Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Lutheranism 101- Part 20 - The First Article of the Creed

I know it has been a long time since the last update. Hopefully we will be more consistent in the future. Today we start talking about the First Article of the Apostle's Creed. Simply stated it says, "I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth." This is the article having to do with creation. The first article also concentrates on the first person of the Trinity, the Father. He is called Father because he is the Father of the Son of God and he is also our Father through our faith in Jesus Christ. We also believe that he is the father of all human beings because he created them. Therefore there is really only one human race because we all come from the same Father and are all children of Adam and Eve and we are also all redeemed by Christ.

We also believe that he created the world in six literal days. Not to start everything off with controversy but that is what Scripture says. The Hebrew word Yom is used here and it means a twenty-four hour period. It is the not the same word for day that is used in other parts of Scripture where a day could be a longer period of time. So we do not believe that it took billions of years to create the world. It only took six days. Evolution is merely a theory that has not been proved. Now many times people think of evolution as pure science like the science it takes to make the space shuttle or designed computers or bridges, but it is not. That is observable science. In other words you can see it and test it over and over again. Evolution is not that type of science, it is historical science. No one was around when the world was created, no one saw how humans and mountains were first created. When evolutionists say that a rock formation is a million years old there is no way to prove that. No one has ever actually measured a million years before. Now they have chemical tests that are supposed to be able to date things like that, but do they actually work? The only way that could be proven is if someone were around a million years ago and saw it happen, and then the chemical test showed the same thing. Plus when you start investigating these things you will find that the age of mountains and rivers keeps changing as new tests are developed.
Then there is the more important point that in Scripture there is no death until the sin of Adam and Eve. But according to evolution whole species of living organisms died out before man even came on the scene. That is impossible according to both the Old and New Testaments. So you either believe in evolution or you believe in God, you can't believe in both. If you believe in Evolution then you might as well throw the Bible out because it is a book of lies. Ken Ham who created the Creation Museum in Ohio is a good source of information on this. Answers in Genesis' website is a good place to look. You can find it at www.answersingenesis.org

I am sure that you have lots of questions about what I just said and I would be glad to respond to any comments. But for now lets move on to another topic, angels. What are angels? Years ago there was a popular TV series out called Touched by an Angel. It was a top rated show because people are interested in angels. Well lets start off by destroying some myths. Angels are not people who have died and gone to heaven. So grandpa and grandma are not up there with wings on looking down on you. They are enjoying heaven, they have better things to do. Angels are creatures that God created to work for him and to watch out for us. The word angel itself means messenger. God used them throughout Scripture to deliver messages to people. Angels are spirit beings, they do not have bodies, although they have been known to take on bodies for awhile. We also know that some of the angels rebelled against God and were thrown out of heaven. Satan was one of those angels and now he and his demons do everything they can to destroy God's plans and his people. We know that there are many good and powerful angels that protect us and carry out Gods desires. We also know that angels are strong and mighty, they are not like the little girls we always pick to play them in the Christmas plays. They are more like military special forces guys that kick in doors and take out people. Thankfully they are on our side. Next time we will talk about humanity and how God continues to take care of us.
Here is some Scripture for you: Galatians 3:26; Malachi 2:10; Acts 17:26; Psalm 33:6,9; Hebrews 11:3; Colossians 1:16; Luke 1:26-38; Luke 24:4-7; 2 Peter 2:4; Daniel 7:10; Psalm 103:20-21; Hebrews 1:14; 2 Kings 19:35;; Ephesians 6:12;John 8:44;

Pastor Fred