Okay -- my wife Rachael and I are working overtime on these text questions. Feel free to offer us a nice dinner for our hard work (kidding). Just so you know, we'll get them all on the blog by Friday. Also, if your question wasn't answered, it's not because we didn't like it... it's because we didn't understand it. If that's the case, please feel free to ask your question in person on Sunday. Alright, here we go with Part II.
- HT
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Q: Is it okay to use fertility drugs and treatments to help married couples have children?
A: Absolutely! This is one of the benefits humanity derives as we explore science and subdue the earth (Genesis 1:28). We learn the things in the earth that God has made possible for us to do. Sometimes, in exploring God’s world in science we find solutions that help us battle the effects of the fall.
Q: If we are commanded to fill the earth, will Christ not come back until we do so?
A: Nowhere in the Bible does it say that humanity has to reach a quota of persons before Jesus comes back. The one thing we do know is that Jesus said this Gospel must be proclaimed to all nations and then the end will come (Matthew 24:14). It’s not the filling of the earth that brings the end, but rather the full preaching of the gospel throughout the world to all of God’s elect.
Q: Does anyone today know where the Garden of Eden was?
A: Through what the text says, people come to the conclusion that it was either in modern day Iraq or in modern day Turkey, west of Lake Van.
Q: Doesn’t Genesis 2:5-8 contradict the creation account? In Chapter 1, God created land and the plants first, then man. In Chapter 2, He stops to create man, and then plants a garden. Explain.
A: What we have in chapter 2 is God zooming in on day 6. None of this contradicts the creation account in chapter 1. In Chapter 1, you still have plants on the earth and then He created man. Chapter 2 is referring to the garden, which was a special area of plants that God created after he created man. It is not referring to Him creating foliage in the entire earth. We are focused in on the garden part of the creation.
Q: If God knew that Adam and Eve would sin and eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, then why create the tree? Why did God allow the serpent to tempt them? (God knew Adam would fail, is this what He wanted?)
A: First thing I would say is that God has all wisdom and we do not. The second thing I would say is that this question assumes that the scope of history would have been better off if humanity had not fallen. What this assumption leaves out is the most important part of the story of the Bible. Because humanity fell, God sent Jesus. This is the greatest thing that could possibly happen to humanity. It is even greater than the glory of Him creating the garden and man before the fall. Jesus’ coming is the most important event in all human history and greatest thing for our souls to understand and experience God. So we must just trust God, that what God allowed is what is best for His glory and our good. If man is made in the image of God, but has the knowledge of good and evil, is man born inherently good or evil?
Man is born both inherently good and inherently evil. He has goodness in him because he is created in the image of God. He has evil in him because of the infection of sin which corrupts the totality of his being. Therefore the goodness that is in him is not complete or whole. Romans 3:10 says, “No one is righteous, no not one.” Is there goodness in man? Yes. Is there evil in man? Yes. Is man righteous? No. This is why we had to have what Martin Luther called the Great Exchange. Christ’s righteousness was given to us in exchange for our sin. That’s what we call the Gospel. After a human believes in Christ, he is, as Martin Luther says, “both fallen and redeemed.” That’s why we wait for the return of Jesus when our redemption will be brought to completion when Jesus heals our body from sin the way he has healed our soul from sin. (Romans 8:18-25)
Q: According to Colossians 1:15, is Jesus a created being? (“Firstborn of all creation”)?
A: No. Verse 16 says, “For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him.” Everything that was part of creation was created by Jesus; that would mean He is not created. When the Bible speaks of firstborn, it is referring to the prominent relationship that a firstborn son would have in the family. The firstborn son would take over leadership of the family. What Colossians 1:15 is saying is that Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, is the ruler of all the creation of God. Firstborn is referring to Jesus’ authority over creation.
Q: If I have done so many sins, how come I’m still in this life?
A: Because God is merciful and not wishing that you should perish, but He is hoping that you will come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)
Q: I’m taking a Core Humanities class this semester. One of my discussion questions involves the meaning of the “fall.” What’s your take on that?
A: I’m preaching on this on February 8th. Come back and you’ll get the full low down on what I think.
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