THE ORIGIN
There are few questions of greater importance than the question of how the universe, and all it contains, came to be. The conclusion arrived at reaches far beyond the theoretical sphere and shapes one's all-encompassing worldview: the perception of life’s meaning, purpose and destiny. Some have concluded that the best explanation is the theory of evolution: the belief that it came to be through random material processes over a long period of time following “the Big Bang”. Others believe that it came to be through the purpose and power of an intelligent Creator, as expressed in the Bible. While some claim that the Bible's description of creation contradicts science, others say it merely contradicts falsehoods mislabelled as 'science'. The following is written using plain statements from Scripture to demonstrate why this writer is convinced of the latter:
There are four key components to the origin of our universe: time, energy, space, and matter... all of which are alluded to in the opening statement of the Bible:
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)
[time] [energy] [space] [matter]
An immeasurable amount of energy would have been required to bring such a vast universe into being. Any attempt to explain the origin must account for the source of this energy: “...Lord God! You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You” (Jeremiah 32:17).
Could an unintentional “Big Bang” have caused the universe to come into being? Have we ever observed an explosion produce order? This aside, the conventional Big Bang theory presents an effect (an explosion) without first presenting a plausible cause. When an explosion occurs the question which follows is: “what caused the explosion?” Yet cosmic evolutionists have no reasonable explanation as to how the initial matter, of unknown origin, exploded! And what about the origin of the supposed initial matter? No physical entity explains its own existence. Where's the starting point? Could space and time have given birth to themselves? ...Scripture reveals that God, who is Spirit (John 4:24) and eternal (Deuteronomy 33:27), intentionally brought this universe into being: “He has made the earth by His power, He has established the world by His wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens at His discretion” (Jeremiah 10:12). Genesis 1:1 simply lays out both the cause and the effect:
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
[the cause] [the effect]
THE SEED
“Let the earth bring forth… the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself… every tree whose fruit yields seed…” (Genesis 1:11, 29)
The existence of fruit trees presents a puzzling dilemma: Which came first... the tree, the fruit, or the seed? It is obvious that the fruit could not be produced without the tree, yet the tree could not be produced without the seed, and yet the seed requires the fruit in which it is formed! The tree, its fruit, and its seed are interdependent. None of them is viable without the other two. They would have had to come into existence simultaneously, fully functional, as described in Genesis.
The capability contained in a single seed is worthy of serious contemplation! The workings of the seed, though commonly observed, remain an elusive mystery. Jesus referred to this: “…if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head” (Mark 4:26-28). The specified information programmed into a seed, enabling it to perform such remarkable functions, requires a very, very intelligent Designer!
“... out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is... good for food” (Genesis 2:9). Not only is the process which produces fruit mystifying, but also the fact that fruit is “good for food”. There is no synthetic, man-made food that could compare with the fruit yielded in nature. Apples, oranges, plums, cherries, mangoes, pomegranates, peaches, and on and on... So pleasant to the taste, so quenching of the thirst, so nourishing to the body! Chance?! Fruit, with its rich benefits, could not have evolved by trips of happenstance, as the best efforts of synthetic food-manufacturers testify, but rather because the Creator intentionally designed it that way.
THE HEAVENLY LIGHTS
“… Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years...” (Genesis 1:14)
For millennia the sun, moon and stars have served as reliable reference points for our calendars; so consistent in their relationships with earth that we set our clocks by them! Scripture tells how God “set a tabernacle for the sun” in the midst of heavens (Psalm 19:4), which in relation with the orbiting earth’s tilt allows for the variety of seasons… The sun’s apparent rising and setting facilitates our counting of days, as the globe spins at a terrifyingly rapid, yet regulated tempo (so as not to disturb its inhabitants!)… Job reveals that God “hangs the earth on nothing” (Job 26:7), which gracefully glides round the sun (at 108,000 kph!), precisely measuring the span of a year! Meanwhile, the moon circles the earth at its own steady pace, acting as an intermediate monthly time gauge. Perpetually in motion, this heavenly system faithfully determines our seasons, days, and years! …Is this the work of an arbitrary “Big Bang”, or of a Divine ‘Watchmaker’ on the grandest of scales?!
How fascinating that the earth, moon and sun are placed such that both lunar and solar eclipses may be observed! The sun is four hundred times larger than the moon and yet the moon is four hundred times closer to earth than the sun, making the awe-inspiring phenomenon of a perfect solar eclipse possible! Coincidence?! And from time to time the moon in its orbit becomes enveloped by the shadow of “the circle of the earth” (Isaiah 40:22), causing it to turn a beautiful red colour. All of the above is ‘precision engineering’ to the highest degree!
It is noteworthy that in Genesis God said the lights in heaven would “be for signs.” Jesus spoke of “signs in the sun, and in the moon” preceding coming judgment (Luke 21:25), and described how “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light” (Mark 13:24). Similarly, the prophet Joel wrote: “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord” (Joel 2:31). It appears that what are essentially being described are solar and lunar eclipses.
How intriguing that the calendar and feasts which God ordained for Israel (Exodus 12:2, Leviticus 23) often coincide with solar and lunar eclipses! As examples: in the year 2014 lunar eclipses fall upon Passover and Sukkoth (the Feast of Tabernacles). And then in the year 2015 a complete solar eclipse falls upon the eve of the biblical Jewish New Year, lunar eclipses again take place both on Passover and Sukkoth, while a partial solar eclipse occurs on the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah). The degree of exactitude in the relationships between earth, sun and moon, required for eclipses to occur cry out as evidence for a brilliant Designer! Particularly the same Designer who also designed Israel's calendar and feasts to correspond with such rare celestial phenomena!
DIFFERENT KINDS
“And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:25)
Among the animals we see distinct kinds, or 'families' of animals; one group with common characteristics distinguishing them from another group's characteristics; each kind only able to “bring forth” (Genesis 1:24) offspring of the same kind. For example: we only see dogs produce dogs; we do not see dogs produce non-dogs. And we do not observe transitional forms of animals linking one group to another. The number of 'in-between' types ought to be countless if all animals had a common ancestor, as the theory of macro-evolution claims. Instead of this we see distinct groupings of kinds, as spoken of in Genesis 1.
HUMAN REPRODUCTION
“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply...'” (Genesis 1:27-28)
How could the first being 'evolve' to reproduce itself without a partner of the opposite gender with a very different, yet perfectly compatible reproductive system?! Both male and female would have had to come into existence simultaneously, fully formed, to produce offspring also capable of reproduction: “...from the beginning of the creation, God 'made them male and female'” (Mark 10:6).
From conception to birth, the process of reproduction is amazingly complex. The intricate formation of a child in its mother's womb is nothing short of miraculous! In the womb the fragile development of organs takes place, each having a unique, sophisticated function: “The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord has made them both” (Proverbs 20:12). David rightly acknowledged his Maker in saying: “...You have formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvellous are Your works...” (Psalm 139:13-14). With all our knowledge there remain innumerable everyday mysteries that we still cannot wrap our minds around, including this one: “...you do not know... how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child...” (Ecclesiastes 11:5). Could such a delicate process result from random collisions in a ‘primordial soup’?
LIFE
“...God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7)
Life, as we have observed it, only comes from pre-existing life. Life coming from non-living matter (“spontaneous generation”) has never been observed. Many scientists have attempted, through controlled experiments, to cause life to arise from non-living matter. Yet despite their efforts (and despite the fact that such controlled experiments could not be considered 'spontaneous') they have failed time and time again. Non-living matter's inability to 'come alive' is so widely recognized that scientists refer to this pattern as “the law of biogenesis”, which states that life only comes from pre-existing life. This begs the question: “Where did the first life come from?” Genesis 2:7 records the moment life was imparted to man from “the living God” (Acts 14:15), who is also described as “the eternal God” (Deuteronomy 33:27). Only an eternally living, Supreme Being could cause non-living matter to become alive and conscious. It’s also worthy of note that every chemical element in the human body is also present in the earth from which man was carefully formed!
BEAUTY
“... out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight...” (Genesis 2:9).
Much can be gleaned by honestly asking why nature is so “pleasant to the sight”. How beautiful are the trees! How attractive are the blossoms they produce with such fragrant aromas! Chance?! How glorious is the sun, especially as it rises and sets! … “Truly the light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to behold the sun” (Ecclesiastes 11:7). Why are our natural surroundings filled with such harmonious beauty? The simple (and reasonable) answer is: because God creatively designed it that way. Randomness and time cannot be credited for such extravagant universal artistry!
A well-known evolutionist expressed distress at the threat posed to his theory by the splendour of a peacock’s feather! Each individual hair on each individual feather is streaked with colours corresponding to its neighbouring hairs to form an exquisite pattern, stunning in appearance. Scripture also speaks of the “loveliness” of the flower of the field (Isaiah 40:6). It is with painstaking effort that a painter depicts the image of a flower onto a flat canvas. How much more difficult would it be for chance to produce the actual flower itself, with seed to self-replicate! Chance?! Jesus said, “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin: and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these” (Matthew 6:28-29). The finest clothing, meticulously weaved for the wealthiest of all kings, fell short of the glory adorning the common wildflower. It is most sensible to conclude that an all-powerful God (with 'an eye for beauty'!) “so clothes the grass of the field” (Matthew 6:30).
HABITABILITY
“...God, who formed the earth and made it; who has established it, who did not create it in vain, who formed it to be inhabited...” (Isaiah 45:18)
As the other planets and moons in our solar system are explored, the uniqueness of the earth’s habitability becomes more and more apparent. Consider the water cycle (a vital process not understood until three hundred years ago): “All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; to the place from which the rivers come, there they return again” (Ecclesiastes 1:7)… This is only one among many conditions that have to be set ‘just right' for us to exist (and persist!) on earth. Its rotational speed and tilt, strength of gravity, magnetic force, distance to the sun, proportional size to the moon, temperature range, atmospheric composition, fertile soil, renewable food sources, etc., etc., etc., are all such that life may thrive! These characteristics are by no means self-explanatory, as confirmed by the sheer desolation of the neighbouring planets and moons.
The numerous physical properties of our host universe are also incredibly balanced to make life on earth possible. For instance, Isaiah 40:22 speaks of how God “stretches out the heavens as a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in” (a trend only discovered by astronomers in the last century, compelling them to recognize a “beginning” of space and time): Physicists have estimated that the expansion rate of space ('the cosmological constant') is fine-tuned to one part in 1053! If the expansion rate were altered by a mere fraction it is believed that the universe would either collapse upon itself, or cause the matter therein to disperse. It’s been rightly said that life stands delicately balanced on a razor's edge. Such fine tuning doesn't occur by itself... just ask the piano tuner!
Should this favorable collection of improbable conditions be attributed to chance? We get suspicious when the same guy wins in 'Bingo' for the third time in a row! Many have said regarding the universe’s life permitting features: 'Anything is possible given enough time.' Could an orchestra consisting of monkeys inadvertently play the first ten bars of Beethoven's Fifth given enough time? ... Some things are so complicatedly synchronized that accidental processes cannot account for their production (such as a habitable planet!), regardless of the time factor.
The book of Genesis presents many phenomena which cannot begin to be explained by the theory of evolution: the origin of time, energy, space, and matter; the capability of the seed and the nourishment provided by its resultant tree’s fruit; the precisely-regulated patterns in our solar system; the distinct kinds of animals; the diverse yet corresponding reproductive systems of male and female; the source of life and consciousness for the first living being; the aesthetic beauty throughout nature; and the many finely-tuned conditions which make earth habitable. The functionality in the universe and within our own bodies gives overwhelming evidence of an unimaginably brilliant Creator behind it all, specifically the Creator described in the Book which accurately portrays these wonders. To conclude otherwise sets oneself against insurmountable odds, and against the One to whom all are ultimately answerable: “Woe to him that strives with his Maker!” (Isaiah 45:9). Truth is that which reflects reality. It is not affected by our preferred perception of it, but it will ultimately affect us. Since truth will not conform to suit our perceptions, our perceptions must conform to suit it! God invites those He created to reason and reconciliation: “'Come now, and let us reason together,' saith the Lord, 'though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18).
Considering the extraordinary beauty and order throughout the universe, it is understandable why it is written: “And God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good...” (Genesis 1:31). Our due response is to acknowledge:
“... how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all ...” (Psalm 104:24)
