Heliocentrism

Q. Is the Church still holding on to geocentrism as in Galileo’s days? If the Church recognizes heliocentrism is true, how can any Christian think the sun is created after the earth? I think Genesis 1:16 was written in Hebrew without a past participle as we understand it today. The sun was created in Genesis 1:1 when God created the universe, and He was outside of it. In verse 2, God came into the universe. Genesis 1:3 is a different day when God started to create things on earth, and he was in the universe. Genesis 2 gives a different chronology of creation and makes me think that it is not trying to give a chronological account of the creation, just like the books of the Bible, maybe for the same reasons.

A. Geocentrism, or the geocentric model, is the belief that the Earth is at the center of the universe, with the sun, moon, stars, and planets orbiting around it. Heliocentrism, or the heliocentric model, is the belief that the sun is at the universe’s center, with the earth and planets revolving around it. [Technically, the sun is NOT at the center of the universe. It is on one of the spiraling arms of the Milky Way. And our galaxy is just one of the millions or billions of galaxies in our universe.]

No, the Church is not holding onto Geocentrism. That was the 17^th century and prior. While most Christians believe in heliocentrism, those who trust the Bible to be inspired and inerrant also believe in the order of creation as recorded in Genesis. The issue today is not so much on cosmology (Geocentrism versus heliocentrism) but on the “Book of Nature” versus the “Book of Scripture,” whether Science or the Bible is the final authority on matters of faith. I am sad to say that science increasingly has the upper hand, despite its tentative conclusions, often superseded by the latest discoveries as men realize how little they know. This is particularly sad when scientists make assertions beyond their field of expertise, and people and the media follow their doctorates, even though they may know little about Scripture. I was a professional engineer before I became a pastor, grounded in science and the Bible, so I know what I am talking about.

Genesis 1:1 is a summary statement for Genesis chapter 1 – that God is the Creator of the universe. Let me quote Genesis 1:1-5 to respond to your comments:

Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.

3 Then God said, “Let there be light” and there was light.

4 God saw that the light was good and God separated the light from the darkness.

5 God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening, and there was morning, one day.

Note the following:

• The earth, not the sun, was created on Day 1. Since it was formless and void, it was not like the earth we observe now. You might call it the creation of matter out of nothing (i.e., no preexisting material), without structure.
• In v 3, God created light, still before the creation of the sun. Commentators understand this to refer to the creation of energy. It was still Day 1, as Day 2 was not described until v 6-8.

The sun is part of the heavenly bodies created on Day 4:

Gen 1:14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years;

15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so.

16 God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day (the sun) and the lesser light to govern the night (the moon); He made the stars also.

17 God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth,

18 and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness, and God saw that it was good.

19 There was evening, and there was morning, a fourth day.

Please note that the sun, the moon, and the stars were all created on Day 4. People ask, “How can there be light before the sun was created?” The sun was not the source of energy; God was. This is true not only at the beginning of creation but also at the end:

• Rev 21:23 And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.
• Rev 22:5 And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them, and they will reign forever and ever.

What’s my point? It is that while the Church had made mistakes in its understanding of science, the same can be said of atheist scientists when they make dogmatic assertions about the origin of the universe, the origin of life, and the supernatural. They are to be commended for their pursuit of truth in the physical realm, but disregarding the spiritual dimension when they cannot observe or measure it is arrogant. Both sides can learn from each other.

For me, the Book of Scripture trumps the Book of Nature because only God is omniscient, omnipotent, and infallible. Human knowledge is only a tiny fraction of intelligence in our universe. How can we who know so little shake our fists in God’s face and ask Him to step aside?

Firstborn

Q. What is the interpretation of the “firstborn” in Col. 1:15? I thought it could be explained in Rom 8:29. The Lord is the firstborn in the second creation, the second Adam.

A. This is an interesting question, sometimes misinterpreted by cults to deny Jesus’ deity. They equate “firstborn” to “first-created”, and infer that since Jesus was created, He was less than God the Father. This interpretation is wrong. Here is why.

The word “firstborn” translates the Greek noun prōtotokos and appears 9 times in the NASB:

• Luke 2:7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped Him in cloths and laid Him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.
• Luke 2:23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”),
• Romans 8:29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.
• Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
• Colossians 1:18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.
• Hebrews 1:6 And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, “And let all the angels of God worship Him.”
• Hebrews 11:28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood so that he who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them.
• Hebrews 12:23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,
• Revelation 1:5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood—

Prōtotokos itself is made up of two words:

• Protos, which could mean (1) first in time or place, or (2) first in rank, depending on the context, and
• Tokos, alternate of tiktō, which means to bring forth, bear, produce.

When you look at the 9 appearances in the NT, it is evident that for Luke 2:7, 2:23, and Hebrews 11:28, firstborn refers to “first in time”. However, for Col 1:15, I believe the context demands firstborn to mean “first in rank”, for the following reasons:

• Col 1:16 For by Him all things were created, … all things have been created through Him and for Him. In other words, He is the Creator as opposed to the chronological first of all creation. The Creator is in a completely different class from His creatures.
• Col 1:18 He is also head of the body, the church; … so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. Head means the leader, the commander. If you examine contemporary translations, you will find the following, e.g.,
  • ESV And He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent.
  • NIV And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead so that in everything He might have the supremacy.
  • NKJV And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
• Col 1:15 is an allusion to Christ as the son of David, the LORD’s firstborn:
  • Ps 89:27 I also shall make him My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. David was the youngest son of Jesse, not his eldest. Nor was David Israel’s first king, Saul was. Yet God called him His firstborn, referring to his preeminence. It has nothing to do with first in time in a sequence.

My interpretation of firstborn in Col 1:15 is expressed in several contemporary versions, e.g.:

• CJB He is the visible image of the invisible God. He is supreme over all creation.
• CEV Christ is exactly like God, who cannot be seen. He is the first-born Son, superior to all creation.
• NCV No one can see God, but Jesus Christ is exactly like him. He ranks higher than everything that has been made.
• NLT Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation.

Your thought about Jesus as the Second Adam is novel, but 1 Co 15:45 refers to Christ as the last Adam, not the Second. My understanding of firstborn in Rom 8:29 is the same as in Col 1:15 –

• AMP … so that He would be the firstborn [the most beloved and honored] among many believers.
• EXB … so that Jesus would be the firstborn [ the preeminent one, but also indicating others will follow] of many brothers and sisters …

Hope this helps.

Brontosaurus

Q. Would the Brontosaurus have lived mostly before Noah’s flood and even before Adam and Eve first sinned because it was a plant-eater?

A. Let me qualify myself before I answer. I have an honors engineering degree and was a professional engineer before I became a pastor, so I am not ignorant about science. I choose to believe the Bible, not evolution, because of all the available evidence.

The names Brontosaurus and dinosaur do not appear in the Bible. However, the creation account indicates:

• Gen 1:24-27 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so. ²⁵ God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good. ²⁶ Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷ God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 

Dinosaurs are under the “beasts of the earth” kind, a more general term than species. The word “Then” in v 26 indicates that man was created after earth creatures in v 24-25. So, the Brontosaurus would have lived before Adam and Eve and Noah’s flood. How long before? That depends on whether you believe in a “young earth” versus an “old earth”, but that’s another issue altogether.

Vegetarian?

Q. In Gen 1:29-30 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. Does that imply that no one ate meat before fall of man? Meat only came as a result from killing and death, so we were initially designed to be perfectly sustained as “vegetarians”? Ch 9:3 gives more context for God also giving animals as food. But question about vegetarian is still valid (I think)?

A. Yes. Before the Flood every plant and every fruit were given to man and animals (beasts, birds, reptiles) for food. That extends to all green plants for everything that breathes. After the Flood this vegetarian restriction was lifted, and animals were included as food:

• Gen 9:3 Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

Up till the Flood men and animals were all vegetarians. There were no carnivores at that time.

Not only that, the world’s conditions will be similar under the Lord’s rule during the Millennium and the new heavens and a new earth:

• Isa 11:6-9 The wolf will live with the lamb,
      the leopard will lie down with the goat,
  the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
      and a little child will lead them.
  ⁷ The cow will feed with the bear,
      their young will lie down together,
      and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
  ⁸ The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
      and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.
  ⁹ They will neither harm nor destroy
      on all my holy mountain,
• Isa 65:25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together,
      and the lion will eat straw like the ox,
      and dust will be the serpent’s food.
  They will neither harm nor destroy
      on all my holy mountain,”
  says the Lord.
  
  

Some asked, “If all animals were meant to be vegetarians, why do carnivores have sharp teeth and claws? Doesn’t it mean that they were designed to be meat-eaters? Or did they evolve?” The answer is in:

• Gen 1:24-25 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so. God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.

God created herbivores and carnivores after their kind, substantially as we have them now. They did not evolve. However, God foreknew that mankind would fall, that the earth will be filled with violence (Gen 6:11, 13), that He will destroy all flesh with a flood (Gen 6:17), and that He will permit the eating of meat after the Flood (Gen 9:3). So the sharp teeth and claws or predatory features were designed in anticipation of post-Flood conditions.

No Excuse

Recently we started a bible study with a friend who grew up in a mainline church. Unfortunately they did not emphasize studying the Bible, so even though some members had gone to church for many years, they did not have a firm grasp of some basic teachings until they changed to an evangelical church.

For our purpose we chose the first few chapters of Romans, as that explained the fundamentals of the gospel in a very succinct way. As a matter of fact, whenever we share the gospel with seekers, many of their questions were answered right from those few chapters. For instance:

Q. I come from an atheistic educational system and was never taught about God. So you can’t hold me accountable to something I never knew and don’t believe in. That wouldn’t be fair!

A variation is the often asked question, “What about the heathen? Nobody told them about Jesus. God couldn’t send someone to hell for not believing in Jesus whom they have never heard! Those folks were innocently minding their own business. Surely God would excuse them!” Sounds familiar? Maybe you’ve wondered about that yourself, but unfortunately the world does not work that way, even in our secular society.

Let me give you an illustration. Suppose you come from Germany where the autobahn’s posted speed limit is 130 km/hr, but often cars drive at over 200 km/hr. You rented a car and cruised along TransCanada Highway at your usual 200 km/hr, but were stopped by the police. Can you say to the policeman, “I’m sorry, officer. I just arrived in Canada and don’t know about your local speed limits. You can’t charge me because I honestly didn’t know.” Think you can get away with that defense? Not on your life! Ignorance of the law is no excuse!

The same is true of God’s law. Ignorance of God’s law excuses no man. More importantly, are people really ignorant? Not according to the word of God:

• Rom 1:19-20 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
• Rom 2:1 Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.
• Rom 2:15 They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.

People may plead that they have never seen or heard of God, but they are without excuse. Why? Because although God is Spirit and invisible, He has made His divine nature and attributes plain to men. How? Through His creation, which is visible. God’s power and intelligence can be clearly perceived when men consider the immensity, the intricacy of the design, and the orderliness of the universe, whether on a cosmic or microscopic scale. Whenever men think of the designer, they know there must be an omnipotent, omniscient Creator behind it, namely God.

That’s the external witness to God, the created universe and natural law, but there is also an internal witness – conscience. Although men may not know the details of God’s law as revealed in the Mosaic law, the moral requirements of His law are written in men’s hearts. While this can be marred by people hardening their hearts and stifling their conscience, it is universal in that it cuts across race and time, and instinctively tells people what is right or wrong. Where does this universal conscience come from? From the Creator – God.

The third nail in the coffin is man passing judgment on one another. In doing so they condemn themselves, because the one who judges practices the very same thing. So whenever we judge others, we judge ourselves. These three, creation, conscience, and condemnation join together to prove that men actually knew God. They just don’t want to acknowledge Him as God. That’s a problem of the will, not cognition. So men are without excuse, despite their plead of ignorance.

But back to the heathen question. Is it fair for people to be sentenced to hell when they don’t know Jesus? Think it through carefully. First of all, people are not condemned because they don’t know Jesus. They are condemned because of their own sin. Secondly, they may not know Jesus, but they know the Father through creation and conscience. Yet no one lives fully up to the level of their own conscience, even though that’s a very low standard compared to God’s requirements, namely perfection. So men are guilty and accountable to God with no excuse. Trust in Him and ask for mercy. We’ll return to this in future posts.