Introduction
The goal of these lessons is to teach children and adult alike the many truths that we need to remain strong in our faith. With so many Christians losing their faith when they attend college (75% fall away), we must be all the more vigilant to teach the truth so this does not happen.
We at CARM want Christians to be equipped in biblical knowledge and history, theology, reason, and evidences so that they can remain strong in their faith and even be missionaries of the Lord in all areas whether it be school, work, family, society, or whatever the Lord may call them to. If you’re interested in seeing the intended outline of topics these lessons will cover, then download topicstobecovered.doc from the webpage.
You can do the lessons one at a time or more. It depends on you.
We suggest doing this after family dinner, but you can do this whenever you want. Regularity is important for children so plan to do the lessons regularly, maybe 2-4 times a week.
It is best if the father leads. If this isn’t possible, mom should. Ask the children what they have learned, what was interesting, etc. Pray after the lessons.
Tangents are usually good. It isn’t necessary to adhere to the lessons with strict rigidity. Sometimes a conversation can start up that isn’t on topic. That’s fine. It helps to make the sessions more enjoyable. You can always come back to the lesson another night.
The questions, Lesson Points, and Commentary are there for you to read, to help provide interaction with your children, serve as a guide, and to help you learn as well.
You are to adapt the material to the age of children.
We use the NASB since it is more literal to the original languages. However, this means you will occasionally need to restate the text for your children to understand. It’s good practice.
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- Creation, Days 1 to 7
- Adam and Eve and the Fall
Updates
- 3/30/2009
- Added introduction
- Removed the “notes” section under the Learning Points box
- Narrowed the Learning Points box to make more room
- Widened the Commentary Box to make more room
- Added underlines to Bible text to highlight areas of focus.
Creation, Day One
Genesis 1:1-5, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.”
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This is the beginning of the universe as described in the Bible. It is not meant to be a scientific examination. Rather, it is a theological one. Some might think that Genesis contradicts science. But the real issue is whether or not science contradicts the Bible. Remember, science is always learning.
God's creative work demonstrates his majesty, his glory, and his ability to carry out perfectly what he commands. The complexity of the universe reflects the incredible wisdom and glory of God. This should cause his people to have faith in God and to trust his working in their lives.
God created the universe and gave it order and purpose. In this is an important concept. As a painting reflects the artist, so the universe reflects God's nature. It is vast, balanced, and organized. It is not an accident. It is hereby design and purpose. This means God has created it for a designed purpose and when he puts man on the earth, it is also for a reason. This will be discussed later.
God created the universe out of nothing. This does not mean that "nothing" was substance. It means that there was nothing there and God, by his divine action, brought the universe into existence.
Also, since God created the heavens and the earth it means that God is separate from the heavens and the earth. Pantheism teaches that God and the universe are of the same essence. But the Bible denies this.
Creation, Day Two
Genesis 1:6-8, “Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. 8 God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.”
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The second day is the only day of creation where God does not say it was good. On day 1, God says the “light was good” (v. 1:4). On day 2, nothing is mentioned as being good. On day 3, the plants are good (1:12). On day 4, God separates the light from the darkness and it was good (1:18). On day 5 the creation of sea life and birds is good (1:21). On day 6, all God made was very good (1:31).
This is the third time that God called something. In 1:5 He called the light Day in the darkness night. Here he called the expanse heaven.
It is possible that the separation of the expanse above and below designated that there was a heavy water vapor enshrouding the earth. Notice that part of what God does is to make distinctions. He had alreadydistinguish between night and day on creation date one.
Job 38:8-11, “Or who enclosed the sea with doors when, bursting forth, it went out from the womb; 9When I made a cloud its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, 10And I placed boundaries on it and set a bolt and doors, 11And I said, ‘Thus far you shall come, but no farther; and here shall your proud waves stop’?
Creation, Day Three
Genesis 1:9-13, “Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with seed in them, on the earth”; and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.”
- What did God create on the first day?
- What did God say?
Creation
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On the third day the Lord made the dry land appear as well as the oceans. Undoubtedly God created the plants in the oceans as well as on the dry land.
By stating that God had created the world and was able to control such things as the sky, the waters, plants, etc. Moses, who wrote Genesis, is telling us that other religious systems that existed at the time were incorrect. The false religions in the area worshiped the sun, the wind, and even the oceans.
Days one through three deal with "separations". On day one, God separated the heavens and the earth. On day two separate the expanse of waters above and below. On day three God separated the dry land from the oceans.
But the separations are not the only thing we take notice of. God, of course, is in control of life itself and day three is where this life begins in the form of plants.
Creation, Day Four
Genesis 1:14-19, “Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 16 And God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. 17 And God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.”
- What did God create on the first day?
- What did God say?
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One theory about the creation days is that they are literal 24 periods, while another theory says they are wrong periods of time. A question related to this is how can you have a day without the Earth rotation and without the sun by which a day could be measured?
One theory of creation is that God made the sun first, the earth second, etc., but, that the sun was not visible until the atmosphere cleared up enough to be seen and that the Genesis account is written from the perspective of viewing things from the earth. One supporting phenomena for this theory is that solar rays on the early earth‘s heavily wet atmosphere (day two) combined with photosynthesis from plants (day three) would result in the atmosphere becoming clear and the sun becoming visible (day four). If this is the case, then it would agree with present day science and it would help explain how we could have day and night before the sun was created. The question would then be, how did Moses know this when he wrote it?
On the other hand, the Genesis days are not meant to be scientific statements. They are meant to describe how God created. There is absolutely no problem in the days of creation with God being the one performing the miraculous.
Creation, Day Five
Genesis 1:20-23, “Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.” 21 And God created the great sea monsters, and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.”
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The fifth of day parallels the second day. With the fifth day God brings life into the sky and oceans. On the second day God made the expanse that separated the waters from the atmosphere. God creates with a command and thus sets forth his superiority over all other religious systems that would worship the creatures in the air or those in the sea. Likewise, the wind, the land, and the oceans are not to be worshiped. Instead, they testified in the majesty in power God's creative work.
Psalm 19:1, “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.”
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In verse 26 notice that it says "let Us make man in Our image …” Why would it speak in the plural? It cannot be that God is speaking of the angels helping them create man because Isaiah 44:24 says , “I, the Lord, am the maker of all things, stretching out the heavens by Myself and spreading out the earth all alone.” The verse says that God is the maker of all things, this includes people. Therefore it cannot be that the angelic realm helped God created mankind.
Mormonism teaches that God is only one of many gods (Bruce McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 163) and that The Trinity is three separate gods, (James Talmage, Articles of Faith, p. 35). Thereofre, they conclude that the plural usage is referring to other gods. Of course, this is false.
The best explanation rests in understanding that the Trinity is one God in three persons. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all the one God. As is noted on the previous page, the image of God is not a physical thing. Rather, it's in the spiritual and character aspect of God that we reflect being in God's image. We are capable of great things and great extremes (good and evil). This is because we are made in God's image.
Because we are made in God's image and because even unbelievers are two, we are to show proper respect and honor to every person since they to reflect the image of God in them. Unfortunately, many of them suppress the truth of God's knowledge in open denial (atheism) aren't false theologies like Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Islam, etc. They all need the true gospel.
The TrinityFATHER / SON / HOLY SPIRIT
Called God / Phil. 1:2 / John 1:1,14; Col. 2:9 / Acts 5:3-4
Creator / Isaiah 64:8 / John 1:3; Col. 1:15-17 / Job 33:4, 26:13
Resurrects / 1 Thess. 1:10 / John 2:19, 10:17 / Rom. 8:11
Indwells / 2 Cor. 6:16 / Col. 1:27 / John 14:17
Everywhere / 1 Kings 8:27 / Matt. 28:20 / Psalm 139:7-10
All knowing / 1 John 3:20 / John 16:30; 21:17 / 1 Cor. 2:10-11
Fellowship / 1 John 1:3 / 1 Cor. 1:9 / 2 Cor. 13:14; Phil. 2:1
Eternal / Psalm 90:2 / Micah 5:1-2 / Rom. 8:11; Heb. 9:14
A Will / Luke 22:42 / Luke 22:42 / 1 Cor. 12:11
Speaks / Matt. 3:17; Luke 9:25 / Luke 5:20; 7:48 / Acts 8:29; 11:12; 13:2
Love / John 3:16 / Eph. 5:25 / Rom. 15:30