One of the most tragic questions in the Bible is the one in Genesis which God posed to Adam after his disobedience.
Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” 11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” Genesis 3:9–11 (NASB95)
The Lord knew that Adam never would have known of the shame of his nakedness unless sin had destroyed his glorious relationship with God. Adam’s condition pointed a finger at the devil. Someone had to have told Adam he was naked, and we may conjecture that it was the one the Bible calls the “Accuser of the Brethren.” (Revelation 12:10) I can almost hear the serpent taunting Adam and Eve after they ate from the forbidden fruit. Any time we believe something contrary to God’s Word, we can be sure to find Satan somewhere in the background sowing his lies.
The greatest lie ever told was that God is a liar.
That is exactly what the serpent insinuated to Eve, when he boldly declared:
4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5 “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:4–5 (NASB95)
Satan’s goal from the beginning has been to cast doubt on God’s character and the truthfulness of his Word.
In case we may think we are beyond falling for such a temptation to doubt God, let us consider the modern day approach to the interpretation of Genesis Chapter One.
Master propagandists know that when a lie is repeated often enough, it eventually is believed to be the truth by most people. The longer such a belief continues, it will be considered a self-evident truth. Once a lie become embedded in the consciousness and culture, anything that contradicts the lie will be attacked as utter foolishness. Heliocentrism, which led to modern astrophysics, was once regarded as an anti-biblical heresy. Now it is embedded in the collective mind of the culture and makes people think it is necessary to adjust how we interpret the Bible. The reasoning goes like this.
- We know that heliocentrism is true.
- The Bible contradicts heliocentrism.’
- Therefore, we must reject the Bible or change how we interpret the Bible.
The world concludes that we must reject the Bible as a primitive fairy tale. The church cannot do that; so, it has changed how it interprets such scriptures. The usual way is to say Genesis One and related scriptures are a poetic rendering of truths that primitive pre-scientific people were not prepared to comprehend. In other words, God told “white lies” to spare his ignorant people from confusion, perhaps not realizing how much confusion it would cause his “scientific” disciples!
I wonder if God might ask us a similar question to the one he posed to Adam and Eve? Will he not ask us, “Who told you Genesis is not literally true?” There is nowhere in Scripture that allows for such an interpretation. In fact, it is just the opposite. We are warned not to tamper with God’s Word (Deuteronomy 12:32) because, as Jesus said, “It cannot be broken [annulled, dissolved, loosed].” (John 10:35)
However, if we go along with a poetic interpretation of Genesis Chapter One, we must ask ourselves: when exactly can we count on the Bible’s being literally true, and who gets to decide?
Was the garden of Eden a myth? Was the fall of man a legend? Were Cain and Abel mythological figures? Was Noah a real person? How about the flood, did it happen? Was Abraham an historical figure? Did he really have a son in his old age named Isaac, whom he almost sacrificed? Was Jacob a real person? Was Joseph? Was the exodus from Egypt an historical event? Were Moses and Joshua real people?
If we allow that God created Adam and Eve just as the Bible says, why do we not accept the creation 
story as well? If modern science refutes creationism by appealing to evolution, why does the church not go along with the “science?” Is it not because we think we have some good scientific reasons to reject evolution? Have we not elevated science above God’s Word when we do this. Are we not admitting that we will believe what God says only if there is some kind of scientific support for it?
We think that science has proven beyond a doubt that we live on a globe spinning on an imaginary axis at 1040 mph at the equator, which translates to about 840 mph at the latitude where I live in NC. The atmosphere, we are told, spins in sync with the earth, meaning that the air above us rotates at various speeds, depending on what part of the earth it covers, anywhere from 1040 mph at the equator to zero mph at the north pole. In addition, the higher one goes, the faster the winds must travel, since their distance from the earth surface increases. Despite these interesting and unprovable claims, we experience no movement and we see winds moving in all sorts of directions.
We are also told that we are revolving around the sun at about 67,000 mph? We are also moving with our solar system through our galaxy at a speed of about 500,000 mph, and our galaxy is whipping through the universe at over a million mph. And yet we experience nothing of the sort! Modern science demands that we ignore God’s Word, common sense, and the testimony of our senses.
Where would we get such a notion? Certainly not from anything God ever told us. It came from people inspired by Satan who think they are smarter than God.
God said to be still and know that he is God? (Psalm 46:10) That would have zero meaning in a Copernican universe. Satan introduced the lies of modern astrophysics to deny the truthfulness of the Bible and keep people from discovering God by thoughtfully considering his creation.
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. Romans 1:18–20 (NASB95)
We humans generally perceive ourselves as being very intelligent beings, but we are no match for God, or even Satan for that matter.
The truth is that we are quite easily deceived by arguments that oppose God’s Word, just as Adam and Eve were. That is why we so desperately need to rely on the Bible and the Holy Spirit.
Without the “map” of God’s Word and the Holy Spirit for our guide, we are lost in a sea of surmise, conjecture, and deception. This is why it is so tragic when we who call ourselves Christians choose to believe godless astrophysicists who take us down a road that leads away from Bible truth.
We would never arrive at the conclusion that we live on a revolving, rotating, wobbling spheroid without outside input from an exceedingly cunning liar. We have never perceived any such motion. It goes against all common sense that the earth’s surface is moving at around 840 mph at the latitude where I live. When we observe the stars keeping their same positions over the centuries, how could we possibly be hurtling through “space” in multiple directions at unbelievable speeds? When one starts with false presuppositions, one is bound to arrive at false conclusions. How rebellious and foolish it for us to lay aside God’s testimony in his Word in order to accept a theory of the cosmos that contradicts God’s truth! Oh, that God would open our eyes and hearts to once again choose to be people of the Book who choose to believe God instead of men!
