Ultimate Discussions 2

Creation: The Ultimate Foundation, by John Rush (see Ultimate Discussions 1 post for intro material)




Bang. Bang. You’re alive. The Big Bang Theory says something blew up a long time ago, and now you’re stuck in traffic. That is an unfair way to put it, but it illustrates the heart of the issue. Everything came from nothing

But is that how it really happened? Absolute nothing fluctuated at the quantum level, created a dense ball of matter that blew up; the residue turned into gas which turned into stars which spun out the planets that had goo on them. The goo on earth turned into single-celled organisms that evolved into animals--and now we humans are in charge? Can it be?

Obviously, many people think that evolution is a fact. Just watch TV. We are led to believe that the issue is a slam dunk. No question about it.

Actually the debate between creation and evolution is alive and well. And, contrary to stereotype, there are plenty of intelligent people who are on the creation side. People have good reason to be skeptical about evolution. I like what John MacArthur said in his book The Battle for the Beginning: “It’s hard to imagine anything more absurd than [evolution’s] formula for the origin of the universe: Nobody times Nothing equals Everything. There is no creator, there is no design or purpose. Everything we see simply emerged and evolved by pure chance from a total void.”¹ I think he was right to use the word absurd.

Arthur C. Custance also found evolution hard to swallow. He had his Ph.D. in Anthropology, was a member of the Canadian Physiological Society, a fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute, and a member of the New York Academy of Sciences. He wrote, “If evolutionary theory was strictly scientific, it should have been abandoned long ago. But because it is more philosophy than science, it is not susceptible to the self-correcting mechanisms that govern all other branches of scientific enquiry.”² So the debate goes on.

In the middle of all the debate, the Scriptures unwaveringly say: “In the beginning God created....” Creation here means that by the power of God’s word, He caused the universe to spring into existence out of nothing--but God was the cause of it all. Genesis chapter one teaches the Six Days of Creation:

Day One: God created the heavens and the earth and light.
Day Two: God created the atmosphere.
Day Three: God brought the dry land out of the waters and clothed it with all the plants.
Day Four: God created the Sun, Moon, and Stars continue the light that was made on day one.
Day Five: God created the creatures of the sea and sky.
Day Six: God created the land animals, and then He made Man.
Day Seven: He ceased from His creative activities.

And He called each step of His creation “good.”

From this creation we see that God is an architect designing mind-blowing complexity into the universe. We also see that God is an artist abounding in creative power and scope. We see that God is a person with mind, emotions, and will--evidenced in human-kind, because we are made in His image with our own minds, emotions, and wills.

Creation is foundational to Christianity. The God we worship is the Creator of all.

One final thought: Scriptures reveal that God is not distant and unreachable. The great teacher of Christianity, the Apostle Paul, spoke of creation and said, “God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each of us. For in him we live and move and have our being...we are his offspring.”³

I would encourage you to seek God and reach out and find him. He is not far from you.

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¹ John MacArthur, The Battle for the Beginning: Creation, Evolution, and the Bible (W. Publishing Group, 2001), 31.

² John Ankerberg and John Weldon, Ready With an Answer (Eugene, Oregon; Harvest House Publishers, 1997), 150-151, quoting Arthur Custance, “Evolution: An Irrational Faith” in Evolution or Creation? vol. 4--The Doorway Papers (Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 1976), 173-174.

³ Acts 17:27-28