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BEREAN STUDIES ON THE CREATION

The Text-Book Used for this Course is Scripture Studies, Volume VI—Study 1

“In the beginning”

JULY 3

(1) What must have been the condition of the earth during the long period in which the rings or water canopies were concentrating towards the poles before breaking in deluges? Was the flood in Noah’s day due to the breaking of one of these ring-canopies, and what must have been its effect? And what are the evidences or proofs corroborative? P. 25.

(2) What say Professor Wright and Sir T. W. Dawson on the subject, as reported in the New York Journal. Pp. 26, 27.

(3) Did the flood of Noah’s day come at just the right time to fit with Divine Providence respecting humanity, and does this prove to us Divine foreknowledge and arrangement in respect to man’s affairs?

(4) What conclusions may we draw from the frozen mammoth of Eastern Siberia? Pp. 28, 29.

(5) From the standpoint we have assumed, how shall we divide the creative week into four distinct parts? Specify these parts. P. 29, par. 3.

(6) What testimony loyal to the Bible does Prof. Silliman offer respecting the structure of our planet? P. 30, par. 1.

(7) Quote Prof. Dana’s comment on creation and the wisdom displayed in the order of creation, as outlined in Genesis. P. 30, par. 2,3.

JULY 10

(8) Give a brief synopsis of the events of the first creative epoch-day and show the harmony between this and the Scriptural declaration, “The Spirit of God was brooding over the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light, and there was light.” P. 30, par. 4; P. 31, par. 1.

(9) Give a brief synopsis of the events of the second creative epoch-day, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the water and let it divide the waters from the waters,” etc. P. 31, par. 3; P. 32, par. 1.

(10) Briefly summarize the events of the third creative epoch-day, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together in one place and let dry land appear. And it was so.” Pp. 32, 33.

JULY 17

(11) Did the events of these great epoch-days overlap each other, or how can we view this matter, the falling of the rings, etc.? P. 34, par. 1.

(12) Why was not the light of the sun, moon and stars seen until the fourth day, and what were the advantages and disadvantages of the cloudy, steamy conditions prevalent before? P. 34, par. 1.

(13) Explain the lapping of one epoch or day upon another and show how much was accomplished during the first four epoch-days of twenty-eight thousand years. P. 34, par. 2.

(14) In the record of the fifth creative epoch-day God said, Let the waters swarm with living creatures, etc., and created great whales and every living creature with which the waters swarm after their kind, and every winged fowl after its kind. Does not this seem to imply that creation was carried on along Evolutionary lines to an extent—in the development of various kinds or species? P. 35, par. 2.

(15) And is there any evidence that these kinds did not thus reach a fixity or perfection from which they can evolute no further? Explain the entire proposition. P. 35.

(16) To what scientific period does the fifth creative epoch-day correspond? P. 30, par. 1.

JULY 24

(17) In the description of the work of the sixth creative epoch-day does the expression, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature after its kind,” etc., imply an evolutionary process up to a certain point and the establishment thereby of a fixed species? P. 37, par. 1.

(18) Give a description of the condition of things in the sixth day and demonstrate if by then the earth was more prepared than previously for the different kinds of animals, etc., brought into existence. P. 36, par. 3.

(19) How many kinds or orders of lower animal life do we find, and how may these be described? P. 36, par. 3.

(20) What is the final work of the sixth creative epoch-day accomplished at its close? P. 37, par. 2.

(21) In view of the evidences, should we or should we not presume that a measure of Evolution operated for the creation of man and the bringing of him up to a fixity of species or kind, as it operated with the lower animals? P. 37, par. 4.

(22) Cite evidences showing that in man’s creation different expressions entirely are used from those in connection with the development of plant life and the lower animal life. P. 38, par. 1-3.

(23) How shall we explain the two different accounts of creation, the second beginning Genesis 2:4? P. 38, par. 4.

JULY 31

(24) Explain why elohim or gods are mentioned in connection with the first account of man’s creation, and Jehovah in connection with the second account. P. 38, par. 5.

(25) Why is it not said of men, as of the beasts of the field, “Let the earth bring forth,” nor as of the sea creatures, “Let the sea swarm”? Why is man mentioned as a direct creation and one individual? P. 39, par. 2.

(26) What are we to understand to be signified by the statement that man was created in God’s image? Does this image relate to the elohim or to Jehovah? State what difference this would make, and why? P. 39, par. 2, 3.

(27) Is this issue between modern scientific thought along Evolutionary lines and the Bible teaching considerably in harmony, or are they directly opposed to each other? If so, state how and why? P. 39, par. 3.

(28) Does anything, aside from the Genesis records support the theory of man’s creation as a perfect being? P. 40, par. 1.

(29) Does the fact that our Lord Jesus is declared to be a corresponding price for man imply that the man to whom he corresponded was perfect, or that he was next to a monkey? P. 40, par. 2.

(30) Does the fact that the Bible teaches that the hope of mankind is restitution or resurrection, raising up, up, up, out of sin and death conditions, seem an evidence or proof that man must have been up before he fell and is now down beneath his original condition in order that restitution might profit him? P. 40, par. 3.

(31) How does the Bible teaching of restitution comport with the Evolution theory, and what conclusion must Bible students reach on the subject from the testimony of Acts 3:19-21? P. 40, par. 4.

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— June 1, 1910 —