What do you have to believe about creation in order to be an elder at Bethlehem?

John Piper highlights what is necessary to believe about creation and what is not.

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[gbologa]

If a Christian does not believe Gen. chap 1 verse 1 the foundation for that faith is in question. My question is, at what point do they start believing the word of God???

[HisFatherlyHand]

Genesis is nothing compared to the New Testament. Jesus commands the dead to live and speaks light into the darkness of human hearts. The miracles done by Moses are just small pointers to those done by Jesus in the lives and hearts of those who follow him. Be amazed at that, and then maybe Genesis won't seem so incredible to you anymore.

[Masaries1234]

@UrukEngineer Evolution is a theory. 

[lueling]

Of course Jesus, his life, wonders and his sacrififical death is more important than Genesis 1. But I wonder how you can deny God's creation when the Bible clearly states that God created the world and mankind? When you doubt that, why don't you doubt the other parts?

To me, the Bible, many psalms and other verses about Creation would not make much sense if God was incapable of creating an earth...

[UrukEngineer]

He is basically saying you cannot believe in evolution or other scientific facts.

[meinaim]

@Daytimeofnight I did read the whole Pentateuch in September and believe me this, there is much heavier stones in these books for me to carry than that Moses wrote about his own death in third person and past tense.

I surely have no problem with this, I´d even accept freely the idea of one who said, that it might have been Joshua who finalised it. But to be honest, for me it was Moses himself who did that in a vision and wrote it inspired by God right the way God wanted him to. God is great

[Daytimeofnight]

@meinaim Read Deuteronomy 34 again. Do you really think Moses wrote, "but to this day no one knows where his grave is." or "Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses." Does this sound like something you write before you die? These passages CLEARLY imply that a long time has passed since Moses' death. To deny this is to deny the obvious for the sake of maintaining dogma. Moses did not write Deuteronomy and no serious scholar thinks he did.

[meinaim]

@Daytimeofnight true I would use simple words, but this is not going against literal 6 days. Moses would have had the mental capacity to understand it if there would have been plenty more.

To the death of Moses. Do you really think this is a problem? The bible says that there was no man as close to God like Moses, why shouldn´t he had a vision on his own death? Moses did see much bigger things than that. He did "see" God, in a way and unspeakable miracles.

[Daytimeofnight]

@meinaim The reason that one can compare God talking to humanity and parents talking to children is that both God and parents have to condescend to the level of someone with a much simpler understanding. I have no clue what this has to do with evolution. As for Moses, do you honestly hold that Moses wrote about his own death and burial?

[meinaim]

@Daytimeofnight don´t know why you think you can compare talking to kids with God talking to Moses. Your evolutionary background leads you to this assumption, but I think you are wrong. There is no reason why God should have misled his people, which is nothing but a lie, there is no such thing as a "white lie". I do read current literature, but obviously not from "your" sources.

But, you are right saying that we have to see the ancient words through the eyes of those who were adressed.

[Daytimeofnight]

@meinaim If you have kids, I bet you talk to them in language and in terms they can understand. That doesn't mean you're lying to them. You're just trying to communicate a message in a way they'll understand. If you don't know anyone who doesn't believe Moses wrote the Pentateuch, you may be living in a Christian bubble. Consider reading some current academic literature on the subject. Also, I recommend avoiding Answers in Genesis. Their information is usually misleading (to put it mildly).