G.A.P. - Guided Application Project © 1995 Sid Galloway To bridge the GAP between knowledge and action, soli deo gloria. (for use in Family Discipleship)

God's Outline of Creation Gen 1:1-31

     * These GAP studies are designed to serve the head of household in the vital process of family discipleship. Family discipleship is not an option, but a command from our Father (Deut 18:19; Psa 78; 127; Mal 2-4; Eph 6:4, etc....). Be creative and make these discipleship times full of joy, not fear. Yet maintain a balanced measure of respect for God and His Word. For older children, you can add more memory verses, questions, and applications.

Questions:
1. Why is the first verse of the Bible so important?
2. Can you quote the first verse of the Bible?
3. What did God do on each of the six days of creation?
4. What did God do on the seventh day of creation?
5. What does the Hebrew word "bara" mean?
6. Where are the three times "bara" is used in Gen 1:1-31, and why?
7. Name five facts in Genesis chapter one that contradict the theory of evolution.
    (be sure to mention why each day, yom, must be a 24 hour day)
8. Did God create a world full of violent competition, pain, fear, and death?
9. Why are evolutionary ideas like selfish competition, pain, and death before sin so blasphemous?
10. Are you an animal or a special creature created in the image of God?

Answers:
1. The first verse of Genesis is the cornerstone of all the Bible and every doctrinal truth.
2. The first verse is: "In the beginning, God created (bara) the heavens and the earth".
3. This is what God did on each of the six days of His creation

One - space, time, matter, and energy (First Law of Thermodynamics).
Two - Firmament between the waters.
Three - DNA (Designed Not Accidental), Plants (Organic machines without nephesh soul).
Four - Light givers (Sun, Moon, Stars).
Five - Swimmers (hydrosphere) and Flyers (Atmosphere)
Six - Land animals and Man (in His image)

4. God rested on the seventh day of creation. He stopped creating. Also, "rested" refers to the fact that there was no conflict, no violence.
5. The Hebrew word "bara" is only used for God and means to create out of nothing (ex nihilo) something brand new and unique. It also explains the origin of the First Law of Thermodynamics (conservation of matter and energy). This scientific principle says that matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed, but merely exchanged. The Bible shows that only God can create or annihilate matter and energy.  The rebellion of Adam (Gen 3) and the subsequent escalation of "entropy" (disorder, death, & decay - dysfunctional 2nd law of thermodynamics) is the reason for imperfections as well as the selfish competition, violence, pain, suffering, fear, and death we see in the "wild kingdom" now.  *  The second law of thermodynamics was functional before Adam sinned, such as in the process of digestion, chemical processes, etc., but death and disease were not.
6. Bara is used in 1:1 (matter/energy/time); 1:21 (soul life - nephesh); and 1:27 (man in God's image).
7. Five facts stated in Genesis chapter one that contradict the theory of evolution are:

a. God created by His Word, not a big explosion.
b. God created light before the sun.
c. God created plants before the sun, and whales (mammals) before land animals.
d. God created the gene pools of DNA for plants and animals as fixed ("according to their kind"), yet with awesome potential for variation.
e. God created man personally, apart from all of the other creatures.
* Bonus: God created all of creation in six literal, 24 hour days, not billions of years.
(Whenever "yom" is used with a numerical qualifier in Scripture, it always means a 24 hour day.
Also the fourth commandment to keep the sabbath 24 hour "day" is based on the seventh day of the creation week.)

8. God's original creation was full of His nature and character, which is peaceful cooperation, and agape love, not selfish competition, violence, pain, fear, and death.
9. It is blasphemous for "theistic evolutionists" to claim that God designed the process of "survival of the fittest", because that would mean that God thinks such a system is "very good" (1:31).
10. I am not an animal, but a very special creature created personally by God in His image and likeness.

Applications:
1. When you are tempted to selfishly compete with others to get what you want, what does the truth of God's creation tell you to do instead?
2. Write out a plan for how you help your family and friends learn more of the truth about creation and evolution.

Dr. A.E. Wilder-Smith (Three earned doctorates in physical sciences
  from Oxford, then Geneva, and finally Zurich)