 Good morning. It's time for class. So, class, how do we change the development of opportunity? Today, we will be looking at a document of profanity, or rather, what are the two minutes? That's basically what we will be doing in a minute. So, in the document of profanity, the questions which are generally addressed is, who are we? What are the opportunities? Why are they being placed here on the earth? Is there a purpose for that? For humans. These are the kind of things which are talked about in the doctrine of humanity. Now, people who don't believe in the existence of God, they will have their own answers for these questions. They would say that they have just been accidentally, you know, formed. That just accidentally humans evolved is what they would say. So, from their perspective, human beings don't have any purpose. They don't have any goal. It's just that accidentally they started existing. And so there is no overall purpose for their life. They can do whatever they want. They can take whatever decisions they wish, because there is no creator who made them. And so that would be the outlook of people who say that humans just evolved. On the other hand, if we have a biblical viewpoint, if we are saying that humans were created by God, then it means that God must have had a plan and a purpose for creating humans, which means now humans have significance. They have importance. God had something in mind when he made them. And so there must be a future for the humans. There must be a purpose for the humans. There must be certain criteria that the creator expects humans to follow. So, depending on whether people believe in the existence of God or not, the entire outlook of people would differ. We have people who believe in this theory of evolution, the theory of naturalistic evolution. Yeah, someone has, you know, texted here saying that the volume is not clear and the echo effect is too much. Is there any way that we can reduce the echo effect? If possible. Pastor, yeah, now it's okay, Pastor. It was echoing earlier. It is fine now. Oh, it's fine now. Our IT expert here looks very, very relieved and happy. Thank you. Yeah, so, yeah. So those who believe in naturalistic evolution, they say that humans evolved out of other hominid creatures which resembled humans, but they were not human. The hominids would be your chimpanzees and your apes and your monkeys. So they would say that those were the creatures which evolved and then from those creatures, humans evolved is what they would say. So in fact, they would talk about creation as being something very ancient. They would probably not use the word creation because it talks about something being created. They would just simply talk about the universe being formed. So they would say that the universe got formed around 14 billion years ago is what they would say. And then according to the evolutionists, if the universe came into existence 14 billion years ago, the earth would have come into existence about 5 billion years ago. And if the earth came into existence about 5 billion years ago, then the first cell or microorganisms would have formed around 4 billion years ago. So by the time apes and chimpanzees and all these hominid creatures evolved, that would have been around maybe 2.5 million years ago. That is their theory. According to the theory of evolution, the hominidic creatures like the chimpanzees and apes and all would have evolved about 2.5 million years ago. And then when some of those ape-like creatures continued to evolve, some of them became humans. So humans came into existence approximately 200,000 years ago is what the evolutionists would say. So those who hold to this viewpoint, they would say that whatever human beings do, it doesn't really ultimately matter in the long run because they will exist for 70 years, 80 years, and then they will die. And once they are dead, whatever they did or did not do, it's not going to make any difference because there is no eternity, there is no creator, there is no God waiting for them. And so they would say it is all right for us to decide what values we want to have and what values we do not wish to have because ultimately in the long run, people just die and once they die, whatever they did or did not do, it's not going to matter. So that would be the viewpoint of these evolutionists. On the other hand, the Bible talks about something called Fiat creation, F-I-A-T, Fiat creation. This word Fiat is a very ancient word which basically means commandment. So they talk about creation which came into existence through a Fiat or a command which was issued by God. So those who speak of a Fiat creation, creation through a commandment of God, they would talk about the earth being formed based on whatever the Bible is saying. So if you look at the biblical account of creation, the earth is extremely young in the sense maybe about 4,000, approximately around 4,000 BC is when the earth would have come into existence. If you were to look at all the genealogies in the Bible and then if you were to accept the fact that genealogy does not mention every single ancestor, sometimes it skips a few generations. If you were to take into account all of those factors, at the most maybe sometime in the 4,000, 4th century BC is when the earth would have come into existence. So Abraham would have been living around 2,000 BC. The exodus of the people, the Israelites leaving from Egypt and going towards the Promised Land, that would have been approximately in 1,400 BC. So King David would have ruled around 1,000 BC. So we are talking about a very young earth. So now if we say that we are in 2024, so we would say the earth has been around for approximately maybe about 6,000 years. That's it. A very young earth is what we would be talking about. So when we look at the biblical account and we consider this version of creation, then every action of humans becomes very, very significant. Because whatever you do, the Creator God is watching what you are doing. So in the long run, there will be consequences for what you have done. If you have done good, you will reap a reward. On the other hand, if what you have done is evil, there will be repercussions eternally. So every single action, every single decision of humans becomes very, very significant if we are thinking in terms of fiat creation, where everything came into existence through a command of God. So these are the two extreme viewpoints. There are people who will say there is no God at all and humans just accidentally evolved. And then at the other end, we have the biblical account where the Bible states that it is God who has made everything there is, including humans. Now there are Christians who try to find some kind of a balance between these two extreme viewpoints. And so they try to see if they can somehow merge the evolutionist view with the biblical view. So you have one category of people, one school of thought who call themselves the theistic evolutionists. So they believe in theism, they believe in the existence of God, but they also believe in evolution. So these are the theistic evolutionists. They say that God used the evolutionary process to bring everything into existence. So God did not create according to what is written in Genesis 1, but rather he used the evolutionary process to create everything including humans. So which means that they don't believe in creation happening in six literal 24-hour days. They would say that one day may be extended over millions of years. Day two would have been another few millions of years. So that would be their viewpoint. And so we can't say that Adam and Eve evolved over millions of years. That would not make any sense, right? Because I mean Adam and Eve did not exist and then God created them. He formed them and then in a matter of minutes, they came into existence. So there's no such thing as Adam and Eve evolving slowly, slowly over millions of years. That would not fit into the evolutionary picture which they are drawing. And so they kind of reject that aspect of the creation story. They say Adam and Eve, that's just a story which is there in the Bible, which is used to talk about humans, but that's not an actual historical story. So theistic evolutionists are rather unbiblical in their viewpoint. They want to believe in the existence of God, but because they are leaning so heavily on the theory of evolution, they reject the six days of creation. They say that each day is not 24-hour duration and they also say the story of Adam and Eve, Adam and Eve being created in a matter of minutes or a matter of hours. No, that's not really true. So they dismiss what the Bible says regarding the creation of humans. Now there are others, another school of thought. They call themselves the progressive creationists. They believe in the creation story, but they believe in progressive creationism. These two students over there at the back, if you cannot stop your discussions, sit in separate places, then you will not be tempted to have your own class, because it's kind of distracting for the person who's teaching. Okay, so please. The progressive creationists, they say that God created in periodic creation time spans. So according to them, let us say that God first created the sea creatures and then about one billion years later, He chooses to create the land creatures and then maybe about a billion years after that, He chooses to create humans. So they say that God created, but He would have created in periodic creation events and in between each event, there would be a space of maybe a billion years. So that is another theory. So these people, just like the theistic evolutionists, they're trying to bring together evolution theory and the biblical account and see if the two of them can be somehow held in balance. So this is their attempt. So why is it necessary for God to wait one billion years in between the sea creatures and the land creatures? Why would He have to wait? So they say, no, when God made the sea creatures, He just made one or two types of sea creatures and put them in the sea in the waters and then those creatures began to evolve. So then they became different kinds of fish and some of them turned into whales and some of them turned into sharks and that is how evolution happened is what they say. So when it comes to land creatures, they say God must have created maybe one creature which resembles a cat and then that cat-like creature would have evolved into tigers, into cheetahs, into lions and all these species which belong to the cat family. In the same way, God must have created one creature which is like a donkey and then that one donkey-like creature would have then evolved into giraffes and zebras and all these other animals which resemble a donkey, like a horse and all of that. So they say it would have taken time for those creatures to evolve and so God would have waited and there would have been a time gap between the first creation event and then the second creation event and then finally the last creation event would have been humans. So that is another theory which the progressive creationists come up with. So these are just some of the views which are out there. Now I would like us to maybe talk about another one creation theory and this is called the framework hypothesis. The reason that we are looking at this particular framework hypothesis is because a lot of wrong teachings have come out of this hypothesis regarding creation including the creation of humans. So that's the reason why we will look at some details regarding this framework hypothesis. What exactly is this? This is a hypothesis which was developed by some person in the early 1900s. According to this person when he first came up with this theory of the framework hypothesis what he was basically saying is that whatever we see in Genesis 1 the description of creation which is given in Genesis chapter 1 that should not be looked at as a historical record. It's not talking about things which actually happened in history. Rather that writer of Genesis wanted to use creative language he wanted to use figurative language to present an interesting storyline. So basically he was not talking about historical facts he was just using figurative language to create an interesting way of presenting creation. So the truth is that God created but how did he actually create? Those details are not mentioned in Genesis 1 the writer of Genesis simply created an artificial framework is what they say and this is basically what that artificial framework is supposed to be. You can picture it in your mind like a table because that writer he talked about how the Genesis chapter 1 presents two sets of creation days. Day 1, day 2, day 3 according to him is one set of creation days. Day 4, day 5, day 6 will be the other set of creation days and these two sets of creation days are parallel is what he says. So if you want to picture that in your mind like a table let us say the table has got two columns first column, second column in the first column you would have day 1, day 2, day 3 in the second column you will have day 4 day 5, day 6 day 1 will be parallel to day 4 in the same way day 2 will be parallel to day 5 and day 3 will be parallel to day 6 what is he trying to say basically the hypothesis is this first column is talking about the formation of creation the second column is talking about the filling up of creation for example on day 1 God formed the heavens no no God formed darkness and light day 1 God formed darkness and light and then on day 4 he filled up this darkness and light with objects you know like the sun and the moon and the stars in the same way day 2 he separated the heavens and the waters so the heavens and the waters were formed and the parallel of that would be day 5 where he fills up these heavens and waters with objects that is the heavenly birds of the heavens and the creatures of the sea now this looks like quite an innocent theory not very harmful and to an extent it is true to an extent it does look like as if day 1 is a parallel of day 4 and day 2 is a parallel of day 5 that is an interesting way of looking at Genesis chapter 1 but the problem is that that person who created the framework hypothesis he says the writer used this kind of a description just because it sounds nice in a literary manner this kind of figurative language would have been appealing to the readers of that time and so he was not actually recording historical facts is what this writer would say the creator of the framework hypothesis would say that the Genesis writer was just trying to use figurative language to actively present the creation but in reality these are not historical facts about creation that he was talking about so a lot of people liked this framework hypothesis and from that framework hypothesis many many wrong teachings began to develop throughout the entire 1900s and so a lot of wrong teachings came into existence where the emphasis was removed from the historical value of Genesis 1 so rather than looking at Genesis 1 as an actual historical record of what happened and how it happened people began to talk about how in a literary manner it's so beautiful to read it's so creatively presented it is so attractive in the way the presentation is done people began to talk about the literary value of Genesis 1 and they stopped looking at it as a actual historical record and so one theory that has come out of this whole wrong hypothesis one theory which has come out now is by John Walton who is considered a very reputed scholar in our current academic circles so John Walton who is now of course much older he came up with something called the theory of functional origins he basically is saying that this entire book of Genesis has functional value Genesis was written to tell us some basic theological truths but Genesis 1 is not to be regarded as history so basically John Walton what he did is he has dismissed the historical value of the creation account he has dismissed the historical value of how Adam and Eve were created he has in fact even dismissed the flood account as a historical reality he says it's just fictional and he's written a series of books called the lost world of Genesis the lost world of Adam and Eve the lost world of the flood you know it's this lost world series that he has written in which he goes to great lengths to prove that this whole book of Genesis has functional value the things which are written in this Genesis are useful for us to learn some theological truths but what is presented in Genesis he says doesn't have any historical value so now in fact if any of you who are doing this course here in APC the BTH course and then if you want to go to MDEM and you want to go to MTH level in a study further any reputed Bible college that you go to a protestant Bible college that you go to will actually present this teaching this will be something that will be taught to you so it's very very harmful very very dangerous a lot of Christians are now beginning to look at Genesis as a work of fiction which only contains some theological truths now that's completely corrupting the authenticity of the biblical account that's a very dangerous no direction in which to head but if you look at the New Testament in what way does it describe Adam and Eve does it say that the story of Adam and Eve is a fictional story which is presenting us with some theological truths about sin about the fall of humanity is the story of Adam and Eve just fiction that the writer of Genesis simply write a piece of fiction to bring out some theological concepts of the fall humanity and the origin of sin how does the New Testament present Adam and Eve so having looked at this whole background if we can have someone read out for us Romans chapter 5 verses 12 to 14 Romans 5 12 to 14 Romans 5 12 to 14 therefore just as sin came into the world to one man and death through sin and so death spread to all men because all sin for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given but sin is not counter well there is no law yet death ran from Adam to Moses even over those who sinning was not like the transgression of Adam who was the type of the one who was to come now if you look at this the verses over here it says sin entered the world through one man and in this way death came to all people it's not talking about fictional people here it's talking about real human beings it's talking about the believers who are living in the church it's talking about real people and how did all this real people become sinful it says in Romans 5 12 that sin entered the world through one man it's talking about one historical human being a man who really existed through that historical figure sin entered the world and now all the real people of the world have fallen into sin because sin was introduced by this one man okay so if you look at this verse which Romans chapter 5 verse 12 it talks about Adam as an actual real historical figure and not as a fictional story if you look at the same way at verse 14 in Romans 5 verse 14 it says death rained from the time of Adam to the time of Moses Moses is being talked about as a historical figure in the same way Adam is also being talked about as a historical figure and so it says death rained from the time of Adam to the time of Moses and then it talks about how it rained even over those who did not sin by breaking a command as to Adam who is a pattern of the one to come the one to come who is being described over here is Jesus Jesus is a historical figure Moses is a historical figure so it's talking about how just like Moses and Jesus Adam too is a historical figure so if you were to follow what the framework hypothesis says and if you were to believe in John Walton's theory of functional origins then you would basically be dismissing the reality and historicity of what is there in Genesis and if you do that if you are negating and cancelling the historicity of Genesis then what are you going to do with all the New Testament scriptures which talk about these events like as if they are real historical events which took place you would have to dismiss the New Testament because you are not willing to accept the Old Testament the book of Genesis as being a historical reality so you see it if you dismiss Genesis 1 and the flood and all the important accounts in Genesis as you know if you call them fictional events then the New Testament doesn't make sense anymore so we have to accept that the Adam and Eve story which is mentioned in Genesis is actually a true event which really took place because then 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 21 and 22 only then 1 Corinthians 15, 21 and 22 will actually make sense what does it say in 1 Corinthians 15, 21 and 22 1 Corinthians 15, 21 and 22 1 Corinthians 15, 21 and 22 1 Corinthians 15, 21 and 22 for as by a man came death by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead for as in Adam all die so also in Christ shall be made alive as in Adam all die so in Christ all will be made alive over here it's not talking about a symbolic Adam it's talking about a real flesh and blood human Adam who sinned and so he led people into death and then you have a flesh and blood Christ a real Christ not a fictional person but a real Christ who came and made all of this humanity alive by making a sacrifice on their behalf so if you dismiss the Genesis 1 story as fictional then New Testament would not make any sense what Jesus Christ came and did on the earth would also not make any sense so we need to accept the historical reality of the Adam and Eve story we would have to accept the fact that humanity has come through Adam and Eve who were created the way God has described in Genesis chapter 1 verses 1 in Genesis chapter 1 and also in Genesis chapter 2 so coming to this biblical account of the way humans were created in Genesis chapter 1 beginning in the beginning of the chapter we see that the earth was created maybe we could have someone read out the first 3 verses about how the earth was created Genesis 1 verses 1 2 and 3 Genesis 1 what's ma'am? Genesis 1 1 2 3 in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth the earth was without form and word and darkness was over the face of the deep and the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters and God said let there be light and there was light so it says here that the earth was formless and empty and then God spoke God said let there be light he gave a fit he gave a commandment and then based on that fit based on that commandment which he has issued light came into existence it says in Hebrews 11 3 it says by faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command is what it says so the earth came into existence as a result of God's command and then when it came to the creation of humans did God give another command and say let there be humans how God created humans did God give another fit did he give another commandment and say let there be humans and humans came into existence is that how it happened? no we see that God gives a special personal method to bring humans into existence Genesis chapter 2 verse 7 we see that God did not just simply issue a verbal command rather he actually physically gets involved in the formation of humans so yeah if you can have someone read out for us Genesis chapter 2 verse 7 then the Lord God formed the man out of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostril the breath of life and the man became a living creature exactly so here the Lord does not simply speak and say let there be humans rather he chooses to come down to this earth which he has made he takes the dust which he has created and out of the dust he actually makes a human and he breathes into this dust object which he has made he breathes the breath of life into this dust object and the dust object becomes a living human being and then of course in Genesis 2 verse 21 and 22 you have a description of the woman being made so maybe we could read out that as well Genesis 2 verse 21 and 22 so the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with the flesh verses 22 and the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man yeah again here the word that is used is God made a woman in verse 7 we saw that God formed a man from the dust and here in chapter 2 verse 21 it says God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man so both man and woman were not created by simply through a fiat through a command rather God physically got involved in forming them why was the special status given to humans because humans are going to be created in his image to be like him to represent him so this special status was given to humans where God chose to physically come down and create them form them out of the dust so obviously we were the Bible does not even talk about the evolutionary formation of humans okay so that the concept doesn't even exist in the Bible so we accept that both male and female were created in the image of God which means that both men and women have equal value men and women have equal importance so it's not only man who was made in God's image even women were also made in God's image because the woman was made out of the rib of the man and the man was created in God's image so because the man was created in God's image and that rib was taken and from it the woman was formed the woman is also made in God's image and so because they both have equal value it is understood that both should be treated with honor honor is not extended only to men but honor must be extended even to women because both are in the image of God and when you show respect and honor to both men and women indirectly you are showing respect to their creator the God who made them in his image okay so but we also accept the fact that in a marriage relationship even though they both are equal the woman is commanded to place herself under the authority of the husband the wife is commanded to place herself under the authority of the husband in the same way in the redemption plan of God even though God the father and Jesus Christ were completely equal Jesus Christ chose to place himself voluntarily under the authority of God the father now when Jesus Christ placed himself under the authority of God the father he did not become less than the father they both continued to have equal status but when it came to their functionality as far as the functioning of the redemption plan was concerned Jesus chose to be under the authority of God the father in the same way in the marriage relationship just because the wife has placed herself under the authority of the husband it doesn't mean that she has now become inferior to the husband no the husband and wife are still very much equal but for the functionality of the marriage for the marriage to function and for the home to be developed the woman the wife is expected and asked by the Lord to place herself for the sake of functionality under the authority of the husband ok so this is the way we would have to see men and women because both have been created in the image of God what about you know Genesis 5 1 to 2 there's something significant mentioned over there which throws some light on the status of all the descendants of Adam and Eve if we could have someone read out for us Genesis chapter 5 verses 1 to 2 Genesis 5 verses 1 to 2 this is the book of the genealogy of Adam in the day that God created man he made him in the likeness of God he created them male and female and blessed them and called them mankind in the day they were created so here when we read Genesis 5 verses 1 and 2 in English it says this is the written account of Adam's family line and then in verse 2 it goes on to say and he named them mankind when they were created but when you look at the original Hebrew Bible the same word Adam is used for Adam and that same word Adam is again used for mankind and this has got significance so if you were to read it with the Hebrew word in place this is how it would sound it would say this is the written account of Adam's family line and in verse 2 it will go on to say that God created them male and female and blessed them and he named them Adam when they were created that word mankind in Hebrew is literally Adam and of course the name of Adam is also Adam what is the significance of this in the same way Adam was made in the image of God his descendants are also Adam they also literally are in the image of God ok so that is basically what is being conveyed when the Hebrew Bible uses the same word for Adam and also for the descendants of Adam the same word is used both are called Adam in English we have two different words we have Adam and we have mankind but in the Hebrew Bible you have Adam to talk about the man Adam and you have the same word Adam being used for humankind ok so this signifies that not just Adam and Eve but even his descendants also are regarded as being in the image of God so now what does it actually mean to be in the image of God does it mean that like God we have two hands two legs one nose does it mean that God also has got two hands two legs and one nose no I mean we looked at that when we were looking at the doctrine of God God is a spirit being it does not have a physical body Jesus Christ chose to take on a physical appearance but God is a spirit being so he doesn't have a physical body so when it talks about humans being in the image of God it's not saying that physically we resemble God rather it's talking about how we have the same nature as God and I think that's there in your APC notes it talks about in what way we are in the image of God that word image you know in Genesis chapter 1 verses 26 and 27 you basically have two Hebrew words being mentioned in Genesis 1 26 God says let us make mankind in our image okay so that's one word image and then God also says in our likeness that's the other Hebrew word that is used over there and then same thing is repeated again in verse 27 where it says God created mankind in his own image in the image of God he created them so these two words image and likeness these two Hebrew words they talk about something which is similar but not identical so we are not identical to God God is divine we are human we are similar to God but we are not identical to God so in what way are we similar to God we have the nature of God the same way God understands right and wrong we too are moral beings we too understand right and wrong in the same way God is able to think the way God is able to reason in the same way humans are also able to think humans are also have the ability to reason and think logically in the same way God is able to relate with other people with the angels with all the created beings the same way God relates with others humans also have the ability to relate with one another and in the same way God is a spirit being human beings are also spirit beings that's the reason why humans are able to communicate with God because in the same way God is a spirit being humans are also spirit beings so humans are able to communicate with God on the other hand a dog or a cat is not a spirit being it may sense that God is nearby you know if God literally comes down physically and stands in the dog or the cat it may sense that God is there but it can't communicate with him it is not developed to that extent where it actually has a spirit and it's able to identify God's spirit being okay so that animals have not been created at that level humans on the other hand we are spirit beings like God made us in his image so we are able to understand him we are able to communicate with him we are able to recognize that he is God and that we are human all these things are possible because we are spirit beings who have his nature and we think like him we can understand like him okay so and yeah humans also have a physical body which of course God is not restricted to a physical body but we use our physical bodies to represent God's nature so in the way we talk in the way we act in the choices that we make the single thing that we do with our physical bodies it should represent the fact that we are created in the image of God so when people start behaving in a way which is unlike the nature of God they are denying the fact that they have been made in God's image we are supposed to use our physical bodies to represent the nature of God in our conduct in our speech in our actions in our choices so our physical bodies should be a representation of what God is like when people look at the way we are using our bodies they must say oh look this is a representative of God this person is in the image of God okay so even our physical bodies also matter alright maybe after we come back from the break we can look at some more details regarding this doctrine of humans alright thank you