Hank Hanegraaff - The Creation Answer Book

A GIFT FOR:

FROM:

The
Creation
Answer Book

HANK HANEGRAAFF

The Creation Answer Book

2012 Hank Hanegraaff

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Author is represented by the literary agency of Alive Communications, Inc., 7680 Goddard Street, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80920, www.alivecommunications.com.

Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

Italics in Scripture indicate the authors emphasis.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version, NIV. 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Scripture quotations marked NASB are from NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE. The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission.

ISBN-13: 978-1-4003-1926-8

Printed in the United States of America

12 13 14 15 16 WAI 6 5 4 3 2 1

To my daughter Faithbright,
beautiful... beloved.

Contents

Since the creation of the world Gods invisible
qualitieshis eternal power and divine naturehave
been clearly seen, being understood from what has been
made, so that men are without excuse.

THE APOSTLE PAUL, ROMANS 1:20

O f one thing I am certain: people want answers. And that is precisely what The Creation Answer Book provides. Concise, well-researched answers to the single most important apologetic issuethat of origins. Indeed, how you view your origins will ultimately determine how you live your life. Think Lady Gaga. If Gaga, like Madonna before her, is merely a material girl living in a material world, her choices are not freethey are fatalistically determined by such things as brain chemistry and genetics. Conversely, if she is created in the image of God, her life has eternal meaning and significance.

First, The Creation Answer Book demonstrates conclusively that the evolutionary hypothesis is no longer tenable in an age of scientific enlightenment.

The Cambrian Explosion* (biologys Big Bang; words marked by an asterisk are defined in the glossary at the back of the book) has uprooted Darwins Tree of Life*. And in the modern era of scientific enlightenment, it is untenable to suppose that something as seemingly simple as a human tear (which has no counterpart in the animal kingdom) evolved through unguided, purposeless processes. As you trek through these pages, it will become abundantly clear that nothing could not have created everything; that life could not have evolved from nonlife; and that random processes could not have produced morals.

Furthermore, The Creation Answer Book addresses questions that routinely stumble seekers and solidify skeptics in opposition to a biblical worldview: If God created the universe, who created God? Was Eve tempted by a talking snake? If we cant see God, how do we know he exists? And what about dinosaurs? Did they die out 65 million years ago or live contemporaneously with humankind?

Finally, The Creation Answer Book delves into one of the most controversial debates in all of Christianitythe debate about earths age. In my previous books I left that issue on the backburner. In this book I tackle it head on! Is this a young world after all? Or do indicators such as the speed of light and star life demonstrate that the universe is billions of years old? Are the creation days of Genesis literal, long, or literary? And what about animal suffering and deathis nature red in tooth and claw* a consequence of Adams fall or part of Gods very good creation?

The Creation Answer Book, however, is designed not only to answer questions but also to equip you to read the Bible in the sense in which it is intended. Thus, when you read that God walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day, you will not suppose that Moses intended to communicate that God has literal feet. Or when you read that God asked Adam, Where are you? you will not for a moment question Gods omniscience. Moreover, if you are a believer, you will be prepared to give an answer for the hope that you have with gentleness and respect. And if you are not, you will have ample evidence to believe that the opening words of ScriptureIn the beginning Godcorrespond to the age of scientific enlightenment in which you find yourself.

Hank Hanegraaff

Creation and
First Things

F irst, unlike the universe, which according to modern science had a beginning, God is infinite and eternal. Thus, as an infinite, eternal being, God can logically be demonstrated to be the uncaused First Cause.

Furthermore, to suppose that because the universe had a cause, the cause of the universe must have had a cause simply leads to a logical dead end.

Finally, simple logic dictates that the universe is not merely an illusion. It did not spring out of nothing (nothing comes from nothing); and it has not eternally existed (the law of entropy* predicts that a universe that has eternally existed would have died of heat loss an eternity ago). The only plausible possibility that remains is that the universe was made by an unmade Cause greater than itself.

You are my witnesses, declares the LORD,
and my servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed,
nor will there be one after me.

ISAIAH 43:10

If We Cant See God, Can We
Know He Exists?

I t is not uncommon for skeptics to suppose that Christians are irrational to believe in a God they cannot see. In reality, it is irrational for skeptics to suppose that what cannot be seen does not exist.

First, Christians and skeptics alike recognize black holes, electrons, laws of logic, and the force of gravity despite the fact that all these are unseen. Even the most ardent anti-supernaturalist recognizes the gravity of gravity.

Furthermore, Gods invisible qualitieshis eternal power and divine naturehave been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse (Romans 1:20). Put another way, the order and the complexity of the universe testify to the existence of an uncaused First Cause.

Finally, Jesus is the image of the invisible God. As such, the incarnation of Christ is the supreme act of Gods self-revelation. Thus, we can experience the power and presence of God in a way that is more fundamentally real than our perceptions of the physical world.

Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we