Running head: SYNTHESIS OF COMING TO GRIPS WITH 1

Synthesis of Coming to Grips with Genesis

Kristina Ebner
The Masters College

SYNTHESIS OF COMING TO GRIPS WITH GENESIS 2

This book presents a clear picture of the importance of Genesis as a foundation to the
Christian faith as a whole. Without belief in the true facts of Genesis, creation and the fall it
becomes easier for members of the religious community to begin compromising in so many other
areas of the Bible. At the beginning of the book, Coming to Grips with Genesis. The author of
the foreword says, Compromise on issues related to creation and primeval history has been
much too common among Christian leaders. This is a statement echoed by many people in the
Christian world such as Ken Ham and the Answers in Genesis group as a whole as well as many
other strong bible believing Christian leaders. My dad always told me growing up that if you
allow men to chip away at the foundation of creation and Genesis, it will never stop there. That
foundation is important and necessary to Christianity as a whole. If the bible in its entirety is not
the inspired Word of God what is and what isnt?
By attacking the structure of creation, or the belief in seven literal days and trying to
show Noahs flood as untrue or not covering the whole earth, men who are against Christianity
and God have attempted to disprove the Bible and the importance of knowing truth. John
MacArthur said, No arcane debate over trivial matters. It is critical for Christians to stand firm
in their belief and know that the Bible is the God given Word of life. There is no part of the Bible
that is less important or a trivial matter, all that is written is important and God breathed!
The main emphasis I kept coming back to while reading this book is the importance of believing
the entire Bible, especially Genesis and not just some. For centuries men have attacked the
foundation and staple beliefs of our Christian faith and beginning. This attack has not been
unsuccessful, but has chipped away and chipped away at the foundation. A cartoon created by
Answers in Genesis stands out in my mind as I read because it shows unbelievers attacking our
foundation in Genesis and yet Christians shooting back at smaller issues without really noticing
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what the key issues and root of the problem is. In Colossians 2:8 it says, See to it that no one
takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition
and the elemental spiritual forces

of this world rather than on Christ. So often we get caught up
in things of this world or philosophies of this world that in the end will lead us nowhere. That is
Satans goal by attacking Genesis through many generations and civilizations of men. By
distracting men from the truth of Christ he continually deceives and allows false beliefs to grow
and take control of peoples lives, many countrys philosophies and ultimately control nations.
One definition of Genesis in the dictionary is the origin. This is one of the points of
significance and definitely a tie to the current events of our day. The book of Genesis is the
beginning of sin, marriage, murder, clothing, and language to name a few. Therefore, if people
can discredit Genesis, they can basically get rid of God and his authority over them. One
example of defiance towards God regarding things of Genesis is in the area of clothing. As I was
reading this book and beginning my paper on Coming to Grips with Genesis I saw a news story
on mainstream television about clothing optional colleges and their nudist events. It might now
be as shocking if the colleges they began stating were unknown names, however this was not the
case. Colleges such as UC San Diego, Ohio State and Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
better known as MIT have clothing optional campus and sponsored events. Genesis 3:7 says,
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed
fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. There immediate response is to cover
themselves after they sin. Yet in this day people are glorifying nakedness and sexuality in an
explicit way. If Genesis can be made untrue by those attacking our Christian foundation and
we do nothing to counterattack their agenda we are not defending our beginning and our basis in
even simple ways. The ultimate illustration regarding this story came as I researched further. At
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Wheaton College, a known evangelical Christian college, there is a tradition called the
Kingdom Run where students run around nude at the first snow. Though the college doesnt
advertise this event, they are doing little to stop it and the students there seem to have no
biblical conviction about this tradition as many participate.
That is just one example of direct disobedience to God and things presented in Genesis
that seems to be unimportant in our society. All we have to do is watch the news or read a
newspaper and the headlines scream contrary practices to the commands in Genesis. Not only
has our country destroyed the sanctity of marriage in recent days, but crimes such as murder are
being prosecuted with a slap on the wrist because of technicalities and overcrowded prisons. Our
world is going downhill fast and refuses to return to its beginning and Maker. The people of
today and especially the youth are so distracted by sin and what makes them feel good in the
moment they just believe what theyre told or what they want to believe and move on. Dr.
Whitcomb talks about students in the 1970s and then again in the 1990s searching for truth
regarding science. There are still a few today that would fit that category, but even in many
Christian circles this is just simply not the case anymore. People in the religious community have
allowed the truth of Genesis to become lost in the chaos and business of society and in the
meantime biblical truth has been slowly stripped away from Genesis, the origin of our faith.
Coming to Grips with Genesis can be summarized as a fresh and biblical defense of many
issues from Genesis that are not being taught correctly in the Christian world today. It lays out
with sound doctrine and both biblical and historical reference why creation was completed in six
literal days, that there was a flood that covered the entire earth and that we do in fact live on a
young earth.
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Chapter one gives an overview of mens belief over time regarding the issues in Genesis.
Its goal is to show that many of the men in history, or the fathers were not in fact scientifically
or historically correct on more than one occasion and there should be a great deal of blame
placed on them for the state of church beliefs today regarding the age of the earth.. The bottom
line is that scripture should be and is the final truth. All theories, theological beliefs by the
fathers, and anything coming out of history that does not match up with the Word of God is
untrue, no matter if theologians or intelligent men from our history say otherwise. They are
simple men. One of the biggest problems of the church today is the tendency to believe man,
theologians of our day or revered men of our history rather than focusing on what scripture says
or they dont take the time to question for themselves and discover truth.
The chapter travels through many beliefs of the fathers including the idea that everything
happened to chance. Nothing had rule over them or the world as a whole. However, still others
came along and said the Greeks had no systems that remained unshaken and therefore
basically felt they were wrong simple because there was no foundation or steady proof for their
belief system. Lactantius, strongly opposed most Greek philosophy and believe in the literal 24-
hour day. He was part of a group called Literalists or literal interpreters. The author goes on the
show writings by those men exemplifying their following of scripture and belief in six literal
days of creation before the Lord rested on the seventh. The Allegorists also differed from popular
Greek belief of the time. They had many renditions of the days of creation though and did not
believe in the 24-hour day unlike the others that opposed the Greeks. Premillennialists are yet
another group discussed in this chapter. Their beliefs regarding Genesis were skewed as well. A
day equals a 1000 years in one philosophers description and many other false teachings are
presented. Augustine came into the picture and greatly disputed the beliefs of Premillennialists.
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His belief in 6000 years was based on what he thought was biblical truth. He said the 7
th
day in
the creation story was after the Second Advent and therefore the eternal state of time. Most of
these men believed in the account of Noahs flood and that it was a significant historical event.
In closing of chapter one, the early philosophers were categorized as atheists by the
fathers because of their lack of belief in a young earth and six literal days of creation. They
believed a flood truly covered the earth for forty days and forty nights and for the most part an
authoritative account from scripture as a whole. A great deal of discrepancy between the truth
and what weve been told about the fathers and early philosophers that this chapter brought to
light.
In chapter two the authors bring up a point often forgotten by so many today. There is so
much talk, rumor and opinion in our world and over the past century that often people dont
know what is truth from what is a story. In order to have a true exegesis of Genesis 1-11, people
must search out truth and this chapter is a great resource for historical interpretations of the past
few centuries regarding those chapters.
The author walks through the beliefs of men such as Martin Luther and Calvin. He
presents references showing that Martin Luther did believe in literal six days of creation and a
worldwide flood along with other scripture based truth. He also shows that Calvin believed and
spoke truth about the events recounted in the first eleven chapters of Genesis contrary to what
many people today try to say about him. Though he may have come about in the time of
modern science he still believed what scripture testifies to in the beginning of Genesis. The
middle part of this chapter talks about the men who came onto the scene after Calvins death. He
shows how so many questions such as Did they (the forefathers) define what they meant by
day? Men during the century post Calvin and up until present day have tried to bring about
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questions that have been addressed greatly over time as if they are something new. He runs
through a list of reformers who not only addressed many questions of the beginning chapters of
Genesis, but laid those questions to rest with firm beliefs and answers.
It is fascinating to see man after man through the centuries of history that were in fact
correct in their interpretation of creation and many other subjects of Genesis. During 1590-1690
the author names several men including Ursinus and Diodati who affirm what is said in scripture
as being in fact in line with historical accounts of the earth. Over and over again men f great
intellect establishing that the act of creation, the flood that covered the earth and the fall of man
did in fact take place the way we as Christians know to be truth. The British Puritan Exegetes
reminded me somewhat of the men of our current day, people such as Ames falsely quoted by
men such as Macpherson about what they believed and people ran with that story rather than
seeking out the truth.
There were many men during the mid 1500 and 1600 into the early 1700 that made up the
beliefs of the Westminster Assembly, the Divines and other groups. They were somewhat
disputed into the early 1700 by reformed theologians. These men then led us into more recent
history and men such as John Wesley. While he didnt necessarily focus on things such as
creation and the flood in his studies, he did address them and seemed to be in line with the
teachings of scripture. During the 19
th
century belief in evolutionary thought really took
precedent, however biblical interpretation of creation was still strong in the churches and people
of faith.
This chapter showed through substantial evidence the thoughts of important Christian
thinkers from Luther onward in the 19
th
century. Since those days men who chose to attack the
belief in six literal days, the fall of man and therefore death and suffering and Noahs flood have
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tried to twist and change what those men meant. They want to prove that the intelligent early
thinkers simply didnt have all they needed to give sound information and that in present time
they do. It was a sad turn from the men of the 16
th
, 17
th
and 18
th
centuries to the men of present
day thought.
Chapter four approaches the question Is nature the 67
th
book of the Bible?. The claims
and outlandish opinions yet stated as fact by Dr. Hugh Ross. According to Mayhue, Ross
misquotes, misinterprets and misuses scripture after scripture in order to push his own agenda
and thoughts. He consistently presents his own ideas and attempts to support them with scripture.
On close examination one can quickly see his fallacy and prove Rosss view deficit. His claim
that nature is the 67
th
book of the Bible is unsettling and means that according to him the Bible is
not compete. That is a disconcerting and serious claim.
However, simply disagreeing with his statement is not enough. There is a great deal of
evidence to debunk his claim and the author advises Christians to have more of a defense then
simply saying no that isnt true. He then take the reader through seven passages that give
evidence and proof for believers to use when combating Rosss statement. Those passages are
Psalm 19:1-6, Ecclesiastes 3:11, Acts 14:17, Acts 17:23-31, Romans 1:18-25. Romans 2:14-15
and Romans 10:18. To change or add on to scripture would be unthinkable. Scripture is an
authority and to alter or add to it would mean word that are not inspired by God and therefore are
not a part of the Bible.
The author takes a closer look at the idea of general revelation in scripture verses special
revelation in scripture next. He lays out a nice chart comparing the two ideas and simply
showing the unreasonable claim made by Ross that the two are not different. As the author states
it would like comparing an Olympic athlete and an infant and saying because theyre both human
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they would be equal competitors in the Olympics. This is a ridiculous comparison that most
would find simply incomparable.
The fall of man is his next direction in this chapter and the chart about negative Greek
words used for depravity was eye opening. There are twelve separate words used in the Bible
that describe the ruin of mans intellect. The reality of that truth is man is constantly searching
for knowledge but can never come to complete and full understanding. Just as in the Garden of
Eden we often times believe we alone in our own mind can distinguish what is best for ourselves
rather than seeking the Lord. Ross believes that man can acquire enough knowledge and
observation on his own to become equal or even higher than Gods special revelation in
scripture. Both Eve in Genesis and Dr. Ross are seriously mistaken in their belief that they have
enough knowledge to surpass the commands of God.
The evangelical community in the 20
th
century took the liberty to create documents based
on what they believed to be proper hermeneutics. Dr. Ross disagreed once again with many of
their statements about divine illumination in regards to special revelation that the people of that
community believed. The final part of this chapter is summing up what it means to have a
Christian worldview. It also states seven reasons why the answer is no, nature is not the 67
th

book of the Bible and that Dr. Hugh Ross needs to correct his statement in regards to scripture.
The focus of the first part of chapter six covers three things regarding Genesis 1:1-2:3, a
magisterial literary comprehension, foundational theological treatise, and literal historical
account. The first, a magisterial literary comprehension discusses the words used to describe this
passage and are so differing in their meaning. Such an account of history is tranquil and
patient, yet can also be described with strong words such as towering and inexhaustible.
The next is foundational theological treatise. This is simply meaning this passage is the
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establishment of Christian belief. This reminded me again of the importance to protect truth and
the belief of this passage of scripture because it is out foundation. The author then goes on to
discuss the two genres, narrative and extended poetic metaphor, which have been proposed
regarding the book of Genesis and gives many details showing that in fact Genesis is narrative.
This is where he spends most of the rest of chapter six. There are many great reasons scholars
have shown their claim for which genre Genesis is written from, but in the end he shows there
are three irrefutable reasons to read Genesis as a narrative book full of historical accounts. In the
end, when read from the correct genre Genesis gives an amazing account of Gods creation of all
things in just six days.
The final chapter of summary in Coming to Grips with Genesis is chapter nine. The focus
is on Noahs flood and the importance of knowing the account in scripture for Christians today
and especially evangelical scholars of our day. As we have discussed often in our class as well as
in every chapter of this book Christians do not know scripture or how to defend the things that
matter and then foundations of our faith found in Genesis. It is critical to know the account of the
flood in order to combat the teachings of evolution today. The author lays out the descriptions of
the flood and pulls in the Hebrew root words and explanations for the account in Genesis to
make it clear for readers to understand the meaning. He then goes through the narrative of the
flood from the age of Noah until the ark rests on the mountain top. There is a great sequence of
days and how long each part took. There are three separate sections in the flood, the first being
the destructive phase, the 150 days of God releasing the water, then the subsiding phase over
the next 165 days and finally the 56 days of earth becoming suitable for life. He also presents a
helpful chart that lays out the events of the flood and days in between each.
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There is great evidence found when looking at the meaning of the Hebrew words used for
fountains of the deep and the geological evidence attributed to the flood today. Each aspect of
what took place connected to the calendar of the events that took place shows why we can find
support for the flood in historic events even today. The account of continental erosion and
deposition given at the end of the chapter supplies even more fascinating information that
shows what the flood did to the earth. It also presents reasons why we cant find things such as
the Garden of Eden today.
This book though a hard read because of all the factual data and academic language
contained many important facts and evidence to support my worldview. Though I grew up in a
Christian home, often times its easy to simply believe what youre told about a subject without
ever researching the truth for yourself. I must say that I may be one of those people in the
Answers in Genesis cartoon attacking things attributed to the Christian faith, but not the
foundation of the Christian faith. I disagreed with evolutionary thinking verbally, but had it come
down to an actual argument involving facts I wouldnt have had many before reading this book
and taking our class this summer. If we as believers are going to make a difference in society and
in our students we must know the evidence of which we build our Christian worldview on. It
must not be because Im a Christian that I dont believe in evolution or the skewed opinions of
science, but because I know scripture and can use it to defend the foundation for my Christianity.