Why is it Important that Genesis is Right?

Reading Time: 9 minutes

@robineccles on Twitter asked me, “why is it important that the first couple of chapters of the OT are right?”

Robin asked a very good and very important question. Let’s determine why it matters that Genesis is correct.

In fact, I believe the whole Bible is correct. I believe the Old Testament books and the New Testament books are all inspired by God for roughly 40 men to write over a few thousands of years.

For answering Robin’s question, I’ll stick to the first three chapters of Genesis as was asked about specifically.

The Book of Genesis Chapters 1 – 3
I believe as Genesis 1:1 states; “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

I believe as Genesis 1:26-31 states; Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female. God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.” God also said, “Look, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the surface of the entire earth, and every tree whose fruit contains seed. This food will be for you, for all the wildlife of the earth, for every bird of the sky, and for every creature that crawls on the earth-everything having the breath of life in it. I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. Evening came, and then morning: the sixth day.

I believe that as Genesis 2:16-17 states; The Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.”

I believe Genesis 2:21-25: So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to come over the man, and he slept. God took one of his ribs and closed the flesh at that place. Then the Lord God made the rib He had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man. And the man said: This one, at last, is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called woman, for she was taken from man. This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh. Both the man and his wife were naked, yet felt no shame.

I believe after the woman was deceived by the serpent in Genesis 3:1-5, as Genesis 3: 6 states; Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

I believe as Genesis 3: 14-15 states; Then the Lord God said to the serpent: Because you have done this [deceived the woman], you are cursed more than any livestock and more than any wild animal. You will move on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life. I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel. (This is the first prophesy of Christ Jesus coming to overcome evil once and for all forever.)

I believe as Genesis 3:16-19 states; God said to the woman: I will intensify your labor pains; you will bear children in anguish. Your desire will be for your husband, yet he will dominate you. And He said to Adam, “Because you listened to your wife’s voice and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do not eat from it’: The ground is cursed because of you. You will eat from it by means of painful labor all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground, since you were taken from it. For you are dust, and you will return to dust.”

The Answer to Robin’s Question
Why is it that the book of Genesis being correct matters? Or to paraphrase what Robin asked; Why is it Important that the first chapters of Genesis are Right?

If Genesis 1:1 is wrong and God didn’t create the heavens and the earth, well then, nothing else in Genesis would matter nor would anything in either of the other books of the Old Testament nor even in the New Testament; i.e. The whole Bible would be worthless.

If Genesis 1: 26-31 is wrong and God didn’t create mankind (Robin, you, me, and everyone else) in God’s Own image then Robin, you, and me along with everyone else on earth is nothing special and none of us are worth anything more than any unicellular organism or any other animal.

If Genesis 2:16-17 is wrong and God didn’t tell Adam to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, then Adam, if he really existed, didn’t know any better than to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 2:16-17 being wrong would also mean that God set Adam up in not telling him to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thus God wouldn’t be a fair, loving and caring God; He’d (if existing) instead be an unfair, loveless and hateful God not caring about anyone but Himself.

If Genesis 2:21-25 is wrong and God didn’t create the first woman from the first man and God didn’t bond husband and wife together as one flesh in marriage, then anything goes in marriage as there is no objective defined meaning of marriage. If Genesis 2:21-25 is wrong then there shouldn’t be any shame for any married couple to be naked together… also if both Genesis 1: 26-31 and Genesis 2:21-25 are wrong, then we being merely animals no one should feel shame being naked anywhere at any time as no animals are shameful for being naked.

If Genesis 3: 6 is wrong and neither Eve nor Adam ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, then there was never an original first sin (knowingly doing something wrong/knowingly not doing something you know is right). If there was no original first sin, then none of Adam’s and Eve’s offspring would sin because the sin nature would not be present to be passed from generation to generation.

If Genesis 2:16-17 and Genesis 3: 6 are wrong: then there would be no absolute objective good and evil because God set Adam up and thus Adam didn’t know any better than to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If there is no objective good and evil, then there is merely opinions of degrees of like and dislike.

If Genesis 3: 14-15 is wrong: then there is no Christ Jesus. If there is no Christ Jesus, there is no forgiveness nor salvation from sin and thus there is no hope for a future in Heaven. If there is no Christ Jesus then every other book in the Bible is wrong as each of the 66 books in the Bible reference in some way to Christ Jesus; Thus then the whole Bible would be no more valuable than the Book of Mormon, the Quran, the teachings of Jehovah Witnesses, or any other book on religion; meaning the Bible would be fundamentally totally worthless.

If Genesis 3:16-19 is wrong: women’s labor pain would be minimum; women wouldn’t feel dominated by men; no one would have to work for a living; there would be no weeds, thorns or thistles, and there would be no death.

Basically If Genesis chapters 1 through 3 are Wrong
If Genesis chapters 1 through 3 are wrong, nothing in the whole Bible is valid or even makes sense because from within the book of Genesis, is laid the foundation to the whole history of the creation of the universe and earth, life, death, good, evil, forgiveness and redemption as expounded upon throughout the other 65 books of the Bible. If Genesis is wrong, there would be no loving God as He (if existing) would be deceitful and uncaring. Without a loving and caring God there would be no absolute objective good and evil as there would only be opinions of degrees of likes and dislikes thus no one could judge anyone for being wrong about anything. Robin, you, me, and everyone else in the world would be no more meaningful than bacteria and there would be no love in the world as we’d be merely animals doing what animals do; i.e. mankind (and all life) would have no intrinsic worth. There would be no love as we would be merely animals and no objective meaning of marriage between one man and one woman as we would be merely animals doing whatever we wanted to do.

If Genesis chapters 1-3 are wrong, and we are merely animals without intrinsic worth and there is no need for Christ Jesus because there would have been no one knowingly doing anything wrong nor would there be anyone knowingly doing anything wrong as being merely animals with no intrinsic worth there are no objective morals thus, no need for a savior saving us from our knowingly doing wrong as there is nothing Robin, you, me, or anyone else in the world (being merely animals with no intrinsic worth) would need to ask forgiveness for from anyone including and especially from a God if existing who would be unfair, unloving and uncaring.

If Genesis chapters 1-3 are wrong, being merely animals with no intrinsic worth, why would anyone care about anything? Why not if Genesis chapters 1-3 are wrong, just do whatever it is we animals want to do whenever we animals want to do it? If Genesis chapters 1-3 are wrong and we are merely animals with no intrinsic worth among other animals with no fair, loving and caring God to judge and punish those people willingly and knowingly who continue doing wrong, what reason is there to not rape, murder, steal, insult, smite, put down the wean and sick, etc. as other animals do? Shouldn’t survival of the fittest be the rule of all animals if Genesis chapters 1-3 are wrong?

If Genesis chapters 1 through 3 are wrong, why would anyone being merely an animal care about anything or anyone other than themselves?

If Genesis chapters 1-3 are wrong, there’s no hope for anyone to be forgiven and no hope for being redeemed into Heaven via the only begotten Son of God, Christ Jesus who suffered and physically died on a cross to fully pay for your and my sins and then physically rose from death so that you and I if we turn from our willingly sinning and put our hope and faith in Him can be with Him in Heaven.

Basically, if Genesis chapters 1 through 3 are wrong, then the whole Bible would be no more valuable than the Book of Mormon, the Quran, the teachings of Jehovah Witnesses, or any book on religion; meaning the Bible would be fundamentally totally worthless.

Why would anyone over the thousands of years it’s been written including today care anything about any part of the Bible if Genesis chapters 1 through 3 are wrong?

Glory be to God in Heaven that Genesis chapters 1 through 3 are right!

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