MAKER OF HEAVEN and EARTH - Part 4

Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Revelation 4: 11

The word “evolution” is often in the news. Recently the Georgia state school superintendent proposed taking the word “evolution” out the biology curriculum.

That’s not as radical as it might sound since schools would still be required to teach evolution; they just wouldn’t use the word. Former President Jimmy Carter weighed in with his opposition to the proposal. He said he was embarrassed by the proposal, which he called an attempt to censor and distort the education of Georgia students. High school graduates would face a serious handicap and Georgia schools would face “nationwide ridicule.”

Of course newspapers and every progressive thinker across the nation covered the controversy and suggested the world would end due to bigotry and narrow minds.

Please note this important point: This is not actually a dispute about evolution - it’s only about the word “evolution.” The powers-that-be are so frightened by any challenge to the status quo that they have kittens if anyone dares to suggest anything else. It’s not enough that evolution is taught; the word itself must be used. They defend their turf with what might be called religious fervor.

Of course you and I know we are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God.

In a related story, World magazine recently named Phillip Johnson, law professor at the University of California, as its “Daniel of the Year” for his work challenging the Darwinist empire that dominates American culture.

In 1991 he sparked enormous controversy by publishing “Darwin on Trial,” (published by InterVarsity Press). Taking Darwinists on in their own terms, he concluded that the arguments they put forward lacked sufficient evidence to back up their sweeping conclusions as science fact but rather science suppositions.

In the years since then he continued his attack on Darwinism through a steady stream of articles, books, speeches, debates, and other public appearances. He notes that many Christian leaders think the creation-evolution debate doesn’t really matter.

But they are wrong—and not just wrong, but terribly misguided. He says, “The fundamental question is whether God is real or imaginary.”

Additionally he writes, “The entire way of thinking that underlies Darwinian evolution assumes that God is out of the picture.”  He goes on to say that his greatest frustration comes not from dealing with the secular scientists (who are mostly, but not entirely, hostile to his arguments), but from Christian leaders who believe evolution and the Christian faith are ultimately compatible.

Imagine that: The more frustrating thing for this defender of the faith has been the Christian leaders, pastors, and Christian college and seminary professors. And there the problem is not just convincing them that the theory is wrong, but that it makes a difference. That it’s important whether it’s right or wrong.

They would prefer to think, ‘Well, it’s just one of those things that scientists argue about and we’ll leave that to the biologists to sort out as best they can.’ Whereas what is really at stake is not just the first chapter of Genesis, but the whole Bible from beginning to end, the first word to last … (All quotes taken from the World magazine weblog).

Professor Johnson is right on all points. What should we learn from this ongoing controversy?

First, Evolution versus Creation is actually a clash of competing worldviews, not science versus religion. The debate is not about dinosaurs and DNA. It is really a debate between competing worldviews.

Evolution at its heart views the world through a lens that is entirely naturalistic. It proposes to explain the entire universe without reference to God. As Johnson says, the evolutionist assumes that God is out of the picture. Either he doesn’t exist or he doesn’t matter. To say it that way means that this controversy is somewhat more important than finding the precise location of Noah’s Ark or explaining the fossil layers in the Grand Canyon.

Evangelical theologian Al Mohler offers this explanation: For over a hundred years, the dominant scientific establishment has been moving toward an enforced orthodoxy of naturalism, materialism, and secularism.

According to this worldview, the universe is a closed box that can be understood only on its own terms—with everything inside the box explained only by other matter and processes within the same box. The box itself is explained as a cosmic accident, and naturalistic science allows no place for a designer or a design in the entire cosmos.

Evolution as a worldview leaves God out. Either he doesn’t matter or he doesn’t exist. That’s why compromise positions such as theistic evolution never work. They attempt to join two things—creation and evolution—that are fundamentally incompatible. Everything starts with the God who created us. Start anywhere else and you will be perpetually confused.

Second, the Christian worldview rests upon the truth that God created all things.  “We created god in our own image and likeness!” Comedian George Carlin said that, and he’s right but not in the way he meant it. We didn’t “create” God, but we do explain (“create”) a god just like us, and that’s the basic problem of the human race. We can’t explain God using just human understanding.

It’s why the Apostle’s Creed puts the doctrine of creation in the second line. The Christian worldview stands directly opposite from the evolutionary worldview.

The biblical writers repeatedly ascribed all of creation to the work of God: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1: 1). “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible” (Hebrews 11: 3).

Genesis 1 tells us something important about how God created. Genesis says several times, “And God said.” First there was God’s creative word. He spoke, and light appeared. Then the waters were separated. Then there was dry ground. Then vegetation. Then the sun, moon and stars were formed. Then came the fish and the birds. Then the land animals. And finally, Adam and Eve.

Eight times the phrase is repeated in Genesis 1—"And God said.”

He spoke and light shined through the darkness. He spoke and the waters receded from the earth. He spoke and dry land appeared. He spoke and vegetation appeared. He spoke and the sun filled the sky by day and millions of stars twinkled by night. He spoke and the sea teemed with fish and birds began to fly. He spoke and cattle grazed, squirrels gathered hickory nuts, otters frolicked in the streams, and the kangaroo began hopping across the outback.

Finally, he spoke again and created Adam. He breathed into him the breath of life and Adam became a living soul. When Adam got lonely, God took a rib from his side and created Eve. Thus did the human race began.

Note that creation comes first, then redemption.

In heaven as we read the scriptures we see that the 24 elders around God’s Throne first worship God because he is the Creator. Then they worship Christ because he is the Redeemer. If we lose the doctrine of creation, we will eventually lose the doctrine of redemption. Many church members and churches seem to have missed this fact.

Genesis 1-2 tells us where we came from. Genesis 3 explains how sin entered the human race and why we need a Savior. Take away the factual reality of the first three chapters of the Bible and the rest cannot be trusted.

That’s what Phillip Johnson meant when he said what is at stake is not just the first chapters of Genesis, but every word of the Bible, from the first to the last. No wonder the elders first praise God for his work in creation. Without creation there would be no redemption, no Christ dying on the cross, no forgiveness for our sins, no heaven, and no hope of eternal life. If we lose the doctrine of creation, we will eventually lose the doctrine of redemption.

3) You will never properly understand the universe until you know the God who created it. If you leave God out, you’ve missed the fundamental truth about the universe! That means that in order to understand human origins and the true history of the universe, we must begin-not with the vain speculations of science-but with God’s understanding as he has revealed it to us in His Word.

Take away the factual reality of the first three chapters of the Bible and the rest cannot be trusted. We have to start with God. That’s why the Apostles’ Creed begins with this phrase: “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.”

When we put God at the center of all things, then everything else finds its proper place. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” (Proverbs 9:10).

This touches on the need for a Christian education. No one can know the universe and the answers to the great questions of life without also knowing God. There are three questions a Christian Worldview must answer:

Where did I come from?       Why am I here?                     Where am I going?

The Apostle’s Creed answers those questions and more: “God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.” Amen.