Many people have the mistaken belief that the Holy Bible says that the earth is only 6,000 years old. Genesis 1:1 says that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. When the beginning was, I have no idea but I'm sure it must have been much longer ago than 6,000 years. The bible says that the earth was void and without form so it was here when God created life upon it. How long it existed before that only god knows, if there is a God.
The bible says that God placed man in the Garden of Eden. How long humans existed there isn't told to us. It could have been two weeks or two billion years. Again, no one knows except God, if He is real.
Following the timeline from when Adam and Eve were removed and barred from the Garden to the flood was about two thousand years and from the flood to Jesus's birth was another two thousand years and from the death of Christ to the present time is another two thousand years which is a total of six thousand years. The earth as we know it was created in six days and the scriptures say that a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day so some people believe the bible says the earth was created six thousand years ago. God rested on the seventh day, which is the thousand years reign of Christ on the earth.
When the bible says it rained forty days and nights and that Jesus was in the wilderness for forty days does not necessarily mean an actual forty days. It means a long time. The six days, or six stages of creation on the earth lasted as long as they lasted. As far as the history of man is concerned, the recorded history of man is only six thousand years old so if humans could read and write earlier than that all proof has been lost.
God never attempst to prove that he exists. The bible acknowledges the existence of God from the very first verse. When Moses asked God how he could prove that he was the one sending Moses to lead the people, God replied to tell them he was "I am."
Some people believe the scriptures are a fairy tale, that God does not exist, and Christians are foolish for putting their faith in a non-existant and invisible being. They could be correct. God may not be real.
But what does one do about Jesus? He certainly existed and there is ample proof that he was crucified and was buried and rose from the dead. If Jesus existed then God has to be real.
The church I attend is small, perhaps one of the smallest in existence anywhere. We do have a memeber whois 94 years old but she seldom can attend because she has no one to bring her. Recently she underwent surgery on one of her legs and the surgery was deemed to be a failure. It was a procedure that needed to be done on both legs. The lady fell and hurt herself seriously and took a while to heal.
She went for a checkup and her legs were examined to determine if the operation possible now without putting her life in jeopardy. The doctor determined she was strong enough to undergo the surgery and that it was expedient to do so. She was brought into the operating room and preped for surgery. When the surgeon was ready to begin, he informed his assistant and the nurses to send her home as the surgery was no longer necessary.
Of course, we have all heard of people needing medical procedures and were declared healed just before the surgery was to begin. We only have someone else's word for this. Another incident that happened at our church had to do with something that was visible to everyone.
Back in October I began clearing some land at the church and I worked steadily at this job until the end of February. The biggest concern I had was about a limb that had broken from a tree but was still stuck in the tree. The limb was probably at least 30 feet long and six to 8 inches thick. It was much heaver than I could possible deal with. I asked a young man, a football player of 350 pounds or more, to help me move the limb but me, him and the preacher could not move that limb even one inch.
Saturday, June 23, 2012 we are going to have a community cookoutat the church and I became really concern that the limb might fall out of the tree and kill or injury a child during the festivities. I could afford to have it move and the men at the church could not move it (I had even tried a week earlier) soI knew if that limb was to be moved God would have to do it. Last week I walked over to the limb, gave it a push, and it snapped in two and fell from the tree.
Maybe it had decayed and was ready to come out of the tree but I believe the timing was as much proof as I needed that God's hand was in the act just as much as he was involved in the healing of the 94 year old lady.
I know I can come closer to proving God exists than any scientist can to proving evolution is real. But it isn't about proof; it is about faith.
I know that if my faith is misplaced I will never know because when I die I will just cease to exist. If my faith is justified, I will be taken home to heaven. However, those who are correct in believing God is a lie just cease to exist but those who believe God is a lie and are wrong, will end up in eternal damnation.
I am not wrong. God does exist and Jesus Christ is who he says he is.
You are invited to the cookout Saturday, 2-6 pm at One Way Baptist church at 604 Sunset, Randleman, NC. Hope to see you there.
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