The Simplicity of Faith

Our name "Seventh-day Adventist" reveals that we believe in a supernatural and miraculous beginning and ending to this world. We were raised up for such a time as this as doubts and misinterpretations about the Bible increase. Unfortunately, even certain scholars among us have been leading some away from the foundations of our faith in a literal seven days of creation and in the universality of Noah's flood, and have allowed themselves to be influenced by men's scientific theories of evolution.

Pastor Bohr shows how faith is based on ample evidence that appeals to reason but is not given absolute proof. God always allows room for men to choose to disbelieve Him. Hebrews 11:1-3 calls upon us to simply believe God's Word that He created the universe out of nothing. Faith sees the unseen through the seen and puts its hope and trust in God. "If you refuse to believe until every shadow of uncertainty and every possibility of doubt is removed you will never believe. The doubt that demands perfect knowledge will never yield to faith. Faith rests upon evidence, not demonstration" (5T 68). Pastor Bohr explains how Satan used the very same principles in luring humans into an alternative explanation of our origins that he is using today, when he caused Eve to doubt that God really was the One Who created her and Adam. Neither she nor Adam had seen God create anything, so the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was allowed as a test of faith in Him as their Creator and Lord, based on the evidence they did have. Thus, evolution, promoting freedom from a Superior Being Who knows everything and makes the rules that govern us, is not a modern idea but has been around since the very beginning of our race. This sermon is very much needed at a time like this and calls us all to get back to having simple faith like a child and to fully trust that when God says something, it is true. It explores Noah's simple faith in God's word that there would be a flood despite it seeming scientifically impossible. Pastor Bohr connects ties, found in 2 Peter 3:3-7, between creation, the flood and the second coming, and shows why when one is doubted, the others often come into doubt as well. He also warns us to not loiter around Satan's enchanted ground but to stay far away from things that can cause us to doubt and sin, just like Eve was warned by God not to even go near the tree, which was the only place in the Garden where Satan was allowed to have access to them. "The greatest minds, if not guided by the word of God in their research, become bewildered in their attempts to trace the relations of science and revelation. Because the Creator and His works are so far beyond their comprehension that they are unable to explain them by natural laws, they regard Bible history as unreliable. Those who doubt the reliability of the records of the Old and New Testaments, will be led to go a step further, and doubt the existence of God; and then, having lost their anchor, they are left to beat about upon the rocks of infidelity. These persons have lost the simplicity of faith. There should be a settled belief in the divine authority of God's Holy Word" (PP 113-114).