Summary of passage: God created living creatures in the water and birds to fly in the skies. He saw that it was good and blessed them to multiply and fill the earth–the fifth day.
Sixth day: God created living creatures (both domestic and wild) to fill the land. He saw that it was good.
Questions:
8a) Orderly process. He fills the seas with living creatures and the sky with birds (He separated these first so He fills these first). The He populates the land with creatures, which follows since He separated dry land after He separated out the sky.
b) Here BSF mentions evolution but does nothing to explain the the term. BSF assumes everyone knows what evolution is which I can tell you right now my kids have no clue what evolution is. They kind of do from all the dinosaur books we read but could not explain the theory.
Evolution is a complicated theory and even scientists have different definitions. There is also the evolution of the universe and biological evolution (the evolution of life forms).
So this question I think would be best answered keeping it as general and as simple as possible. Since we are talking about life forms on the fifth and sixth day of creation, we will stick with biological here.
Biological evolution is the process that results in changes in a population spread over many generations.
To me, I define evolution as the idea that all life evolved from a single-celled microorganism over billions of years. Obviously, Genesis states God created every kind of plant and animal–nothing evolved over time.
God created; not time.
9a) Personal Question. My answer: Ephesians tells us to be filled with the Spirit. I don’t think me life is right now. It’s pretty chaotic around here. So much going on: caring for and teaching my kids, running my household, kids activities, meeting husband’s needs, working out, carving out a niche of time to be with God (bible study) and do His will (my novel). This is my typical day.
I need to pray more. Give more. Reflect God more. Love more.
b) Personal question. My answer: He has reinforced old ideas and desires, not necessarily new. Refocused I guess. I gotta get my query letter done and get it out to agents. I gotta quit cussing. I gotta be more grateful and thankful for all that I have. I gotta be a life-giver, not a life-drainer.
c) Personal question. My answer: Watching my tongue more. Being more encouraging. Praying more and thanking more. Caring for others more than myself.
Conclusions: To be honest, I didn’t really like this lesson. 8b seems obvious if you are a believer what the answer should be. But it just seems out of place and presumptuous–to throw in the theory of evolution without discussing it first. It’s like assuming everyone knows what “pop” is.
Question 9 is a good reminder of what I should be doing. But I don’t have any new ideas. God’s word is timeless. How you should live has not changed and never will change. Nothing should be “new” unless you just learned it. I know how I should be filling my life and I’m not. I guess that’s why I don’t like it. I don’t want to change. But I know it’s time. And re-prioritizing is never easy.
Enjoying your comments in Genesis. Agree with you that question 8b needs to have evolution defined. First there is macro-evolution which states as you did that life evolved from a primitive single cell over eons of time. This is contrary to God’s Word. Then there is micro-evolution where some radical changes occurred in the same species but the species was still the same(a horse or dogs have changed over time but they are still a horse and a dog!) These were just changes within the same species. Evolution teaches that birds evolved from reptiles but the creation story says that reptiles (creeping things) created in 6th day while birds created on 5th day. Also evolution states fish were here long before birds but creation has both created on same 5th day.
But more importantly God’s Word states all animals were made after and according to their kind (v.21;24; 25). Thus God did not use evolutionary process but rather created them all as He said and made them completely mature at time of their creation so they could start the reproductive process. There is no such thing as “from the glue to you by way of the zoo.”
Julia: Read the notes at the beginning of lesson 2. They go into many of the different theories. They define it well enough for the purposes of answering the question. I love AtoZ’s answer on it by the way (probably because its the same as mine). Haha
Thanks Michelle. The notes on lesson 2 were very good in discussing the different views of creation-evolution. However, when I posted my brief comment on Sept. 12, our class had not yet gotten the notes. We started Genesis study on Sept. 10 and I got my notes for lesson 2 on Sept. 17. The notes obviously will give much info that we don’t have when we answer the questions. For example AtoZ is on Lesson 3 posted Sept. 20 and our class hasn’t even discussed lesson 2 until my class meets Mon. Sept 24. Hindsight is always 20/20 so the notes given after we try to answer the questions will clarify alot of the problems that we encounter in the interpretation of the questions.
Thanks for posting this. I’ve thought of doing this study but there is simply no doubt in my mind that the Earth is billions of years old and that the evolution of species is a very real, demonstrable phenomenon. I don’t want to stick my head in the sand like an ostrich and pretend that science is a lie. Should I even bother?
Rene,
Up to you. Doing a Bible Study, you should expect everything to be taught from a Biblical point-of-view, not a scientific. That’s for science classes.
I would ask yourself (and pray about): What are you looking to get out of it? What are you looking to learn from this Bible study? Then go from there.
The various species of plants and animals are the result of definite acts of creation, and one species never evolves into another. This is implied in the words “after their kind”. This teaches the principle of heredity within the species.
See, I acknowledge the truth of common ancestry, and that birds are the descendants of dinosaurs. I don’t consider that incompatible with a non-literal reading of Genesis.
Rene,
You make interesting comments but saying a common ancestor is certainly not compatible with Biblical teaching. Both evolution and creation ultimately come to what faith and bias you choose as no one was there at the beginning except God. To me it takes much more faith to believe in evolution than to accept God’s Word that an intelligent, all-powerful,all-loving God created the universe including us. The complexity of all the species and humans must mean that a designer,architect,planner,engineer (ie. GOD) was involved and not just a random process like evolution. Just keep praying that the Holy Spirit will teach you with an open mind what the Word of God literally is saying without any bias on our parts. Unfortunately, we all come with a bias(evolution or creation) because of what we have been taught or exposed to in school and society. Birds cannot be descendants of dinosaurs because God created birds on the 5th day and land animals(dinosaurs) on the 6th day. As Marie said above the literal reading of Genesis says each kind of animal comes from their own same kind and not a common ancestor (v.21,24,25). Keep praying that God will supply the answers to you questions and just let His Word teach you truth.
Dinosaurs are absolutely the ancestor of birds; it is an incontrovertible fact. One don’t have “faith” in science, one sees “evidence” and acknowledges its truths. Praying to the Holy Spirit doesn’t change the fact that dinosaurs came before birds according to evidence in every branch of science; too much cognitive dissonance is required to be a biblical literalist. Since I’m not a literalist, I guess this isn’t the bible study for me. Enjoy it!
Hey Rene,
Not exactly for sure what you are searching for but it must be something if you are hanging around here. I would encourage you to check out BSF and see what they offer. We study the Bible verse by verse and go off of the Word of God. You are free to draw your own conclusions based off of the Word. Don’t discount it due to the unknowns (of which there are many–hence the prevalence of theories in science).
The facts are that we do not know everything (only God does). We don’t know what happened to the dinosaurs. But God does. (And, yes, the Bible does allow for dinosaurs).
Bible study is trying to learn more about God and His ways–not about finding out all the answers that only God holds. Good luck!
I have checked with my lawyer and he says what you are doing is certainly not against the law. The problem with Bsf is they want tobe all inclusive. For a Christian group they seem to have a very narrow scope.
I personally love your blog and have been a bsf member for 9 years it is great to have somewhere else to try out my answers before the Monday night test. H a ha
Hope you will continue and Bless your heart for the great posts.
Yours in Christ
Dave Barber
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On 8b: The notes on Lesson 2, from Genesis 1 does touch on the theory of evolution. BSF explains it enough there to at least address answering the question. I agree with your answer by the way.
Thanks for the explanation 🙂 I thought if maybe you hadn’t gotten the notes (i.e. like if you printed off your questions) I wanted to give you a heads up to grab them. I just did lesson 2 question 8 b today, but I’d read the notes a few days ago. I wouldn’t have had a clue how to answer it if it weren’t for the explanation they gave in the notes. My husband has done a lot of research into the different theories throughout his life, me not so much. Lol.
Confused by Rene’s comment. States that “Dinosaurs are absolutely the ancestor of birds; it is an incontrovertible fact.”. Then states that “Praying to the Holy Spirit doesn’t change the fact that dinosaurs came before birds according to evidence in every branch of science”. The first comment says birds are first, the second comment says dinasaurs are first. Not sure which point is trying to be made??
They say the same thing. Dinosaurs came first. An ancestor comes before the current thing.
Your conclusion on question 9 prompted me to look at a passage from 3rd day. You said “I know how I should be filling my life and I’m not. I guess that’s why I don’t like it. I don’t want to change.”
Look back at Jeremiah 8 but go to verse 4 and foolowing instead. Verse 6b “each pursues his own course…”. We are a “stiff-necked” people. But we are trying!