Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
Jeremy approaches Bible teaching with a passion for getting the basic doctrines explained so that the individual can understand them and then apply them to circumstances in their life. These basic and important lessons are nestled in a framework of history and progression of revelation from the Bible so the whole of Scripture can be applied to your physical and spiritual life.
Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
NT Framework - False Theology based on Science
Deception starts with a statement that is easy to agree with. So beware the subtle deception because it might be three or four steps before you realize how wrong it is. And this includes statements from theologians.
More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com
This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).
Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner.
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and our series on the New Testament Framework. Today a smaller, bite-sized piece from the larger lesson. We hope you enjoy it.
Speaker 2:Here's Donald Bloch, just so you can see someone who's a scholar, who actually is presenting this. He says they, the scripture writers, including Jesus, did not err in what they proclaimed, but this does not mean that they were faultless in the recording of historical data or in their worldview, which is now outdated. So this is a scholar. Okay, just, I'm not making this up, right, you have to see that this is actually the things that are being said, and so that's why I quote a few people here. Here's another one. I couldn't find the source, but I did this years ago, so it's got to be somewhere in my work. Natural revelation is the basis on which written revelation rests. We have to think about this one. Okay, this was written in 1846, so this is over 160, 170 years ago, right? Natural revelation, and we know God reveals himself in nature, right? I mean, the Bible declares this the heavens declare the glory of God. The earth is handiwork. Okay, we have no problem recognizing that nature reveals who God is, his power, his wisdom and so forth. But he says notice what's being said here. Natural revelation is the basis on which written revelation rests. So which comes first, natural or written, according to the statement? The natural, in other words, what is this statement really saying? What this statement is really saying is that what we do is we go out and we investigate nature through scientific efforts and once we draw our conclusions, then we turn to the written revelation and we interpret it accordingly. Did you see that we go out and we use the scientific method and we investigate nature and we come to certain conclusions? We come to certain conclusions about the age of the earth, the age of the universe and so forth and so on? Right, then what do we do? Then we come to the written revelation and we interpret it accordingly. In other words, we make the Bible fit fit. So if the universe is 14.6 billion years old, the earth and sun are 4.6 billion years old and men have been around 200,000 years or so, then we interpret the Bible to fit this data, see, which is what we call an accommodation strategy. Now, is this the way it should be done? Here's Theodosius Dobzhansky. He's a Russian theologian, so this isn't just confined to the West. He says this is the way he says it. God has revealed himself to humanity in at least two ways the words of the Bible and the record of nature. Our mission is to work rigorously to integrate both of God's revelations into one harmonious picture. Now, most of us would read that, I think, and we'd say, okay, yeah, that sounds good, that sounds right. I mean, it's true, you got the words of the Bible. God revealed himself to us there. We got the record of nature. God reveals himself to us there we know. And these two integrate. So what's our mission? To work rigorously to show how the two integrate into a harmony, right, okay? Well, let's look at the next quote, because, see, this is the deception. You buy into this statement and you think, oh, this is good stuff. And before you know it, you're at the next statement. Are you ready? This is the same guy, russian theologian, theodosius Dobchonsky.
Speaker 2:I am a creationist and an evolutionist and when I taught this at the previous church I was out years ago one of the younger guys I think, he was probably like 18 or 19 at the time and we went on this hunting trip and I remember him saying you were talking about this guy and he quoted from me. He said and he said why didn't he just call himself a crevolutionist? That's pretty keen, I'll use that. Uh, I'm a creationist and an evolutionist. Evolution is gods or nature's method of creation, which that's kind of interesting, isn't it? Gods or natures? Does that mean that god equals nature, that god is nature, which is what einstein believed. He said god doesn't play dice with the universe. Well, his whole point was that the only God there is is the universe and everything's determined by the specific rules of physics and so forth that are inherent to the universe. That's what Einstein meant. He didn't believe. He believed in an infinite personal God by any means. He was talking about nature itself or the universe, which sounds like what Theodosius Dabshansky believes. Evolution is God's or nature's, and which sounds like what Theodosius Dabshansky believes Evolution is God's or nature's. Notice the capital N and the capital God. They're equally, they're equated. This method of creation Creation, he says, is not an event that happened in 4004 BC. He's using Bishop Usher's chronology from the Bible. He says it's a process that began some 10 billion years ago and is still underway. He asks the question does the evolutionary doctrine clash with religious faith? It does not.
Speaker 2:It's a blunder to mistake the holy scriptures for elementary textbooks of astronomy, geology, biology and anthropology. Now, there's a lot going on in these statements. The last phrase, you know. We can all look at that and say well, yeah, we know, the Bible is not a biology textbook or an astronomy textbook or geology, whatever, see, but this is what we call a straw man, and I don't think any of us have ever said it's a biology textbook. I think what we're saying is that if it touches on something that relates to biology, it's true, if it touches on something related to astronomy, it's true, and so forth. Right? So I guess our question would be should we pay attention to the bible when it touches on these areas? And if it does touch on these areas, is it true? Because the new modern evangelicals are saying no, jesus and the authors of the Bible erred when it came to those types of details and we know more now and so we know better. We know better, ultimately, really, than Jesus is what they're saying. So this is where his approach ends up, see.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas. If you would like to see the visuals that went along with today's sermon, you can find those on Rumble and on YouTube under Spokane Bible Church. That is where Jeremy is the pastor and teacher. We hope you found today's lesson productive and useful in growing closer to God and walking more obediently with Him. If you found this podcast to be useful and helpful, then please consider rating us in your favorite podcast app, and until next time, we hope you have a blessed and wonderful day.