A detailed study of the first chapter of Genesis and what was created on each day of creation. A close look at God’s amazing creation, including what it means for man to be created in the image of God.
Required Resources:
Book - Unlocking the Mysteries of Creation by Dennis R. Peterson - http://creationtoday.org/product/unlocking-the-mysteries-of-creation/
DVD - Heaven & Earth - https://answersingenesis.org/store/product/heaven-and-earth/
DVD - Life - https://answersingenesis.org/store/product/life/
Before we start this study on Biblical Creationism let's make one thing clear; the Bible is the Word of God. The Bible is without error and is inspired by God. Although written by men the words were chosen by God through the Holy Spirit.
Read 2 Peter 1:21 and 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
Also, the account of creation was written as history with God himself as eyewitness. It was not written as myth, fable or parable. Thus, we need to interpret the events found in Genesis as an actual historical account that happened in real time and space.
Read Genesis 1:1-5
God never tries to prove his own existence; He only states that which is obvious. There is a creation, thus there is a Creator God. God created time and space. Before this point there was nothing, only God. Earth being formless simply means that God created the raw material of what the earth would become. Before the formless earth could take shape, God had to create energy or what is stated as light. It is energy that holds atoms together. Now you have a planet called earth.
Read Genesis 1:6-8
Our planet earth was at this time covered by water. Have you ever wondered why the oceans have salt in the water? God created salt because of its' cleansing properties. Salt keeps the water clean. 3.5 percent of the weight of seawater comes from the dissolved salts. By some estimates, if the salt in the oceans could be removed and spread evenly over the Earths' land surface it would form a layer of about 500 feet thick. It would seem that God took a layer of that water and put it over the earth. Psalm 148:4 seems to testify to this. We can't be certain if this water was liquid, ice or vapor. There are other planets and moons with some form of water surrounding them. The planet Venus is shielded by a vapor canopy so dense we cannot see through it to the surface. Saturn's moon, Titan, also has a cold vapor canopy surrounding it. God also put into place the earth's atmosphere. This atmosphere had greater air pressure and 25% more oxygen. Breathing would be easier and you would heal quicker. You could also run farther because of the greater air pressure and increased oxygen.
Watch DVD Heaven & Earth - Chapter: A Habitable Planet (2 minutes 12 seconds long)
Read Genesis 1:9-13
God raised a single super continent above the oceans and planted all sorts of vegetation on it. Most secular and biblical geologists believe that at one time there was one supercontinent called "Rodinia". Biblical geologists believe that this supercontinent was the land that God created on Day 3. This supercontinent broke up at the time of the flood into the continents we see today.
Back to day 3… God created soil and thousands and thousands of species of plants and millions of individual plants, every blade of grass, every shrub, flower and tree.
Watch DVD Heaven & Earth - Chapter: Plants (2 minutes 28 seconds long)
Read Genesis 1:14-19
Why did God put a moon where He did? Yes, the moon reflects the light from the sun to give us a "lesser" light at night, but it also serves to stabilize the earths' rotation. When the Earth rotates it wobbles slightly on its' axis. The moon's gravity holds the earth as it rotates and also keeps the earth from rotating too fast. And we all know about the moon's gravitational pull on the world's oceans producing tides.
The estimated number of stars that scientists have calculated is 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (that's 1 billion trillion) stars in the observable universe.
The galaxy that our Earth resides in, the Milky Way galaxy has over 200 billion stars and is 100,000 light years in diameter. A light year is the distance that light travels in one year. Light travels 5.8 trillion miles in one year. It's hard to imagine something that is 100,000 light years in diameter.
The Hubble Space Telescope is a large telescope that NASA launched in space in 1990. The Hubble is as long as a school bus and faces out toward space taking pictures of planets, stars and galaxies. All in all, this telescope reveals an estimated 100 billion galaxies in the universe. How did the scientists at NASA come up with 100 billion? This amazing piece of technology takes a picture or views an image, consisting of a region of space barely a thousandth of a square degree on the sky; so small it would take thirty-two million of them to fill the entire sky. This incredibly small image shows an amazing 5,500 galaxies. Projecting this over the entire sky, we find that there are around 100 billion galaxies in what can be seen by the Hubble. Teacher: The best way to explain this concept is to take a 2 inch by 2-inch post it note and put it on the wall. Tell your students to pretend that this post it note is in the sky and the Hubble took a picture of just that size photograph. In just that size there are 5,500 galaxies. Now take that post it note and cover the entire sky with them. God is so powerful that creating all this was done with a spoken word.
Watch DVD Heaven & Earth - Chapter: Sun (2 minutes 32 seconds long)
Read Genesis 1:20-23
God created all ocean life; hundreds of thousands of species. Let's take a look at a couple of God's amazing creatures. Watch www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9dnTRPk0N4 (2 minutes will be enough) or google search hammerhead shark images and print a picture. If you choose to download a picture here is the information you need: Most sharks can, to some extent, detect other animals by sensing the very tiny electrical currents produced by their nerves and muscles. Sharks have hundreds of special electrical receptors found over their snout and lower jaw. These hundreds of tiny dark pores are filled with a conductive gel that transfers electrical impulses to a nerve ending in each pore. God created the hammerhead shark to have these pores across the underside of their oblong heads, which increases the number of receptors and the area these receptors can detect electrical impulses. This shark can use this incredible sense to scan the ocean floor searching for stingrays and flatfish that bury themselves in the sand. The hammerhead shark has a built in "metal detector" which helps it find its next meal.
God also created birds, the masters of flight.
Watch DVD Life - Chapter: Designed for Flight (2 minutes 28 seconds long).
Watch www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4OH6gMN6vY. Or google search Great Gray Owl images and print a picture. If you choose to down load a picture here is the information you need: God created owls that can hear sounds that are at least ten times fainter than the human ear can detect. Large ear openings in the side of the head are surrounded by deep, soft feathers that funnel sounds to each ear. An owls entire face functions as an outer ear. Compact facial feathers are arranged to form two curves, much like the shape of a satellite receiving disc. These tightly packed feathers help reflect and focus sounds into each ear. Perhaps the most amazing feature of owl ears is the shape and location of the ear openings. Truly nocturnal species that rely most heavily on hearing to locate prey have ear openings of different shapes or placed at different heights on the head. By distinguishing slight variations in sound arrival time and volume, owls can precisely locate the origin of sounds on both a vertical and a horizontal plane. To hear equally in both ears, an owl must slowly turn its head until it is directly facing the origin of the sound on both planes. Whether it can see its prey or not, the owl is now ready to attack. Using this ability, a Great Gray Owl can locate and capture a mouse or vole under 1 ½ feet of snow or 2 inches of soil.
Read Genesis 1:24-25
And God created all the animals; from the great elephants to the tiny ant.
Google search giraffe images. Find one drinking and print. You probably never thought of a giraffe bending its neck down to drink water as God's amazing design. The 25-pound heart is one of the largest in the animal kingdom and nearly double the blood pressure of nearly any other animal. Why doesn't the giraffe pass out when he stoops down for a drink with all that blood rushing toward the brain? What should be a problem in reality is not. God designed the giraffe with jugular blood vessels in the neck that have a series of one-way check valves to hold back the blood from rushing to the brain when it lowers its head. These check valves also stop the blood from flowing away from the brain too quickly when it lifts its head again. Just in case some extra blood does reach the brain, a series of spongy tissue at the base of the brain soaks up any excess blood.
Watch DVD Life - Chapter: Chameleons (2 minutes and 4 seconds long).
Read Genesis 1:26-31
After God created all the animals, God created mankind. People are not another animal; God created us separately in His image. What does that mean, in His image? Like God, we know the difference between good and evil. Like God we have feelings and emotions and we can respond to other people's feelings and emotions.
Read 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 God comforts us and because we are made in His image we have the capacity to comfort others.
Read Exodus 4:14 God gets angry and because we are made in His image we have the capacity to get angry.
Read 1 John 4:7-11 God loves us and has given us the capacity to love others.
Read Psalm 86:15 God is compassionate and has given us the ability to be compassionate.
Read Ephesians 5:1 God forgives us and has given us the capacity to forgive others.
Read Job 12:7-10 God uses His own creativity to create and because we are made in His image we have the capacity to use creativity to build bridges, buildings and washing machines. People continue to learn new things and to develop their talents and their skills. Each generation taking the knowledge from the previous one and building on it.
Google search Model T cars images. Print one as an example. Taking the intellect that God gave us, we invented the car. Each generation since that time has made a better car. We now have cars that have built in computers that tell us how to get to any destination we wish to go. Yes, other animals can create; beavers can build dams, termites build complicated nest with air vents to regulate temperature, birds make nests, some quite complex. But these animals do not use their own creativity. God gives them that ability by what we call instincts.
Read 1 John 3:1 God loves us and wants a relationship with us. We too can have a relationship with Him. Animals were never created to love God, only people were. And God gives us a choice on whether we love Him or not. Because God made us in His image, we are different from the rest of creation. Remember that God sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins, not the sins of animals. God promised salvation to us, not animals.
We need to read chapter 1:29-30 again.
God gave Adam and Eve "every seed-bearing plant" as food. Only after the flood we were given permission to eat meat. Also, all the animals ate plants as well. Wait! What about all the animals that have sharp teeth for cutting meat? Those sharp teeth can also be used to eat plants. Google search panda bear images and fruit bats image. Print pictures that show these animals with sharp teeth. Both of these animals have sharp teeth but yet eat only plants.
Watch DVD Life - Chapter: Creator Clearly Seen (4 minutes and 36 seconds long).
Why is the study of the creation important? There was once a missionary that wanted to share the message of Jesus Christ to a people that had never heard of God sending His Son to die for mankind. This missionary started teaching these people with the story of Jesus found in the gospels. They were not understanding what the missionary was teaching them. He thought about what he was doing wrong. Then he realized his mistake; he was starting the story of God's salvation in the middle. He needed to start at the beginning with a creator God, creation, Adam and Eve made perfect, and man's rebellion against a holy God. It worked; the people started to understand. The missionary began the message with a foundation that was in Genesis. Once the foundation was learned, the gospel was plain and simple.
Why is this important?
Watch video clip. https://answersingenesis.org/media/video/creation/why-is-this-important/