God Said It, I Believe It ~ All Scripture is God-Breathed

I believe that the earth was created in six days—six literal days.  God created the earth on the first day, sky on the second, and oceans and dry land on the third; He spoke the sun and moon into existence on the fourth day, creatures of the skies and seas on the fifth, and finally, on the sixth day, animals of the ground.  God saw that it was good, but He also saw that nothing in all of creation was capable of reciprocating His abundant love.  I believe that, out of the dust of the ground, God made man in His image, to rule over the fish and the birds and the livestock and over all the creatures.  Then God saw all that he had made, and declared it to be very good.  I believe that on the seventh day God rested from all he had done.  All this I believe because I read it in the Bible; it’s right there in Genesis chapter one.

I have heard it said that a person can be a Christian, believing in the deity of Jesus Christ incarnate, and yet be an “old-earth” creationist.  These people argue that the first chapter of Genesis is not meant literally—that it is allegorical—that a “day” in Genesis could have been an undefined length of time, perhaps a hundred years or a thousand years or a million years.  They refer to 2 Peter 3:8 which states, “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.”  Some even argue that God could have used evolution to create the world—“Theological evolution.”

God created the universe in six days... When I think about His power, his ultimate dominion over the universe, I wonder: why did he take so long?!  Really, couldn't he have done it in the blink of an eye, with the snap of his fingers?  2 Peter 3:8 tells us that God is timeless.  He had no beginning, and He will see no end.  He never changes, in a minute or a day or a hundred thousand years, and He can do anything at any time He pleases.  I believe He took six whole days for creation to set a precedent that is widely held today: when He created the universe, God also created the seven-day week.  Work six days, rest on the seventh.  

But I digress from the topic at hand.  The point I want to focus on is this: the Bible says the universe was created in six literal days.  God said it.  I believe it.  It’s that simple.

“All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” ~2 Timothy 3:16-17

How can a professing Christian say they believe in the incarnation of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Bible, but refuse to believe that the universe was created in six literal days, also as recorded in the Bible?  What would this person say about a worldwide flood that destroyed all living things, or a woman being turned to a pillar of salt, or a city crumbling at the sound of a trumpet blast?  What would they say about a virgin giving birth, or a dead man, in the grave for four days and beginning to stink, returning to life?  How about a man walking on water, feeding thousands with five loaves and two fish, turning water to wine, healing the blind, lepers, and paralyzed, or casting out demons?  What would such a person say about that same man taking the sins of all humanity on his shoulders, dying a brutal death, descending into hell for three days, then returning to life, never to die again, and ascending into heaven?!  As crazy as some of that sounds, I believe every word because God said it!  

Either we believe the Bible or we don’t.  All scripture is God-breathed.  There is no qualifier, no limiting criterion.  Whether we like it or not, we must accept the entirety of the Bible as God’s living Word.  Those sections that it might sometimes be nice to ignore—the parts that are difficult to obey: “clothe yourselves with compassion,” “obey your parents in everything,” “do not think of yourself more highly than you ought,” “bless those who persecute you”; need I go on?—are God’s indisputable instructions to His people.  Ken Ham writes, “God's people need to unashamedly and uncompromisingly stand on the Bible,” and, “We need to reinforce in our thinking and in our Christian churches that the Bible is the Word of God and that God has absolute authority over our lives. We must obey what He tells us about the principles of living in every area of life, regardless of what others think.”  Sometimes it’s difficult or uncomfortable to stand on the Word of God, and sometimes it takes a whole lot of faith to believe what it says, but we must never compromise.  Make the choice: do you believe that all scripture is God-breathed?