(This graphic and many more are available free at Creations by Dawn )
My purpose here is to extol and magnify the God of creation, talk about some of His wondrous works, and examine the theory of evolution.....all for the purpose of leading us not just to enjoy the beauty, or believe in "The Man Upstairs," but rather to the God of the universe who has sent a Savior, and speaks to us to abundantly in His Word, the Bible. By the way, your thoughts on this subject are invited; just e-mail me.
Missing the Forest for the Trees
I am addressing that version of the theory of evolution that has everything coming into being without God. (I am not concerned here with variations in species that may have occurred after the Flood and Noah's ark.)
There is a big gap in the logic here. In general terms, the complex physiology of the human body supposedly evolved over billions of years, with the survival of the fittest determining what did or did not survive. But, some of the very mechanisms necessary for survival were not in place, since they had not yet evolved enough to be functional.
For example, our reproductive system is necessary for our human race to survive. It is a very complex and beautiful series of events planned in the mind of God from the beginning. If it evolved over billions of years, how did we reproduce in meantime - by breaking off a piece and growing a new person? And even that would have required the transmittal of all the genetic information necessary to make a new individual.
Another example is the life-saving, and very complex, mechanism by which our blood clots upon injury, preventing fatal bleeding. Again, the same question applies: If evolution "knew" that this was needed, and it took a really long time to come up with it, how did we survive in the meantime?
I was privileged to see and hear Lee Strobel on this subject via a satellite hookup at my church. His point in this regard, as I remember it, was that certain complex systems need all of the parts functioning in order to work; i.e. during the long evolutionary process they could not have worked, and the "fittest" would not have survived.
The presentation I saw only hit the high points; I highly recommend reading his book, The Case for a Creator. Also you might visit leestrobel.net By the way, Strobel is a former atheist, who did not come at these issues with a predetermined mindset towards the creationist view.
BUT WHAT IS THE REAL PROBLEM?
Believing in a God of creation isn't that hard for most people. I believe there are at least two other factors that keep people from knowing God:
1. Deism. Without knowing what the word means, I think a lot of people are deists; that is, they believe that God is indeed up there somewhere, that He created the world and life, threw us out into space, and then pretty much left us on our own. And what a sorry mess we have made of things.
By way of contrast, Christianity is "theistic," that is, we believe in a personal God who deeply cares about us and wants to be involved in every detail of our lives. The fact remains that mankind has indeed made a sorry mess of things; we have free choice, and we chose to rebel against the God who made us. For some of us, our sins are more "respectable," while others are obviously sold out to living lives of hatred and murder, as we see played out in Iraq and other places. But we all, without exception, fall short of God's glory and need a Savior (see main page for more on this).
2. Another major reason for people choosing to believe in evolution over creation is, I believe, not because of the evidence, but because they are afraid of giving up things that God's Word declares to be wrong, not realizing how much more God wants to give them! God's word invites us, "Oh taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him." (Psalm 34:8)
Parable: a man searching for pearls seems to picture a man searching through all the philosophies and religions for the true meaning of life. Finally he finds it, the pearl of great price. He is so overjoyed that he sells all that he has to obtain that one pearl -see Matthew 13:45-46, or, as Paul puts it in Philippians 3:7-8: look at all the best the world has to offer compared to the supreme value of knowing Jesus Christ.
Another comparison that could be made is to compare the value of God's Word to "gold" - e.g. winning the biggest lottery in the world, or to something delicous to the taste, such as honey: look at Psalm 19:1-11.
Childish Questions
,If the theory of evolution is true, then very early on, there had to be a separation of the plant and animal worlds. (In the Genesis account of creation, plant life is the first form of life created.)
Yet somehow, plant life "knew" to adapt itself to humankind in many cases. Why, for example, is an apple or pear just about the right size for a person to eat, or an ear of corn the perfect size for us to pick up and eat (especially soaked in butter at Shorty's BBQ - mmmm, sweet as sugar!)? Broccoli might not be your favorite food, but the head on that stalk is just about the right size for our consumption.
Although some work is required to get the fruit, orange and other fruit trees aren't 20 yards tall; they're at just about the right height for us to pick the fruit. (But don't stand too long under the coconut palm; you may get bopped on the head!) And why the rich variety, and why do fruits taste so good? Pure chance, or just some extra blessings put in by our Creator for our enjoyment?
Now, if atheistic evolution (the idea that it all came from nothing, or that the random combination of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen molecules - wherever they came from - produced life over billions of years by the survival of the fittest)-------if atheistic evolution is true, then either the plant kingdom and animal kingdom popped up independently of each other, or some basic life form evolved into them both early on.
In either event, though so different from each other, they "knew" to create (that word implies God) the beautiful and essential balance we now have, giving us sufficient oxygen for our own metabolism, as well as giving the plants the carbon dioxide which they need. (In the light, plants take in carbon dioxide from the air and give off oxygen, using carbon dioxide and water to make their own food.) In fact, even with all of the oxygen we suck out of the air for internal combusion engines, and to burn fuel to heat our homes, etc., that amazing balance still works for us.
In light of the evidence, of which I have only scratched the surface, it takes more "blind" faith to put God out of the picture than to simply thankfully acknowledge His intricately beautiful and often surprising creative genius!
Psalm 19:1-3
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.
