davidbowerkingwood

 What is so Scary About Genesis?

The Biblical account of creation demands a God who has the power and will to create; a God who exists outside of time and is capable of speaking creation into being. A God who can do this is a frightfully powerful God and someone with whom one must reckon.

Recognition of a God this powerful is frightening, intimidating, and very humbling; one is reduced to a small insignificant lump hardly worthy of notice. For all too many this notion is entirely unacceptable, it is too humiliating, too embarrassing to seriously consider.

The idea that there is a superior power under which we live out our lives requires a profound adjustment in one’s perspective on life and living. The Biblical teaching that we and all of creation are actually held together by an all powerful God is a reality altering thought.

The ramifications of this thought result in questions as to responsibility toward that all powerful God; is this God aware of us individually and does He have requirements we must satisfy and if so what are they? These are threatening thoughts and can lead to some very uncomfortable conclusions if we let them.

The subject of evolution versus creationism is, therefore, a highly emotional topic; supporters of evolution will often strike out with vitriolic language as they attack any defense of the Biblical account of creation. The basic issue is not creation, it is God; is there or is there not a God? Atheistic attacks on Genesis 1 – 11 were going on long before Darwin published his “On the Origin of Species” theory.

It is interesting that atheists see the critical nature of Genesis 1 – 11 whereas many Christians do not.

Can We Choose an Alternative? 

Evolution is Darwin’s 19th century effort to provide a Godless alternative to the Biblical account that can possibly explain reality as we know it. The fact that evolution requires greater faith than the Biblical account is not considered as it accomplishes the primary goal of eliminating the need for God.

The further fact that the theory of evolution is like a bucket with many holes in it, it has a very difficult time holding any water, is also conveniently overlooked or explained away; any leap of faith required is approved if only the need for a God of infinite power can be eliminated.

The most straight forward approach is to deny the existence of God; it can be postulated that creation came into being without a cause, it simply happened as a random cosmic event, something from nothing, and then gradually evolved into what we have today by a very slow process of natural selection, the survival of the fittest.

Although this line of thought requires astounding assumptions and monumental leaps of faith even these are acceptable if they eliminate the need for a divine creator.

In his book in Chapter VI Darwin wrote: “If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down. But I can find out no such case.”

At that time the technology did not exist that would later permit discovery of the complex interelated nature of the human cell which alone demonstrates a complexity that could not have evolved; the human cell completely discredits Darwin’s theory.

Can Evolution be Reconciled with Christianity?

Others, claiming to be Christian, attempt to reconcile the Biblical account of creation with the theory of evolution by trying to explain how the Biblical account doesn’t contradict evolution but explains it in different terms.

The biggest challenge is the time frame for creation; whereas the Bible tells us God took six days, the evolutionary theory requires millions or billions of years. There are two popular approaches to explaining the difference; the gap theory, and the day age theory.

Sadly both of these views are held by Christians who have the mistaken notion that reconciliation is required and possible; I believe it to be neither required nor possible.

We will consider these two theories in Part 3