Let's Talk – Teens

Is there any evidence of apes evolving into man?

The answer to that question is no. There are many scientist that spent years looking for old human or ape skeletons trying to find one that would prove that man evolved from an ape like creature. Here are just two examples: Peking Man – A group of researchers found a large number of ape like skull fragments in a cave near Peking China, next to a fire pit and tools. It is assumed that since the skulls and tools were found together this was an ape-man link. However, students are seldom presented with a more plausible explanation. Monkey meat is very tough but monkey brains are still considered a delicacy in that part of the world. Since only the skull fragments were found, it is quite likely that Peking Man was man’s meal… not man’s ancestor.

Java Man – In 1892 Eugene Dubois found a thick bone skull cap in the same area as a human thigh bone. This is still presented as evidence of an early man that evolved from an ape. However, many years after this finding was widely accepted as an ape to man link, Dubois admitted that the skull cap and leg bone were separated by 46 feet.

When a scientist who is looking for that ape to man link, finds a modern man’s skeleton with a skull that is broken into pieces, he will, because of his beliefs, put together that modern man’s skull and give it an ape like appearance. Because of their belief in evolution, what they believe is an ape to man link in reality is not. Then the scientist will hire an artist to paint a picture of an ape man, despite that in reality it is actually an ancient but modern human. These pictures unfortunately end up in school textbooks.

The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

Genesis 2:7

Is hell a real place?

Jesus claimed that hell was real. There was a time where Jesus sent out the twelve disciples to minister to the people in the surrounding communities. He gave them certain instructions and told them not to be afraid.

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Matthew 10:28

Jesus was not telling a parable when he spoke of hell, not a mythological location, but a place that was real.

Read what Peter said about hell as he was lead by the Holy Spirit.

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment.

2 Peter 2:4

Is evolution science?

First we need to define the term science. Science is the study of God’s creation by means of observation, repeatable testing with the same results and detailed logs that other scientist can confirm. True science is in the present, observable and testable. Real science is when a scientist or researcher in some field wants to obtain some knowledge. That person will do a series of experiments and log the process and results. He or she will write that information down in detail and share this finding with the scientific community in a science journal. Other scientist will do that same series of experiments and if they get the same results, will verify each other to make sure everything was done correctly. That is real science.

Now back to our question… Is evolution science? The answer is no. Why? Because evolution is not observable or testable. No one has seen evolution at work nor has anyone found any real evidence to back up the belief. Evolution cannot work because new genetic information is needed whenever a higher form of life appears. In order for a fish to grow legs, new information must be encoded into the DNA. For a reptile to grow feathers, new information must be encoded into the DNA. For an ape like creature to evolve into a human, new information must be encoded into the DNA. This new information must be added or replace old information with new instructions to grow legs, feathers, or human traits. Nowhere in science can new information arise by itself. No one has ever witnessed this.

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

Colossians 2:8

If Noah’s flood was worldwide, where did all that water come from and where did it go after the flood?

The waters came from two places. It is possible that there was a water canopy above the earth that God released in the form of rain.

Praise Him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies.

Psalm 148:4

Most of the water, though, came from under the earth.

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month – on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.

Genesis 7:11

When God created the earth He created the earth covered with water and when He created land, it was set on the waters.

The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it; for He founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.

Psalm 24:1-2

It is quite possible that God caused a crack in the earth’s crust allowing water under the crust to come through and cover the earth.

Where did the water go? It is possible that God caused the floor of the oceans to sink allowing the water to flow off the land and into the oceans. You might say… that’s a lot of water to drain in a worldwide flood. And you would be right, but the oceans are very large and very deep.

If Noah’s Flood was worldwide, then where is the evidence?

There is much evidence that points toward a worldwide flood in the days of Noah. On every continent we find sea animal fossils in rock layers that are high above sea level. There are marine fossils in most of the rock layers in the Grand Canyon. This includes the rim of the canyon at 7,000 feet above sea level. These rock layers must have been deposited beneath ocean waters loaded with sediment that swept over northern Arizona and into most of North America.

270 stories of a worldwide flood exist in many cultures around the world. This is called historical collaboration. A flood story in China records that Fuhi, his wife, three sons and three daughters escape a great flood and were the only people alive on earth. A flood story in Hawaii records that Nu-u and his family escaped a global flood by building a great canoe and filling it with animals. Only he and his family were left alive. Some of the details were lost over time, but the important parts remained; man was very sinful, God judged the world by destroying it with a worldwide flood, the animals and a righteous family were saved.

A worldwide flood would have produced vast rock and mud deposits, burrowing billions of land, air and sea creatures along with much of the vegetation. And that’s exactly what you find all over the world. The animals, many of whom turned into fossils, are found in many rock layers; something only a worldwide flood could do. Masses of plants turned into huge deposits of coal and oil. The earth’s crust has massive amounts of layered sedimentary rock, sometimes miles deep. These layers of sandstone, limestone and shale laid down by water were once soft like mud, but they are now hard stone. Some layers extend across continents that only a global flood could accomplish. There is also volcanic rock layers extended over much of the earth. They are often mixed in with the sedimentary layers and often with vast volcanic lava that erupted under water.

In 1971, a rock collector found some bones recently exposed by a bulldozer in hard sandstone in Utah. What he found was the lower half of two human skeletons. He excavated further and found the skeletons of 10 humans that were buried under 58 feet of rock hard sandstone. These skeletons have the appearance of being washed into place, rather than being buried as in a grave. It seems obvious that these 10 people were buried rapidly by some kind of massive flood. These skeletons indicate rapid burial in water and mud which later turned into stone, something only a flood could do.

But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed

and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the

world of that time was deluged and destroyed.

2 Peter 3:5-6

If God is so loving then why is there so much pain and suffering in the world?

God’s original plan was to have a perfect relationship with man and woman. God wanted righteousness and his plan was good. God did not want sadness, pain, loss or suffering of any kind. But God also wanted mankind to have the freedom to choose to love him or not. Mankind chose not to love and obey God and we have been suffering ever since. If you had a child and told him not to hit a brick wall and your child disobeyed and broke his hand, would it be your fault or the child’s? In the same way it is never God’s fault for the hurt that we see all around us.

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.

Romans 5:12

We all through Adam brought sin into this world and are suffering for it. It does not seem fair to us when a 2 year old has leukemia and there is no human explanation for these types of heartaches. The fact is that God being a holy God must judge with a righteous judgement. Without judgement there is no holiness and without holiness there would not be God. Can we understand it all? Of course not, but we do need to accept that it is.

That’s the bad news, now the good news. There is a way to avoid God’s judgement of hell. Your sin has to be judged. Someone has to be punished because you through Adam rebelled against God and were born into sin. Remember that God did not want it that way, but that is the way it is. God had a plan, he sent his Son, Jesus to take that punishment in our place. That is why Jesus died on the cross, he suffered and died a cruel death so that a holy God could judge and punish the sins of all mankind. Does that mean that everyone goes to heaven? No, God does not want to force everyone, but gives the freedom for people to choose. If you want your sins to be part of the sins that Jesus died for, you need to come to him and ask. Tell Jesus that you believe that he is the Son of God who died on the cross and rose the third day. Confess that you are a sinner and ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins. Ask Jesus to come into your heart and become your Lord and Savior.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9

If God is going to do His will, then why pray?

If that is a question that you would ask then you don’t understand why we pray. We pray to develop and strengthen our relationship to God. It’s an opportunity to praise and thank an almighty and glorious God. To many of us God is nothing more than a Santa Claus who gives us whatever we ask for. Then when we don’t get it, we are disappointed. Prayer is not about us but about God.

We find a woman who very much wants a son. Her name is Hannah and her story is found in 1 Samuel. She prayed for a son and made an agreement with God that if He would grant her request, she would give that son back to Him. God did give her the son that she wanted and after she gave the boy to Eli the High Priest to help in the Temple she prays this prayer.

My heart rejoices in the Lord; in the Lord my horn is lifted high. My mouth boast over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance. There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you, there is no Rock like our God. Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the Lord is a God who knows and by Him deeds are weighed. For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s; upon them he has set the world.

1 Samuel 2:1-3; 8

Notice that Hannah’s prayer was centered on God. Picture her situation; she pleaded with God for a son and when she has her prayer answered, gives the child back to God. As a mother this had to break her heart. But her focus is still on God. Very often our main purpose of our prayers is on us; what I want, my situation, my disappointments or my needs. Yes, God does want us to pray for ourselves but not as the main focus. We need to change how we think about prayer. Have you ever prayed for what God wants? God wants his children to gain knowledge in what He teaches us in His Word. God wants people to believe in Him and that His Son died on the cross and rose from the dead. God wants people to encourage and love one another. God wants Satan’s attempts to fail. Have you ever prayed for those things? Remember, we are changing our focus from us to God. God wants our praise, because when we praise Him it reminds us that we serve a truly awesome God. It is good to thank God in our prayers. It is with a heart of thanksgiving that we draw closer to Him.

We are building a stronger and more intimate relationship with God, and much of that building is through prayer.

If God created everything, does that mean he created evil?

Evil is not something that can be created, evil is something that is brought upon someone in rebellion against a holy God. Satan was puffed up with pride and rebelled against God thus bringing evil upon himself.

You (Satan) said in your heart, “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most High”.

Isaiah 14:13-14

Just as Satan brought evil upon himself by his prideful desire to be like God. Eve (then Adam) brought evil to the human race by Eve’s desire.

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

Genesis 3:6

God did not bring sin into creation, our (through Adam) desires did. God did not trick or deceive Satan into becoming full of pride, Satan’s own desires caused his pride. And God does not tempt us to sin, it’s our own desires that entices us to sin.

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters, yes even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:26

Is Jesus teaching us to hate our families?

Remember when you were a kid your mother would say, “I told you a million times not to throw balls in the house! Did your mother actually say that a million times? Of course not, she was making a point of importance. The grammar term for an exaggeration is hyperbole. Jesus was using a hyperbole when He said that you could not be my disciple without hating your family. We need to love God so much that nothing should interfere with that love. There are times when we must choose between pleasing our families and pleasing God. Jesus’ demand that we be willing to hate our relatives is not a call for ill will or cruelty. In this context, it means to “love less”. In such circumstances we will find it necessary, in a comparative sense, to “hate” anything or anyone who would stand between us and the Lord.

Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Matthew 10:37

If Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel, then where did all the people come from? Where did Cain find his wife?

Adam and Eve had three sons that were mentioned by name – Cain, Abel and Seth. Even though the first three children were given to us by name, Adam and Eve had other children.

After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Genesis 5:4

Adam lived 800 years after Cain, Abel and Seth were born. You can have a lot of kids in 800 years. God instructed Adam and Eve to have children.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it.” Genesis 1:28

Cain then married a sister or possibly a niece. I know that you are thinking that you can’t marry a close relative. You’re right because your children would have too many genetic mistakes. But back in Genesis the genetic makeup was much stronger so that issue was not a problem. But to marry a sister…that’s gross. But back in Genesis when you lived to 900 years you were out of the house before your parents stopped having kids and you didn’t have that brother sister relationship.

The law forbidding close relatives marrying was not given until the time of Moses.

If a man marries his sister, the daughter of either his father or his mother and they have sexual relations, it is a disgrace.

Leviticus 20:17

I was saved when I was a kid but since then I have done some bad things. Have I lost my salvation?

Let’s make sure you had salvation first before we answer your question. If you had humbly come to Jesus and prayed that you believed that he came down to earth as a man, yet fully God, and died on the cross to take the punishment for your sin and then rose from the dead to conquer sin, and you admitted that you were a sinner and asked for God through Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sins and asked Him into your heart, then you are saved.

Now for the question…Can someone lose their salvation? Answer is no you cannot. Here’s why. You can’t undo what Jesus did on the cross. If you could, then your sins would be more powerful than God’s love and mercy and more powerful than what Christ did on the cross. All of your sins, past sins, present and even future sins are forever forgiven. Nothing can change that, not even your behavior.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39

We as Christians will at times sin. But God will continue to forgive us those sins if we are sorry because of what we did. That does not take away from our eternal forgiveness but helps us grow spiritually. Repentance will help us grow closer to God and dependent on Jesus to live a life that honors Him. A desire to study and meditate on the Word of God will help us focus on God’s will for our lives.

I want to forgive someone who hurt me, but I can’t.

Most of us have had at least one person who has hurt us or done something bad against us. We know that God commands us to forgive, but we are just too focused on the pain, the anger, all the negative thinking. Peter asked Jesus about forgiving others and He told him a parable.

Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. The servant fell on his knees before him. Be patient with me, he begged, and I will pay back everything. The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. Pay back what you owe me! He demanded. His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, be patient with me and I will pay you back. But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. Matthew 18:23-30

I know what you are thinking, nice story but what does it have to do with forgiveness? The master in the parable is God, the debt, sin, the servant, us. Look how much debt (sin) the master (God) forgave the servant (us). A talent was a weight of money equal to six thousand denarii. Since a working man received one denarius a day, one talent was the equivalent of twenty years’ wages, a quarter of a million dollars in today’s terms. The servant owed ten thousand of these, a debt of over two billion dollars! Why does the Lord use such astronomical figures? He is reminding us of our debt before a holy God.

The master forgives the debt and sets the servant free. But when the servant approaches a servant like himself, he demands payment on a debt. Look how much he owes, one hundred denarii, approximately $3,000. You are now understanding the point of the parable; our debt of sin to a holy God is so great we could never repay it. But being sinners ourselves, it is within our ability to tap into the love God has for us, and forgive others.