A few years ago, a group of professing Christians were raising money to pay for transgender surgeries as a way to make amends for hurt the church had supposedly caused transgender people. The campaign told people to “put your tithe money where your beliefs are.”

This group is ignoring truth. You see, God’s Word tells us he created male and female. God is our Creator, and he has defined us as male or female. Some people who struggle with this issue look to surgery for freedom and peace. But that won’t fix their biggest problem—everyone is a sinner separated from God. It’s the gospel that fixes that!

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• Christian Group to Pay for Transgender Surgeries
• Transgender Identity—Wishing Away God’s Design

I once heard of a church that said they wouldn’t perform any more weddings until their denomination allowed them to marry same-sex couples. The pastor claimed the church had chosen “to stand not for issues, but for people.”

But what they’ve really chosen is to stand against the Word of God. They’re placing themselves in direction opposition to God and his Word by condoning and celebrating sinful behavior.

Advocating for sin and trying to help people live a life of sin isn’t standing for people—it’s really standing against them. Sin always leads to brokenness and pain. But repentance and the gospel lead to freedom and life.

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• Church Halts All Weddings Until Same-Sex Couples Can Marry
• Should I Attend My Friend’s Gay Wedding?

Some Christians claim Jesus never directly addressed gay “marriage” so he must be fine with it. But Jesus did address this issue!

Jesus said, “haven’t you read that God created them male and female” and that a man and his wife “become one flesh?” Jesus quoted from Genesis to answer a question about marriage. He’s reaffirming God’s design for marriage to be between one man and one woman for life.

And remember, all of Scripture is the Word of Christ, so we look to all of God’s Word to see what Jesus says, not just the gospels. And throughout Scripture he clearly defines marriage as one man for one woman.

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• Same-Sex “Wedding” Invite: What Should I Do?
• Discovering the Beauty of Womanhood

Marriage has been redefined around the world, particularly in the West. But marriage isn’t ours to define. You see, marriage isn’t ultimately a government, social, or cultural institution. It’s God’s institution!

Genesis records the origin of marriage. God created male and female and brought them together to become one flesh. This first marriage establishes God’s design for marriage.

Because God is our Creator, only he has authority to define marriage: and he says it’s between one man and one woman—that’s the only true marriage. We shouldn’t just follow our culture’s thinking. We need to start with God and his Word.

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• Marriage Redefined
• What’s Behind Today’s Attacks on Marriage?

Some Christians argue that what we believe about Genesis is just a side issue. It doesn’t really matter if we take Genesis as history or not. But did you know all our major Christian doctrines are grounded in Genesis?

Why do we sin? Why did Jesus have to die? Why do we need a new heavens and earth? Why is marriage for a man and a woman? These questions, and others, are only fully answered by starting in the history in Genesis.

What we believe about Genesis is really important! We need to take God’s Word as it was written and that means taking Genesis as history. Only then can we build a true biblical worldview.

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• Why Genesis Still Matters
• How Should We Interpret the Bible, Part 2: Is Genesis 1–11 Historical Narrative?

In the book of Judges, we read about a time when “everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” That’s America today! You see, in the past, America was a Christianized nation. People more or less started their thinking with a Christian worldview. We don’t have that shared foundation anymore.

We now live in a time where we think we set the rules. And, of course, if sinful, fallible human beings are the standard for morality, then sin is going to be normalized. As the prophet Isaiah put it, people will call bitter sweet and sweet bitter.

We can’t look to our culture for our morality. We need to go to God’s perfect unchanging Word.

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• Is Morality Determined by Its Popularity?
• “What Is Essential for a Truly Biblical Worldview?”

A German study found that being in a group can influence normally honest people to behave dishonestly. They found this was especially true if money was at stake. In the study, there was a financial gain if people gave dishonest answers, and they found the participants worked together to justify lying. If everyone was doing it, being dishonest seemed more acceptable.

But our morality shouldn’t be based on what everybody else is doing! Morality comes from God’s Word. You see, God is our Creator so only he has the authority to set the rules. Instead of looking to everyone else, we need to go to God’s Word for our morality.

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• Is Morality Determined by Its Popularity?
• Origins, Ethics, & Tetherball

One study found that people’s views on being selfish change depending on how common the behavior is. They found that if everyone is being selfish, people didn’t view it as negatively as if only a few people were doing it. The researchers argue that this shows how social norms change over time. But should our views about morality be determined by the majority?

No! Popularity doesn’t determine morality! If we determine right and wrong then it’s merely based in our own opinion. And if my opinion differs from your opinion, whose opinion’s right?

We need to look to the firm foundation of God’s unchanging Word for our morality.

Dig Deeper

• Is Morality Determined by Its Popularity?
• Which Came First: Knowledge of God or Morality? (Or Both?)

Over half of Americans believe euthanasia should be an option for the terminally ill. Canada legalized it a decade ago, and over one hundred thousand people have ended their own lives.

What does God’s Word say about this practice?

Well, euthanasia is really an attempt to “be as gods,” just like what Adam and Eve wanted. But we’re not God and we have no “right” to try and be gods.

The Bible makes it clear that taking an innocent life is murder. Euthanasia under the guise of compassion—it’s really murder.

Life is precious and a gift from God. Decisions of life and death belong to our all-knowing God—not humans.

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• Life—a Gift from God
• Living Wills—On the Edge of Euthanasia?

Work is a good thing even though we work in a sin-cursed and broken world. This should remind us of the future rest coming to those who trust in Christ. A day is coming when there will be no longer a curse. Our service to the Lord will be joyful, just as it was for Adam and Eve before sin.

You see, Jesus came to earth to do his work, and he accomplished it. That’s why he cried “it is finished” on the cross. While on earth, he experienced all the trials of living in this cursed world but joyfully served his Father, even unto death. We follow his example as we look forward to our future rest, available through in Christ.

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• How Can We Have Rest?
• Is Jesus Coming Soon?

All week we’ve been looking at work. We’ve learned it’s a good thing but it’s hard because of sin. But we can use work to help fight the effects of the curse.

By using our God-given intellect and creativity, we can develop ways to make it easier to accomplish our job of stewarding creation in a broken world. Think of all the inventions that make our lives easier and help us fight the curse—these are good things. They help us work to serve our neighbors and serve the Lord.

You see, we shouldn’t be working for ourselves. A biblical perspective of work is that we serve the Lord and serve others, all for the glory of God.

Dig Deeper

• Remembering a Remarkable Lifesaver
• Homo Erectus Had Skillfully Designed Tools

This week we’ve learned that work is a good thing, designed by God from the beginning for us to do. But we also saw that because of sin work is hard. But, even in a cursed and groaning world, our work can bring glory to God.

When we use the physical abilities, talents, and the intellect God has given us, we bring glory to him. In our work, we’re copying our Creator who made and sustains the universe. When we work with the attitude that we’re serving the Lord no matter what we do, we bring glory to him.

Even though work is hard, we can find joy in our jobs as we seek to glorify our Creator by doing our jobs well.

Dig Deeper

• Work—A Gift or a Curse?
• Why We Work

Yesterday, we learned that work is a good thing. We were created to work. But we know from experience that work is often very hard—it often doesn’t feel like a good thing. Why is this?

Well, Genesis tells us that the ground was cursed because of Adam’s sin. Thorns and thistles now made his job of caring for creation more difficult. We’ve been fighting these “thorns and thistles” ever since. Romans tells us all of creation groans from the fall. Work is hard because of sin and the curse!

But that doesn’t mean work is all bad. It still carries a remnant of its original “very good” design. We’ll learn more about that tomorrow.

Dig Deeper

• Labor: A Blessing and a Curse
• Labor Day: Why Do We Celebrate Work?

Work is hard, tiring, and often it’s anything but enjoyable. But did you know we were created by God for work? In Genesis we read that God created Adam and Eve in his image and gave them dominion over the earth. This implies they were to take care of the creation entrusted to them. And God specifically tasked Adam with the job of tending and keeping the garden of Eden. Work isn’t a bad thing!

When we work, create, and design things, we’re copying our Creator who made the universe and sustains it. So, while work may not always feel good, we were designed for it! But why is it so hard? That’s tomorrow.

Dig Deeper

• Labor: A Blessing and a Curse
• Caring About Creation for the Right Reasons

Many cultures have legends of beasts we call dragons. The Australian aborigines have legends of a lake monster that sounds surprisingly like a plesiosaur. The Babylonians carved creatures that look like reptiles on four legs. Herodotus, an ancient Greek writer, described flying serpents he saw in Egypt that had bat-like wings.

What are these people describing? Well, they sound an awful lot like dinosaurs, marine reptiles, and pterosaurs! This makes sense in a biblical worldview. All these creatures were created during creation week, along with man. Man lived with dinosaurs, and dragon legends could be the memories of this time.

Dig Deeper

• Dragons: Fact or Fable?
• What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs?

According to evolutionary ideas, dinosaurs went extinct around 65 million years ago. But we find evidence that dinosaurs lived much more recently than that!

Over twenty years ago, scientists discovered soft tissue in a dinosaur bone—red blood cells, collagen fibers, and blood vessels in a supposedly 65-million-year-old T. rex femur. We know soft tissue chemically breaks down—it can’t last millions of years!

This discovery doesn’t fit with the evolutionary story. But it does fit with the biblical account of history. Dinosaurs were buried during Noah’s flood just four thousand, three hundred years ago.

Dig Deeper

• Solid Answers on Soft Tissue
• Soft Tissue in Fossils

Did you know many secular scientists believe life’s raw ingredients arrived here on meteorites? One study suggested if these space rocks landed in ponds, the water might have dried up, allowing the building blocks of RNA to get together and form chains, and somehow from this life emerged.

But even if somehow you can get RNA to form, you don’t have life! Life requires information, and a random collection of molecular strings isn’t information. There has to be a language system—a code—to give the sequence meaning.

Life didn’t evolve in a pond. It was created by God from the very beginning.

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• Did Meteorites and Warm Ponds Make Life?
• Life Requires a Source of Information

The supposed age of the earth—four-and-a-half billion years ago—isn’t based on dating the earth. It’s based on dates from meteorites! Because of their evolutionary assumptions, evolutionists believe these meteorites are the same age as the earth, so if you date one, you have the age of the other.

But there’s a host of unprovable assumptions behind radiometric dating. And it’s been shown to give incorrect dates for rocks of known age. So why should we trust this method to give us accurate ages for other rocks?

We know the age of the earth because we have the perfect Word of God. The earth is just a few thousand years old.

Dig Deeper

• How Old Is the Earth?
• Radiometric Dating: Problems with the Assumptions

All around the earth, we find scars from meteorite impacts. Some of these are relatively small; others are huge and would’ve been catastrophic. This evidence makes people wonder—is another impact coming?

These so-called messengers from space should remind us that life is fragile. But a meteorite won’t wipe out life. This world will end when Jesus returns in judgment—and nothing we can do will stop that! So, what’s the message? Repent!

We don’t know when our lives might end, but the correct response isn’t fear. It’s placing our faith and trust in Christ. It’s in him that we find salvation.

Dig Deeper

• Misunderstood Messengers from Space
• Natural Disasters—God Getting His Revenge?

I remember a few years go headlines proclaiming, “proof of the big bang discovered!” I heard from concerned Christians, wondering how something that contradicts God’s Word could be proven. I told them just to wait, and sure enough, the “proof” wasn’t proof after all. It ended up just being space dust messing with results!

News reports shouldn’t shake our faith in God’s Word. Because the Bible is true, scientists’ findings will eventually confirm it, when more research is done. We can have faith that God’s Word is true from the very beginning.

If we don’t have the answers yet, just wait, we will because God’s Word is true.

Dig Deeper

• Does the Big Bang Fit with the Bible?
• Big Bang—The Evolution of a Theory

The story of evolution usually goes like this: those who are the fittest, the toughest, or the strongest survive and reproduce—the others die out.

But according to other studies, “tameness” was supposedly selected for in human evolution, somehow resulting in genetic changes as we “domesticated” ourselves, ganging up against bullies to get ahead. In other words, the nice guy wins.

But this goes against the evolutionary story of survival of the fittest. This story is always changing because it’s just that—a story invented by humans about the past.

We need to start with God’s unchanging Word, not man’s word.

Dig Deeper

• Did Humans Domesticate Ourselves?
• The History of Domestication—Taming the Tale

We all have experience with sickness, whether with a cold or flu or something serious like cancer or heart disease. Why is our world full of disease?

Well, Genesis tells us that God’s original creation was “very good.” But when sin came into the world so did death and suffering and now creation groans.

The bacteria and viruses that now make us sick were originally created very good. Most bacteria and even viruses still perform their original, “very good” functions. But some have “gone rogue” and instead cause sickness and disease.

Praise God, he promises to someday create a new heaven and a new earth free from the curse.

Dig Deeper

• Bacteria’s Unique Design—Pooling Resources
• Why Did God Make Viruses?

Bird feeding is so popular across the UK that some scientists say it’s “driving rapid evolution.”

You see, scientists observed that birds in the UK have different shaped beaks from birds of the same species in the Netherlands, where bird feeding is much less popular. This beak shape seems to help these UK birds get seeds out of feeders more effectively. So birds that already had this variation were selected for in this bird feeder-heavy environment.

But this isn’t evolution! Birds remain birds! The information for this beak shape was already there; nothing new was created. This is rapid adaptation—not evolution!

Dig Deeper

• Don’t Feed the Birds or They’ll Evolve
• Life: Designed by God to Adapt

Our tongues can sense five basic tastes: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and savory. Well, one study suggests we can sense a sixth “taste”: tasteless water!

The study on mice found that sour taste receptors can also “taste” water and help mice figure out what’s water and what isn’t. These receptors also help tell the brain when the mouse’s thirst is quenched. This study hasn’t been replicated in humans yet, but it seems likely that it could be.

The more we learn about God’s creation the more amazing we realize it is! Next time you grab a glass of water, thank our Creator.

Dig Deeper

• Study: Tongues Can “Taste” Tasteless Water
• The Tongue: A Gift for Taste & Enjoyment