Author: Pastor Paul A. Bartz
Note: Creation Moments exists to provide Biblically sound materials to the Church in the area of Bible and science relationships. This Bible study may be reproduced for group use.
There are many good reasons to defend belief in creation. So in this Bible study we are simply going to present a summary of the most important Scriptural reasons to defend belief in creation. You are encouraged to search out each of the texts which are mentioned and examine them more closely. Doing so in the company of other Christians, discussing each of the reasons will certainly add to your spiritual growth.
Any reader who is not firmly convinced that Biblical Christianity demands belief in creation is encouraged to carefully weigh each of the reasons below, being careful to examine the cohesiveness of the Scriptural arguments themselves.
SCRIPTURE, TAKEN AT FACE VALUE, DEMANDS BELIEF IN A MIRACULOUS CREATION
Even atheists have remarked that if you take the Genesis creation account as written, you must accept it in a literal fashion since there is nothing in the text to suggest that it is not meant literally (Of course, they admit that they don’t believe it, but they chide those who would be Christians for rejecting the obvious sense of their Holy Book.) The word “day” in Genesis, yom in the Hebrew, is never used in Scripture to mean anything other than a literal day when it appears with a number or with the phrase “evening and morning” or “light and dark.” It requires supernatural forces to bring about the entire creation in six days–forces which are no longer working to create. Thus, we cannot extend present processes back in time to explain where the creation came from.
CREATION IS THE BEGINNING OF THE BIBLE’S TEACHING ABOUT THE PERSON AND WORK OF THE SON OF GOD
Christ cannot be accepted in pieces while other pieces are rejected. Believers have long identified “and God said, let there be” with the Son of God. In John 1:3 we read that this powerful Word that was the Instrument of creative power was indeed the Son of God Who assumed our flesh in order to save us. So the beginning of the Biblical teaching about the person and work of Christ begins in Genesis–and the beginning of the rejection of His person and work begins with the rejection of Genesis. History has born this out. Churches today which teach about Jesus Christ as a “good man,” or as a “revolutionary,” having very little to say about His atonement for our sin and His Lordship as God, began that path many years ago. Each of these churches once had a strong witness of all of Biblical teaching. But in each case one of the first Biblical teachings they weakened on was creation. Losing that part of the Biblical teaching of the person and work of Christ, it was inevitable that they would ultimately lose the rest of the Biblical Christ.
THE APOSTLES DEFENDED CREATION AS THE BEGINNING OF THE BIBLICAL TEACHING ABOUT SALVATION
Here we really have two reasons: we should defend creation because the Apostles did and we should defend it because creation is the beginning of the Biblical teaching of salvation. Creation and its history were assumed by the ancient Jewish audiences, yet it was still mentioned, as for example in Hebrews 11:1 and following. But when the Apostles took the Gospel out to non-Jewish audiences they took pains to establish God as Creator Who is, by virtue of that fact, still intimately involved in the affairs of men. And this was done in such a way as to lay a basis for the Gospel. For examples see Acts 14:15-18 and Acts 17:16-34.
CHRIST HIMSELF ASSUMED AND TAUGHT CREATION AS FACT
In Mark 10:6-9 Jesus teaches a beginning, a creation, a Creator and a definite starting point for man. He also points out the divine authorship of marriage at the time of the beginning of male and female humans. He cites these events as actual history. In Mark 13:19 Jesus again cites a beginning, a creation, and a Creator. His comparison at this point would fall apart into meaninglessness if He is only making an allegorical comparison, making the urgency of his words almost comical. Not once did Jesus accommodate Himself to ignorance.
Depending on the situation He would forcefully issue correction (as in the cleansing of the Temple), or issue a strong rebuke, as he did when Peter expressed his dissatisfaction at Jesus’ impending death (Matthew 16:22-23). Even minor points came up for correction from Jesus, as when a well-meaning stranger called Him “good” and Jesus set about to explore the motive behind the comment (Matthew 19:16-17). Jesus, in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily, clearly taught a supernatural creation.
In light of Scripture’s position on the matter it would not seem to be a safe, healthy or spiritual path to fail to defend creation if we are followers of Christ!
All of this is not to ignore the fact that evolution is simply not good science. The scientific method as we have it today is based on the unique view of the world that is presented in Scripture. The fact that God, as the omnipotent, all-wise Creator, was not forced to create our reality in some pattern limited to our logic leaves us with the job of studying the creation first-hand in order to find out just how He did create.
The Christian acceptance of material reality which must be explored first-hand to be studied is the basis of the empirical science. The major founders of the scientific method assumed this Biblical view of the world and refused to see the world in a mechanical or naturalistic way. They differentiated between the fact that God works in an orderly way and naturalism, which left God, at best, as merely the One Who “wound up” the creation at the beginning, and many of them wrote against such ideas. Further, the attempted modifications of the scientific method that have been proposed by modern evolutionists, perhaps in light of the recent defections of many major scientists from their ranks, challenge the basic world view which gave birth to modern science. This has led some observers to wonder if modern science could have developed if evolution was as entrenched 300 years ago as it is now.
The Biblical world view which gave birth to modern science, and which begins with creation and a God Who is still intimately involved in His creation in a direct and personal way, will ultimately provide the best science. And as it serves man, it will also serve and glorify our Creator Who is still very much a part of our lives!
Footnotes:
1988 Bible Science Newsletter.
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