Have you ever done the Ancestry.com thing? You know what I’m talking about, right? It is a site where you can research your roots. I was writing my historical fiction autobiography three years ago and got into that search cycle. I called a search cycle because once they hook you with a subscription, there is an endless journey into the past. The carrots on a stick that they dangle just out of your reach make you want to invest just five more bucks in finding that tidbit that ties you to the Rockefeller’s wealth or Jack Sparrow’s linage.
I will admit that it is so intriguing to follow what the site traces as your history and that I did invest a few bucks. I discovered that my grandma Jewell got married young, in CANADÁ of all places. What? My dad mentioned that he had some long-lost relatives in Canada who were involved in the liquor trade during the Prohibition. Hmmm, maybe the Jack Sparrow side of the tale.
In 1 Timothy 1:3,4, Paul tells his son in the faith to stay in Ephesus and command certain people to stop teaching false doctrines and “endless genealogies.” Is that where Ancestry.com started? Nah.
I found fascinating insight on this subject from Dr. Henry Morris, founder of the Institute of Creation Research.
Since all Scripture is profitable for everyone (II Timothy 3:16,17), these fables must refer to a far more serious and permanent danger than that. The myths of which Paul warns in the first verses of this letter must be the same as the “profane and vain babblings of science falsely so-called” which he condemns in the last verses
(I Timothy 6:20). In light of both the evolutionary paganism of Paul’s day and the evolutionary humanism predicted for the last days (see for example II Timothy 3:1–13), it becomes clear that Paul’s reference to “fables and endless genealogies” is merely the first-century terminology for the twentieth-century mythology of multibillion-year particles-to-people evolutionism.
The tragedy is that many 20th-century Christians and Christian leaders have indeed “given heed” to this renewal of ancient evolutionary pantheistic paganism, and their teachings have “ministered questions,” which lead many into apostasy. If the Christian life is to become a “godly edifice,” it must be established on a godly foundation.
Good advice, Paul and Dr. Morris. Does that mean that I shouldn’t research my gene pool? You can if you like to spend a lot of money to discover that you came from thieves or theologians. However, beware, because it can become addictive and it is an eternal hobby. If you could ever get to the end of that trail, you would discover that you came from Adam and Eve. So, just go to Genesis 1 and 2. You’ll save a ton of time and money.
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