The Genesis Factor E-Book

David R. Helm

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2001

Beschreibung

Using the Socratic method, Helm and Dennis challenge readers to wrestle with Scripture itself rather than with systematic questions. This candid look at Genesis is an ideal apologetic against today's postmodern culture.

Leseprobe

THE GENESIS FACTOR

The Genesis Factor

Copyright © 2001 by The Charles Simeon Trust

Published by Crossway Books

a division of Good News Publishers 1300 Crescent Street Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided by USA copyright law.

Cover design: David LaPlaca

Cover photo: The Image Bank & PhotoDisc™

Author photo: Randall Gruendyke

First printing, 2001

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise noted, all Bible quotations are taken from Holy Bible: New International Version, copyright © 1978 by the New York International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Helm, David R., 1961–

      The Genesis factor : probing life’s big questions / David R. Helm, Jon M. Dennis.

             p.       cm.       Includes bibliographical references.       ISBN 1-58134-285-3 (pbk. : alk. paper)

      1. Bible O. T. Genesis I-III—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 2. Bible— Evidences, authority, etc. 3. Apologetics. I. Dennis, Jon M., 1966–

II. Title. BS1235.52 . H45 2001 239—dc21                                                  2001001915

                                                                              CIP

151413121110090807060504030201151413121110987654321

TABLE  OF  CONTENTS

Preface71A Conversation Starter  Genesis 1:1112A View of the Stars  Genesis 1:1-2213The Six-Day Song  Genesis 1:3-2:1294The Surprise of Seven  Genesis 2:2-3375Mud as Man  Genesis 2:4-25496The Intoxicating Program  Genesis 3:1-5637A Sense of Estrangement Genesis 3:6-13738Utopian Dreams  Genesis 3:14-24859Regaining Paradise? Genesis 3:1510110The Inescapable Issue  Luke 24:44-47113Notes117

PREFACE

T his book is for people who have a healthy uncertainty about life’s big questions—who, while knowing many things, reserve a measure of doubt on most everything.

Levin, a character in Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, gives voice to such doubt during his confession to a priest:

“I have doubted everything, and I still do,” Levin replied in a voice he himself found unpleasant, and fell silent.

The priest waited a few seconds to see whether he was going to say something else, then closed his eyes and said quickly, in a provincial accent:

“Doubts are natural to human weakness, but we must pray, that we may be strengthened by divine compassion. What in particular are your sins?” he added without the slightest interval, as though trying not to lose time.

“My principal sin is doubt. I doubt everything, and I am in doubt most of the time.”

“Doubt is natural to human weakness,” the priest said, repeating the same words. “But what do you doubt most of all?”

“I doubt everything. Sometimes I doubt even the existence of God,” said Levin involuntarily, and was horrified at the indecency of what he had said. But Levin’s words seemed to make no impression on the priest.1

Levin desired an intellectual exchange with the priest. He wanted to probe and explore life’s big questions. Unfortunately, the priest never entered into conversation. For him, doubt was a sign of human weakness to be overcome by unquestioned acquiescence to the traditions of the church.

The purpose of this book is to have a conversation with the Levins of our day, those who are unsure what to make of the Christian faith. And while we, the authors, are Christians, we have no illusions about deciding life’s big questions for anyone. Renowned New Testament scholar J. Gresham Machen, in introducing one of his own books, captures our sentiment:

The purpose of this book is not to decide the religious issue of the present day, but merely to present the issue as sharply and clearly as possible, in order that the reader may be aided in deciding for himself.2

We write in the spirit of C. S. Lewis, who in the preface to Mere Christianity said:

In this book I am not trying to convert anyone to my own position. Ever since I became a Christian I have thought that the best, perhaps the only, service I could do for my unbelieving neighbors was to explain and defend the belief that has been common to nearly all Christians at all times.3

This is the desire behind The Genesis Factor. It is an invitation to examine some important issues. It is a request for the reader to consider the ultimate questions of life where Christianity begins—with the book of beginnings.

—David Helm and Jon Dennis Chicago, 2001

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

—GENESIS 1:1

1

A CONVERSATION STARTER

Most of us have heard people asking life’s big questions. Such questions are timeless. They confront every living person and contemplate the greatest of themes. They unite us to all peoples of the past as well as to those who will follow. They are questions such as: