CAUTIONS
Readers who continue investigating these many pages on creation will be surprised that there is so much to say about it. We (i.e. Authors) must admit that we also were surprised to discover so many different scriptural trails to be followed to come to the conclusions we have represented for readers to consider.
After all of our study, however, we need to be careful making claims that we know exactly what God meant by the creation story — or any other parable in the Bible for that matter. That caution applies to readers as well as authors. Nevertheless, we use the resources God gives us to search out matters. Then, maybe, if God is willing, mysteries will be revealed.
The caution to teach responsibly falls heaviest on religious leaders who presume to share what they see as truth with others. Failure to do all the research before teaching, therefore, is a very serious sin because religious leaders with wrong or incomplete information presented as unquestionable truth run the risk of misleading others who have a habit of accepting what a religious leader says is truth beyond question. Such teachers are blind guides leading themselves and the ones they teach into a pit. That, we would say, is exactly what has happened to those who have taken a literal interpretation of the creation story.
The caution for readers is that they should not take what we (i.e. Authors) or anyone presents as absolute, unquestionable truth. If you are stuck in a pit because you have followed a blind guide, blaming the guide does not get you out of the pit. The only responsible thing to do is to use the resources available to you to do your own research and make your own conclusions. You must do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. You cannot depend on others. When God gave his Spirit to New Covenant disciples, he empowered them to learn about himself directly. If we believe what God says, therefore, we believe that the Holy Spirit will teach us and that we have no need for anyone else to teach us. Since most readers are not experienced in doing their own study, however, we have provided ideas of research techniques and resources in GROW.
With respect to creation, we have given readers a lot of ideas on what can be studied to get to the truth. We hope that we have been thorough in our own research and accurate in reporting it, but we are willing to allow that we are among those who are able to make mistakes as reported in James 3:1-2.