Bible Studies, Inspired by Faith and Science

The Beginning: Adam and Eve 1. Did God make plants before people or people before plants? 2. Did God make man before woman or woman before man? 3. What did the first human beings eat? 4. Where was the Garden of Eden? 5. What did God tell Adam and Eve not to eat? 6. How many children did Adam and Eve have? 7. Where did Adam and Eve live after they were thrown out of Eden? 8. Why did Cain kill Abel? 9. What happened to the surviving brother? 10. Where did civilization begin? For some people, the Bible story of creation is “just a myth.” For others, it proves evolution doesn’t exist. And for others, myself included, the remarkable agreement between Genesis and the discoveries of modern science (as opposed to traditions of ancient belief) make it hard not to believe in God. After all, how could people more than 3,000 years ago (a very conservative estimate) ever have guessed that plants evolved before fish and birds before mammals before man? In the beginning, there was light,...

I guess I'm a bit late posting (and writing) this, but I'll try to catch up... Easter A 7-week Lenten Bible Study in “What IFS ?” Inspired by Faith and Science: What if… you could put the whole Bible back into Easter? What if… it Easter is the most important Christian festival? What if… you can add Bible readings to Lent as well as giving something up? What if… the story is more than words can tell? What is the aim of this study: • To make Easter special with Bible readings for every day from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday • To remind us that all the stories in the Bible belong to one tale. • To provide a companion volume to Easter: Creation to Salvation in 100 words a day Pre-History in the Bible Creation: Genesis 1 tells a story of creation that fits the scientific record – light, then water, then plants, then clearing skies revealing sun moon and stars, then fish and birds, then animals, then man. Although Christians may argue about the length of time between each step, or ...

A 5-week Advent & Christmas Bible Study in “What IFS ?” Inspired by Faith and Science: What if… you could put the whole Bible back into Christmas? What if… it wasn’t just about presents, or just about a baby? What if… Christmas doesn’t finish on Christmas day? What if… the story is more than words can tell? What is the aim of this study: • To make Christmas special with Bible readings for every day in December • To make the celebration continue beyond the season’s end • To remind us that all the stories in the Bible belong to one tale. • To provide a companion volume to Christmas! Genesis to Revelation in 100 words a day First Week in Advent: The Beginning Genesis 1:3 Creation: What if… there really was light without the sun? Look for the parallels between Genesis 1 and the story told by science in evolution and geology: • A planet clouded with toxic gasses – light and dark, but the sun is still hidden. • Rainwater washing volcanic poisons from the air. • Plants adding oxygen...

Lesson 9: Israel in Egypt: Genesis 46-50 What if… faith and science agree on Israel going to Egypt? The Land of Goshen: What if… Egyptians didn’t like shepherds? In Genesis 45:16-20 Pharaoh promises the best land to Joseph’s family. But Joseph is clearly nervous and needs God’s reassurance that this is okay ( Genesis 46:1-4 ). He reminds his family ( Genesis 46:31-34 ) that the Egyptians really don’t like herdsmen. When Pharoah gives them the land of Goshen he puts them in charge of his livestock ( Genesis 47:6 ), but livestock certainly wouldn’t be kept on the best land. Goshen may well be a hilly area near the Nile delta. Egyptians would not want to live there, so the Israelites would live undisturbed for almost 400 years, able to consolidate their stories and their beliefs without the pollution of foreign mythologies. Perhaps this was God’s provision for them, a time of strengthening. When a later Pharaoh began building the city of Rameses in the delta, the Israelites would have ...

Lesson 2: The First Human Beings: Genesis 2-3 What if… faith and science agreed that there really was an Eden? Adam and Eve: What if… Adam and Eve were two people chosen from the crowd? One man. One woman: Genesis 1 ends with the creation of human beings. “Male and female He created them,” is says, implying more than one person, and certainly not discounting the possibility of more than two. But Genesis 2 starts with one man, Adam, in the garden, and begs the question: Was he the only “man?” What if he was the only man tested by God? What if there were other “people,” but their generations would die out in time, and only Adam’s descendants would survive? Would that contradict Genesis 1 and 2, or could it be valid, if unconventional, interpretation? And which matters more, the interpretation, or continuing to read the word? Richard Dawkins describes research that shows all humanity to be descended from a single woman who probably lived in Africa. She would have been one member of a ne...

What if… science and the Bible were both true? What if… creation and evolution told the same story? What if… Adam and Eve were real people? What kind of world would they live in? What if… we could tell the difference between God’s word and human interpretation? What is the aim of this study: • To keep the emphasis on the Bible. To remember God’s word is more important than my interpretation. • To be ready to encourage people to read the Bible and hear God’s word, rather than risk them rejecting what God says because of man’s word. My interpretation may be valuable to me, but it’s God’s word that might make a difference to my neighbor. • To know what the Bible says, even if it’s not what I think it ought to say. Lesson 1: Creation: Genesis 1-2 What if… faith and science don’t have to disagree? Before reading, try putting these 3 things in the order in which you think they were created – • Plants • Reptiles • Man Then read Genesis 2:4-8, 18-19. Is that what you came up with? If not,...