The GeoScriptures series takes a look at passages in the Bible that have something to do with the doctrine of creation, which covers all sorts of topics, such as God’s glory in the creation, the age of the Earth, stewardship of natural resources, and apologetics.

Genesis 1:1 — When did “In the beginning” occur? — Based on the way Genesis 1 is laid out, “In the beginning” could have occurred 6000 years ago, or 6 billion years ago.

Genesis 1:1 — “In the beginning God” vs Carl Sagan — Which statement is more compatible with the cosmos as we know it: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” or “The cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be?”

Genesis 1:20-22 — The goodness and fruitfulness of the creation — When God created the world it was teeming with life, and it was good. Our task is to keep it that way.

Genesis 2:2-3 — God’s rest and the age of the Earth — There are good Biblical reasons for asserting that “day” in Genesis 1 can mean something other than a literal day.

Genesis 2:16-17 — The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the fruit of sin — What have we “gained” through knowing evil?

Genesis 3:15 — The Protoevangelium — God’s curse on the snake contained the seed of the gospel.

Genesis 3:17-18 — Thorns, thistles, cats, dogs, and hyperliteralism — To interpret God’s “thorns and thistles” curse to mean that there were no thorns on Earth before Adam’s sin is an over-reading of the text.

Genesis 6:1-9:17 — Reading the account of Noah’s (local) flood — A few valid translation changes makes the Flood account in Genesis read much less like a worldwide catastrophe.

Genesis 7:19 — “All the earth” doesn’t always mean “all the earth” — Did the Chinese send people to Egypt to purchase grain from Joseph?

Psalm 77:16-18 – Deadly beauty and the glory of God — God is glorified in his good creation by dangerous things, such as thunderstorms and gamma ray bursts.

Psalm 90:4 — God’s days are not the same as our days — “For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.”

Psalm 133:1 – Deep unity in Christ despite our disagreements — The unity Christians have in Christ is stronger than our doctrinal differences regarding creation.

Proverbs 21:20 — Sustainability — The alternative to sustainable development is unsustainable development.

Matthew 13:1-23 – Pedogenesis and the parable of the sower — Just as there are factors of soil formation (pedogenesis) that control how solid rock can change into a fertile soil, there are factors of spiritual pedogenesis that God uses to soften hard hearts.

John 1:1,14 — God in a dot — The Creator of the universe condensed into a human zygote.

1 Corinthians 3:18-19 — Wisdom and folly — Let it be the foolishness of the cross that people reject, not our own foolishness.

Ephesians 4:15 — Speaking the truth in love — How do we “speak the truth in love” to one another on controversial issues, such as the age of the Earth, biological evolution, or the environment?

Hebrews 11:1 — Christian faith is not blind faith — Just as a pilot can land an airplane in the fog with complete confidence, so a Christian can trust in the God who created the universe and has given us what we need to find our way.