Is Genesis History?

I was given access to preview the documentary, Is Genesis History? It is a movie which provides positive, evidence-based arguments for the reliability of the Bible as history. It is showing on February 23 in select theaters, and you can learn more here.

No matter what you believe about the Bible or about account of Creation and the Flood, this is a great movie for you to watch. If you believe that much of the Bible is fiction, this documentary will challenge you to consider some facts you might not have encountered before. If you believe the Bible is historically accurate, then this movie will provide you with further evidence to support your view.

Is the Bible True? Of course!

As for myself, I believe the Bible is 100% accurate and true, but (if you have read my blog or listened to my podcast for a while), I have a somewhat different approach to this belief than is commonly taught. For example, in my One Verse Podcast episodes on Genesis 1, I go to great length to show how this creation account was not written to provide a scientifically accurate account of how the world began, and so it is a mistake to read it that way. But this doesn’t mean Genesis 1 is in error. Far from it! Instead, when we understand the point that the author is making, Genesis 1 becomes “more true” than ever before! The critical truths that Genesis 1 is actually teaching are way more important than just to provide an historical account of how the world began.

Is Genesis History?

Anyway … this is not really the point of the documentary, “Is Genesis History?” The point of this documentary is more focused on events in the Bible like the flood account of Genesis 6-8. And on this event, I agree that what we have in the Bible is historically accurate.

Now, personally, I don’t care too much if someone reads Genesis as literal history or as literal theology. It is true either way.

What does bother me, however, is when someone rejects the historic reliability of Genesis based on “scientific evidence.” As much as I love and value science, I sometimes find that scientific evidence is based on cherry-picking scientific facts to prove a pre-determined scientific conclusion.

What about the Flood?

The flood is the perfect example. Many reject the historicity of a worldwide flood based on questionable scientific presuppositions. For example, the idea that there is not enough water on earth to cover all the mountains of the earth ignores the possibility that maybe not all the mountains of the earth were always as high as they are now, nor the oceans as deep. Scientists have pointed out that if all the mountains were thrown into the sea so that all “land” was of equal altitude, the water of the earth would cover all land by a distance of 1.7 miles. Therefore, we don’t need water high enough to cover Mount Everest, we just need some geological plate shifting so that mountains rise up and ocean floors drop.

Similar arguments can be made about where all the water came from (and where it sent), how Noah and the animals fit in the ark, and other related questions. Places like the Grand Canyon also receive a much simpler explanation than the theory (which is rapidly losing favor) that the Grand Canyon was formed over millions of years by a small trickle of water. Is that what happened? Maybe. Maybe not. But the fact that the Mount Saint Helens canyon, which is hundreds of feet deep, formed over the period of a few weeks in 1980 makes thinking people wonder about the formation of the Grand Canyon. Yes, the Grand Canyon is much deeper and larger, but the water and sediment from a worldwide flood is also much deeper with higher volume.

Look, I am not a scientist, and I don’t claim to be one. I am a theologian. In theological studies, however, I frequently encounter people who read a text of Scripture that seems difficult to them and their preconceived ideas of what should be in the Bible, and when they read these troublesome texts, they jump straight to the conclusion that best fits their current theological system. They say, “It’s an error! This is an error in the text. The Bible is wrong.”

I have found, however, the most valuable of jewels lie under the hardest of rocks. With some hard work and creative thinking, I have found reasonable explanations for nearly every troublesome text in the Bible. And some of these explanations have led me into new insights and deeper understandings of God, Scripture, Jesus, sin, salvation, and humanity, that I never would have found if I had simply gone with the flow and said, “Oh! An error!”

In Scripture and theological pursuit, those who resort too quickly to “Error in the text” often miss the deepest truths of Scripture.

So also with science. I am not “anti-scientific.” Nor am I a fundamentalist Christian. I want all people to consider all the evidence with an open mind.

Many people have been taught the theory of evolution as the method by which we got the world as we now see it. If that’s you, consider some other lines of evidence as well. Watch “Is Genesis History?” and see what you can learn.

In this documentary, Dr. Del Tackett talks to experts in geology, biology, astronomy, archaeology, the Bible and more—seeking answers to centuries-long questions surrounding the book of Genesis:

• Was the universe created in six literal days?
• Did humans evolve?
• Were Adam and Eve real?
• Was there a global flood?
• What happened to the dinosaurs?

“Is Genesis History?” presents a positive, evidenced-based case for the Bible’s historical reliability.

Below is the trailer for you to get an idea of what is in this great documentary. After you watch the trailer, you can learn more about the movie and get tickets here: Is Genesis History: The Movie.