Which came first the chicken or the egg? Myth 3 in the summer Bible Mythbusters series

Check out www.kdve.com/Nazarene.htm and watch the video for myth three before reading.

Colossians 1:15-20, Genesis 1:20-23
Evolution slide (progression of man not from ape to man based on science but based on watching as we try to get up and moving after a hard days work.)
Which came first the chicken or the egg? The question is a matter of identity for humanity. Are we the special creation of God or the fortunate masters of the universe by a random act?
The answer determines how we live. If we are a special creation then we have God to answer to. If not then we are free to do what we desire and want. The passage in Colossians tells us that God through Jesus has created us and through Him has done what is needed to redeem us from our sins. And He claims to have priority over our lives. If He created the world then we are under obligation to value life as He values life. If not then we are free to view all people through the lens of their value to society and our lives. Inconvenient then get rid of them. Socially, monetarily, ethically draining we can remove them because well survival of the fittest as long as it is ethically and socially acceptable remove them.
Struggles with the beginning:
How did it all get here? Something has to be eternal. Is matter eternal? If not then how did matter come to be that we might come to be? Something is eternal, either the creator, or creation. Something does not come from nothing unless you have a Creator who is overall.
Big Bang theory: (Special watch)
It just existed and came to be this way: (Special microphone)
Creation exhibits for us the reality of a special design. The intricacies of creation are too incredible for chance.
Romans 1:20 “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”
F = Fossil Record: The fossil record does not support evolution, but does support creation of each animal after its kind. There are no transitional forms found in the fossil record. Dr. E. J. H. Corner of Cambridge University says, “to the unprejudiced, the fossil record of plants is in favor of special creation.” “Evolution in Contemporary Botanical Thought, eds. Anna M. Macleod and L.S. Cobley, Oliver and Boyd, for the Botanical Society of Edinburg, 1961, P. 97
“The evolutionary origin of birds is largely a matter of deduction. There is no fossil evidence of the stages through which the remarkable change from reptile to bird was achieved.” W.E. Swinton, “The Origin of Birds,” Chapter 1 in Biology and Comparative Physiology of Birds, A.J. Marshall, ed., Vol I (New York: Academic Press, 1960),p.1
But what about the fossils for early man?
A= Ape men Ape men have been proven each time to not be what they were initially considered. Consider Neanderthal man is now known to be human. Java-man, has been shown to be a fraud. They were average ape bones that had the teeth filed down and other special work done to them. Peking man was found in a cave along with some tools. At first we believed they were half monkey half man creatures that first used tools. After more study we know they were monkeys who had the tools used on them so people could eat their brains. Nebraska man was a great find that showed the missing link. Nebraska man was a tooth from an extinct pig. Lucy the famous little chimp/human cross has been proven to be a chimpanzee that had been injured thus the unique leg bones. The missing link is still missing.
C= Chance: The statistical probability of our universe forming as it is by chance is statistically impossible. Professor of Genetics at the University of Wisconsin James Crow writes: “…mutants would usually be detrimental. For a mutation is a random change of a highly organized reasonably smoothly functioning living body. A random change in the highly integrated system of chemical processes which constitute life is almost certain to impair it – just as a random interchange of connections in a television set is not likely to improve the picture.” James Crow, “Genetic Effects of Radiation” Bulletin of Atomic Sciences, 14 (1958) p 19-20
The evolutionist says billions of years were needed to develop our world. But is the universe billions of years old?
Evolutionists generally use five different methods in determining the age of matter: salt content in the oceans, deposition of sediments, rate of soil erosion, disintegration of radioactive materials, and Libby’s Carbon 14 experiment. Problems can be found with all of these methods the biggest problem is the method they ignore the study of half lives.
Consider the following information: The sun is continuously burning out at a rate of 5 feet per hour. This means that the sun would have been twice the size that it is now only 100,000 years ago! Only 20,000,000 years ago, the sun would have been so large that it would be touching the earth!
Interplanetary dust falls upon the earth at a rate of at least 14 million tons per year. Evolutionists claim that the planets are at least 4.5 billion years old. Meaning there should be a layer of space dust on the moon 500’ thick. However, less than three inches of dust were found.
The half-life of the earth’s magnetic field is believed to be less than 1400 years. 1400 years ago the earth’s magnetic field was twice as strong as it is today. 10,000 years ago the earth would have a magnetic field as strong as the sun! What it would have been like 4.5 billion years ago? © 1994 James L. Melton
It’s good chance it didn’t happen that way.
E=Empirical Science cannot be used to prove the theory of evolution. In fact many of the laws of the universe directly contradict what evolution teaches. C.S. Lewis said “In the whole history of the universe the laws of nature have never produced a single event. They are the pattern to which every event must conform, provided only that it can be induced to happen.” A billiard ball hitting another billiard ball follows the law of Physics, but those laws did not set the ball in motion; someone with a cue did. “The laws are the pattern to which events conform; the source of the events must be sought elsewhere.” “The Laws of Nature” in Undecptions: Essays on Theology and Ethics, ed. Walter Hooper (London: Geoffrey Bles, 1971) 53-54
In other words, the meaning of the universe can only be found outside of creation. Christians can have some understanding of its purposes only because of their knowledge in Christ, who is beyond creation yet within it.
Conclusion: The Bible says, God created the Chicken first not the egg and we can tell He created a mature universe from what He says at Creation; “be fruitful and multiply.” Only mature animals and humanity can do that. Reality is though we cannot prove either evolution or creation by scientific method. None of us were there and we are incapable of creating something from nothing and science has not been able to duplicate evolution either. The best we can do is see what exists and by faith make our choice. The issue is a matter of faith. Where do you place your faith? Is that faith in a loving God who created or in the by chance mutation of evolution?

Sermon two in the mythbusters series Jesus is the only way to salvation

check out the video at www.kdve.com/Nazarene.htm then read the blog
1 Timothy 2:3-6 This may be one of the more inflammatory phrases in the Bible. How in the world could God be so intolerant? He is saying there is only one way to God? We all know truth is whatever anyone wants it to be. This may be true for you guys because you are Christians, but the Muslim has his own truth as does the Buddhist as does the Atheist right? Won’t we all get to heaven? Everyone goes to heaven don’t they? Tolerance “the new world religion.” We must accept everyone’s beliefs and never attempt to place our belief system on them. That is what we are told. But is it right?
A Christian man tells the account he had with another person who believed tolerance is the only way to believe something is right. “Recently a religious tolerance advocate said Christianity wasn't true because it was intolerant. Tolerance was the only way to test religious truth. We disagreed, offering to give evidence and reasons that Christianity was true and what he believed was false. Immediately, he replied, "That's what I mean. You're wrong because you judge me. Whatever anyone believes is true." You can guess how we answered him: "Be tolerant. Don't say we're wrong. Stop judging us. Whatever we believe is true." Realizing he had been self-contradictory, he tried to recover, saying, "Well, it's true for you, but not for me." Sadly, he only dug his hole deeper. We replied, "Our truth for us is that you don't have truth. So that must be true, because it's our truth. So you're still wrong." Frustrated, he said, "No, you don't understand. If it's true for you, it only applies to you, not to anyone else. It's true for you, but not for me." We couldn't resist one more round: "It may be true for you that our truth is only true for us, but our truth is that what is true for us is also true for you, so you lose, because that's our truth, and you can't apply your truth to us because that's your truth!" He finally threw up his hands and admitted that his system was getting nowhere.”

Is God intolerant? If He is He must have a good reason you think?
Maybe we should put it this way: why shouldn’t the one God, who wants all people to be saved, save them in different ways, some through Hinduism or Buddhism, others through Judaism or Islam, and yet others through New Age and other contemporary cults? Why should he insist that all people be saved in the same way and come to a knowledge of the truth? Paul’s answer to it is there is only one Savior God, and also one mediator between him and us, and therefore only one way of salvation.
Jesus is unique in that He is God in the flesh. He is the man Jesus and God at the same time. To be fair an intermediary must be able to represent both sides equally. Job begged for this when he said, “if only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both.”
Her name was Julie I believe. Julie had been ticketed for speeding. She decided to fight the ticket. She didn’t think she was speeding and she thought the cop was mean to her. So off to court she went. Unfortunately for Julie she had to go before the newest traffic court judge known as hangman hank. He had proved through other assignments as a judge to be tough, often giving the harshest punishment possible to the offender. Julie told her account of the story to hangman hank. The police officer shared his account as well. After hearing all the testimony hangman made his judgment. She was found guilty of speeding. Hangman then laid down the judgment. She was to pay the maximum fine available $500. Julie was devastated she did not have $500 and had no idea what to do. She hoped to get off, but now.
This is when hangman hank did something interesting. Hangman the lawgiver and judge stepped down off the bench removed his Judge’s robe and pulled out his wallet removing 5 $100 bills he paid Julie’s fine. She was off the hook. You see hangman was Julie’s dad. He loved her greatly. But He also knew the law and hangman was a fair and just Judge. So he made her face the reality of the judgment, but because of his love for his girl he also paid the fine.God does the same with us. He loves us greatly. He is also the Lawgiver and Judge. Since He is just we face the full penalty for our sins. There’s no way around it. At the same time He loves us greatly and has paid the fine for us through Jesus!
He is the one mediator between God and men, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. God has provided the best for you. God is not the problem, we are. God’s deepest desire is for you to give Him your life. He has provided all you need. He is the only One who understands what separates us from Him and is the only One who can fix it.If you have never come to Him today is the day to do it. If you have you are struggling in your Christian life then today is the time to meet with God and fix it.

sorry for being lax the past couple months in posting. These are the sermons for the summer sermon series Bible Mythbusters. Check out the videos at www.kdve.com/Nazarene.htm I am sure you will enjoy them. Jesse

Dan Brown makes some interesting claims in his book the Da Vinci Code in regards to the Bible. He asserts Constantine financed a rewriting of the Bible and at the council of Nicea got rid of the books he did not like. Therefore the Bible we have today is not accurate.
In contrast 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”
So which one is right? Can you trust the Bible?
MAPS + CL = Bible is more than another book.
M= Manuscript evidence about the Bible.
Historians use three criteria to evaluate reliability of a text.
1) They look at the number of manuscripts available.
2) Time interval between the date of original writing and the date the particular manuscript was made.
3) The quality of those manuscripts.
Historians are confident that Julius Caesar conquered Gaul. We have ten ancient manuscripts of Caesar’s writings on the Gallic Wars.
Consider the following:
Author: When Written: Earliest Copy: Time Span #of copies
Caesar 100-44 B.C 900 A.D. 1,000 years 10
Plato 427-347 B.C 900 A.D. 1,200 years 7
Tacitus 100 A.D. 1,100 A.D. 1,000 years 20
Thucydides 460-400 B.C. 900 A.D. 1,300 years 8
Herodotus 384-322 BC 900 AD 1,200+ years 8
Aristotle 450-385 BC 900 AD 1400 years 49
Homer 900 BC 400 BC 500 years 643
New Testament 40-100 AD 125 AD 25 years 24,000
In terms of quality of manuscripts the OT manuscripts is excellent, that of the NT is very good – considerably better than the manuscript quality of other ancient documents.
What this means is, by standards of scholarly accuracy and reliability, the Bible stands head and shoulders above all other literature. In the entire NT, only 400 words are in question (.5%). No doctrine of Christianity is affected. The manuscript evidence is overwhelming in favor of the Bible being more than another book. But consider…
A= Archaeological evidences
“Archaeology is a powerful witness to the accuracy of biblical documents… For years, critics dismissed the book of Daniel, partly because there was no evidence that a king named Belshazzar ruled in Babylon during that period. Later archaeological research, however, confirmed that the reigning monarch, Nabonidus, appointed Balshazzar as his coregent while he was waging war away from Babylon.” (pg 45 of The Da Vinci Code Fact or Fiction)
“In U.S. News and World Report, Jeffery Sheler highlights the significance of the discovery of the remains of a man crucified during the first century. This discovery calls into question the scholarship of liberals who contend that Jesus was tied rather than nailed to the cross and that his corpse was likely thrown into a shallow grave and eaten by wild dogs rather than entombed and resurrected.” (pg 46 of The Da Vinci Code Fact or Fiction)
Archaeology continually proves the Bible accounts of history are correct. Archaeology says the Bible is more than another book.
P= Prophecy versus Chance
Consider what Peter Stoner in his book Science Speaks (Moody Press 1963) wrote; if only 8 prophecies were fulfilled by Jesus the chance of it happening is 1 to 10 to the 17th power. In other words it would be like covering Texas 2 feet deep in silver dollars marking one and blindfolding a man and asking him to find the right one. By just fulfilling 48 prophecies it is 1 to 10 to the 157th power. Now consider there are 456 prophecies that Jesus fulfilled all written at least 400 years prior to his birth. Is it Chance or God’s divine insight?
S= Scriptural Proof:
Luke 1:1-3 how Luke went about to write the gospel.
1 John 1:1 what John was doing in his writing.
2 Peter 1:16-21 Peter’s testimony to his eyewitness account
2 Timothy 3:16-17
2 Peter 3:15-16 shows Paul’s letters were considered Scripture around 70 AD.
Romans 15:4 Why it was written
Hebrews 4:12 It is able to convict
CL = Changed Lives BOB FLETCHER

Closing thought: Deuteronomy 32:46-47 The Bible is not just another book. It is far more than another book. Here in lies the power of life. We can attempt to deny it, but the truth is the truth. Submit your life to the Bible.