Comment on A little-known history about Belief 6 by Robin Lewis.
I am a Christian. By that I mean that I follow Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour. Jesus said “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) This is a serious statement as it asks from me as a disciple to accept everything Jesus has said, not about His person alone, but for everything He teaches & stands.
Jesus accepted that we had a father and mother, created by God in the beginning: “And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE, and said, ‘FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH’? ” (Matthew 19:4,5)Jesus acknowledges that God created mankind in the beginning. Matthew 19:5 is a direct quotation from Genesis 2:4.
By believing in Evolution we deny the truth to believe Jesus’ words of creation. God created mankind on the sixth day according to Gen 1:26-31. To believe in Jesus as my Saviour, should include the fact that Jesus teach the creation of man. Not only that, the creation tory also include the story of the fall of man. The danger of believing only parts of what Jesus taught is to deny His Lordship over us. How can I believe in Jesus as my Saviour if I deny the creation story, which He also taught? Jesus can only be a Saviour if there really was a creation of man and a subsequent fall into sin. (See Genesis 3)Either all the accounts of Genesis are true, or they are all false and Jesus was a liar and the same as the serpent who mixed truth with error and presented that to man as truth.
Jesus also believed in the story of Noah and the flood. He said: “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.” (Matthew 24:37-39) Jesus accepted the account of the flood and that the prophet Noah existed as given in the Old Testament Scriptures. (Genesis 6-11) He also makes a comparison with the wicked who perished during the flood and those who will be living at the end of the world’s history.
Again, by believing in the Evolutionary account of the origin of life (which includes that of man) we deny the truth taught by Jesus’ about the flood. This denial has another consequence: we then also deny the promise of His 2nd Coming with which Jesus linked the story of the Flood. How can I as a follower of Jesus deny the creation story and the flood story, but believe that He will come to save me from a world of sin?
Paul warns us that there will come a time when Christians will fall away from the truth as it is in Jesus and teach another Jesus the apostles knew not: “But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.” (2 Corinthians 3-5) (See also Galatians 1:6-9)
The Gospel about Jesus contains more than just His death on the cross for sinners – it also contains the Judgement of wickedness, to worship the God of creation (of which the 7th day is His sign). This all forms part of the 1st angel’s message to a dying world. We know that Jesus our Saviour from Sin and our High Priest is the Judge appointed by God (Acts 17:30,31). We also know that Jesus is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe (Hebrews 1:1-3).
As Seventh-day Adventist Christians we are existing on the earth at a specific time in history to make known these truths about Jesus. We are living in a time of religious confusion (Babylon that made the nations drunk with her false teachings – Rev 14:8; 17:1-6) If Jesus is the only Way to God, the only Origin of Life and the Truth, then we have to follow Him closely. We cannot follow the doctrines of Man which are in contradiction to Jesus’ teachings as revealed in the Scriptures and still be called loyal disciples, can we?
There are many things Jesus said we do not understand, but which the promised Spirit of Truth will make plain to us (see John 14:16-26).
Faith demands that we accept that God created everything (Hebrews 11:1,3,6,11)- even Noah and the Flood. To deny these things is to question the authority of Jesus’ teachings. Biblical truth should take precedance over the teachings of modern man (modern humanistic Science)where it contradicts Scripture.
May God help us to be strengthened in our faith when we are faced with challenges that we are not able to refute “scientifically.” Satan is the arch deceiver and we are not immune to his fiery darts of doubt. By the shield of Faith and the Sword of the Spirit we may be strong in the battle. Remain faithful to Jesus my fellow believers.
Table of Contents
Robin Lewis Also Commented
A little-known history about Belief 6
Dear Kevin, George and others,
George, you have touched on a very important point – we do not yet understand Truth in its fullest sense. As a church we as pastors, scientists and members have to walk by faith that God had created everything as He said. But as knowledge increase, so will our understanding of Creation.
To believe in Jesus as my Saviour is a faith in progress. The understanding of the Plan of Salvation as presented to us readers from Genesis 3 “your seed” to Leviticus’ “Tabernacle and sacrifice,” to Jesus’ “death on the cross” and Revelation’ King of kings on a white Horse” has taken many years. It is only as knowledge increased (Daniel 12:4)that our understanding of Jesus as our Saviour and subsequent High Priest became clearer.
In the same way the time has come for us to know Him better as our Judge and Creator (and Re-Creator). The last three warning messages from God (also known as the 3 Angels’ Messages) contain a call to Creator worship. Revelation 14:6, 7 makes it clear that God calls the world (every nation,tribe, language and people to fear (respect / give honour and glory) to Him Who is now judging the wicked powers deceiving the world (Dragon, Sea-beast & Beast from the earth, Revelation 13). According to Acts 17:30, 31, Jesus is the Judge that will judge the affairs of this world in righteousness. It is only after the disappointment in 1844 that our understanding of that Judgement as a Christian Church has become clearer (not perfect).
In the same breath the 1st angel calls the world back to Creator worship with a direct reference to the 4th commandment where the Sabbath is mentiontioned to be remembered. Why? Because people would forget that God is the Creator. Isn’t it amazing then that is only since the 1800’s that the attack upon God as man and nature’s Creator has gone into full swing.
It is only now that we are able to understand the severity of the attack that is being made on Jesus’ status as our Creator.
As I said earlier, I can not believe in Jesus as my Saviour and then reject as Israelite myth what He has taught about Creation, the Fall of Man, the Flood and the 2nd Coming, because it does not fit my modern “scientific” understandanding of the origin of life. The time has come for the church to be more clear on what we believe on the origin of life. We have to go back to Scripture and study deeper and pray harder for the Holy Spirit’s guidance in these things. Why? So that we have a clearer understanding of who Jesus really is.
It is easy to say that we must rather have a stronger relationship with Jesus and not to worry about our beliefs in Creation, the Flood, etc. To better understand Jeus as my Saviour and to have a better relationship with Him will neccessitate time in Bible Study and prayer. Everything we know about Jesus Christ has its origin in the Scriptures. All other books about Jesus are derived from there.
The apostle Peter said that we have a prophetic word given unto us “as a light shining in a dark place, leading us toward dawn.” (2 Peter 1:19,20)
It is the prophetic word that tells us that there will be an apostacy (falling away from biblical truth – from Jesus, see 1 Timothy 4:1; Galatians 1:6-8; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12, etc). People will reject the basics of Scripture (God is the Creator, Man is a sinner in need of grace, Jesus is man’s only Hope on Salvation, etc. – all part of the simple Gospel). It is because of sin and the distortion of truth that people turn away from God and follow the pleasures of the world.
It is only as we study Scripture that something else becomes a reality – the “Morning Star,” which rises up in our hearts! (Jesus Christ – Revelation 22:16). Allowing the Holy Spirit to interpret Biblical truths (2 Peter 1:21) from Scripture, bringing forth a fuller understanding of the prophecies about Jesus, that He is being formed in our hearts. Jesus does not only become the “Head of the church” because the Bible says so, but He becomes the “King of my heart” through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit by conviction through the Scriptures. And this by itself is a life long process.
The better we understand Jesus as our Saviour, the more we study about His life, work, death, ascention and ministry in heaven,the clearer our understanding of Him becomes as the Creator (Hebrews 1:1-3)of the universe.
As a special Movement of the last days, the Adventist Church (you and me) have to sound the trumpet clearer also. First we have to preach that Jesus did come as a fulfilment of a promise – He became man’s Messiah (Saviour)by the love of God for His creatures. Secondly we have to tell people that this same Jesus who died on the cross will be the Judge of the world (for the good and the bad guys) and He will be fair in His judgement. This judgement will be in favour of the saints – those who have accepted the invitation of His grace toward us as sinners.
Thirdly, all of mankind is called to worship this same Jesus as Creator of everything, who is also man’s Saviour and Judge.
Dear brothers and sisters, and those who are likeminded, let us all humble ourselves before our great God. Pray with me that God will send His Spirit to enlighten our minds with His truth as it is in Jesus. May He help those who together with us sit around the boarding tables and who are fighting a spiritual battle against the powers of darkness. Let us uphold our leaders’ hands. Let our discussions speak the truth in all humility and may the character of Christ shine through our words as Jesus is being formed in our hearts. Truth has never been won by argument, but “by my Spirtit, says the Lord.” Soon He will come, not only as the Saviour, or the High Priest, or Judge, but as the King of kings and Lord of lords.
At last my prayers have been answered. The church is moving forward. This discussion forum and others like this one are bringing God’s people closer together. Those who hear the voice of Jesus as the Shepherd, as presented to the world in our discussions will come out of Babylon and will join God’s remnant people of the last days. May the words of our mouths and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable to Him and to those who not yet have this revelation of Him as our Creator, and Re-Creator.
Pastor Robin Lewis
