A book by Richard Dawkins called The God Delusion, once at #4 on Amazon, has concocted a disturbing premise that Christians need to assuredly and swiftly answer. Here is a quote: "Begin in Genesis with the well-loved story of Noah, derived from the Babylonian myth of Uta-Napisthim and known from the older mythologies of several cultures. The legend of the animals going into the ark two by two is charming, but the moral of the story of Noah is appalling. God took a dim view of humans, so he (with the exception of one family) drowned the lot of them including children and also, for good measure the rest of the (presumably blameless) animals as well. Of course, irritated theologians will protest that we don’t take the book of Genesis literally anymore. But that is my whole point. We pick and choose which bits of scripture to believe, which bits to write off as symbols or allegories. Such picking and choosing is a decision, just as much, or as little, as the atheists decision to follow this moral precept or that was a personal decision, without an absolute foundation." p.237-238
Well, not quite Mr. Dawkins. The Lord has revealed through His written word a very thorough record of the genealogies of our Lord found in the New Testament writings of Matthew and Luke. Since they wrote under the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit, we can assume that this information is important. A genealogy is by definition comprised of a list of real people who lived real lives and that the first person on that list is just as real as the last. Thanks to the Pharisees’ fascination with genealogies they were able to accurately trace the line of Christ. There are also many places in the Old Testament including Chronicles that provide further genealogy listings.
Luke traces the line of Christ through his mother, Mary. That is why 3:23 reads (or should read if it does not) “Jesus… being the son (as was supposed of Joseph) of Eli…” Matthew traces the line of Christ through Joseph even though this was not biologically the case.
Scripture also attests to the importance of these genealogies beginning with Adam:Romans 5:13,14, “for until the Law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed where there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.”
The first part of this statement communicates the utter degeneracy of the post-sin, pre-flood era, and their great hope in the last Adam. Romans 5:15,16 contrasts the two
Adams:
“But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification.”
Adam’s original sin resulted in the spiritual death of the entire human race, except for the second Adam, Jesus Christ. Without Adam there is no original sin as recorded in Genesis chapter 3 and henceforth no need for Christ the Savior.Romans 5:17 tells us about realms of power and authority related to sin.
“For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus ChristRomans 5:19 begins the summary,
“For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.”
Adam’s sin was imputed to all, and therefore all were made sinners.
Therefore, in Adam we all died. In Christ, we can all live. This is the essence of the baptism of the Spirit.
1 Cor 15:20-28 and 35-49, tells us what Adam has to do with our future life in God.
“But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive.“
In conclusion, Richard Dawkins assertion that theologians pick and choose which bits of scripture to believe is based on a desire to continue to believe a lie which is far easier than placing your trust and hope in the Truth. Yes, it would be a mistake to take every word of Scripture literally, but this is simply because the many books of the Bible were written by different men (&women) of different literary backgrounds over many hundreds of years which contain books of history, poetry, prophecy, instruction and yes, even genealogical. Poetry is poetry and historical facts are always verifiable. The biblical writers did not plagiarize literary works of antiquity at all. If there are similarities then we cannot simply assume that one copied from the other. However we can entertain the idea that perhaps they were inspired from an alternate source of “truth” as a means to lead astray those who are seeking The Truth.
Author: James Richardson
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