So unfortunately, part of the course is missing (For $20.00, I was expecting nothing but the best!) and I cannot get page 12 of the leader’s guide which contains discussion question one for this chapter.

To be fair, I get half of the discussion answer from question one, but even with that it makes little enough sense that I am afraid I can’t figure out what the question was supposed to be. In any case, I will put the answer as far as I am able to see it, and you can make up a question in your own head.

Question one: ???

Their Answer: Evolutionists and atheists do not like the idea of a Creator who can give them rules for their lives, has judged His creation in the past, and will do it again for their disobedience. Their problem is their sin, not their science.

My Answer: … … Kay.

Question two: How would a hydrospheric layer, a canopy, on top of Earth’s atmosphere affect living conditions on Earth?

Their Answer: Oxygen and pressure would be increased, allowing for global, tropical conditions, resulting in larger, healthier, more energetic life. This would make larger plants, men, reptiles (Dinosaurs), etc., explaining the evidence found in the fossil record.

My Answer: One thing that I found interesting in this lesson was how they explain from where the water for Noah’s flood came (though I am still unclear on where it went; I believe, if my cursory understanding YEC science holds, God just created more land. Or something.). There was, prior to the flood (they tell us) a Hydrosphere above all current layers of the atmosphere. The Hydrosphere increased atmospheric pressure, as it was actively exerting downward force on the current layers of the atmosphere. Now, this was not gaseous water, it is important to let you know this; it was liquid water. How was it floating there? I have no idea. If it was floating, how was the atmospheric pressure was supposed to be increased? If it was not floating, as by magic (God did it, of course), then it would have just crashed to the Earth in a crushing sheet.

In any case, we know what would happen with a higher Oxygen content atmosphere, you get larger animals. I am not familiar enough with prehistoric atmospheric conditions to tell you what the pressure would have been like. I could go look it up, but that is for later.

Question three: Who is responsible for suffering in the world?

Their Answer: Man. Man’s sin ruined God’s good creation.

My Answer: I agree that the suffering in the world is largely man’s fault, but I am not willing to say that the world was perfect before some arbitrary date in the past (the flood occurred during the year 2400 BC, give or take a dollar).

That’s it for the questions.

During the application section, they posit that evolution was created, specifically and wholesale, by Satan. Evolution, they say, was created for the WHOLE PURPOSE of leading men away from God, and has NOTHING to do with explaining nature. Of course.

Challenge for Lesson 3: Memorize Romans 5:12 (“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”) Then find someone, and quote this at them. Surely, this will prove to them where death came from and thus make them Christian! (Again, maybe a little paraphrasing).

It says that this is a masterfully insightful passage, and will show them that it is not God’s fault that life is a bitch. (Paraphrasing)