Movie Review: Is Genesis History?

Note: This giveaway is officially closed. Winners have been announced.

The concept of Old Earth versus Young Earth, which was discussed in the documentary film, Is Genesis history? was sort of introduced to me by a self-proclaimed atheist friend of mine years ago. He was challenging me on my faith and while I could explain much of the Bible verses in context, I cannot defend it on apologian scale.

A lot of it is my fault, really. I have the materials and resources available, I even bought myself a few books, and friends have been throwing me some of theirs as well, but I’ve been lazy about it. In short, I never really took time to read them.

I remember watching a documentary about the Exodus on National Geographic and how my husband, Jay, and I were reduced to tears when it showed proof of the Hebrew Joseph’s past existence in Egypt. We just really felt moved knowing that the account on how God saved his people from slavery in Egypt is true. So yes, I am, in a way interested. Interested enough to watch a few DVD’s on the Bible, but I guess, not committed enough to really dive into the details of these proof of our faith.

The irony is that I am surrounded by skeptics. My atheist friend isn’t the only one among my “friends” who questions the existence of the God I worship. There was also a woman whom I met in the entertainment industry years ago who boldly posts about the “foolishness” of Christianity.  And there are others, too.

And while I’m always open to those who want to know how to apply the Bible in their lives, truth be told, I steer clear of those who seek answers simply because I can’t provide them. Sad, I know.

Why Genesis?

I never understood the the significance Young Earth versus Old Earth until I watched this documentary. In fact, my friend’s questions back then unrolled in my head as the film went on.

One of the things that I learned early on as a Christian is that the books in the Bible, from beginning to Revelations are all linked together to our salvation in Christ. People cannot take the gospels as history without first acknowledging that Genesis is also history.

The film’s position is that of a young Earth. That Earth only existed a thousand years as opposed to the theory that it’s been around a million years which supports the evolution theory.

The film points out that if Genesis is not history, then everything else in the Bible aren’t true either. One of the experts in the film said that even the disciples would refer to the events in Genesis as narratives which means that people of those days take Genesis as part of history.

Scientific proof

I don’t know about you but when I say I steer clear of Bible skeptics, I literally mean I run away from these people. But as one of our pastors and apologian Pastor Jun Divierte said, sometimes we need to meet these skeptics where they are in order to share with them the gospel.

For some people , it’s really a need. We need to acknowledge that need and as much as we can, help them find the answers so they can find their way to the foot of the cross.

Is Genesis history? features several experts – a marine biologist, an astrologer, a computer history expert, a physicist, a geologist, a paleontologist, and more. Each expert addressing  issues that skeptics have about the credibility of Genesis. I can’t say I got all the technical details down, but I understand the main points of each interview.

I have to be honest. In the first few minutes of the film, I wasn’t sure I was going to finish it. I took a pen and a paper to jot down names and dates but later on ditched them and just listened to what the people in the film were talking about.

What I like very much about it is that it wasn’t, in any way, defensive. The interviewees were very objective in explaining things. The issues talked about were common controversies about our faith – the flood as a global phenomenon, Dinosaur fossils, how we’re supposed to have evolved from apes, proof that we have a young earth, and why scientists should be studying history in light of Genesis and not the other way around.

I remember my atheist friend saying that Christians use no other references but the Bible in defending the faith and at the back of my mind, I wondered about that. Now I understand that there are material evidences, but that in order to understand the history of our world, we must read Genesis and use the evidences to piece history together.

The film also clarified about evolution which is one of the biggest controversies about our existence. Apparently, adaptation has been confused for evolution. According to Marine Biologist, Robert Carter, Science has shown that although animals have adapted to the changes in environment and circumstances, they are still what they are. A shark is still a shark and an ape is still an ape.

And it makes perfect sense what he says that the Bible’s account on how man was created in the image and likeness of God is what sets us apart from animals. He explained it in such a sequence –explaining first the biology of things before going back to the verses in Genesis that you just can’t deny that the book does play a big part in explaining who we are and how we are created.

I must admit that when you don’t know the answers and skeptics berate you, the questions can get to you. It did that to me and the only thing that kept me at my faith was my personal encounter with Jesus and my experience of his forgiveness.

I realize that I DO need to know the answers to these questions for myself.

Even my eldest son has questions. He was asking me where the rest of the people of the world came from when the Bible only talks about Adam and Eve multiplying, and the film somehow touched on that too. According to the film, the Bible’s original texts talks about the creation as a global thing.  I need another go at it to absorb the wealth of information in the documentary.

More than the fascination about how much of our history is proven through rock formations, the film talking about Hebrew contexts made me interested to go over Genesis again. I’m pretty sure that I will never read Genesis the same way again. That’s the effect on me and I hope that when I share this with my sons, they will hunger to know God more.

Is Genesis history? for your homeschoolers

I originally planned to watch the film with my husband and kids but we’ve been so busy trying to catch up with home school while doing our work and ministry and our kids’ busy schedules, we just couldn’t do it. But I plan to let my kids see it.

My eldest would most likely be the one to pay the most attention to the details since he’s 11 and he’s really interested in these things. In fact, he’s already watched the trailer and can’t wait to see it. Perhaps when all the summer activities are over. I’m not sure about the other two boys but it’s worth the try. I guess it will depend on the child’s capacity to learn and level of interest.

Is Genesis history? makes an effort to deliver as simply as it can but the presentation isn’t simple enough for a regular child of 6 or 7 or 8 to grasp. There are somewhat technical explanations given that would need an adult to explain to a child according to his capacity to comprehend and it’s a lot of talking. As we all know, kids generally have short attention span so perhaps you can show the film by parts.

That said, I think that it’s great information that would be wonderful to share with your children. I would love for my children to learn how to share the gospel and defend their faith to others young as they are. This film has caused me to realize how important it is to sit with them and discuss Genesis with them this early on because it explains so much about what we believe in and why we believe what we believe.

Is Genesis history? has a reference site, with a PDF download about the film, the experts, and the topics covered that you can go to if you need tools and materials for this.

Is Genesis history? is available on DVD, Blu-Ray, video on demand formats, or you can avail it on church license. Just visit Is Genesis history? online to purchase .

Giveaway!

LEV3Ldigital.com is giving away a digital download of Is Genesis history? to one lucky reader of Fully Housewifed.

The mechanics are simple. All you need to do is to to share your personal insights or questions about the Bible in the comments section and share this blog on Facebook using the hashtag #IsGenesishistory and tagging @IsGenesishistory and @fullyhousewifed.

This is a great material to have in your family or homeschooling files. I will announce the winner on May 19.

Special thanks to Brad Poel of LEV3Ldigital.com for my personal copy of the movie and for giving me a chance to bless one of my readers on my birthday month!