Several years ago, parts of the southern United States experienced a severe winter. Researchers found that, in just one winter, a species of lizard “evolved a greater tolerance to cold.” They were shocked at how fast “evolution” happens.

But is this really evolution? No, it’s not. The lizards remained lizards, and they didn’t gain any new genetic information. This is simply adaptation and natural selection using genetic variety that already exists! Selection pressures, like this cold snap, force a species to adapt using this genetic variety. But nothing new is ever added so it’s not evolution, it’s just, well, lizards!

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• Life: Designed by God to Adapt
• Natural Selection Is Not Evolution!

I once saw a study that claimed humans were driving lizard evolution in Brazil. You see, the construction of a new dam formed islands, isolating a population of lizards from the mainland. Within just fifteen years, these lizards had bigger heads and mouths to eat the larger insects on the islands.

But is this evolution? Well, the lizards remained lizards, and none of them gained any new genetic information. All that happened was the lizards adapted to their environment, using the genetic information they already had. This isn’t evolution in action! It’s just adaptation and natural selection.

Yes, it’s lizards producing lizards.

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• Are Humans Driving Rapid Lizard Evolution?
• Variety Within Created Kinds

Studies show that newborns prefer faces to other shapes and will look for faces after they’re born. Well, a recent study showed that unborn babies have the same affinity for faces. It seems babies have this instinct even before they’re born!

People try to downplay the humanness of the unborn so they can justify killing them by abortion. By studies increasingly show that you have to ignore reality to argue that unborn babies somehow aren’t human persons.

Of course science is just confirming the Bible’s teaching. Life begins at the moment of fertilization. And taking that life, at any stage of development, is murder.

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• Defining Life: Fertilization
• Does the Bible Condone Abortion?

I once saw a study that claimed that evolution selected for “tameness,” which somehow resulted in genetic changes as we “domesticated ourselves.” But this new “study,” which is really just a story, contradicts previous evolutionary stories about survival of the toughest and strongest.

And this doesn’t reflect reality. Throughout history, we see powerful bullies who rose to the top by being evil. Actually, this confirms God’s Word! Humanity isn’t getting better. We started out perfect, but sin destroyed that, and we’ve been tainted ever since. When we look at the world through God’s Word, what we see makes sense.

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• Did Humans Domesticate Ourselves?
• Is the Creation Good?

There’s this idea out there that Christians have a blind faith that discourages questions. But that’s not true! We should be encouraging people to ask their questions because there are answers, because God’s Word is true!

But what if someone asks you a question and you don’t know the answer? That’s okay! You can’t know everything. If you don’t know the answer, tell them that and promise to find an answer for them—and then do! You’ll both learn something.

Christianity isn’t a blind-faith religion. There are solid answers to the questions people have; you just might have to do a little digging.

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• How to Combat Biblical Illiteracy in the Church
• Is Biblical Creation a Blind-Faith Belief?

This week we’ve been looking at combatting biblical illiteracy in the church. Well, today I want to encourage you to read and teach all of God’s Word. You see, on this side of the cross, the New Testament seems easier to understand. The Old Testament seems more foreign with sacrifices and the Levitical law.

But “all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching that we may be complete, equipped for every good work.” The Old Testament is given to us as God’s Word for a reason. It contains the history and foundational concepts we need to understand Christ’s work. So read and teach God’s Word—all of it!

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• How to Combat Biblical Illiteracy in the Church
• The Bible—“It’s Not Historical”

Research shows that many Christians hold to unbiblical beliefs about the basics of Christianity. So, what can we do in our homes and churches?

Well, don’t just teach Bible “stories.” Teaching God’s Word as a collection of “stories” implies it’s just a bunch of fairy tales. But God’s Word is true and authoritative. We need to teach the accounts in Scripture as true history, like the Bible does. Help people understand that these accounts are included to teach us about God and his plan throughout history. Instead of just encouraging people to be “brave like David,” teach them doctrine and theology using these biblical accounts.

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• How to Combat Biblical Illiteracy in the Church
• More than Just Bible Stories

Many Christians can’t properly explain the gospel to others and even believe other religions can lead to salvation. This sad state of the church is why we need to teach the gospel—the whole gospel.

We tend to focus on Jesus’ death or his Resurrection, but we need to teach the gospel beginning in Genesis. Explain that God created a perfect world, but we rebelled against him and the just penalty for that sin is death. But Jesus came and died, taking that penalty upon himself. Now God can freely justify us who believe because of what Christ did. Jesus then rose from grave and offers eternal life to all who believe in him.

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• How to Combat Biblical Illiteracy in the Church
• Gospel

Did you know 70% of Americans claim to be Christians, but only 10% have a biblical worldview? And the questions used in that particular study to determine a biblical worldview were basic Christian beliefs such as the deity of the Holy Spirit and the existence of Satan! Christians simply don’t know what the Bible teaches. What can we do?

Well, don’t assume people understand the gospel and other fundamentals of the faith. We often think people who’ve grown up in church know these things, but many don’t! We need to get back to the basics in our homes and churches and build a biblical worldview from the bottom up.

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• How to Combat Biblical Illiteracy in the Church
• The Rise and Fall of Inerrancy in the American Fundamentalist Movement

For two weeks, we’ve seen the Bible makes it clear that Jesus is and was God. He’s the second member of the Trinity, God the Son, and he’s existed from eternity past. But why does it matter who we think Jesus is?

It matters because a false Jesus won’t save you. Jesus said unless you believe that “I am he” you will “die in your sins.” And, to be saved, we must confess Jesus as Lord. There’s no question more important than the one Jesus asked his disciples: “Who do you say I am?”

Starting with the Bible, Jesus was and is God, our perfect Savior, who died in our place that we might have forgiveness and eternal life.

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• Is Jesus God?
• Confessions of a Former Atheist

As believers, we’re sons of God. But Jesus is the Son of God. We’re adopted sons, meaning every Christian man or woman has the rights of a son by adoption. But Jesus is a relational Son; he’s deity by nature. Jesus is the Son of God because he reveals God to us. In using this term, Jesus is declaring he has the rights and authority of God himself.

During his trial, the Jewish leaders said Jesus deserved death for the blasphemy of calling himself the Son of God.

But Jesus is the only man who ever walked this earth who can say he is the Son of God because he is God. And, as God, he deserves to be worshipped and obeyed.

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• Is Jesus God?
• Christ's Obedience to the Authority of God

Scripture is very clear that worship belongs to God alone. But the early church worshipped Jesus, and Jesus accepted this worship.

Thomas, one of Jesus’ disciples, exclaimed, “My Lord and my God.” He was worshipping Jesus, and Jesus made no attempt to direct his worship to God the Father. Yet Peter, Paul, and an angel all corrected others who tried to worship them, saying that worship belongs to God alone.

Thomas wasn’t wrong to worship Jesus because Jesus is God. That’s the testimony of Scripture from beginning to end. And someday those who trust Jesus for salvation will worship Jesus before the throne forever.

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• Is Jesus God?
• Refuting Unitarian Errors Regarding the Deity of Jesus

Who was Jesus? Was he just a man or merely a good teacher? No, the Bible teaches he is fully God. The early church of the New Testament knew this, and that’s why they prayed to Jesus.

In the Old Testament, people “called on” God. In the New Testament, Stephen called out to Jesus as he was being stoned, Paul says Christians are those who “call on the name of our Lord Jesus,” and Peter tells people to “call on” Jesus to be saved. Jesus even tells his disciples to pray to him.

Prayer is to be addressed to God and God alone. By praying to Jesus, the early church showed they believed he was and is the eternal God.

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• Is Jesus God?
• Can We Pray to Jesus?

To claim to be God—when you’re not—is blasphemy. And it was punishable by death in ancient Israel.

Several times Jesus claimed to be God by forgiving sins, saying he was “I AM,” and calling God his Father. During his trial, Jesus said he was the Messiah and he would be sitting at God’s right hand. The high priest recognized this as a claim of divinity, tore his clothes, and ordered Jesus be put to death.

Many people will say Jesus never claimed to be God, but his fiercest opponents were furious because he did just that! But Jesus wasn’t guilt of blasphemy because what he said was true—he really was and is God.

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• Is Jesus God?
• Where Did Jesus Say, “I Am God; Worship Me”?

Yesterday we learned that Jesus said he was God and the Jewish leaders tried to stone him for it. So, what did Jesus’ closest friends and followers say about him?

Peter wrote that he was “our God and Savior.” John said he was the “Alpha and Omega” and “the first and the last,” titles that apply only to God. Jesus’ half-brother James, who was an unbeliever at first, described Jesus as “the Lord of glory.” And the Apostle Thomas called Jesus “my Lord and my God.”

These men were willing to suffer and die for proclaiming Jesus as Lord. They believed he was and is God. Why? Because he proved he was by rising from the dead.

Dig Deeper

• Is Jesus God?
• Christ’s Resurrection—Four Accounts, One Reality

Who did Jesus say he was? During one of his encounters with the Pharisees, Jesus told them they would die in their sins unless they believed that “I am he.” So, they asked him, “Who are you?” Jesus responded, “truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

When Jesus said “I am,” he was saying, “I am Yahweh, I am the God of history, the God revealed to Abraham and Moses, the God of the Old Testament, the one true God.” This was such a bold declaration of divinity that the Jewish leaders grabbed stones to kill him for blasphemy.

Jesus said he was God because he was and is God. Do you believe he is “I am”?

Dig Deeper

• Is Jesus God?
• If Jesus Is God, Why Was It a Secret?

Yesterday we learned that Jesus has always existed. But some people will argue that Jesus is a created being since Colossians says Jesus is the “firstborn of all creation.” But the Greek word for “firstborn” doesn’t refer to “first created.” There’s a perfectly good word for “first created,” but that’s not the word used in that passage.

Instead, the word designates authority. So, by saying Jesus is the “firstborn of all creation,” the Bible is saying Jesus is the “absolute ruler over all creation.”

And, in the next verse, we read “all things were made through Jesus.” Jesus isn’t a created being. He’s the Creator!

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• Is Jesus God?
• The Divinity of Jesus Revealed in the New Testament

When did Jesus come into existence? Was it when he was born or was it “at the beginning of creation”? Well, what does the Bible say?

Scripture teaches Jesus has no beginning or end. He’s “pre-existent.” In the gospel of John, we read that Jesus existed “before the world began” and that “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Paul writes that Jesus is our Creator and sustainer.

Jesus isn’t a created being, like you and me. He’s the eternal God who’s always been and always will be. But—praise the Lord—the eternal God stepped into history and saved us by his death and resurrection.

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• Is Jesus God?
• “Jesus Did Not Exist”

Who is Jesus? This is the most important question you’ll ever answer. And we’ll explore how the Bible answers it over the next two weeks.

The Bible teaches that there’s one true God and that he is triune. This means God exists eternally as three equal persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All three persons of the Trinity are equally and fully God.

This teaching is seen in both the Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament, the Spirit is poured out, and Jesus appears to several people. The New Testament specifically reveals Jesus as divine and calls the Father, Son, and Spirit “God.” Our God is three-in-one.

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• Is Jesus God?
• Is Jesus the Creator?

Yesterday we learned that many evolutionists accuse creationists of denying everything we know about science. Of course, this isn’t true. We deny the evolutionary interpretations imposed on the evidence.

You see, we have a different framework through which we interpret the evidence. Evolutionists start with the framework of millions of years and evolution, but creationists start with God’s Word.

The history contained in the Bible gives us a framework for properly interpreting the world around us. So, it’s not a battle of science versus religion. It’s a battle between two different starting points: man’s word or God’s Word.

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• War of the Worldviews
• Not Ashamed of a Biblical Starting Point

Evolutionists often accuse creationists of ignoring science. One evolutionist even called it ironic that we use the latest technology at our two attractions while denying the science behind it.

But creationists don’t ignore science. We can work side by side with evolutionists to develop new technologies or medical innovations. But where we differ is with historical science.

You see, this kind of science deals with the past and isn’t directly testable or observable. What you believe about the past determines how you interpret the evidence. It’s not science, it’s the evolutionary interpretation imposed on the evidence that we deny.

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• The Real Reason 99% of PhDs Reject Creation
• Does the Creation Model Make Predictions? Absolutely!

When people think of our ministry, Answers in Genesis, they probably think of creation versus evolution, the age of the earth, or maybe Noah’s Ark or dinosaurs. But these issues aren’t our primary focus. What we’re on about is biblical authority.

The real battle is between man’s word and God’s Word. The secular worldview, including evolution and millions of years, comes from the mind of man. It ignores God’s Word and relies on human reasoning instead.

But a biblical worldview, including a young earth, comes from God’s Word, starting with it as the authority. So, our challenge to you is: who will you trust?

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• A Biblical Authority Ministry!
• What Is Epistemology, and How Does It Point to God?

Last year, President Trump said that America needs God to be a moral nation. Well, a few years ago, a European study wanted to test this idea, and they determined “no, morality doesn’t decline alongside religion.”

But how did they define morality? Well, abortion and homosexuality were just listed as traditionally offensive while lying and stealing were labeled as “immoral.”

They found most Europeans accept abortion and homosexuality but still think lying and stealing are wrong. So, yes, morality has declined as more people have rejected God’s Word as the basis for right and wrong. It just depends on who defines morality!

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• Study Asks, “Does Morality Decline Without Religion?”
• Which Came First: Knowledge of God or Morality? (Or Both?)

A decade ago, the media announced that proof of the big bang had been found. Many Christians were troubled since the big bang contradicts God’s Word. But it turned out the find wasn’t proof of the big bang, only confirmation of cosmic inflation, a rescuing device for the big bang. And then it turned out it wasn’t cosmic inflation at all, but probably just the result of dust! And now, a decade later, headlines are claiming the big bang is in big trouble! A lot changed in just ten years.

This reminds us that headlines shouldn’t shake our faith in God’s Word. Because God’s Word is true, science will always confirm Scripture.

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• Cosmic Inflation Again
• Has Cosmic Inflation Been Proved?