Transcription
Let me ask you this question, which is why are you so interested in this biblical story as opposed to any other biblical story?
Well, there that is because first of all, Jesus believed in the flood model, and it's the, it's the basis for the entire authenticity of the Bible. If you can prove that the Genesis story is false, you have destroyed the entire belief system that on which Christianity is based. So that's why we use this model to show people that Noah's Ark was real and that the story is true.
Well, couldn't the story have been symbolic, a metaphor for other kinds of events that took place? How about creation? Couldn't that have been symbolic or or metaphorical in in the language that's there?
Well, it it is possible. But when we look at the uh four postulates of creation and we compare them with the four postulates of evolution, only the postulates of creation have been observed. Evolution is based on four major ideas. None of them have ever been observed. Number one, that life comes from non-life. We have not one single example of life coming from non-life. Number two, that all the life forms that we have today came from single-cell life forms. Many people do not know that while we do have single-cell life forms that we call bacteria, we have no two-celled life forms, we don't have three-celled life forms, we don't have four-celled life forms, we don't even have five-celled life forms. That is, we go from single-cell bacteria to complex life forms. So there's no evidence that all life comes from single-cell life forms. The the the third postulate of evolution is that time and chance drive evolution forward, of course, and time works against evolution. The chance of one simple 100-unit protein coming together by accident is, this is a very big number. Time and chance make evolution absolutely impossible. The fourth postulate that evolution is based on is that um what we see today, minor genetic variation in species is evidence of macroevolution. So because cats are different colors, dogs are different sizes, that means that fish turned into cows. And of course, we know that that's not true because uh Mendel proved that all the genes that exist today, you can shuffle them around, but there are no new genes that were created.
Let's let's think about the four major postulates of creation. Number one, where there's a design, there must be a designer. We see codes in DNA. Codes are evidence of intelligence because you have to translate from one language to another. We have not a single example of that happening by accident. Number two, that the Earth, the solar system, the universe, and the galaxy are young, measured in thousands of years, not millions or billions of years. Many times people ask me, they say, "Well, Major, you believe in a young Earth, a 6,000-year Earth. Can you show me that that's true without using the Bible?" And I say, "Absolutely. What's the oldest living thing on the planet? The oldest living thing on the planet, trees. How old are the oldest trees? 4,500 years. That takes us back almost exactly to the year of the flood. Okay, in 2500 BC. Remarkable. Number two, I'm saying look at the sky. Uh uh we call solar nebulae. A solar nebula is uh what we see from a supernova. When a star explodes, it leaves a gas cloud. Because of our radio telescopes that we have now today, we can look deep into space and we can actually count the number of solar nebulae that are there. And how many are there? A supernova uh takes place about once every 26 years. How many solar nebulae do we have? 6,000 years' worth. That's impossible in a universe that is billions and billions of years old. And we have other evidences such as alpha decay that we do in our program that most people don't understand that also shows that the Earth is 6,000 years old. So that's the second postulate that proves that the biblical story of creation is true. Life that we see today are the basic kinds of animals and plant life that were originally created. So we can test that. You can breed dogs, you can breed cats, but you can't breed cats with dogs. So there are limits to how far we can go. And lastly, that is Earth experienced a worldwide flood in approximately 2500 BC, 1656 years after the world was created. The world is filled with limestone. Limestone is sedimentary rock. It precipitates out of water. The entire Earth was filled with water. Every mountain chain in the world, including Everest, has sea life on top of that mountain. The mountains rose out of the water. So we know that there was a worldwide flood.
Let me let me pose a question to you and Mark, and please feel free to jump in in this. That is this: Most people who don't believe in God aren't card-carrying members of the atheist club. They haven't studied molecular biology.
Yes.
Why don't they believe in God? What is the struggle there?
Um, Neil, I'm going to tell you that's a very good question. My answer to that is probably because most of them has not actually seen the evidence that supports the Bible. And that is my job to actually show them. You're right. Most people are somewhere drifting somewhere in the middle. This is a war for ideas. And it's my job. It's my job to combat these forces of error, particularly in secular campuses, in in universities, which is where I work and teach, and show that the evidence supports God's word. God is a God of science.
That's fantastic. Mark Lee, would you like to add to that?
I think that even if you're not into all of the science, it's in the media and it's just like little subtle things here and there. It's just like we grow up watching dinosaur cartoons and just watching Disney Channel and it's just like, "Of course the world is billions of years old." And so like when you get introduced to the biblical stories, you're just like, "That's myth. That's just like Zeus and Poseidon," or like, "Okay, maybe there's some reality to it, but that must be metaphor," like you were saying. And why? Because that's just what we grew up on and that's what we were indoctrinated to believe.
Okay, let me pose this question to you guys. Say someone grows up going to a Christian church. Uh, say they have been surrounded by, you know, a church community and uh pastors who preach sermons. Are there wrong ideas of God that exist? Wrong ideas of the Bible that exist?
Well, certainly, certainly, certainly they do exist and they exist in church. Many people don't know that some of the largest religious denominations actually support evolutionary theory. And I'm I'm really sorry to hear that. Um, it is important that people test any church that they go to against the Bible to make sure that it is it is in accordance with the truth of the Bible. Jesus believed in the flood story, and he said that he was coming again, and it would be just as in the days of Noah. So if Jesus believed it, it's very difficult for me to understand how you could call yourself a Christian if you don't understand or accept the story of Noah's flood and the creation story. And of course, it's important to understand the science that goes along with that. We have to do as educators, I'm an educator, I have to do a better job in making sure that people understand and that they know the science that it's not just based on faith. God never asked for blind faith. It's always based on evidence. I really appreciate this discussion. I think what I'm hearing here is that uh with the evidence that you are presenting, you are providing a space for faith. You are giving people a reason to believe, and I think that's fantastic.
Yes, absolutely.
Uh, Major Coleman, you see that camera right there? There are people who are watching right now.
There are people who are struggling with their faith in God. If you were to look at that camera right there and you were to talk to someone who is struggling, who is maybe a skeptic, someone wrestling with doubt, what would you say to them?
I would say, "Hold on. The evidence is there. God is interested in you. He respects who you are. If you read, if you study, if you seek Him with all your heart, you will find Him. He has promised you that. The evidence is there. and I am here to help."
Wonderful. If if someone wants to find out more about what you're presenting, where would they go?
They could go to powersstation.org. That is my website. You can just send me an email, majorpstation.org, and you can find me.
powersstation.org.
That is right. powersstation.org.
That's beautiful. Well, it's time to go to a break, but when we come back, we'll get to hear some questions from our live audience for the guests tonight. So, don't go away.
Welcome back to Hope at Night. We've heard some mind-boggling facts, and I'm sure you've got questions. I'd like to turn to our live in-studio audience and see what questions they have for our guests. So, let's find out. Does anyone here have any questions? Right there.
Thank you.
Hi. I was just wondering, is it possible that any other humans or animals could have survived the flood that basically took over the entire Earth?
The answer to that is absolutely not. I've been asked that question many times before, and usually it comes because people don't understand how powerful Noah's flood was. The explosion of that subterranean chamber ripped around the planet at 12,000 mph. It was faster than the speed of sound. If you saw it, you would hear no sound. The next thing you know, if you saw it, less than a second later, you were dead. That's how fast it was. It was it was moving. It buried everything under 10,000 ft of water. What actually happened was that the continent sank. Okay. If it would destroy a brachiosaurus, all right, the most powerful land animal that ever lived, 52 tons, 110,000 pounds. Believe me, there's no human being that could survive that devastation. Dr. Walter Brown has said the the power of that explosion was a trillion billion atomic bombs. Absolutely not.
Wow. Wow. That's that is intense.
Yes.
Wow. Let's go to our second question. Do we have anyone else right over there?
When you're checking the truth of things against the Bible, how can you be sure you have the correct interpretation when there are so many different interpretations and translations going around?
Um, most biblical scholars encourage people to use several different translations of the Bible, and I certainly do. Um, just about all of them are good translations, and they can give you different perspectives. You can use some direct translations from the Greek and Hebrew. You can use paraphrased versions if you want to try to gain understanding. And of course, today with the computers and we have uh transliterations of the Bible in Greek and Hebrew, you can look for the Greek and Hebrew words and find out exactly what they mean. I like to tell people if you take the widest, particularly when we're talking about dates in the Bible, which are the most controversial. If you take the widest divergence of all the translations, the Bible is from 6,100 years to 7,300 years. That's how that's just a little bit over a thousand years' difference, no matter which translation you use. Any translation shows that evolution is not true. Um, for me, I take the short age, the youngest, 6,100 years. Why? Because that matches the scientific evidence that we have. Solar nebulae, helium decay, and the ages of trees and moon dust. All of those we can measure fairly exactly. We're right almost at the 6,000-year mark. But I recommend that you use different translations to try to whatever will help and increase your meaning for the Bible. Has there been any evidence to substantiate the accuracy of the scriptures we have today?
Oh, abs. Absolutely. We have many old documents that predate Christ. Okay. We don't have any the original books of Moses that Moses wrote with his with his actual hand. But again, some of the best evidence that I have found is that supporting to the flood to show that the Bible is true.
Okay. Um we have we have found uh uh the ossuary that is the bone box of Caiaphas, Jesus's brother James. Okay. So um we for many years um archaeologists refused to believe that Pontius Pilate existed until they found his name carved on a stone that was part of the wall of the temple. So all the Bible, the evidence, the more evidence that we find, we find that the Bible is true. I heard a quote someone said that the Bible is an anvil that has worn out many hammers.
Yes, it has. It has.
Mark, are you studying any of this in seminary?
Yes, in seminary, especially specifically with this with this topic in particular because in the seminary that I go to, at least Andrews University, we have a high view of scripture so that they make sure that in our program that we're dealing with the Greek and the Hebrew specifically. Um, so what would happen is we would also say that adding on to what Major perfectly put, there are so many references. We have more, we have thousands upon thousands of manuscripts, specifically Greek manuscripts in particular, that would point to the validation of the authenticity of scripture. Um, and we treat textbooks as if they were a Bible. So um that is if something like a textbook where we all seem to learn from uh can be viewed in that way, surely the scriptures can be seen in that way as well.
Fantastic. Do we have a third question anywhere? Right over there.
Uh, this is for the professor. As a law professor, do you sometimes find some conflicts between your spirituality and the laws that you have to teach and practice? And if so, how do you handle that?
There are many conflicts between the things that I know are true as a Christian and uh the laws that we have. Some of them are contemporary laws. Some of them are past laws. Probably one of the greatest people that had to deal with that was Martin Luther King Jr. That is the laws of him of his day in the Jim Crow era were counter to the laws of God. And he made it very clear when a human law is not supported by the law of God, I have a duty. We have a duty to disobey such laws. Okay? And that's a hard thing to do. It's a hard thing for many people to do. So I teach that to my class. That is there is a higher law to human law. And what's most important is that we know what those higher laws are. So that's what I teach in my jurisprudence classes.