Prof Zebulon No E06
A) Creation (Theistic Evolution)
Here is a term that can be classified as
an oxymoron. What it basically means is
that God used evolution is His Creation and when the various life-forms were
evolving, God sort of helped the process along; somehow...... As you can imagine, this is not taught in the
Bible; so you say, where did it come from?
It came from people who believe that a supreme being does exist and
because of the complexity of the Creation, they just don't want to throw
everything into the hoary mists of antiquity; they believe in a god; just not
the God of the Bible. These were Charles Darwin's very words. Theistic evolution is also proposed by many
Christians who feel they have to stuff millions of years in between each day in
the Genesis account of creation.
Another belief system is the Gap Theory.
This is another opinion that is held by many fundamentalists who believe that
billions of years went by between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. The main purpose
of this theory is to harmonise the Biblical account of Creation with the
accepted geological ages, such as the Palaeozoic or the Mesozoic eras.
These theories are not only impossible
but are, again, not reasonable. We will
look at these and other issues in later studies. We will see what the Bible says about
creation.
D) The Bible (Allegorical or Literal
Interpretation)
Interpretation (hermeneutics) of the
Bible has been a controversial subject for centuries. Some believers say that the Bible must not be
taken literally but that it must be taken allegorically, that is to say,
spiritually. In other words, the terms used in the Bible are not literal events
or occurrences but just symbolic representations. An example is the account of
Adam and Eve. Those who hold the allegorical
interpretation say that this was not actual disobedience by Adam and Eve but
just a figurative expression of man's experience. There are many examples of this that have
grabbed the attention of Christians for years and, sometimes, to the detriment of the Body of
Christ.
The Bible must be taken literally and in
its actual context; but you say, there are symbols in the Bible that were meant
to be taken figuratively. Good; use
them. But then you say, how do we know when to interpret literally or
allegorically? Good question!!
Through the centuries, scholars have
found that if the literal interpretation makes sense, don't look any further;
otherwise it will be nonsense. Let me
explain.
1) In Revelation 8 verse7 the Bible says that
an angel sounded his trumpet and hail and fire mingled with blood fell to the
earth; this is not a symbol! It will be
just as the Bible says: hail and fire mingled with blood; remember Moses'
plagues to
2) Now let us look at one of the horses in
Revelation; the white one. In chapter 6
verse 2 the Bible says that the white horse had on it a rider who was given a
crown and had a bow and went out conquering and to conquer. This is not a literal horse but a symbol of
Antichrist riding on a sort of system where he will conquer the world. The bow in his hand is definitely a symbol of
war but the absence of arrows indicates that he will conquer peacefully.
Interpretation of the Bible is not
something to be taken lightly; that is why the Lord gave us the Holy Spirit to
enlighten us. He also gave us our
intelligence, our wills and our emotions.
Let us put them to good use and to the Glory of His name.