD knows His agenda – may we be faithful in proclaiming His name to the lost, including the Jews.