Creation Vs. Evolution

Evolution or Creation

            Let me start off by quoting Genesis 1:1-2, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep and the spirit of God was veering over the waters.” (NIV) If we stop right there we have no basis for time other than it was the beginning of time. If you move onto verse 3 of Genesis, we begin to read the account of how God formed everything by His word and life leapt into existence. The reason I started with Genesis 1:1-2 is to show that some believe something called the GAP theory. We can see that God created the heavens and the earth, but we have no idea how much time passed before he began to bring order to the formless deep.

            Starting at Genesis 1:3-31 we read the account of what I believe to be a literal description of the creation of the earth. They can be separated into six segments, and those six can be combined into three. On Day one God created light and separated it from darkness. On the second day, God created the expanse between the water and the sky. The third day brought the oceans and dry land and vegetation. Day four the sun and moon were created along with the stars, and gave order to the rotation of the planets and the sun in order to govern the day and night. Day five brings the creation of land animals and those of the sea and air. On day six, God created man and woman to rule over and govern the earth and everything in it.

            Day one and four can be coupled in that God created light and gave it purpose on day four. Day two and five, God created water and sky and then filled it with living creatures on day five. Day three God created land and vegetation and then created ground bound animals as well as man and woman on day six, each day for a purpose and specific reason. I included this because it gives leverage to my argument for order in creation.

            So I obviously hinge on creation as to how the earth was formed and how man and woman came to be. But there are many who look at evolution as the answer and the form in which we have to this place in time. Evolutionist, specifically biological evolutionists believe that over millions and millions of years we have evolved from bacteria through processes of natural selection and genetic trait separations into just a small part of a huge tree of other living organisms. Some would assume that through this process Homo sapiens have climbed the ladder to the top and reside over all know living forms of life. They would be quickly corrected and told that in the eye of a biological evolutionist, Homo sapiens are just another leaf on a very large tree, and that we are not any more advanced than our cousins the primates.

            According to Understanding Evolution, (2008). “Humans are not “higher” or “more evolved” than other living lineages. Since our lineages split, human and chimpanzees have each evolved traits unique to their own languages.” I take issue with this primarily because the Bible tells us that God created man and told him to rule over the fish of the sea and the livestock of all the earth. Besides that, how can they make a serious claim that we are not more advanced than the chimpanzees are when we are the ones teaching them how to talk, add and or subtract and function in ways that they were obviously not created to function in, maybe that is a mistake on our part.

            Evolutionists also use Carbon14 dating in order to help underscore their claims of the earth being millions of years old, which gives their theory the time needed for evolution to take place. The only problem with this is that Carbon14 dating is flawed. “Carbon-14 dating is a way of determining the age of certain archeological artifacts of a biological origin up to about 50,000 years old.” (http://howstuffworks.com)

Having done some more research, I found that Carbon14 Dating is only good for approximately 30,000 years, which according to the Bible might be too old for this earth. There is also a large amount of guesswork and extrapolation that is done when reaching the answer of something that has been dated using this method.

            There is a theory that exists that might coincide with this issue and that is The GAP Theory. It would say that in Genesis 1:1-2, it says that God created the heavens and the earth. Then we stop, without any idea of how much time lapses’ between verse two and three. This could be millions of years, but the flaw with this is that God hadn’t created anything other than the earth at this point. No living creature is yet made.

            One other very interesting and ironic item I found in the evolutionists theory is that all of life can come from or be broken down into three areas, Eukaryote, Archaea, and Bacteria. Funny how there is a trinity of life, even in the evolutionist viewpoint. Ultimately I believe that God created the heavens and the earth and is the author of all life. I believe that God created the earth in six literal days as well. “Genesis 1 defines the days of creation to be literal days (a number with the word “day” always means a normal day in the Old Testament, and the phrase “evening and morning” further defines the days as literal days).” (Riddle, 2007.)

             I also would argue that the bible gives us very clear clues as to the age of the earth, that being 7,000-10,000 years old. Will we ever know for sure, I don’t believe so, and I don’t think it really matters if we know. What will that do for us in the long run? It’s been a long time since time began, that is for sure, but I think the most important thing to focus on is what we’re going to do with the time God gave us here on the earth.

References

Angel Fire. (n.d.) The Bible and Radiometric dating, (the problem with Carbon 14 and other             dating methods.). Retrieved September 26, 2011 from             www.angelfire.com/mi/dinosaurs/carbondating.html

Answers in Genesis. (2007). Doesn’t Carbon -14 Dating Disprove the Bible?. Retrieved October             4, 2011 from http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/does-c14-disprove-the-bible

How Stuff Works. (2011) How Carbon-14 Dating Works. Retrieved October 4, 2011 from             http://science.howstuffworks.com/enviornmental/earth/geology/carbon-14.htm

Understanding Evolution. (n.d.). Evolution 101. Retrieved September 26, 2011 from             www.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/0_0_0/evo_07

Suffering

Suffering

Who (Where) is God when his people are suffering…according to Job’s four “comforters” (Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, and Elihuj?)

            According to each of Job’s so called comforters, God is judging Job for some sin that he must have committed against God. They spend quite a bit of time accusing Job giving instruction and advice that is neither accurate nor helpful for Job. Eliphaz in 3:49 says; “Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed? As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it. At the breath of God they are destroyed, at the blast of His anger they perish…” (NIV) Eliphaz is such a great friend, accusing Job of being evil in some fashion, basically saying that this is the very reason that trouble has come upon Job. Later in 5:8-9 Eliphaz says; “But if it were I, I would appeal to God; I would lay my cause before him. He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.” (NIV) Here I believe Eliphaz is saying that if Job confesses to God his sin and seeks God’s mercy for the sin committed, then God might just as well perform some miracle and right all that has been taken away from Job.

            Bildad is no different in his approach to Job, making the statement that God does not pervert justice and that He delivers to those what they deserve. Zophar also makes claims against Job’s comments about being righteous and pure, and his particular discourse in chapter 11 sounds very much like how God chastises Job in chapter 38. So to wrap all that up, Job’s three friends believe that God is in control, in Heaven if you will, and that Job has sinned against an almighty God and needs to repent of that sin.

Who (where) is God when his people are suffering…according to Job?

            There are two verses that I am using to gather my answer and they are 2:4 and 31:2. In each of these verses Job references that God is on high or in the heavens. I sincerely believe that Job believed that God was in control, He was in charge of the situation, but that Job just simply wanted answers as to why these things happened to him, one who lived right and followed God.

Who (where) is God when his people are suffering…according to God Himself?

            According to God, I find two references that indicate what I suspected. In 38:1 God says; “Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm.” (NIV) To me this only indicates that God is speaking to Job through a cloud much like He did with Moses. God is not on earth per say, but he is among men in that he is physically speaking to Job at this point. Job 41:11 says; “…Everything under Heaven belongs to me (God).” (NIV) (Parenthetical added by me). This verse also indicates to me that God is in Heaven, or in the vast expanse of his creation. God is really giving it to Job in these few chapters. I would think that Job wanted to crawl under a very large rock at this point in the book.

Who (Where) is God when his people are suffering…according to me?

            I believe several things that are important in order to form my answer; first of all I believe that God is omnipotent, all-powerful. Revelation 19:6 states that; “And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.” (KJV) The Greek for this word omnipotent is translated, pantokrator, which means Almighty or “…he who holds sway over all things” (Blueletterbible.org. 2011.)

            Secondly I believe that God is Omnipresent. Psalm 139:7-10 says; “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.” (NIV) As scripture states, where indeed can we go where God is not there already. He exists in all places and is not bound by location or time zone. When soldiers are fighting and dying in Iran or the Middle East God is there, and at the same time He is listening to my son as I lay him down for bed. He is beyond our imagination and finite understanding. This leads me to my third point. I believe that God is Omniscient.

            Hebrews 4:13 says; “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (NIV) and 1 Corinthians 2:10 says; “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?  “I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.” (NIV) Each of these verses only confirms to me that God is in control of each and everything that happens on this earth. That is not to say that He is responsible for each and everything that happens here. We do have free will and as humans we choose to do some incredibly stupid stuff, but I am saying that God has intimate knowledge of all things, sees all things and knows all things.

            When God’s people suffer, I believe that He suffers too. The Bible says in Matthew 18:14; “In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.” (NIV) God does not desire that any of His children perish. Now I believe this is talking about eternal punishment, and so that indicates that God has compassion on his children. However; scripture also tells us in James 1:2-3 that we should, “… Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” (NIV)

            Scripture also tells us; “  And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28, NIV) I think that the Bible is clear that God is in control, He is aware when his children are suffering and that in all things there is purpose. I may never understand why my brother had to live such a hard life only to die at age 15, but God does, and I trust that His plan is still at work in my life and in the life of those who knew him. Faith in the power, knowledge and presence of God is critical in getting through times when God’s people suffer. It doesn’t surprise God when things like this happen; it only surprises us because we don’t know the bigger plan.

References

Biblegateway, (n.d.). www.biblegateway.com. Retrieved October 3, 2011 from             www.biblegateway.org

Blue Letter Bible. (n.d.). www.blueletterbible.org. Retrieved September 24, 2011 from             www.blueletterbible.org