Is Genesis History? Page #13

It is a very, very critical for archeology event.

It is.

And all this fits perfectly with what we would ...

... as the Bible record of how languages emerged.

It really is the only way to explain this.

So the integrity of biblical history is justified definitively ...

... the expression of these languages.

Currently most of us think of a tower like the kind of thing ...

... we see in big cities with big walls and straight.

It is that what they were building?

Well, essentially it was a variation of the pyramid,

and he had four sides and several stairs to reach the top.

In Eridu we have a temple that existed in 18 different stages ...

... and at each stage it grew in size and complexity.

And that final temple, the last phase of the temple,

It was abandoned immediately right at the time ...

... Late in the expansion of Uruk.

Corner against the temple was a completely huge platform.

Do you think these could have been the foundation ...

... of the Tower of Babel?

Absolutely.

And I would suggest that this late Uruk expansion ...

... which began this technology was something ...

... that spread to people.

We find ways of these ziggurats around the world.

We find them in China.

We find them in India.

We are found in various parts of America.

We find them everywhere.

Well, obviously here we have evidence of civilization ...

... and people began to join in communities, including cities.

Do we have more evidence of that?

Yes of course.

We can anticipate the time of Abraham because we know ...

... that Abraham lived in Ur,

I was also south of Mesopotamia ...

... at the end of the third millennium BC.

That brings us to the end of Genesis chapter 11.

Exactly.

In fact, we can see ceramics and some cuneiform tablets ...

... all dating from the period of the Third Dynasty of Ur.

It is amazing to think about this ...

... while we're sitting here, thinking of Abraham ...

... and this represents the culture ...

... and civilization in which he lived.

It is a great link to that record in Genesis.

It is fascinating and gives you the feeling ...

... put your hands around the events happening ...

... in the biblical text.

When I looked through the history,

I realized that each of these cultures had been ...

... impacted by the events recorded in Genesis.

But what is the importance of Genesis to us today?

George Grant wanted to meet ...

... in a garden near his home.

He said it was a good reminder of where our history began.

So there is something important ...

... about the text in Genesis in which Adam and Eve ...

... were placed in a garden to look after him.

That's more than a simple story.

It is much more than a simple story.

One of the things you see in Genesis chapter 1 is ...

... the structure for time.

The universe was created for a 24-hour day.

So everything from our sleep cycles ...

... and how our work cycle work, all come from ...

... the definitive historical record.

When we come to Genesis chapter 2,

we begin to see the meaning and purpose of man.

Of course, in Genesis 3 we see corruption chapter all by the fall.

And the implications of a historical fall,

a real man and a real woman,

really they fell in real sin had ...

... implications for the rest of the Bible.

If you remove the literal Adam and Eve,

That changes the whole shape of what the story is ...

... and how history is remembered.

Is that because when we get ...

... Adam and Eve from the historical record,

then we can basically invent ...

... what we think about man, marriage,

and even sexuality?

Completely.

The apstol Pablo understood the events ...

... of the first chapters of Genesis as training,

not only for our understanding of history,

but also the relations between men and women and their children,

the character and nature of marriage,

right and wrong in moral relations, including sexuality.

All this assumes of those early chapters in Genesis,

often quoting passages word for word.

It seems that even Pedro takes that event the Flood ...

... such as a historic event ...

... and putting it in the context of which ...

... it is pointing to a coming judgment.

So even the trial is a part of understanding ...

... the historical record.

You can cut out parts of the story ...

... and lose sight of the meaning of it all.

I think most Christians, when we talk about ...

... for example, the life of Christ,

these are understood as historical records.

Why, when we look at the record in Genesis,

we have a tendency not to want to do that?

We tend to do so because ...

... he constantly exhorts us not see it that way.

Why culture around us?

The culture around us, by theologians,

modern theologians who are trying in some way,

in their minds, fit the truths of Scripture ...

... with the supposed discoveries of science,

so if you know anything about the history of science ...

... you know it's incredibly unreliable way.

So we are constantly being bombarded with this message ...

... that we need to adjust our view.

But I think there are many Christians who have a ...

... idea that the historicity of Genesis does not ...

... it's so important for Christianity.

I think with that we have been ripped off.

Somehow when you put those chapters ...

... in a completely different and not historical category,

What are you doing the rest of the Bible ...

... it assumes that the Bible is true,

the Bible treats it as historical truth,

the Bible refers to all characters who were there?

Does that then negates the whole Bible?

Well, yes, and that was exactly the strategy ...

... High criticism in the 18th and 19th century.

They knew that if somehow you could attack ...

... the first three or first eleven chapters of Genesis ...

... you're done with everything.

Well, George, all this brings us back ...

... the notion that history is recorded in Genesis ...

... or any real story is really critical for us ...

... in terms of understanding what is happening around us.

Yes.

In fact, it reminds us how important it is history ...

... to anchor all other human disciplines.

It is the story that helps us to inform science for science ...

... you can start your journey of discovery in the world.

So what the story is to tell us what happened.

And then what science tries to do is ...

... ask the question, how did it happen? ...

And then begins to explore how, mechanics,

the structures that were present at these events.

If you try to reverse that, if you try to make science ...

... tell what really happened, then you end up ...

... with a worldview that is constantly changing ...

... where nothing is certain,

and moral relativism will inevitably be the consequence.

And God has given us that foundation.

He has given us that foundation in the historical record.

He has given us in the historical record that comes ...

... to Genesis chapter 1 in the garden.

Ultimately, I guess we always go back to our home.

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