I Believe...(part 2)...Before the foundations...

Eph 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love...

I believe that God planned and ordained a way of salvation before He laid one brick, so to speak, of this world in His creation. Salvation was not a last minute plan as a lot of nail biting went on in the heavenly regions during the events of Genesis 3. No, I believe that salvation was always a part of God's plan. 1 Peter 1:20 in talking about Christ states..."who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was manifested at the end of times for your sake..." (ASV) Adam Clarke comments on this scripture, "...it shows that God, foreseeing the fall and ruin of man, appointed the remedy that was to cure the disease."

Consider the implications of this foreplanning. Did God plan for His creation to sin? No. But, God is sovereign, all knowing and knew what would happen if He created humankind with a free will. He knew all of the events of what would happen if He created us.

Now this is hard for us to understand. Why would God create humans if He knew they would rebel against Him? That is a question I can't answer. But, I can say that God wanted a relationship with us, the crown of His creation. He wants me to choose to love Him. He wants me to desire Him more than anything. But, He always leaves the choice up to me...and you. He is a gentleman...He will not force Himself on us.

In Genesis 3, the Savior is foretold as soon as the first sin occurred! Genesis 3:14-15..."And Jehovah God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, cursed art thou above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." (ASV) This is an amazing prophecy concerning Christ! Praise the Lord that the remedy was already in place!

I Believe...

Today, I want to begin a series of entries which state what I believe and why I believe it. I have been challenged in a couple of different ways recently to think about this. My basis will be the Bible. Without this "bottom line," I have nothing that is any different from anybody else. Without the Bible, it's just "my view." In this day in which we live, there is a spirit of tolerance to the degree, that "each does what is right in his own eyes," as they did in the time of the Judges. (See Judges 21:25) And, each believes "what is right for him/her." There IS absolute truth. There IS a true "bottom line." The buck DOES stop somewhere. We are not left to drift aimlessly. We have a place to cast our anchor.

Everything and everyone has a beginning...that is such an important place to start when defining a belief system. I'm going to start with the One who created this universe, who created this world, and the One who created me. Since He, (God) created all of this, He must have a plan and a purpose. He must have a "right" to decide what is truth and how I should live my life.

I believe in a very literal view of Genesis 1-11. Here we find the basis for everything else. Ken Ham from Answers in Genesis has been calling the church to return to this literal view of beginnings. Without this basis, everything else stands or falls. Is it any wonder that the church is so anemic here in America? We have surrendered to science as the ultimate authority. But, scientists are humans, too. They have not lived forever, they were not there when the foundations of the earth was laid. God challenged Job with the reality that he was not present when God created the earth in Job 38:4. Neither were we or any scientist present as well. Why should we trust in them as opposed to the God of the Bible who WAS there? Yes, we must have faith, but our faith will always be shown to be in the right place, if that faith is in God.

I believe that God created the world. We read about this in Genesis 1-2. Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."
There is nothing said here about any big bang, evolution or any thing like that. Nothing is said here about amoebas transforming to tadpoles, and eventually to apes, and finally to people. No, we were created intentionally. We were created intentionally as the crowning jewel, so to speak of God's creation. Man was created last, at the summit. We were made in God's image as it states in Genesis 1:21 "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." A clear understanding of this will result in a proper estimate of ourselves. I will see that I am created by God for great purpose, but still as subordinate to Him. I will see that I am created to show who God is to this world. Does my life show anything of His great holiness, love and mercy?

There is much ado about whether or not God created the world in six literal days or whether these "days" were actually much longer periods. The way that the words are used, "evening and morning," show us that these were literal days. When these words are used together in this way, we see that they are describing literal days.

In the context, the word day in Genesis 1 refers to six 24-hour days. Every time it appears with “evening and morning” or with a number like “sixth day,” it refers to a 24-hour day.

Terry Mortenson-To read more on this subject, read the whole article here.


This is an "evolution vs. creation" issue. If the world is young, say 6,000 years old as I believe, then there is no evidence of evolution involving millions of years. You can read more about that here.

All of our doctrines of the faith have an origin in Genesis 1-11. I will cover more on that in future posts. I believe that in our day of drift from a Biblical worldview, establishing our beginning is the only place to start.

To summarize...1)I believe that God created the world
2)I believe that God created the world in six literal days
3)I believe that since God created the world, He gets to decide what is moral and what is not
4)I believe that the world is "young," around 6,000 years old