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Creation and the Certainty of the Second Coming

Christianity is a relationship with God and Jesus Christ. It is not an imaginary, contentless relationship, but one based upon knowledge of the “only true God” (John 17:3). If our relationship is with any other deity, it is idolatry. Whether in its Darwinian form that rejects the existence of God, or in its theistic manifestation that claims God as influencer of the evolutionary process, the theory of evolution denies the biblical doctrine of God.

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Creation in the Prophetic Literature of the Old Testament: An Intertextual Approach

Creation in the prophetic literature of the Old Testament is employed as a constant literary and theological reference which connects to a historical past, motivates the interpretation of the present, and moves towards a perspective for the future by means of a continuous contextualization of the topic via the triad creation–de-creation–recreation.

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Darwin and the Gospel Commission: How Does Our View of Origins Impact the Evangelistic Mission of the Church?

Our mission is to prepare people to give account of themselves to a sovereign, yet loving, almighty moral governor and to prepare them for the eschatological restoration of all things which begins at the second coming of Christ in glory. It seems clear that the expulsion of teleology required by Darwinism will be catastrophic to the mission praxis of the Adventist church.

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The Message of the Trees in the Midst of the Garden

If, in Paradise Regained, it appears that the tree of knowledge has outplayed its peculiar role, that it is not there, or that it is somehow fused to its sister tree, forming an arch over the river of life, we should hesitate to conclude that God will ever be in retreat with respect to the ideology of freedom.

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The Dead Sea Scrolls, the Fourth Commandment and Deuteronomy 5

In the manuscript, 4Q41 from ancient Dead Sea scrolls, the fourth commandment is given in an expanded the fourth commandment is given in an expanded form. In the English translation of 4Q41 includes Moses’ comment linking the Sabbath to redemption from slavery in Egypt while also including the original reference to the creation given in Exodus 20 and 31. Published in Origins, n. 62.

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Genesis 1:14 – Translation Notes

The purpose of these notes is twofold: first, to evaluate John H. Sailhamer's argument that Gen 1:14 does not place the creation of the heavenly lights on the fourth day of Creation; and second, to determine whether the term "appointed times" in Gen 1:14 is used to designate annual sacred times or particular rhythms of the natural cycle.

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Wholistic Geology: Geology Before, During, and After the Biblical Flood

Traditional flood geology theory interprets much or all of the Phanerozoic part of the geologic column as formed during the one year of the biblical flood. Some geological and paleontological data are, in my opinion, difficult to explain in this theory. Wholistic geology endeavors to explain more of the earth science data while remaining true to a literal understanding of biblical creation and a global flood. Published in Origins, n. 61.

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Cain, Abel, Seth and the Meaning of Human Life as Portrayed in Genesis and Ecclesiastes

The meaninglessness brought into the world through Cain's murder of his brother is forever revoked by the death of Jesus, the second Adam.

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Creation and Flood Implications of the First Angel’s Message in Revelation 14:7

Spiritually, in the end time, we sorely need to know the truth about the two key earth history issues discussed above— Creation and the Flood—because the way in which these questions are answered can either establish or undermine living faith in God.

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Natural Disasters: Acts of God or Acts of Satan?

During the past few years, our planet has been experiencing an increasing number of natural disasters–earthquakes, hurricanes, droughts, floods, and a devastating tsunami. Bible-believing Christians have pondered about the role that God and Satan play as the ultimate actors in a cosmic drama. Are these calamities pointing toward a culminating event in human history?

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Problems with Time

LITERATURE REVIEWS A review of the book, A Matter of Days: Resolving a Creation Controversy. Published in Origins n. 59.

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Theology of Judgment in Genesis 6-9

The present dissertation seeks to develop a theology of judgment in Gen 6-9. Following an introductory chapter, the second chapter is devoted to analyzing the three main extrabiblical ANE flood stories (the Eridu Genesis, the Atra-Hasis Epic, and the Gilgamesh Epic) from the four aspects of judgment: date, cause and purpose, extent, and procedure.

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Natural Dissent: The Ethics of Evolutionary Biology

Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection was inspired not primarily by his observations of the natural world, but by Thomas Malthus's theory of scarcity.

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In the Beginning, God

The last few years have shown that there are a number of views on creation within the Adventist Church. Not all of them can be right. Should theistic evolution become more and more accept ed, we will be in danger of losing the biblical foundation for the Sabbath and our understanding of salvation.

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A Note on the Pre-Flood/Flood Boundary in the Grand Canyon

The Sixtymile Formation in the Grand Canyon is proposed as a possible geologic layer tmarking the beginning of the Genesis flood. Published in Origins n. 58.

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Literature Reviews: Spreading out the Heavens

Review of The Origin of the Universe. Published in Origins n. 58.

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Issues in Intermediate Models of Origins

Many models have been proposed that tend to blur some of the contrasts between the biblical and naturalistic theories. A number of attempts have been made to develop intermediate models in which elements of the biblical story of creation are mixed with elements of the scientific story of origins. All of these models share the biblical idea that nature is the result of divine purpose and the “scientific” idea of long ages of time, but all suffer from serious scientific problems or are entirely ad hoc and conjectural.

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What Happens to Biblical Truth if the SDA Church Accepts Theistic Evolution?

Darwin’s view of God is contrary to the biblical view of God and should give Christians pause before buying into Darwin’s naturalism and attempting to wed it to the supernatural in a theistic evolutionary synthesis.

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Creation — the Sine Qua Non of Adventist Theology

Creation is crucial for our theology because, I am deeply convinced, all our essential doctrinal points can be directly or indirectly traced to the Creation roots. Each of our 27 fundamental beliefs is somehow tied to Creation.

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Consequences of Moving Away from a Recent Six-day Creation

During the last two years we have heard many papers that challenge the traditional Adventist, biblically-founded position of a recent six-day creation. I believe there are many problems with the “objections” and the alternatives they offer.

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