Are The First 11 Chapters of Genesis Just Myth?

We’re discussing various aspects of the gospel of salvation, and we’re going through the first chapters in Genesis.  Dave, some of our listeners may not be familiar with the Book of Genesis other than knowing that it’s the first book of the Bible, and it says some things about creation.  But nevertheless they are of the opinion that it’s not particularly relevant to the gospel.  Some theologians have even gone so far as to dismiss the first 11 chapters of Genesis as something the Bible would be better off without.  But Genesis was vital enough for Jesus to quote from, wasn’t it?

Dave:

Genesis is the way the Bible begins, and as we’ve said on this program and on other programs if the Bible isn’t all true, then who says that any of it is true, or which part of it is true?  And the Bible in fact is, we have been seeing in our study of Genesis, in the book of Genesis it lays out the foundation for everything else.  If I can’t believe what the Bible says about the fall of man, why should I believe what it says about his redemption?  And in fact we do have it laid out here beautifully and powerfully.

Tom:

Dave, I’ve heard people say, you talk to them about the Bible, you try to bring it up, that’s what this program is about, but they say, oh no, I’m not interested.  I say, why is that?  They say, well, you know the Bible is wrong right from the beginning.  And I say well, how do you figure? And I said “in the beginning God created.”  Oh no, no, no, God didn’t create anything.  So they take an evolutionary view.  But that’s to throw it out, but I’m more concerned about Christians who undermine it because, as you said, it really is the foundation.  You know, one thing that we’ve been talking about here, and we’ve been trying to understand better is the gospel has to do with Christ dying for our sins.

Dave:

Tom, can I just interject here for a moment.  This unrehearsed program is obviously unrehearsed.  Let’s go back to what you just quoted, “in the beginning God.”  It’s rather simple, we know that the universe—this is the conclusion that scientists have only come to very recently, that there was a beginning to the universe.  It’s obvious if the sun had been here forever, you know we have talked about this; it would have burned up by now.  We know that any things made of energy, energy’s 2nd Law of Thermodynamics; it runs down like a clock.  So oh, there was a big bang that began it all.  Yeah, but where did the energy for the big bang come from? If there had been some energy hanging around it would have worn out before the big bang, you understand?  So you are driven to the conclusion that there must have been a time when nothing was here, the universe wasn’t here, it had a beginning, okay, that’s the way the Bible starts, beginning.  Well now what was here in the beginning?  Nothing?  You couldn’t have had some piece of matter hanging around it would have worn out, okay?  So there must have been a time when the energy that the universe is comprised of, the matter that is in the universe did not exist!  There was nothing, you don’t get something out of nothing.  Not some thing couldn’t have been here—some One must have been here.Some One who had the capability of creating everything out of nothing.

Tom:

Right, but not of himself.

Dave:

No, and not of things, things couldn’t have been here long enough.  We talked a little bit about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.  Joseph Smith said that matter and intelligence are eternal, they existed forever.  No, 2^ndLaw of Thermodynamics, matter couldn’t have been around.  Okay, so how does the Bible begin?  In the beginning, the beginning of the universe, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  You are driven to that conclusion by science; you are driven to that conclusion by logic.  And this is the way the Bible begins, and then it moves from there and it tells us what God created and the place of man in this creation, man’s relationship to God that God desired to have, man’s rebellion, and the solution that God has for them.

Tom:

Right.  We’ve been talking about the problem, the problem found in Genesis is that, as you said, man rebelled and the penalty is in Genesis:2:16And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
See All... and 17:  “In the day that thou eateth thereof thou shalt surely die.”  Adam and Eve sinned; God imposed the penalty, separation from him forever.

Dave:

And it wasn’t that there was something about that tree or about that fruit, it was in the eating thereof they had disobeyed God.  This was a test to see if they would obey God, and God has to be God.  We don’t want God to be God, the God that most people want I kind of a cosmic bellhop, He does our bidding, He answers our prayers, He gives us what we want.  But somehow, it’s unreasonable for God to expect us to go along with His plans, we want to make our own and then we want God to bless them.  So, this is all laid out in the book of Genesis.

Tom:

Right.  We’re going to pick up with Genesis:3:7And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
See All....  Right after Adam and Eve sinned we’re going to discuss the consequences.  Verse 7:  “And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.  This is their first response to sin.  Before they had no knowledge of evil, but now they recognized things from a mind that was now sinful.

Dave:

Interesting that apron, and I don’t want to get off the track here, Tom, but the Masonic apron the masons want to be buried in.  In the temple ceremony, in the MormonTemple it’s Satan who comes and gives them the apron.

Tom:

But it’s a good thing as far as they are concerned.

Dave:

That’s right.

Tom:

Why is it a good thing?

Dave:

Well, supposedly this is Satan’s solution.

Tom:

Well, they wouldn’t say Satan, they would say Lucifer.

Dave:

Well yeah, Lucifer.  Brigham Young says it like this: “The devil told the truth.  I do not blame Adam and Eve for eating the forbidden fruit, that’s how we become gods.”  So Mormonism is literally based upon the belief that the lie the serpent told that destroyed the human race, according to the Bible, is the truth, and this is starting us out to become gods.  Like Lucifer said:  “I will be like the most high.”

Tom:

So that’s Joseph Smith’s solution, or so he was told from Moroni, that’s his solution to the problem, that’s not God’s solution.

Dave:

Actually you don’t find that in the Book of Mormon, this is something that he came up with.  An inspiration that he got—he burst upon the Mormons in the King Follett Discourse, first of all.But anyway, it’s the old lie, and as you know Tom and I’m sure our listeners would be familiar with; I can’t remember whether we discussed it before but I’m sure we have.  And this is the common lie that is everywhere; it’s the goal of all yoga, self-realization, to realize that I am God.  This is the message that you get when you are in contact with spirit beings, whether it’s channeling or in a séance, and so forth.  It comes through everywhere; you reach cosmic consciousness under drugs, LSD and so forth.  So, this is the universal lie, and the Bible lays it out very clearly for us.

Tom:

Dave, back to verse 7, I want to really talk about the reaction of Adam and Eve to their sin.  First of all they see that they are naked. Before,—they didn’t have any problem with it.  Secondly, this sewing the fig leaves together, that wasn’t just an act of modesty, I think they were trying to hide from God.  They were trying to—

Dave:

Well, they did hide behind a tree.  Someone has put it very well, an old preacher of previous century said that every sinner is like Adam and Eve hiding behind a tree.  But what we have to do is find out what is that tree and chop it down and expose them to God.  And that’s what the Word of God does really in our hearts.

Tom:

Verse 8:  “And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.”  They didn’t have to do that before, sin has taken its affect in terms of their relationship, now it’s different.

Dave:

There is definitely a separation between God and man, and there is a solution that is needed and man cannot effect it, it has to come from God’s side, no doubt about it.  It’s interesting, Tom, “Ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil.”  This was the promise of the serpent, and they became like the gods.  What were the gods?  Well, the head of them was Lucifer, he rebelled.  So now Adam and Eve, you could become rebels too, and you can pretend that you’re little gods or you can aspire to your own godhood, to make your way to plan your own life.

Tom:

And self exultation—that’s what caused Lucifer himself to fall, and then Adam and Eve.  

Dave:

This is where the self that Christ said must be denied, this is where it had its awful birth.  And remember, Satan didn’t tempt Eve with immorality, with drunkenness or anything else; he tempted her with a good self image to become like God with high ambitions, but on her own in rebellion against God.  And that’s the problem of the human race and in each of our hearts.

Tom:

And it leads to the destruction which we can—the evidence is all around us.  This is not what God intended but this is what sin has—

Dave:

But praise God, He has a solution in Jesus Christ who died for our sins, paid a penalty so that we could be forgiven.