Knowledge, Tech, and Creation

"I will fetch my knowledge from afar;
I will ascribe righteousness to my Maker" (Job 36:3).

"But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase" (Daniel 12:4; emphasis added).

The popular belief of our time is that the wild technological advancements of our modern time are a clear display of evolution in action. Allmusic.com even has a misleading t.v. commercial that gives a synopsis of the alleged evolution of music. According to the commercial, music evolved from Gregorian chants into songs with instrumental accompaniment. 

What the commercial ignores is that musical instruments, including complex stringed instruments, percussion, and woodwind instruments were in use in the most ancient times. David, second king of ancient Israel was a talented harpist, a thousand years before Christ was born in Bethlehem (1 Samuel 16:14-23). And there are many exhortations in the Scriptures to play musical instruments as an act of worship (Psalm 33:2-3, Psalm 150). And musical instruments of all kinds were in use throughout ancient history (1 Samuel 10:5-6, Daniel 3:4-5,7-25, Matthew 9:23-24, Matthew 11:15-19).

Recently I had a conversation with someone about wine consumption in ancient Rome. This person pointed out that back then, wine had a lower alcohol content, which is true. It was roughly the same as the alcohol content of the average beer today. But the person went on to assert that the ancient Romans did not understand fermentation, but that they understood "buzz". That part is untrue. 

Advancements in the technology of fermentation have been made. But the ancients were not oblivious. One of Jesus' parables revolves around the fermentation process. To illustrate the complete newness of the covenant that He would bring about, Jesus pointed out that no one puts new (unfermented) wine into old wine-skins, because the old wine-skins would burst and the wine would be wasted. The ancient peoples, dating back to the beginning, knew about the fermentation process. They were skilled in it.

Job is believed to be the oldest book in the Bible; having been written before Moses wrote Genesis-Deuteronomy. The man, Job, may have lived contemporaneously with Abraham. In Job chapter 28, Job gives a speech that describes in detail the work of miners, mining deep in the earth for precious stones and valuable metals. He is using it as a metaphor for the more important search for wisdom. 

The ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, and Romans all achieved amazing technological feats and evinced vast treasures of knowledge in such fields as mathematics, astronomy, engineering, and architecture. There are even trace evidence of more advanced civilizations in the forgotten past. Those who reject the Genesis account of early world history speculate that these trace evidence of advanced technology might have been left by ancient aliens, before humans evolved from lower animals.

Creationists like myself, however, are not baffled by the thought that God made humans in His own image. Humans have always been intelligent creatures. Moses tells us that the pre-Flood era saw advancements in agriculture, the making of musical instruments, and metal working (Genesis 4:20-22). Trace evidence of advanced ancient technology may be the remains of civilizations that existed before the Genesis Flood.

Furthermore, the awesome technological advancements of our modern time are not a display of evolution either. Instead, such forward strides are a fulfillment of biblical prophecy. God told the prophet Daniel that in the last days, "knowledge shall increase". And that is exactly what we see happening. 

It is the arrogance of every generation to think itself better than all previous generations. The evolutionary myth appeals to this generational arrogance. As the Scriptures say elsewhere: "Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies" (1 Corinthians 8:1). The only cure is love. We are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27). And that means more than just that we are intelligent, as He is; but God is love (1 John 4:8). He created us to be capable not only of intelligence; but more importantly, capable of  love; toward God who is love, and toward each other who are made in the image of God who is love (Matthew 22:37-40).

C.S. Lewis, Evolutionism, And Christian Apologetics

In 1999, when I was sixteen, the writings of C.S. Lewis awoke my interest in Christian apologetics. I have found his works very helpful to growing in understanding of the Christian faith. To this day I appreciate Lewis for both his apologetical and fiction writings.

The interesting thing is that while I defend biblical creation, C.S. Lewis started out his Christian life as a theistic evolutionist. His early theological works reflect a belief in evolutionism. 

At least at one point in Mere Christianity, Lewis made use of the evolutionary myth to try to illustrate what spiritual growth in Christ is like. 

The Problem of Pain is a good read. The book was written to answer the question of why there is suffering in the world, and Lewis made a lot of very helpful points. But there is a weakness in the book. 

If theistic evolutionism were true, that would mean that  there was suffering, disease, and death in the world before humans existed and sinned. That is an irreconcilable contradiction to God's word, which says 

"So, in the same way that sin entered the world through one person, and death came though sin, so death spread to all human being with the result that all sinned" (Romans 5:12 Common English Bible). 

Lewis seems to have tried to get around this by mixing evolutionism and creation in an inconsistent kind of mash-up (see chapter five of The Problem of Pain). It seems he was already showing a growing disbelief in evolutionism. 

It does make me glad that as Lewis grew in knowledge and understanding, his writings did begin to reflect a departure from theistic evolutionism. He began to show a leaning toward biblical creation.

He came to reject what he called "universal evolutionism"; apparently referring to macro-evolution as opposed to micro-evolution. Though for clarity, it is better to refer to micro-evolution as speciation within the biblical, created "kinds" (Genesis 1:11, 21, 24-25).

Lewis wrote, "You remember the old puzzle as to whether the owl came from the egg or the egg from the owl...universal evolutionism is a kind of optical illusion, produced by attending exclusively to the owl's emergence from the egg" (see link).

So Lewis eventually came to recognize the fallacy of evolutionism. And that is good because holding to biblical creation makes for stronger apologetics. Conversely, the old-earth-evolutionary compromise is a weakness in the arguments made by many of the current leading Christian apologists. There is simply no reason for it. 

Evolutionism just does not mesh with the gospel. To defend the historicity of Matthew-Acts, but not that of Genesis is simply inconsistent. Believing in the events recorded in the Gospels and Act, there is simply no reason to disbelieve the events recorded in Genesis. In fact, the significance of the restorative works, atoning death, and redemptive resurrection of Jesus the Messiah is wholly predicated on Genesis.

In a debate with a Christian who accepts evolutionism, an atheist can mockingly say "You don't even believe the Bible, and you're trying to convince me!" The pastor at my church told of such an exchange that took place during a debate that he attended.

And evolutionism is not a scientific fact. Evolutionism is an interpretation of scientific data, just as creation is also an interpretation of scientific data. Not only is this so, but evolutionism, at its core, is a naturalistic, atheistic explanation of the universe, life, and origins.

Recommended sites:

www.answersingenesis.org
www.icr.org
http://creation.com/

A Natural Mystic

"Many more will have to die

Many more will have to cry - Don't ask me why

I say things are not the way they used to be - Don't tell no lie

One and all have got to face reality now

Though I try to find the answer

To all the questions that they ask" Bob Marley; Natural Mystic

Disclaimer

I have thought twice about whether or not I should write a post based on a Bob Marley song, since this is a blog about Christian theology. I'm not a Rastafarian, as Bob Marley was. Rastafari is a false-gospel (Galatians 1:8-9). 

Not that I would exalt myself over anyone. I know that I am a sinner and that I am only saved by God's grace.

But Haile Selassie was not a reincarnation of Jesus the Messiah, or God the Father, as Rastafarians believe he was. In fact he personally denied being the reincarnation of Jesus the Messiah, or God the Father. 

Jesus Himself warned that false-prophets and false-messiahs would come, and that we must not believe in them (Matthew 24:4-5, 23-25).

However, even the apostle Paul sometimes quoted pagan poets and philosophers to make a point (see Acts 17:28, 1st Corinthians 15:33). And many of Bob Marley's lyrics are based on the Scriptures. So I enjoy his music while being careful to discern biblical truth from unbiblical falsehood.

I like reggae music and I have a lot of Bob Marley's material in my collection. And I also enjoy listening to Christafari and other artists who play reggae music with a strong emphasis on biblical, non-Rastafarian theology.

Body

Recently, Natural Mystic came up on my mp3 player as I had it on shuffle. In the song, Bob Marley describes the brokenness and injustice of this world in contrast to "the way [things] used to be". We do live in a world of suffering, and death, and violence. We live in a world that is broken by the curse of sin.

According to the evolutionary worldview, however, things are precisely the way they have always been. According to the evolutionary doctrine of uniformity, the world has always been undergoing the same processes at the same rates as it is at present. 

According to evolutionary philosophy, there never was a perfect world in the beginning; from which humanity has fallen away, and to which Christ has come to restore us. For as long as life has existed, there has always been suffering, disease, and brokenness - for as long as the universe has existed - from the very beginning. 

If the sedimentary rock layers of the geological column were laid down slowly over billions of years of evolutionary history, than the fossil record is indeed a record of suffering, disease, and death from the very beginning; with no such cause as the curse of sin. There are fossil evidence of animals having cancer and other terrible ailments; as well as ferocious predatory carnivorousness.

"Though I try to find the answer to all the questions that they ask"

The theistic evolutionist is at a remarkable disadvantage when it comes to answering the question of why there is suffering, disease, and death in the first place. If theistic evolution were true, than God created the world broken and cursed from the very beginning, because He likes it that way - BROKEN!

In his book, Contact, Carl Sagans attributed his rejection of God to this: that in his view, if God exists He created a broken world. Richard Dawkins has also attributed his atheistic beliefs to his "understanding of evolution".

But Sagans was wrong. And Dawkins is wrong. God's word is Truth (John 17:17). And Bob Marley was at least right about this one thing: 

"Things are not the way they used to be - Don't tell no lie

One and all have got to face reality now"

In truth, God created a perfect world in the beginning. He did not create a sin-cursed, rebellious, violent, sorrow-pierced, broken world. 

The world became the way it is because of the decision made by Adam and Eve, using their free-will to disobey God. The gospel is predicated on this.

"Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned...For if by one man's offence many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:12, 15).  

This does not mean that every time something bad happens to an individual, that that particular person is being punished for a specific sin. But what it does mean is that the reason suffering, disease, and death even exist in the first place is because of sin. 

And as unpleasant as we may find it, we are all inheritors by birth, of a fallen human nature. As the Scriptures attest:

"Behold I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me" (Psalm 51:5).

As for the geological column, which is mentioned above: These sedimentary layers were laid down swiftly during the Flood, burying the creatures that have since become fossilized. They are a record of God's judgment on sin. 

All the great fountains of the deep were broken up (Genesis 7:11), and the rain fell for forty days. And the water covered the earth for a year. Most of the world's current mountains are made of sedimentary rock layers which were laid down by the Flood; and have been pushed up and bent by tectonic activity, which was first caused by the breaking up of all the great fountains of the deep.

Check out the linked sites below to read material written by trained scientists who affirm biblical creation.
www.answersingenesis.org
www.icr.org

The Ephesian Goddess, Evolution, and the Resurrection of Jesus the Messiah

The Riot

In the course of his missionary journeys, the apostle Paul and his companions came to the city of Ephesus. Located in what is presently the country of Turkey, Ephesus had been under Greek and Roman rule successively. It was also the home of the temple of the goddess Diana, aka Artemis.

Paul was there, preaching the gospel of salvation through Jesus the Messiah. And there was a certain silversmith named Demetrius who became incensed by the Christian's denial of all gods other than Yahweh, the living God who created the heavens and the earth. Obviously, since Demetrius was a silversmith, he made his living by sculpting images of Diana and her temple.

Demetrius called together a crowd of people who did similar work to his own. He gave a speech against Paul and the gospel, and a riot began to boil. For two hours the crowd was shouting and chanting "Great is Diana of the Ephesians!"

Then the city clerk quieted the crowd and said "Men of Ephesus, what man is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple guardian of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Zeus? Therefore, since these things can not be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rashly" (Acts 19:35-36).

The "Empirical" Claim

I love how the city clerk considered what was probably a meteorite to be proof of the existence of Zeus and Diana. It reminds me of people who think evolution is confirmed by empirical science.

The city clerk had his interpretation of the fact. An "image" came down from Zeus. And it was probably kept in the temple of Diana, like a fossil in a museum. But his worldview did not come from the fact. Rather he used his pagan worldview, which he already had, to interpret the meaning of the object that fell from the sky.

In the same way, evolutionists have their interpretation of the facts. There are fossils. There are objects that range from simple to complex. There are sedimentary rock layers all over the earth. There are different kinds of creatures with similar biological or anatomical features. The evolutionist interprets these things according to his or her naturalistic worldview.

As a creationist, I see the fossil record as a record of extinction, not evolution. I see the simple-to-complex nature of things not as proof of evolution, but of the plain fact that there have always been simple-to-complex things in the universe. I see the sedimentary layers of the geological column as evidence of deep water (during the Genesis Flood), not deep time. I see biological/anatomical similitude in different kinds of creatures as evidence of a common Creator, not of a common evolutionary ancestor.

Worldviews do not come from evidence. Worldviews are used to interpret the evidence. 

Evidence for Jesus the Messiah

But perhaps the most well attested event in all of antiquities is the miraculous, bodily resurrection of Jesus the Messiah from the dead.

It is a historical fact that Jesus of Nazareth really lived in first century Israel. He was crucified and died. Furthermore, His disciples believed that He was raised from the dead and that He appeared to them as the risen Lord. 

It is a historical fact that Jesus' half-brother, James, became a believer after initially doubting Jesus. And it is a fact that Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee, ceased persecuting Christians and began preaching that Jesus is the risen Savior, and had appeared to him on the road to Damascus. And he began to go by his gentile name, "Paul" since his ministry was primarily aimed at converting gentiles to the Messiah, Jesus.

These disciples of Jesus were willing to spread His gospel under severe persecution. All of them, except John, died martyr's deaths because they were convinced that Jesus rose from the dead and had appeared bodily to them. 

John, the youngest of the twelve apostles, suffered persecution for preaching about Jesus. In his old age he was exiled to the Island of Patmos. There he wrote the book of Revelation. John was also the author of the fourth Gospel account, and three letters (1st, 2nd, and 3rd John) that are now a part of the New Testament.

In fact, one of the oldest extant fragments from the New Testament is the Rylands Library Papyrus P52, also known as St. John's Papyrus. Being a portion of John chapter 18, the fragment of ancient papyrus was uncovered in Egypt and is considered to date back to approximately 100 A.D. to 150 A.D.

John died around 100 A.D. That's about seventy years after he witnessed the miracles of Christ, including His post-resurrection appearances, with his own eyes (1st John 1:1-4).

There is also much reason to believe confidently that Luke's gospel and the book of Acts were written by Luke before 65 A.D. If the book of Acts had been written later, it would not end where it does.

Acts is a sequel to Luke's gospel. It is a record of the works (deeds, or actions) of the apostles after Jesus rose from the dead.

The narrative of Acts ends with the apostle Paul still alive in Rome. Paul was beheaded by the Romans circa 67 A.D. for preaching about Jesus.

The book of Acts ends with no mention of the Jewish War, or the fall of Jerusalem which happened in 70 A.D. These major events of the first century were significant to early Church history.Yet the narrative ends where it does because Luke wrote it before these events took place.

In addition to all this, the Church leaders of the second century quoted so much from the New Testament books that even if there were no copies of the New Testament texts from earlier, virtually the entire N.T. could be reproduced just from the writings of the early Church leaders.

What it comes down to is this. Those who deny the resurrection of Jesus, do so not because of the historical evidence, but because they hold to a worldview that miracles don't happen. 

As C.S. Lewis wrote in the first chapter of his book, Miracles:

"In all my life I have met only one person who claims to have seen a ghost. And the interesting thing about the story is that the person disbelieved in the immortal soul before she saw the ghost and still disbelieves after seeing it. She says that what she saw must have been an illusion or a trick of the nerves...If anything extraordinary seems to have happened, we can always say that we have been the victims of an illusion. If we hold to a philosophy which excludes the supernatural, that is what we always shall say" (emphasis added).

So again we see that worldviews do not come from the evidence, but are utilized to interpret the evidence. 

Assumptions

Preamble

Much of what is taught about our early history is based on evolutionary assumptions. And the evolutionary world view itself is based on the assumption that there is no supernatural Creator - an atheist assumption. And the corollary assumption is that the Biblical Flood never happened.

It is simply assumed from the beginning of all secularist inquiry that the universe could not have just been created in mature form by God. It is therefore assumed that all things had to begin simple and evolve to become more complex. It is accordingly assumed that humans began as mere molecules that evolved by steps over vast amounts of time to become "modern humans". And it is assumed that the sedimentary rock-layers of the geological column were laid down slowly by vast amount of time rather than quickly by the vast amounts of water during the Flood that covered the whole earth.

Body

Tools

The idea that humans developed tools over time, starting with the most simple stone tool, up to the more complex, is assumed. This is where the idea of a paleolithic to neolithic era comes from. The artifacts are simply put into order based on the preconceive notion that the simpler ones must be older. But even today, living humans still use a combination of simple and complex tools. And besides that, even some secular scientists are coming to think that some of the paleolithic artifacts that they find are not even human artifacts at all, but geofacts. The thought is that some kind of catastrophe, like a flood, may have shaped these items. Read this article by Michael Oard, M.S. (http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2001/08/01/controversy-stone-tools). The material at the linked site is written by trained scientists who affirm the Bible.

Language

The idea that the earliest humans could not articulate or write, is also an evolutionary assumption. According to Genesis, Adam and Eve were able to speak and understand each other in full ranged articulation from the day they were created. They were created as fully mature adult humans by God. The earliest known written language is cuneiform. Cuneiform is a hieroglyph language belonging to the Akkadian people. This is consistent with the Genesis narrative since Akkad is one of the earliest empires to form after the Flood. And there is no reason to think that there was no written language before the Flood.

Dark Sayings? Dark Sayings. History! (Context and Consequence).

Introduction

Many people wrongly claim that the history recorded in Genesis (and especially the earliest history) is allegorical, and never actually happened. The reasons for such a claim are ideas that are not extrapolated from the Scriptures but are read into, or forced onto the Scriptures from outside.

There is the evolutionary worldview for example. Evolutionary doctrine is not science. It involve the use of patently atheistic assumptions about the past to interpret scientific data in the present. And then there is postmodern philosophy which asserts that there is no absolute truth, but that individuals can make up their own truth. Postmodern philosophy is really neo-paganism. But God's word remains the Truth (John 17:17, 14:6).

The aim of this entry is to show from the context of the Scriptures that the Genesis narrative is historical, and that an allegorical interpretation of Genesis is theologically destructive. Interpreting the Scriptures with the Scriptures, we can see clearly that they are God's word, and that their contextual integrity confirms the historicity of Genesis.

Dark Sayings?

Remember that Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy are the Five Books of Moses. This Pentateuch ("Five Books") was written by Moses under the direction of God.

In Numbers chapter 12, we read about how Moses' brother and sister criticized him for marrying an Ethiopian woman. It is not clear why Aaron and Miriam objected to the marriage. The possibilities are another subject for another time. In any case, Aaron and Miriam went so far as to question Moses' authority as a prophet on account of his marriage to the Ethiopian woman.

God Himself answered Aaron and Miriam's criticism. Verse 6 reads:

"Then He said, 'Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD,  make Myself know to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream.'"

And here it is, verse 7:

"Not so with My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My house. I speak with him face to face, even plainly, and not in dark sayings; and he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses" (emphasis added).

So here God is saying that He spoke plainly to Moses and not in dark sayings. And in this context the word "dark" means "cryptic" or "mysterious". So don't worry, I'm not going to get all Poe on you now.

Dark Sayings.

Several centuries after the time of Moses, the psalmist Asaph prophesied of the coming Messiah, writing:

 "I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old" (Psalms 78:2).

Jesus fulfilled this prophecy by using parables to illustrate His message about the kingdom of God. 

The verse also seems to be referring back to itself. Jesus frequently quoted poetic prophecies like this one, saying that His ministry was the fulfillment of the Scriptures. He read Isaiah 49:8-9 aloud when He began to teach and preach at a synagogue in Nazareth, and told the congregation that the prophecy had just been fulfilled in their hearing. (Luke 4:18-22)

The prophecy that was given through Asaph is similar to the prophecy that God would use strange language to communicate His message, since people wouldn't listen, but disobeyed when He spoke plainly through Moses (Isaiah 28:11-12). The apostle Paul highlights the fulfillment of this prophecy in 1 Corinthians 14:21.

So the reason that Jesus told parables, and the reason the early church spoke in tongues, is because Moses wrote plainly, without story-telling, and the message was disobeyed. However, by paying attention to the context of any passage, one can determine with a fair level of ease when a parable is being told and when the text is narrating actual events.

It is also important to read each passage within the context of the whole Bible. As the saying goes, "Interpret Scripture with Scripture." An understanding of all the Scriptures will aid the student in understanding the various passages within the Scriptures. This way the student is able to objectively determine the author's intended meaning.

History! 

As it has been noted, the contextual character of the Bible makes it fairly easy to distinguish the historical narrative from poetic passages, parables, dreams, and visions.

Jesus Himself made it very clear that the narrative of Genesis is historical. And by His constant quoting from the Old Testament, and saying things like "The Scriptures must be fulfilled" (Matthew 26:52-56, Mark 14:46-49), He unmistakably confirmed the Scriptures as the authoritative word of God.

Why would the fulfillment of the Scriptures be so important unless they are God's word? The fulfillment of the Scriptures has always been of utmost important to the Son of God because they are His word. And He will always keep His word.

When His critics prodded Him with questions about marriage, He answered "But from the beginning of creation, God 'made them male and female'" (Mark 10:6). 

In Matthew 23:29-36, Jesus referred to all the righteous martyrs, "from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah" as belonging to the pages of history.

On another occasion Jesus made it unquestionably clear that Abraham was a real historical person. He said to His critics "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad" (John 8:56).

How could that be if Abraham was a made-up fictional character? Jesus' critics got it. And they said "You are not yet fifty years old, and You have seen Abraham?" (8:57). They understood that Abraham really lived, and that he lived much more than just fifty years before their own time.

Jesus answered them with a stunning declaration of His eternal existence. He said "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM" (8:58).

Here He is claiming to be equal with God! He is identifying  Himself as one and the same with Him who spoke to Moses from out of the burning bush and said "I AM that I AM... Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you'" (Exodus 3:14). Indeed it was the preincarnate Son of God who spoke to Moses "face to face" (Numbers 12:7) and to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

When Jesus says "Before Abraham was, I AM" He is saying that Abraham had his place in time when he was living upon the earth, and that Jesus Himself always is from eternity to eternity! And He is saying that He saw Abraham when he lived upon the earth. It was the preincarnate Jesus Himself who visited Abraham and told him that he would be a father by his wife, Sarah. On that same visit He told Abraham about the impending doom that was to fall upon Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18).

After His resurrection from the dead, Jesus appeared to some folks on the road to Emmaus. They were distraught over His crucifixion. And they didn't know it was Jesus who was talking to them because He had transfigured His appearance.

When they expressed their sadness and disappointment, Jesus said to them "Oh foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?" The text goes on, "And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Him." (Luke 24:13-32 emphasis added). 

Conclusion: Theological Consequence

So from the context of Scripture, and on the authority of the Son of God Himself we have strong confirmation that these things really happened just as the Scriptures tell. And to deny the reality of these events has tremendous theological consequences. The entirety of biblical Christian theology is built upon the reality of these events.

In order to be a Christian, one must believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that His death on the cross paid for our sin, and that God the Father raised Him up bodily from the dead (Romans 10:8-10, 1 Corinthians 15, Hebrews 1:1-4).

Jesus' death on the cross for our sin, and His resurrection from the dead are entirely because of the events recorded in Genesis 1-3. There was no death or suffering of man or beast until sin entered the world by one man (Romans 5:12-21).

If theistic evolution were true, that would mean that there were millions of years of suffering and death before humans ever even existed to sin. God would be unjust, and Jesus' death on the cross would be meaningless. When a person denies the historicity of Genesis, that person is butchering Scripture and denying the authority of Jesus Christ!