I'd like to just go again to John chapter 1, where we see the gospel foundations in Genesis there. And then I'm going to ask you, after I read this, when we read it together, if you would then return to be able to identify the Gospel foundations in Genesis. In the beginning, John starts out, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. Let's come to him, our sovereign Lord. We thank you, Lord Jesus. We thank you for these words from the apostle whom you loved so much. We thank you for this assurance that you are indeed the one who was there in the beginning. that you are the one who created all things, that you are the one who communed with the Father and had glorious fellowship and planned our redemption and then worked it out beginning on the very first day. And so we just pray that you'll give us wisdom as we look at the opposing worldviews that are constantly bombarding our young people and ourselves. we thank you in Jesus' name, Amen. Now as you look then at the second page from last week, oh by the way, look at the topic page, and we didn't make a change because we were going to talk about the 6 days and 6,000 years today, and we realized we really need to lay this foundation, these two conflicting worldviews, we went over the relevance of Genesis last week that there's a real battle going on and we have to put on the full armor as in Ephesians 4 and the first Corinthians it says that we are fighting a spiritual battle we're tearing down strongholds and so number two there is which side has more evidence the two conflicting worldviews so as we look at our world view, what is it in Genesis that we see in this passage that I just read? There's really at least two foundations in Genesis right there. What do you see? The foundations of the gospel there. Yeah, this is... Okay, began with God and came out in the end. with God. And so we see that Christ was there from the beginning. What role did he play in creation? All things were made through him and by him nothing was made that was made. That's right. And it says there also that he was in the beginning was the Word. So when God spoke, who was speaking? Christ. Pre-incarnate Christ. That's his role in the Trinity, it seems. And then, what else do we see here in the following verse? Or verses? Verse 3? What did God make on day 1? verse 4. Oh, is that right? In John. Yes, we're in John. I'm sorry. Yeah, I was asking what there is in this passage in John. The light. Okay. And so if you go to your notes there and just let me ask you then, who has, what day was the light created? What are the four essential truths of the gospel that we presented last time? Who can say all four? goodness of our creator, sinfulness of man, grace and mercy of Christ, and hope of eternal glory. Oh, that's so good! Who can give me one example of God's goodness, His holiness, His perfection that we see as the days of creation unfolded? said it was good and on the last day he said what it was very good and so here we had a perfection that was there and as we'll see we saw last week because of Romans 8 that tells us that there was no sin and death and suffering in the world before that where did all that okay well that's I'm getting ahead of myself so what I answered the second one. And then what about man's sinfulness? Where did that happen? Okay, in the garden. And then where has Christ revealed His promise, the first promise of His coming? Somebody could read that Genesis 3. Who can find it? Who can read that? Can you read it with a booming voice? And I will put infancy between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers. He will crush your head and you will strike his heel. Okay, so he will, so that's talking about his What? His death and his resurrection, and crushing the heel, defeating death, which is Satan, and death, which is the last enemy. So we see, what other symbol is there? Hint, number five here on the list. What was the symbol of Christ covering as a picture of the gospel? Adam and Eve made a covering, clothing, an atonement, in that sense. And so that was a picture for the whole sacrificial system is based on that. And God brought the first death into the world, as we saw. The first death was not a human being. It was not Adam and Eve, the first physical death. It was a creature that God sacrificed. And then lastly, where do we see our resurrection hope in the gospel? That's a little tricky, but yeah. That had to be the end of 15. Right, right. The end of Genesis 3, 15, the end of verse 16. Right. OK. And then as we go on through Genesis, Who had the faith that was a resurrection faith later on in Genesis? Noah did. And the death and resurrection of Christ is pictured there. And Peter says it's baptism is a picture of all of that. Being immersed, being raised up, coming out to new life is pictured by Noah's Ark. And it was all of nature that was cursed And so God took all of nature in. So very good. You guys are really good. So let's go on. Let's look over the page. If you put it in here. Today is which side has more evidence? And each day we have a question that is a question of a Christian or a skeptic. This one is a question that a Christian might ask. or sometimes skeptics will challenge us. I'm always being challenged when I'm speaking in a university in particular, saying, you give me one evidence for creation, because all of the evidence is on the side of evolution, they'll say. Is that true? No, it's not true. And we're going to see how that pans out. So we'll look at our objectives. We've already reviewed the essential truths. I want to turn now to Acts chapter 17 and we're going to look at Narsil's sermon here and I'm just going to highlight a couple of things because we want to do this as an introduction to a video that we're going to watch of Ken Hamlin today. He does a superlative job on this And Paul, before X 16 or 17, Paul had had traveled around in this. He made a practice along with Barnabas earlier, and Peter also did the same of preaching to the Jews first, and then to the Gentiles. And Paul says that in Romans 1.16, that I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto all who believe. To the Jew first, and then to the Gentiles. In Acts 17, it says that he was there alone, and he had been preaching as he always did in the synagogue first of all and then he went out he didn't have his companions with him and he was trying to figure out how to relate to these Athenian intellectuals and so it says there that Paul in verse 16 of chapter 17 Paul was waiting for them at Athens that was his companions church planning partners he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace, day by day, with those who happened to be there. A group of Epicureans and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him, and some of them asked, What is this babbler saying? He seems to be advocating foreign gods. And they said this because Paul was preaching the good news, the gospel, and the resurrection. And so they said, he's using these names we've never heard of. And so I guess they were thinking, who's this Jesus? Who's this resurrection that he's talking about? And he believes in them as his gods so clearly. And so Paul stood up in the meeting place there. We call it Mars Hill. And he said, Men of Athens, I see that in every way you are very religious. This is down in verse 22. You are overly superstitious or you are very religious. For as I walked around, I saw I observed your objects of worship, and I even found an altar with this inscription, The Unknown God. Now when you worship as something unknown, I am going to proclaim to you." So he knew that he wasn't communicating like he did to the Jews. They didn't have a foundation. And so he said it started with what? The God who created or made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth. live in temples made by hands. He is not served by human hands as if he needed anything because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. And from one blood or one man, that's the first Adam, he made every nation of men that they should inhabit the whole earth. And he determined the places where they would live beforehand. So this is another extension of predestination, their places where they would live. The different ethnic groups around the world were determined most likely facilitated at the Tower of Babel to go out to where they were assigned by God. And God did this, verse 27, God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out to Him and find Him, though He's not far from each one of us. And in Him we live and move and have our being as some of your own poets have said, we are his offspring. So he was getting their attention and then he made this point. They were asking, who is this Jesus and who is this resurrection? What is this? These strange things. And therefore, he says, since we are God's offspring, using something that relates to men, they can understand that we, since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being that the God is made by man's design and skill and in the past God overlooked such ignorance but now he what commands all men everywhere to repent repent and so he brings this to these scholars and intellectual people they're hearing this for the first time for and then he goes on for he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man that he has appointed. The man that he has appointed. And he has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead. There's the resurrection. It's not another person. This is Jesus, the last Adam. dying for the first Adam and being raised up again. Defeating death in the grave. When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered. And some of them said, we want to hear again on this subject. And so I remember hearing once from a seminary professor, he was well-meaning, but he said, Paul wasn't very successful here. Peter had thousands who came to Christ from his sermons. But what's the difference? These people had never heard before, and Paul was relating to them. And it says right there at the end, verse 34, after Paul left the council, he says, a few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Aragopolis, the ruling council there. Wow. And so he didn't get a whole bunch, but he did. He did get some. Now, I just realized since this isn't working, I do have the video. Now, who can. Yeah. Anybody help me with this? Pastor Phil. I think John's better than me. OK, John. Yes. Here we go. And so what we're going to look at is a video by Ken Ham. And we're under his ministry as video conferencing coordinators. And he has gone all over the world. I've heard him so many times. He has a creation museum back in Kentucky. And he is pleading here for us to understand that we sometimes don't communicate. because we're not understanding, first of all, that there are these two different ways that people understand the world around them, and especially the natural world. Because Romans 1 says that, hey, I better read it and not misquote it. Romans 1. 20. For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities as eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what was made, so that men are without excuse. And then over in chapter 2, verse 14, it says these Gentile people that Paul was speaking to, secondly, after the Jews, these people who did not have the law do have do by nature things required by the law, and they are a law unto themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts. And so as we consider apologetics, it's so important to have this focus on the word of God, because that's what's powerful. We're in a battle, and God has sent us out to tear down strongholds. He had sent us out to be in a battle and put on the full armor. Part one. That's what we'll Ken Ham was driving around Cincinnati, actually the Virgin Islands. Over the years I found that many Christians can be easily intimidated by non-Christians in regard to their witnessing concerning the Christian faith. As a result, many Christians can be quite timid, not really knowing what best to say. Well, in this session I want to do something that's sort of radical for education. I want to teach you not just what to think, but how to think, how to think logically as a Christian. how to best logically argue the Christian faith with a non-Christian, and therefore be able to answer those sceptical questions in a way that leaves the non-Christian not having an answer. When you understand this, you'll be much more bold in your witnessing, and see people listen concerning the truth of God's Word. For this session, I want to bring two verses of scripture together. Romans 1.20 says, since the creation of the world is a visible attribute, it's clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so they are without excuse. It's so obvious from looking around us that there's a God, obvious from the creation that there's a God. But then there's this verse of Scripture in Romans 10.17, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. So it's obvious from the creation there's a God, but faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And I want to bring those two together to help us understand how we need to be communicating the message of the Gospel, the message of Christianity, to our culture today. You know, the issue of origins is very different to talking about how to build a motor car, or how to build a space shuttle, how to make a computer. The issue of origins is really an issue of history. And if you think about it, here we are in the present. We're in the present and we're trying to understand, well, hopefully we exist in the present. When I was a teacher, not all my students did exist in the present, but that's a whole other issue. Here we are existing in the present, and what we're trying to do is to understand what happened in the past to bring the present into being. You see, the problem we have, it's like watching a Sherlock Holmes movie. I was watching the Sherlock Holmes movie. It was totally frustrating. I got so angry at the end. Because you see, you get halfway through, you know, we've done it, the butler done it. Three calls away through, it's obvious the butler done it. Three minutes before the end, the butler definitely done it. Then two minutes before the end, Sherlock Holmes does something that is so annoying. He suddenly pulls out this wonderful piece of evidence that they didn't tell you through the whole movie. You realize it wasn't the butler that did it after all, it was this other person. The movie ends and you say it was a waste of time watching that. You feel like kicking the TV in the teeth. I mean, it's ridiculous. See, here's the problem we've got. No matter how much we know, there's an infinite amount more to know, which means no matter how much we know, we don't know how much more there is to know anyway, which means we don't know how much we do know or don't know in relation to whatever that is, which we don't know because we don't know how much more there is that we don't know, which means we just don't know much at all. That's the bottom line. That's what it's all about. You see, no matter how much we know compared to what God knows, do you realize we know next door to nothing? Ultimately, the only way you could ever be sure that you're going to come to the right conclusion about things in the past when you weren't there, you don't know everything, is if someone who was there, who knows everything, who doesn't tell a lie, who told us what happened, revealed to us the information we need to know. Oh, by the way, I happen to have a book. That claims to be the Word of One who knows everything, has always been there, who doesn't tell a lie, who says, here's what happened so you can understand all you need to know to put it all together, know who you are, where you came from, what the universe is all about. You see, ultimately, there are only two ways of understanding reality. You either start with God's Word, the Word of One who knows everything, who has all information, who gives us the information we need, or somehow man has to figure it out. If you think about it from a perspective of the secularists who don't believe in God's Word, here they are in the present and they're trying to work from the present into the past to understand what happened in the past. You know, for the Christian, we've got a revelation from someone who says, here's what happened in the past, so we work from what happened in the past to the present. It's very different. And you see, when you think about it, the education system in America, the government education system, has thrown God out of that system. And so they keep something like this, for instance, the late Carl Sagan said, the cosmos is all there is, or ever was, or ever will be. In fact, they teach this history. There was a big bang 15 billion years ago, 10 billion years ago, the stars formed 5 billion years ago, the sun 4.5 billion years ago, molten earth 3.8 billion years ago, water cooled on the earth. By the way, they know all this from digital photographs. Oh, by the way, the fact that you laughed tells me you understand the issue. You know they weren't there. You know they don't have digital photographs of what happened in the park. That's the whole point. They weren't there. They didn't see that happen. You got the point. They believe that as water cooled on the earth, that eventually life formed. Nobody can explain how that happened, but they believe it did. A man in history called Charles Darwin looked at life on Earth and noticed that life changes. In fact, it does. Dogs change. They change into dogs. Pigeons change. They change into pigeons. Elephants change. They change into... See, you get it. You understand. Exactly. But he said, given enough time, the changes we see will add up to big changes to change one kind of animal into another. Supposedly, over millions of years, as life evolved, Death, bloodshed, disease, suffering is all a part of this process. Eventually, ape-like creatures turn into people. Supposedly, the record of the evolutionary history of life is left in the fossil record. For instance, at the Grand Canyon, you see those layers, one on top of the other. It's a record of death and struggle and suffering and thorns and diseases and animals eating each other. It's a horrible record. The secularist construct what they call a geological time scale based on the fossil layers we see around the Earth, and they have the oldest layers on the bottom and the youngest layers on the top. By the way, by and large, basically we agree, in most instances the oldest layers are on the bottom and the youngest layers are on the top. But not younger by millions of years, younger by maybe a few months in most instances. And then they have a statement of purpose and meaning. Richard Dawkins, a well-known atheist, who wrote the book The God Delusion, he was being interviewed by BeliefNet, You can actually go and see the whole interview there. He's asked this question, and Dr. Dawkins, the idea of evolution and natural selection makes some people feel that everything is meaningless, people's individual lives and life in general. See, he was asked this question because, you know, basically people say, now wait a minute, you're an atheist, you don't believe in God. That's right. When you die, you won't even know you ever existed. That's true. And when people who knew you die, they won't know that you existed, you won't know that they existed, and none of you will know that anything ever happened. Is that right? That's correct. And eventually the whole universe dies and no one will know anyone ever existed. Is that right? That's correct. That's what it's all about. Then people will get the idea there's no purpose and meaning in life. And you know what his answer was? Well, if it's true and that causes people to feel despair, that's tough. If it's true, it's true and you better live with it. What a wonderful message of hope for the world. You know what? There's no God. When you die, you won't even know you ever existed. Become an atheist. But see, when you start with the Bible, the Bible says something very, very different. See, the Bible claims to be, regardless of what anyone else says about it, you know, you say, well, I don't believe the Bible. It claims over 3,000 times to be the Word of God. It claims it's the Word of God who knows everything, who's always been there, who has revealed to us what we need to know about who we are, where we came from. In fact, it gives us a very specific history. In fact, when you start with the Bible, it talks about the origin of time, the origin of space, the origin of the Earth, of water, the origin of dry land, the origin of plants, the origin of the sun, the origin of the moon, the origin of the stars, the origin of flying creatures, the origin of sea creatures, the origin of land creatures, the origin of man, the origin of woman, the origin of marriage, the origin of sin, the origin of death, the origin of nations, the origin of languages, the origin of clothing. Do you really have a book that does that? Not even an evolutionist book does all that. This book is very specific. In fact, if this book really is the word of God, The history is so specific, we should be able to test it. In fact, we summarize that history from Genesis to Revelation, the first book to the last book, as the seven C's of history. Creation, corruption, catastrophe, confusion, Christ, cross, consummation. Creation, the creation week. God made animals after their kind. And then God made the first man from dust, the first woman from his side. By the way, we're all descended to one man and one woman. That would mean there's only one race of people. Actually, when the Human Genome Project mapped the human genome, do you know what they said? We found there's only one race. Wow, who would have ever thought of that? And then the Bible says the first man, Adam, sinned against God. Adam against God. That's why death came. Death is an enemy. That's why we die. The Bible also tells us there's been a global flood. If there was a global flood, you'd expect to find billions of dead things buried in rock layers, laid down by water all over the earth. You know what you find? Billions of dead things buried in rock layers, laid down by water all over the earth. The Bible says after the flood that people congregated together again to worship the heavens instead of worshiping God who made the heavens, instead of moving out over the earth. And so God gave them different languages. As a result, the families, according to their language, moved away from each other, the Bible says. They would have formed distinct cultures and people groups, which is exactly what we see today. And then the Bible tells us that the Son of God stepped into history to be a man, to be one of us, to be a descendant of Adam, of the human race, to be a relative, but a perfect man. to pay the penalty for our sin, to die on a cross because death was a penalty for sin, be raised from the dead, offer a free gift of salvation, to save us from what we did in separating ourselves from our Creator. And one day there's going to be a new heavens and a new earth because this one's groaning because of the effects of sin. It's going to get back to what it used to be. In fact, as you have a look at the seven seas, it was a perfect creation. and one day in the future it's going to be perfect once again. Sin entered the world and death is a result of sin. That's why Jesus Christ died on the cross, erased from the dead. The flood of Noah's day was a judgment, but it's a wonderful message of salvation, an act of salvation. People had to go through a doorway to be saved. Jesus Christ said, I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he'll be saved. The tarot label reminds us we're all descendants of one man, Adam. There's only one race. And Jesus Christ became a member of the human race, which is why the gospel message is for all tribes. and nations and then there's a wonderful message of purpose and meaning for God said I love the world he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life and you look at that and say wow that's so different to the other account of history that's right in fact I have young people say Mr. Hamm you just give us two totally different accounts of history that's right two totally different accounts big bang no big bang billions of years thousands of years Death has always been here. Death is an intrusion. It's an enemy. Man and woman from ape-like creatures. Man from dust. Woman from his side. No global flood. Global flood. No purpose of meaning. Purpose of meaning. They're totally different, aren't they? So people say, how can you have two totally different accounts of the origin of the universe? Well, whether you're a Christian or a non-Christian, a creationist or an evolutionist, let me ask you a question. Do we all have the same fossils or different fossils? Do we all have the same animals, real animals, like a kangaroo? Do we all have the same animals, or different animals? Same. Do we all observe the same rock layers and canyons? Yes, we do. Do we all have the same world? Well, it depends upon your perspective, but we all have the same world. That's true. Do we all observe the same dinosaur bones and so on, talk about the same dinosaurs? Yes, we do. Do we all observe the same animal death? Yes, we do. Do we all suffer the same human death? Yes, we do. Do you know what that means, by the way? Here's the point I want to get across to us. Whether you're a Christian or non-Christian, a creationist or an evolutionist, actually when it comes to talking about the issue of origins and history, we all have the same facts because we all have the same present world. It's not the facts that are any different. I have people come to me sometimes and they say, oh, I'm here because I want to hear all the facts that prove creation. Actually, I'm going to talk about the same facts an evolutionist does. What do you mean? We've all got the same facts. You see, there are people that say, wait a minute, an evolutionist has all these facts that we're going to win. We've got to have more facts than them. And that's how some people look on it, that, you know, we've got to get the most facts. Actually, when it comes to the issue of origins, we all exist in the present. We all have the same present world. The battle is really over the same facts. What's different is not the facts. What's different is not the evidence. What's different is how you interpret that evidence in the context of history. And how you do that depends upon your starting point. There are ultimately only two starting points. You either start with God's word, or you start with man's word. On the basis of those two starting points, we build a worldview. We put on a set of glasses. We look at the world in the present on the basis of our starting point, and we look at that evidence and we interpret it in accord with our starting point. For instance, when we look at DNA, that molecule of heredity, We find that DNA is actually a language system and an information system, and languages only come from intelligence. Information only comes from information. DNA cries out, in the beginning, God, not in the beginning, hydrogen. Isn't it exciting to be a Christian? Oh, God, you're so exciting. Maybe we should try that again. It's exciting being a Christian. Now, when you start from God's Word, it says God made kinds after their kind on the basis of man's ideas, one kind changed into another. Actually, as you examine genetics in dogs, we'll do that when we talk about the race issue. We'll give a little course on genetics in that particular session and help us understand that actually you can have great changes within a kind A kind is more at a family level of classification, a family genus species. But that one kind doesn't change into another. It actually confirms the Bible. When it comes to looking at the human race, even the Human Genome Project said there's only one race, which fits exactly with what the Bible said. Not one. Charles Darwin popularized different races. And the more you look at canyons and rock layers and fossils, the more you see evidence consistent with catastrophism, not slow processes over millions of years. When you come to the Creation Museum, One of the first exhibits we take you through is called the dig site and we want to teach you to understand how scientists interpret evidence in relation to the past. So let me show you the short video that helps people understand this. I grew up fascinated by dinosaurs. Watching movies, collecting models. I don't know about you. Dinosaurs were big. They were magnificent. They were awesome. I was taught that dinosaurs once ruled the world, but then millions of years ago, they disappeared from the earth. Everything I believed about the age of the earth, the cycles of life and death, the evolution of humankind, began with dinosaurs. And then, I learned that the Bible presented a very different history. Tim here is my colleague. fellow paleontologists, we've been friends since college. Today we study the same fossils, we use the same techniques, but that doesn't mean we agree on what happened here. We do interpret our findings differently. You see, fossils don't come with tags on them, telling us how old they are, where they lived, what they ate, or even how they died. We have to figure that out from the clues that we find. We never have enough clues. Our starting points usually lead us to different conclusions. Here's how I see it. I think this dinosaur died over a hundred million years ago. It dried out in the sun for a long time. And later, I think this specimen was covered by a river sediment, which was caused by a local flood. She'd been lying here all this time till wind dug her up. Where Kim sees millions of years, I see evidence of a different history. I believe this animal died in the flood, but it wasn't a local flood. It was a massive flood that covered the earth, Noah's flood, when God judged the world. The carcass was buried suddenly, before it could be eaten or decomposed, buried in a layer of sediment that stretches across the entire continent. Since the flood, according to the Bible, was about 4,300 years ago, that's how old I believe this fossil to be. We come to different conclusions because of our different starting points. I start with the Bible. My colleague does not. We all have the same facts. We merely interpret the facts differently because of our different starting points. And so you see, it really comes down to different starting points. that cause you to interpret the same evidence differently. Now I have people say, no, wait a minute, wait a minute. But doesn't science show that the Bible is not correct? Doesn't science actually prove evolution? And I may have even Christians who say, oh, I don't believe in science. I believe in the Bible. And others say, well, in the battle of the Bible versus science, can I ask you not to say that it's Bible versus science? Because it's not. See, first of all, if I ask you the question, what is science? What would we say? You know, I would say if you had a hundred people in the audience and said, could you define what you would understand by science, you'd probably get a hundred different definitions. But what does the word science mean? If you look up the dictionary definition of science, it means state of knowing, knowledge. having knowledge. Science really means knowledge. You know, in the Bible, where we read that verse, science falsely so-called, it's knowledge falsely so-called. You know what's not taught in our education system? The difference between knowledge gained through observation that builds out technology, observational, operational science, and historical science, which is really history, your beliefs concerning the past, when you weren't there. So let me show you this short video that helps people understand this. Have you ever heard this? Billions of years ago there was an explosion in space or a hundred thousand years ago this happened or that happened. or even in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Question, how does anyone know? I mean, was anybody there to observe it? Well, actually somebody was, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Check this out. First of all, we need to recognize that there is a huge difference between observational science and historical science. Both are valuable, but very different. Let's define the two real quick, shall we? Observational science is simply when we observe something and experiment to draw conclusions. It involves repeatable experimentation and observation in the present. It's through observational science that we find cures for diseases and build space shuttles and stuff like that. Now, through historical science, we consider things that happened in the past, but they cannot be checked in the same way. I mean, we don't have access to the past like we do the present because, well, it's gone, right? All we really have is speculation, or at best, circumstantial evidences of past events based on what we see in the present. That's not to say that we can't make intelligent guesses about the past. or form reasonable inferences from rocks or fossils in the present. But we certainly cannot directly test our conclusions because we cannot repeat the past. Got it? So, does that mean historical science is unimportant? Not at all. Let's drop an example down here for a minute and take a look at the Eiffel Tower. You know, that 19th century Parisian monument designed by Gustave Eiffel to stand at 1,063 feet tall, which was built as the entrance for the 1889 World's Fair, and is still the tallest building in Paris today, visited by millions of people each year? Yeah, that one. Well, guess what? Everything I just told you is true. But how do you test it? Well, applying observational science, we can, of course, observe the Eiffel Tower anytime we're in Paris. It's here in the present. Then, we can continue by testing the height and comparing it to all the other structures in Paris and confirm the claim that it is indeed the tallest building in Paris. But that's the extent of the kind of facts that can be proved by observational science in reference to this claim. How do we really know that Gustav designed it? How do we really know it was built in the 19th century as an entrance to the 1889 World's Fair? How do we really know how many people visited? That's all in the past. It can't be repeated. For that kind of information, we need to go outside the limits of observational science and discover what has been communicated to us through historical documents and eyewitness accounts. And furthermore, we have to believe those eyewitnesses and documents are trustworthy. The same is true when we talk about the origin of the Earth. The Earth is here. We all agree with that. So, does observational science confirm that the world was created by God? And are there trustworthy documents and eyewitness accounts that confirm it? Well, let's take the last part first. In short, what we're really asking is my original question. Was anybody there to observe it? The answer is, yes. God was there, and he told us how he created it. He inspired people to write down his very words that became books that were compiled into a complete book called the Bible, which has been verified over and over again. and has demonstrated itself to be totally trustworthy in all the claims it teaches. Even secular scholars will concede that the Bible accurately records historical events. Anyway, we have the most trustworthy revelation. from the most trustworthy eyewitness. Now, what about observational science? Does it confirm the Bible? Yes. And what's extremely important to realize is the observable fact that the universe is logical and orderly. That makes sense only if its creator is logical and has imposed order on its creation. It doesn't make sense at all if the universe is just an accidental explosion. Also, our minds are able to comprehend many things about the universe. And that's only possible if the creator of the mind gave us the ability and desire to explore the universe. It doesn't make sense if our brains are byproducts of chance because we couldn't trust our conclusions to ever be accurate. And lastly, it only makes sense that we can observe and repeat an experiment if the universe consistently obeys the same laws from day to day, which only makes sense if a lawgiver created it that way and upholds it. So to be bluntly honest, science itself, whether observational or historical, is only possible because God exists and the Bible is true. I could go on, but enough said. There are evolutionists who do some great science in the sense of observational science. Because you see, they have the same science we do. That's why I met an evolutionist and a creationist years ago at the Goddard Space Center, both working on the Hubble telescope, and they agreed on how to build the Hubble telescope. But what they disagreed on was the origin of the universe. See, that's a very different matter. That's what we need to understand. And you know, when it comes to origins, What we want to know is knowledge. We want to have knowledge, but we need all knowledge to make sure we got it right, which means we need someone who is omniscient. Oh, I know someone who is. We have a book that claims to be a revelation from God. And in fact, when you look at that history, it makes sense of the world. Oh, that's why there are fossils over the world. That's why we die. Oh, that's why there's only one race of human beings. Oh, so now I understand. That's why dogs always reproduce dogs. Yes, it makes sense. The Bible's history makes sense of the world. And you see, here's the point. Here's how we can decide whose starting point is right in that sense. Now, we would say, as Christians, that it's actually illogical not to start with the Bible. You have to start with the Bible. I mean, why do we have the laws of nature? If it's a random universe, why do we have the laws of nature? If it's a random universe, why do we have the laws of logic? You know, a young man once who came to me, he said, oh, sir, I went to your seminar, You know what? He said, I still believe in the Big Bang. I believe we're the result of chance-random processes. Really, son? Yes, sir. I said, well, if you're the result of chance-random processes, your brain is the result of chance-random processes. Is that right? Well, yes, sir. If your brain's the result of chance-random processes, your processes of logic are the result of chance-random processes. Is that right, son? I guess so, sir. Well, if your logic is the result of chance-random processes, you don't know your logic evolved the right way. Son, you're not even sure if you're asking me the right question. To which he said, what was that book you recommended? because you start to understand. It's actually illogical not to start with the Bible. Actually, the only thing that makes sense of the universe is the biblical God. In fact, really, non-Christians have to borrow from biblical presuppositions to even do their research even if they don't admit it, because when they agree with the laws of logic and the laws of nature, they're actually saying there's a God, the God of the Bible. OK. Intermission for church. OK. What was his first name? Ken Ham. And just like. He shows a picture of a fossilized ham. And it says it's no relation at all. So. Well, what do you think? I understand he's pretty fast paced and he hit it on the nugget. And of course, this is the basis of our ministry in the Philippines, where we go into universities and we just start out teaching the Bible and saying that all the founders of modern science at least believed in the Bible and founded their theories upon it. And so that's what we need to do in our apologetics is to realize the Bible is the foundation of everything. So, okay, are there any questions before we leave? What's the name of that video? Okay, that is... I have the cover here somewhere. It's a series. That's a series. It's called the Foundation Series. And we'll be seeing a segment probably every time I'm not going to show the whole thing because this is this is the one that is specifically apologetics. But all of them he deals with aspects of apologetics. So he has 12 videos and I will probably show a segment of each one of those that's related to the apologetics issue. But we will we can make these available. It's called the foundations series. And if anybody has lacking handouts or notebook covers, come see me. It looks like there's some up here, but I don't know. Yep. Yeah. Anyway, just. All righty. OK. You didn't bring your guitar? Thank you for mentioning that. How about next week? Pastor, is that OK? Yeah, there's a great song that goes along with this. And so we might start out next time. One of the workers, co-workers of Ken Ham, Buddy Davis, sings songs about creation. And they're very doctrinal. They're very Genesis-based. And so you'll enjoy it. Let me close in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank You for this message. We thank You for the Word of God that we have and the power that is sharper than any two-edged sword. We thank You, Father, for the armor that You have provided for us. And we thank You, Father, for Your assurance that we have the victory in the battle that we are in and that we are assigned to tearing down strongholds and that we have all power as Jesus has given us, all power in heaven and earth. We thank you for the Holy Spirit who works in us and those who we witness to and give these answers. Just help us to be ready always to give an answer. And I pray, Father, that as we go, that we'll all be able to get the resources that we need to do that. And we thank you in Jesus' precious name. Amen. Amen.