Category: Creation

Genesis 1–11: God’s Design for Civilization (Pt. 3/5)

Genesis 1–11: God’s Design for Civilization (Pt. 3/5) Creation Mandate 

Creation Mandate

God’s purpose for humanity is expressed in the Creation Mandate. Understood in context, it is to turn the rest of the earth outside Eden into Eden. It involves building a global civilization that is in fellowship with God and consistent with his will. After sin came into the world and humanity was driven out of Eden, the mandate could no longer be fulfilled as intended. The mandate was derailed but not defeated because God cannot be defeated. Through Christ the Creation Mandate is reclaimed so that it will be fulfilled as intended. This is seen in the Great Commission, which is about making disciples of all nations so that they observe everything Christ has commanded in every aspect of their life (a global civilization consistent with God’s will); and Christ is with disciples of all nations through the Spirit (a global civilization in fellowship with God). It is crucial to recognize that the Great Commission is the renewed Creation Mandate. For it means disciples of Christ cannot dichotomize the spiritual from the secular in any aspect of their life—a problem that has been plaguing modern Christianity.

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Genesis 1–11: God’s Design for Civilisation (Pt. 3/5) Creation Mandate

Genesis 1–11: God’s Design for Personhood (Pt. 2/5)

Genesis 1–11: God’s Design for Personhood (Pt. 2/5)

God created humanity “in his image.” The meaning of “the image of God” matters; it is our identity as human beings. Today there is a tendency in OT scholarship to confuse the purpose for being made in God’s image with the meaning of being made in God’s image. This video gets beneath the English translation and concludes that to be made in God’s image is to be like God in some ways—in terms of humanity’s God-like nature of personhood, qualities of love and justice, and abilities to communicate and create. All this is so that humanity could fulfill God’s purpose for them. Persons can think, reason and make decisions; God’s design for personhood is for humanity to think, reason and make decisions in a way not independent of God and his will. Humanity began to deviate from this design when Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. To appreciate why in modern civilization humanity is on a path to self-destruction we need to return to what happened in the garden of Eden.

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Genesis 1–11: God’s Design for Humanity. Pt. 1/5

Genesis 1–11: God’s Design for Humanity. Pt. 1/5

Genesis 1–11 is about the beginning not only of the universe, but also of humanity, civilization, nations, and even government. This video is the first in a series of five on God’s design for humanity based on Genesis 1–11. In today’s intellectual climate, even God does not make sense, let alone his design for humanity. Modern civilization has deviated from God’s design for humanity in a way unprecedented in human history since the days of Noah. There are two consequences: humanity seems to be heading toward self-destruction (the problem); God and his design for humanity (the solution) no longer make sense. So modern civilization is such that the only solution to the intractable problem it has created does not make sense! This series of videos seeks to show that God and his design for humanity are indeed the solution to the problem. This first video is to reorientate our thinking so that God and his design for humanity make sense even today. It thus sets the stage for the other four videos, which are about God’s design for personhood, civilization, nationhood, and government.
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Redeeming the Lion Dance for the Glory of God?

What would be an appreciative, but critical perspective on the Chinese lion dance?

It is undeniable that the lion dance contains superstitious elements. For example, the dance is often performed to bring good luck to business owners and to ward off evil spirits. These superstitious beliefs are inconsistent with Christian belief in the sovereign providence of God. Hence, some Christians have expressed uneasiness when they witness lion dances within church premises. It must be acknowledged that these churches sponsor lion dance in their premises as an initiative of good will to build bridges to the Chinese community. Sponsoring lion dances during the Chinese Spring festival or Chinese New Year provides a most fitting occasion for churches to demonstrate the fact that Chinese Christians need not abandon their cultural heritage when they embrace the Christian faith.

On the other hand, one wonders whether these churches may have unwittingly committed religious syncretism, the process where the Christian community uncritically adopts superstitious beliefs which are contrary to the fundamental tenets of Christianity. Continue reading “Redeeming the Lion Dance for the Glory of God?”

Talk: Signs of Intelligent Design in a Fine-tuned Universe and the God Hypothesis.

Link to video – Intelligent Design & the GOD Hypothesis

This talk was delivered originally at the Christian STEM Nexus Forum in Nov. 2023. It explains why the “God Hypothesis” offers an explanation of the origin of the universe better than chance in the light of new developments in contemporary cosmology. Issues discussed include (1) How the Universe came into existence, (2) Intelligent Design and Irreducible Complexity in fine-tuned universe.

1 The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
4 Their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world (Psalm 19: 1-4).

Originally published on 25 Nov 2023. Updated on 13 June 2024

Book of Genesis vs Babylonian Creation (Enuma Elish) and Babylonian Flood (Epic of Gilgamesh)

Genesis vs Ancient Near East Polytheistic Myths: Plagiarism or Polemics? Part 2

A. Genesis and Babylonian Creation & Flood Accounts: Similar but Independent Accounts

The chart below lists several parallels between the Creation and Flood accounts of Genesis and the Mesopotamia Enuma Elish. [Source: Currid, p. 37-38]

Enuma Elish (Mesopotamia) Genesis
Divine spirit and cosmic matter are coexistent and coeternal Divine spirit creates cosmic matter and exists independently of it
Primeval chaos; Tiamat enveloped in darkness The earth a desolate waste, with darkness covering the deep (tehom)
Light emanating from the gods Light created
The creation of the firmament The creation of the firmament
The creation of dry land The creation of dry land
The creation of the luminaries The creation of the luminaries
The creation of man The creation of man
The gods rest and celebrate God rests and sanctifies the seventh day

How does one account for these similarities? Continue reading “Book of Genesis vs Babylonian Creation (Enuma Elish) and Babylonian Flood (Epic of Gilgamesh)”

Genesis vs Ancient Near East Polytheistic Myths: Plagiarism or Polemics? Part 1

Many critical scholars in Western universities suggest that the biblical Creation and Flood stories borrowed ideas from Ancient Near Eastern Texts (ANET). For example, the Creation story in Genesis must be influenced by the Babylonian creation story of Enuma Elish since the story in Genesis is briefer and the preserved records of Genesis belong to a later date. However, Kenneth Kitchen rejects this notion. He writes, “The common assumption that the Hebrew account is simply a purged and simplified version of the Babylonian legend (applied also to the Flood stories) is fallacious on methodological grounds. In the Ancient Near East, the rule is that simple accounts or traditions may give rise (by accretion and embellishment) to elaborate legends, but not vice versa. In the Ancient Orient, legends were not simplified or turned into pseudo-history (historicized) as has been assumed for early Genesis.”/1/

On the other hand, the relationship between Genesis and the Babylonian Flood story of the Epic of Gilgamesh could be more nuanced. There are some similarities, but also differences (the form of the Ark, duration of the Flood and the birds sent out by Noah). Perhaps, the similarities and differences arose because the memories and traditions of the event of the Flood were transmitted differently by Israel and its neighboring societies.

More importantly, Genesis displays vocabulary similar to ANET not because it borrowed ideas from ANET but because it is mounting a polemical theology against the pagan polytheism of Israel’s neighbors. Continue reading “Genesis vs Ancient Near East Polytheistic Myths: Plagiarism or Polemics? Part 1”

Faith and Integration of Knowledge. Part 5. Young Earth Creation vs Old Earth Creation

Part 5: Young Earth Creation vs Old Earth Creation

Question: Does the evidence from the bible and science support young earth creation or old earth creation?

Discussants: Dr. Ng Kam Weng and Dr. Rodney Toh.

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Part 5: Young Earth Creation vs Old Earth Creation

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Reclaiming and Renewing Creation

Creation Reclaimed
Modern philosophy, which began with Descartes, is premised on the idea that objective knowledge is possible only if the cognitive agent first separates himself mentally from the external world around him. Kant reinforced the separation when he postulated a dichotomy between the phenomenal order (things as empirically observed) and the noumenal order (things-in-themselves) in order to give room for human freedom in a world determined by fundamental laws of nature. That is to say, both human knowledge and human freedom entail a flight from nature. The resulting loss of vital connection between man as knowing subject and the world of nature is one of the causes of human disregard of the environment today.

In contrast, the Bible upholds nature, or creation, as the theatre where knowledge of God is revealed. It acknowledges that God is transcendent but he reveals himself through his mighty works of creation, providence and redemption. T. F. Torrance emphasizes that our knowledge of God is mediated to us in and through this world as the sphere of his activity toward us. Torrance writes, “We know God, then, in such a way that our knowledge (theologia nostra) is correlated with the world as his creation and the appointed medium of his self-revelation and self-communication to mankind. Everything would go wrong if the creaturely reality of this world were confused with or mistaken for the uncreated Reality of God, or if knowledge of God were cut off from the fact that it is our knowledge, that is, knowledge of God by us in this world.” /1/ Continue reading “Reclaiming and Renewing Creation”

The Origin of Life Has Not Been Explained

It takes expert knowledge, courage and integrity for Prof. James Tour  to challenge the majority of the professors in the academic establishment who have chosen to exaggerate the ability of science to synthesize life in order to secure research grants, and the media which readily promotes sensational news which sell. Hmm, perhaps there is a deeper spiritual reason when highly intelligent people persist in promoting ‘scientific’ non-reality. Is it because it is abhorrent to them to consider the alternative – that the origin of life is none other than the Creator God? Continue reading “The Origin of Life Has Not Been Explained”