Having attended Refuel north earlier this month, I’ve realized more than ever the importance of companionship in Christ. This is referenced in Genesis 2:18
“Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.’”
While this verse is more commonly used in the context of marriage, I think it works here as well. God knows it is not good for us to be alone, we need human interactions. We need friends that can hold us accountable, and support us always. That is a friendship only found in your brothers and sisters in Christ. God wants us to connect, to fellowship together, and to love each other.
-Julia Simon
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
Why do you think there are two accounts of creation – one in Genesis 1:1-2:3 and one in Genesis 2:4-25? What do they have in common? What differences do you see? What is emphasized in each account?
How is the Garden of Eden described? Where have you most enjoyed a paradise setting created by God? How would you describe it? What do you most appreciate about God’s creation? What work do you like to do (or would like to try doing) in God’s creation?
List as many reasons as you can why it is not good to be alone. Some might come from Scripture, some from personal experience or what you have seen in others.
How do you view being created as a helper? God is described many times as being a helper (for example, Psalm 115:9-11). In what relationships can you become more of a helper? How?
How one starts a story has quite a lot to do with how the rest of the story plays out.
Once upon a time…
A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away…
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.
And my personal favorite in fiction:
Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.
Today we start the story of creation, and the first four words tell us quite a lot.
In the beginning God…
Anything and everything that comes next depends on this text and, as such, these words are fascinating.
Apologetics is an art form and a science. Apologetics means, simply, “defending ones faith,” and so Christian Apologetics is about giving reasons for why we believe anything we believe. Why do we believe the Bible is the word of God? Why do we believe Jesus is the Son of God and Messiah? Why do we believe God exists at all? These are good questions and it’s important that you have general answers to them.
But Genesis 1:1 doesn’t answer them. Genesis 1:1 assumed God is. There is no argument for or against him. There is no argument about other gods or goddesses, about how this book is his word versus other books that say conflicting things, nor does it defend the “contradictions”that some non-believers point out in the text.
Genesis 1:1 just says “God created.” Simple. Easy. Plain.
But of course, it is anything but simple and easy and plain.
I could spend quite some time talking about my own interactions with the text, trying to understand it and science at the same time. I could work to show you whether this text is poetry or narrative and how the text in chapter 1 relates to the order of creation in chapter 2. I could tell you that through strong but loving conversations with important people I have worked out the perfect explanation to the text. I could tell you exactly how you should read this text, end of story, done, nice and easy.
I could tell you that, but I won’t.
My own interactions with the text have been difficult.
People smarter than me read this text literally verbatim as the God’s-eye view of what happened in Genesis. Other people, still smarter than I, say “it’s a metaphor and symbolical account of creation and we need to understand how to read this literately.”
I have come to some strong conclusions but truthfully I hold them loosely because I know what a struggle it was to get to where I am, and I could change tomorrow.
The only thing I can tell you with certainty is that this text tells us with all seriousness that God is not a distant observer of space-time, nor one and same with the universe, but a powerful mover-and-shaper of all things by the word of his mouth.
And because the story starts this way, it changes how the rest of the story plays out. God makes light and calls it good, and the metaphor of light is good in the rest of Scripture. God calls for the earth to bring forth plants. He invites creation to participate with him in the creative act, it would seem. God makes the creatures of the ocean, from the great “tanninim”, which could be interpreted as sea monsters, whales, or dragons, worshipped by other cultures. God creates with his mouth the very things that others worship, because all things exist due to his will.
Speaking of the will of God for creation, that brings us to the most important part of Genesis 1 in our reading today.
Humanity is part of but also the fulfillment of creation. God not only makes us, but he makes us in his image. He not only invites us to participate in the creative act, but even invites, empowers, and also demands that we rule over creation. And this is not one man given this role, but humanity, the many as both male and female. We ALL are made in the image of God.
Whatever we think about Genesis 1, what we learn is that humanity is made in the image of God, meaning we have value and worth given by God which cannot be taken away. We learn that God created so that there would be a people who would love him, as Genesis functions are the precursor to the central story of the Old Testament, the Exodus. And we learn that when God looks at his creation, with humans in the midst of a world he lovingly called into being, he says it is
“Very Good.”
-Jake Ballard
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
How do you interpret Genesis One? I encourage you to accept church tradition/theology and challenge church tradition/theology, to accept scientific discoveries and challenge scientific discoveries. In both “church” and “science”, we find truth. But, we need to balance truth with wisdom, and see that much that comes from both “church” and “science” are interpretations and value judgments, rather than simple, plain truths. How will you continually seek to understand God’s word? Who do you turn to listen to about church tradition, theology, science and how to interpret each of those factors?
Even though Genesis One assumes the existence of God, and doesn’t try to argue for him but just proves him via his actions with his people, how do you answer the questions presented above? : “Why do we believe the Bible is the word of God? Why do we believe Jesus is the Son of God and Messiah? Why do we believe God exists at all?” What is your answer for your friend who might ask you any one of these questions. If you don’t have a ready answer, then are you “prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have”?(1 Peter 3:15)
Too often we are told that humanity and all life is a cosmic accident brought about by the random chance of amino acids bursting forth into life in a hot pool of water millions of years ago (a bad interpretation of science, see above). However, this is not true. You are not a cosmic accident, but the keystone of God’s creative act. How does it make you feel that you are part of the final creation of God in Genesis One? Do you believe that God made this world and then declared that it is all very good? How can you honor the role to rule over creation that God has given you and how might you enjoy the very good creation of God this week?
Our family loves camping and finding new places to hike or kayak through God’s beautiful world. The variety of his creation is truly amazing! Desert, forest, plains, mountain, ocean. We love them all and the chance to explore a new little corner of His world we haven’t seen yet. And, along the way, trying to capture a photo to remind us of the beauty and creativity we had the privilege to see.
Psalm 104 is a beautiful poem of creation. I would love to make a photo book or photo wall with pictures from our family hikes and travels depicting each verse and phrase.
“He wraps himself in light as with a garment” (vs 2) – sunshine blazing in all His glory
“he stretches out the heavens like a tent” (vs 2) – expansive blue sky from horizon to horizon
“He makes the clouds his chariot” (vs 3) – white and multi-shades of gray amazing textured rolling clouds with shafts of sunlight shining through with the brilliant blue sky behind
“He makes springs pour water into the ravines” – hot springs bubbling from the ground and flowing down the mountain side
You get the idea. There would be photos of waterfalls, lightening, mountaintops, ocean waves on the shore, rainstorms, the moon, plants and animals, sunrises, sea creatures, and people. Each one accompanied with God’s text.
I recently taught a unit on creation to the adorable children in children’s church. And it was so much fun spending a week (or more) on each aspect of God’s amazing creation. We brought in shells and rocks and leaves and bird feathers to touch and play with. We matched plant photos to foods we eat and counted plant products in ingredient labels. (Do you know how many plants are in a box of Cheerios or mac’n cheese?) We classified plants and animals and brought in a bird expert. We watched videos and explored books on clouds and planets and sea creatures and the animal kingdom and the incredible human body. And all the things that we take for granted everyday.
Not only is God’s world a beautiful world – but so incredibly functional, too! He thought of EVERYTHING! The more I learn of science and the human body in particular, the more I am amazed at His creation.
I have never made anything nearly as intricate or useful as the smallest, tiniest, most simplistic, most ‘insignificant’ part of God’s creation. But, I do like to create quilts – little scraps of colored fabric (which came from a cotton plant) sewn together in patterns to make a cozy cover to bring comfort and warmth. I can’t imagine how I would feel if I were to meet someone who explained that those quilts just came to be one day – that it grew from nothing and became strings that wove themselves together and the fabrics cut themselves into the perfect shapes and even stitches magically formed just as they were needed to piece the top together and the materials used to create the final layered project appeared at just the right time and space and lined up just so to automatically go through the final steps to create my quilt. Foolishness. It is foolishness that leaves out the thought, intention, desire, creativity, vision, purpose and ability of me, the quilt creator. Or, equally painful – maybe they would give all the credit for the making of the quilt to another.
It makes sense that the Creator of the Heavens and Earth wants us to enjoy and admire His creation – and give Him all the credit He so much deserves. But, what happens when people don’t? What happens when they take away the glory that belongs to God and call it chance instead or give it to another? What happens when they refuse to listen to God’s words – the first recorded words being – “Let there be light”? What happens when they attribute God’s creation to another? We see in the book of Jeremiah. “These wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt—completely useless!” Jeremiah goes on in today’s reading to describe the drought, famine and sword that will be used in judgment of those who have stubbornly turned from God. Jeremiah 14 ends with God telling Jeremiah to speak to the people, telling them to acknowledge their guilt and wickedness and sins against Him and ask God to remember His covenant. The final verse of chapter 14 says,
“Do any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Do the skies themselves send down showers? No, it is you, Lord our God. Therefore our hope is in you, for you are the one who does all this.” (vs 22 NIV)
Not only did Our Great God create this world for us – He made a covenant with us – He has power still today – and He holds out a blessed hope for those who acknowledge and worship Him for all He has done, is doing and will do.
Thank you God for your incredible Creation – help me see and appreciate each amazing part!
Thank you God for the rains today – help me see you at work today!
Thank you God for the hope you set before those who believe and worship you alone – a New Heavens and Earth that will be beyond all we can ever dream or imagine!
You are our hope – for you are the one who does all this!
-Marcia Railton
You can read or listen to today’s Bible reading passages at BibleGateway.com here – Jeremiah 13-14 and Psalm 104
I’ve covered quite a lot this past week about the truth of the Bible, especially in contrast to what some scientists say about certain matters. My goal has been to try to steer folks back to a belief in what the Bible plainly says and to also demonstrate that scientific observation actually supports what the Bible says. I have seen too many cases of believers who start to question if the Bible is accurate in a certain area, and then begin to question at what point you can actually trust scripture.
I believe we can trust the Bible for many reasons, not the least of which is that real world evidence supports it. Theologian John Wycliffe once said, “On all domains of doctrine and in life, the authority of scripture is to be placed higher than all human understanding, for it is God’s word and as such the highest authority.”
Some people point out that the Bible is not a science textbook and so we shouldn’t put too much stock into what it says on science-related topics. My first response is usually, “Thank goodness it’s not a science textbook. Those are always being corrected and updated but the Bible has stood the test of time.”
There is one particular issue that I hear brought up time and time again in regards to the Bible not being trustworthy, and that is an apparent contradiction in Genesis chapter two, in the detailed account of Adam and Eve.
If you will recall, Genesis chapter one states that God created vegetation on day three, but did not create man until day six. But chapter two seems to indicate a different order.
Genesis 2:4-7 (NIV) – This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. 5 Now no shrubhad yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, 6 but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. 7 Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
So which came first the chicken or the egg, or in this case, the man or the brussel sprouts?
Let’s read the passage in the New King James version to see if it sheds any light on this apparent contradiction.
4 This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5 before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; 6 but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground. 7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
Aha! So it wasn’t that there were no plants when Adam was created, in the more detailed chapter two summary, it’s that certain types of plants were not created until after Adam was created. Specifically, what we would consider crop-like plants. That is made clear when it says part of the reason the plants had not been created yet is that there was no man to work or till the ground, so it should be clear these were crops. Soon after God created Adam, He created the Garden of Eden to place Adam and Eve in, and there God finally created these edible plants for them.
But doesn’t it say in Genesis chapter 1 that God created EVERY plant on day three? In fact it does not say that.
Genesis 1:11-13 – Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 So the evening and the morning were the third day.
Nowhere does it suggest that God created EVERY plant on day three. Contrast that with:
Genesis 1:20-25 – Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.” 21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so. 25 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.
It seems clear to me that there is no contradiction. Not all of the plants were created on day three. Instead God waited to create the plants intended for human consumption until after He created humankind. Those plants were created as part of the Garden of Eden, where God placed Adam and Eve.
Why does talking about Creation matter? Primarily, because studies have shown that anywhere between 70 and 88% of kids that were active in youth groups leave the church within a couple of years of graduating.
When we teach our kids that either the Bible is wrong in places, or tell them the Bible despite what some scientists claim, but then do not back that up with good reasons, we are setting them up to question their faith. Or when we try to fit millions of years and evolution into scripture, as many well-meaning Christians try to do, eventually many young people come to the conclusion that it doesn’t actually fit, and then they also find themselves questioning their faith.
But when kids are given the evidence that actually supports what scripture says, wow, what a difference that makes! I have seen it first hand many times.
If anyone has any questions or comments regarding the devotions dealing with creation, please reach out to me at gregrlandry@gmail.com.
SeekGrowLove Editor: We thank Greg for giving us all a week of devotions on creation and God’s reliable Scriptures. We can benefit greatly from the many years Greg has studied and analyzed the creation and evolution arguments. As we reaffirm the truth of God’s Word and understand the errors of some scientific theories that attempt to strip God of His power, might and even existence, we develop a deeper love for God, His Almighty power, and truth. As supposed inconsistencies with God’s Word are explained logically, we are reminded that God is right – again and again and forever and ever. May we love Him and trust Him more and more.
This coming week we will hear from Steve Mattison as he connects with God’s word in Genesis and guides us in continuing to SeekGrowLove. If you got behind on your Bible reading at all now is a great time to get caught up.
This conversation can be a great jumping off place for reaching non-believers. I hope you have an opportunity to use it for that purpose.
According to Genesis, God created the first life on Earth, in the form of plant life, on the third day of creation. Then He created sea creatures and birds on the fifth day of creation, and finally, He created land animals and then man on the sixth day of creation.
Christians certainly believe that God created life. But not everyone believes in a creator, so how do those folks, especially scientists, propose that life got started here on Earth? The image below, from the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History gives a clue:
The first part, about living things being made up of organic compounds, is not disputed. But how those organic compounds, known as the building blocks of life first appeared, is really not clear to scientists. That is clear from the language used in this sign – “may have formed” and “may have been carried to Earth”.
But then, students are presented with a misleading experiment in their textbooks, known as the Miller-Urey experiment. In 1953, Stanley Miller reported that he had conducted an experiment which replicated the primeval conditions on Earth and had produced the chemicals that were essential for life to begin. The point being made to students to this day is that if the building blocks of life could start on their own, as this experiment demonstrates, then certainly life could eventually follow.
Even if the building blocks of life were there, to say that life could begin from non-life is actually a non-starter. It has never been observed and is not even remotely possible. There is something called the Law of Biogenesis which is the principle stating that life only arises from pre-existing life, not from nonliving material.
But the Miller experiment was actually a failure, and did not create the correct kinds of amino acids, which was the experiment’s goal. Also, the fake environment created for the experiment lacked oxygen, because Miller knew it would prevent the molecular bonds from forming, though scientists believe the early Earth had higher oxygen levels than today’s atmosphere.
But let’s pretend for a moment that amino acids were actually able to come about completely by chance. What then? They would have to form into proteins, which are the building blocks of living cells. This is no small feat however. The law of probability states that an event with a chance higher than 10 to the 50th power (that’s 10 with 50 zeroes behind it or 10⁵⁰ in scientific notation shorthand) will never happen. It has been estimated that the chance of a single protein arising by chance is 10 to the 191st power! And cells are made up of millions of proteins. The possibility of an entire cell arising by chance is estimated to be 10 to the 40,000th power!
The idea that a single cell is somehow simple in composition is a fallacy that has lived on well after the truth of its complexity has been discovered. One scientist described a single cell as, “a high-tech factory, complete with artificial languages and their decoding systems, memory banks for information storage and retrieval, elegant control systems regulating the automated assembly of parts and components, error fail-safe and proof-reading devices utilized for quality control, assembly processes involving the principle of prefabrication and modular construction… and a capacity not equaled in any of our own most advanced machines, for it would be capable of replicating its entire structure within a matter of a few hours.” That does not sound like something that could have arisen completely by chance.
Even biochemist and spiritual skeptic Francis Crick, who shared the Nobel Prize for discovering the molecular structure of DNA, said, “an honest man, armed with all the knowledge available to us now, could only state that in some sense, the origin of life appears at the moment to be almost a miracle, so many are the conditions which would have had to have been satisfied to get it going.”
He’s right of course. Secular science is missing the most important parts of how life begins. A Creator, and the breath of life.
Genesis 2:7 – Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
Secular science will never be able to explain or demonstrate how life began on its own, because it is an impossibility. But the fact that you exist is proof that we have an amazing Creator God. And the fact that you are able to read this is also pretty incredible. Why? Because of the design that enables you to see. There are 100 million light sensitive cells in the human eye, which send signals to the brain through the 1 million nerve fibers of the optic nerve! The visual process culminates in our brain which contains 100 billion nerve cells connected by 150,000 kilometers of nerve fibers. It is estimated that there are 100 trillion connections between nerve cells in the human brain! All of that, just so you can see. And that is only one small but miraculous part of the equally miraculous rest of your body.
Indeed, we have a great God! And indeed, you are fearfully and wonderfully made!
-Greg Landry
If anyone has any questions or comments they would like me to address on any of the devotions dealing with creation this week, please reach out to me at gregrlandry@gmail.com
Keep Seeking God – in his Scriptures and with the brain He has created for you. Your faith will Grow. Then Love someone else enough to share what God is teaching you.
The final piece in God’s creation, on day 6, is humankind. Man stands out in all of creation, having been made in God’s own image.
Genesis 1:26-28 – Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Adam and Eve were the first humans, as recorded in Genesis and other places such as in Timothy 2:13 – For Adam was formed first, then Eve. Adam is mentioned quite a few times throughout scripture, including in the genealogy of Jesus in Luke chapter 3. But there are many Christians who question if Adam and Eve were even real people. Why? Primarily because of Darwinian Evolution. If Darwinian Evolution is true, then there really were no exact pair of first humans per se, because humans would have evolved slowly from an ape-like ancestor. For Christians who believe Darwinian Evolution to be true, it has led some to question how there could have been an actual Adam and Eve in that scenario.
But Darwinian Evolution is not possible, as I shared in yesterday’s devotion, and so there is no reason to try to explain away all of the references to Adam in scripture. Doing so creates the need to start discounting the veracity of a lot of scripture. Another reason to toss the idea that man evolved is that if you allowed one random step in evolution to occur every hour on the hour (much, much faster than evolutionists suggest it happens), it would take around 6.8 billion years for man to evolve from a single cell, which is too much time, even given the incorrect ancient age of the earth.
The supposed evolution of humans is full of a history of hoaxes, exaggerations, and errors. For example, you may have heard it reported that humans and chimpanzees have anywhere from 95% to 99% genetic similarity, as this image from the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History claims.
This is intended to support the idea that humans and chimps share a common ancestor. But the truth is that that percentage is arrived upon because researchers only compared the most similar sections of the genomes. But if you compare the entire genomes, it is more akin to a 70% similarity. And still, there are over 900 million DNA differences that divide humans and chimps! This is known to be true, but misleading information that states otherwise still appears in museums and in textbooks today. No wonder so many Christians believe it.
“There is no encompassing theory of human evolution,” concedes Berkeley evolutionary biologist F. Clark Howell. “Alas, there never really has been.”
Is there any evidence that points to an actual Adam or Eve? Yes! Using comparisons of mitochondrial DNA, which is only passed on from the mother, creation scientists, and many secular scientists agree that evidence indicates all humans are descended from a single pair of humans that lived in the relatively recent past. (This study was published in the journal Human Evolution in May 2018.)
Another recent study published in Science Magazine (337, p.64-69) suggests that humans haven’t been around very long. Regarding human genetic diversity, the study concluded, “The maximum likelihood time for accelerated growth was 5,115 years ago.” This time frame aligns rather closely with scripture, and specifically the time that Adam would have been created.
It is exciting for me to see that real world observation continually confirms the Bible. As more and more Christians learn these truths, I hope it leads to an abandonment of attempts to throw out or twist sections of scripture that are not compatible with some scientific claims. In regards to human evolution, you should feel confident that you did not evolve from an ape-like ancestor. You were specially designed, created in the image of God, just as Adam was, in the beginning. Jesus confirmed as much in Matthew 18:4 when he said, “at the beginning, the creator made them (Adam and Eve) male and female.”
-Greg Landry
If anyone has any questions or comments they would like me to address on any of the devotions dealing with creation this week, please reach out to me at gregrlandry@gmail.com
Editor: Do you know someone who could benefit from reading today’s devotion? Pass it on. I believe it could really save a life – an eternal life! Evolution has been used to distort God’s truth and lead youth and adults to question God’s existence, power, and love. It’s time to fight back. And how encouraging to know that Science Really IS on God’s side!
And, keep going on your daily Bible reading. Lots of good stuff in Genesis and Matthew!
One of the great questions in life is, “How did I get here?” Job 33:4 says, “The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” As Christians, we believe we were created by God, with a purpose. But so many in this world believe that they are a result of random processes, believing they are essentially an accident, and thus there is no greater purpose to their existence.
According to the Bible, during the creation week, not only did God create the heavenly bodies and the planet we live on, He also populated this planet with life.
Genesis 1:9-13 – And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.
Then, in Genesis 1:20-25 – And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
Note that the Bible says that God created plants, sea creatures, land creatures and flying creatures, at the beginning, according to their kinds. In other words, the various types of animals such as elephants, big cats and whales were there from the beginning. Many scientists instead believe in Darwinian Evolution, an alternate explanation of how life came to exist on the Earth.
That is the worldview that results in people believing they are merely accidents and serve no purpose. But which explanation is actually supported by what we observe in nature? Can we trust how scripture says it happened?
The key idea in Darwinian Evolution is that all life that has ever existed descended from a relatively simple common ancestor, and became more complex over time, branching into different kinds of life as a result of random mutations. Although this idea is widely accepted within scientific circles, thankfully, more and more scientists are questioning its validity. There is a group called Dissent from Darwin, that lists over a thousand professors and scientists that do not believe the claims made by the Darwinian theory are valid. https://dissentfromdarwin.org
The problems with Darwinian Evolution are many. Perhaps the biggest problem for evolution is that random mutations are not capable of adding new features to an organism ultimately leading up to a different type of organism altogether. In lab settings, scientists have intentionally introduced mutations into thousands of generations of fruit flies, and have observed that the mutations only lead to inferior fruit flies. Not better fruit flies or different kinds of flies altogether. Mutations NEVER, under any circumstances, add information. They only scramble up whatever information is already there, or instead, there is a loss of information. Even if mutations were able to add new information, it is mathematically impossible for mutations to account for the vast variety of life on Earth, even if the Earth was much older than the ancient age some scientists believe it is.
Secondly, all that has ever been observed are small changes within an animal or plant kind, not changes that have ever led to a different animal or plant kind. Yes, sometimes we can observe changes in a type of fish, for example, that some scientists then label as a new species. But those changes have never been observed to lead that fish to turn into a non-fish.
Finally, there is no record of evolution in the fossil record due to a complete lack of transitional fossils (fossils that clearly show a transition from one animal kind to another) that even evolutionists can agree on.
On the other hand, real world observation shows that living organisms are far too complex to have evolved due to random chance. Not only are the systems that make up your own body, such as the circulatory system, nervous system and so forth unimaginably complex, they are irreducibly complex. That means, that these systems could not have evolved slowly over time because the entire system had to be in place from day one, or else it would not work. Not only does the entire system need to be in place, but the various systems are interdependent, and so they had to all be there together from day one as well. What good is a circulatory system if there is no respiratory system? What good is a skeletal system if there is no muscular system? What good is any system if there is not reproductive system?
As complex as any system is, the individual cells that make up the parts of the system are even more complex. Cells function as tiny cities that work off of a set of blue prints to know what to do at any given time. The blue prints are the DNA in the nucleus of the cell. But if cells came about through evolution, did the nucleus of the cell evolve first, or did the DNA contained within the nucleus, which has the instructions of how to build not only the nucleus, but the entire cell, evolve first? You see, again, everything had to be there together that first time, or it just doesn’t work.
What we actually observe around us fully supports the Biblical account of creation in that God created the different forms of life fully formed from the beginning, according to their kinds. At the same time, what we observe leaves no possibility for Darwinian Evolution.
-Greg Landry
If anyone has any questions or comments they would like me to address on any of the devotions dealing with creation this week, please reach out to me at gregrlandry@gmail.com
Editor: Thank you for reading with us this week as Greg shares on his study of creation. We have an amazing God!
Have you ever been in an outdoor area away from city lights and marveled at the starry night sky? If not, what are you waiting for? The beauty and sheer number of the stars and other heavenly bodies in the night sky are simply amazing. About 3,000 stars are visible to the naked eye on a clear, moonless night, but it is estimated that there are about 100 billion stars in just our galaxy alone. It is estimated that there are about 10 billion trillion stars in the universe. That is 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. That’s a lot of stars. And if you ever want to feel truly insignificant, search for a video that compares the size of our closest star, the sun, to Earth and to the other stars. But then, while feeling truly insignificant, remember that the same God who created all of those stars also created you and loves you!
How do we know God created the heavenly bodies?
Genesis 1:14-19 – And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years,15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
Isaiah 45:12 – I made the earth and created man on it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host.
Psalm 33:6 – By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
Scripture seems pretty clear about this. But you may have heard about something called The Big Bang Theory. No, not the television show. The Big Bang Theory claims that the universe came into being about 13.8 billion years ago with an explosion, all on its own, for no reason at all. Though it is tempting to take the angle that the theory is essentially attempting to scientifically describe what God created, that is not the real intent of the theory. It is an attempt to explain how the universe came into being, without the hand of a Creator God.
“Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists, why we exist. It is not necessary to invoke God to…set the Universe going.” – Stephen Hawking.
It is understandable that some scientists would not invoke a Creator or the miraculous nature of the creation of the universe in their explanation of the origin of the universe. And yet, there is no choice but to invoke miracles as part of an explanation of how something can come from nothing, as is the case with the Big Bang Theory.
“[The big bang] represents instantaneous suspension of physical laws, the sudden abrupt flash of lawlessness that allowed something to come out of nothing. It represents a true miracle…” – Paul Davies – physicist and evolutionist – The Edge of Infinity.
Keep quotes like these in mind when defending your faith. Whether it is the universe starting from “spontaneous creation” or life starting from non-life, scientists will often rely on miracles to try to explain the world around us. We as believers certainly accept miracles, but the difference is, we also believe in a Miracle-maker.
Other than the Big Bang Theory not allowing for a Creator, the theory also does not fit with the creation account in Genesis because the creation account says that the earth was created before the stars, whereas the Big Bang theory claims the opposite.
The Big Bang Theory is truly not compatible with scripture, but moreover, it is now a crumbling theory, scientifically, as well.
There are numerous problems with the theory as it stands today. Many things that we observe in the universe around us, both near and far, are simply impossible if the universe started with an explosion billions of years ago.
Without going into multiple explanations, a few of the problems include:
We should find magnetic monopoles, but we don’t.
There should be equal amounts matter and anti-matter, but it’s not even close.
Only about 7,000 years worth of supernovas have been discovered.
Distant galaxies appear far too young.
Galaxies as we know them shouldn’t even exist.
There are millions of years of missing collisions.
The echo for the Big Bang is missing.
Dark matter and dark energy are needed for the Big Bang model, but there is no evidence that either exists.
Mercury shouldn’t be dense, but it is. And it shouldn’t still have a magnetic field, but it does.
The surface of Venus is too young, and it should not be rotating sideways or have a magnetic field.
The Earth shouldn’t have any water, and its magnetic field is too young.
Stars shouldn’t exist.
Our moon’s origin and geologic activity are unexplainable.
Saturn’s magnetic field shouldn’t be there.
Neptune appears too young and shouldn’t even exist.
Uranus should not still have a magnetic field and gives off too much energy.
Jupiter also still gives off too much energy.
Comets should no longer exist.
“Big Bang cosmology is probably as widely believed as has been any theory of the universe in the history of Western civilization. It rests, however, on many untested, and in some cases untestable assumptions. Indeed, big bang cosmology has become a bandwagon of thought that reflects faith as much as objective truth.” – G. Burbridge, Why only one big bang? Scientific American, 266 (2):96.
Either the universe started on its own, breaking multiple laws of physics in the process, and somehow resulted in many phenomena that indicate it didn’t begin as they say, billions of years ago, or our amazing God created all the stars and heavenly bodies that we see in the beautiful night sky just as scripture tells us.
-Greg Landry
If anyone has any questions or comments they would like me to address on any of the devotions dealing with creation this week, please reach out to me at gregrlandry@gmail.com
SeekGrowLove Editor: We thank Greg for tackling the job of discussing creation and the Bible during our devotions this week. Too often Godly kids have turned away from the truths of Scripture when faced with “smart” college professors teaching evolution. Greg has studied much and presents the truth of Scripture as well as the errors and inconsistencies of evolution. So, this week we offer a deeper look at creation than could be covered in one day of devotions. Dig in with us – and keep reading from the Bible reading plan as well. Print your copy below and mark off those passages as you go. God bless your journey with Him – from beginning to end!
Last month, I did a devotion on Romans chapters 1-3, where I discussed the fact that we do not have a blind faith, owing in part to the abundance of evidence all around us that there is indeed a creator. The key verses were Romans 1:18-20 – The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
To kick off the SeekGrowLove Devotion’s new topic-based option, what better place to start the new year than the book of Genesis? For those that enjoyed the creation devotion from Romans last month, I hope you will be glad to learn that creation will be the daily devotion topic throughout this week. Let’s start at the very beginning:
Genesis 1:1-5 – In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
There is a lot of disagreement, among Christians in particular, whether the six days of creation were actual 24 hour periods, or longer periods. Why is that? I believe it’s because if you do a little study, taking the genealogies found in Genesis chapters 5 and 11, which indicate there was approximately 2,000 years between Adam and Abraham (and archaeological evidence indicates Abraham lived about 2,000 B.C.), you would discover that scripture points to the Earth being relatively young. That is, if you agree that the Creation week which ended with the creation of Adam was a literal week, instead of a much longer period of time.
But of course that young earth idea flies in the face of what many scientists believe (and many, perhaps most, Christians have adopted as well), namely that the earth is billions of years old. Thus, there are many theories on how one should understand Genesis chapters 1 and 2, given the widely accepted age of the Earth. One theory is that the word day in Genesis doesn’t actually mean a 24 hour period. It has been suggested that day in Genesis represents a much longer time period. But we should dig a bit deeper into the original language of Genesis to get a better understanding of what was meant by the word day, when used in phrases like “the first day.”
The Hebrew word for day in Genesis is yom. It can have several meanings (much like our own word for day) – a period of time, a specific period of time, a year, the time of day when it is light out, and a 24 hour period of time. However, the Hebrew yom is used with a number (such as the first day) 359 times in the Old Testament outside of Genesis 1, and every single time, it is clear that it means a 24 hour period. Genesis is the only place where the meaning of yom is questioned.
There are other Hebrew words that mean time or an indefinite period, but they were not used. The only Hebrew word that can represent a 24 hour period is the one that was used in Genesis to describe the creation days. I don’t believe that was an accident.
Another theory, known as the gap theory, is that the Earth appears old because God created the Earth, as described in Genesis 1:1, then paused a very long time, before continuing with the rest of creation, beginning as described in Genesis 1:2. But there is a verse outside of Genesis that sheds heavy doubt on that theory.
Exodus 20:8-11 – Remember the Sabbath by keeping it holy. …For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
If, as this passage says, God created the Earth (as it says in Genesis 1:1) AND everything in it in six days, then clearly there is no possibility of a gap as the gap theory posits. Furthermore, when the plural form of yom, yamim, is used, as it is over 700 times in the Old Testament, including here in Exodus, it always means a literal 24 hour period.
Isaiah 45:18 – For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): “I am the Lord, and there is no other. Again, scripture outside of Genesis indicates that the Earth was designed to be inhabited from the beginning, not to remain empty for any long period, before life was added.
Additionally, the word remember in Hebrew, when used as a command, as it is in Exodus 20:8, always refers back to a real historical event. This is especially important because there are multiple theories out there that the creation account is simply a myth or a metaphor.
I believe that when you take the entirety of scripture into account, it clearly supports that the creation week was a historical event, and took 6 literal 24 hour days to complete.
But what about the evidence that the Earth appears very old? After all, without this idea, I doubt that people would actually question the veracity of the creation account. Well, in my studies of that evidence, I have found it to be inconclusive at best, and often fraudulent or intentionally misleading. Perhaps the biggest issue is the fact that radiometric dating methods have been proven unreliable, inconsistent, and return vast age ranges from which scientists cherry pick the dates that suit their narrative. For example, lava that had hardened into igneous rock after the Mt. St Helens eruption in Washington State in 1980 was radiometrically dated to be 300,000 – 400,000 years old.
The following quote illuminates the problem.
The troubles of the radiocarbon dating method are undeniably deep and serious. Despite 35 years of technological refinement and better understanding, the underlying assumptions have been strongly challenged… It should be no surprise, then, that fully half of the dates are rejected. The wonder is, surely, that the remaining half come to be accepted.
Radiocarbon, Ages in Error,” Anthropological Journal of Canada, Vol 19, No 3, p.9 illuminates the problem.
There is much more to say about the evidence of errors within dating methods, but a daily Bible devotion is not the best place to expand further on those ideas.
If anyone has any questions or comments they would like me to address on any of the devotions dealing with creation this week, please reach out to me at gregrlandry@gmail.com
-Greg Landry
SeekGrowLove Editor: We thank Greg for tackling the job of discussing creation and the Bible during our devotions this week. Too often Godly kids have turned away from the truths of Scripture when faced with “smart” college professors teaching evolution. Greg has studied much and presents the truth of Scripture as well as the errors and inconsistencies of evolution. So, this week we offer a deeper look at creation than could be covered in one day of devotions. Dig in with us – and keep reading from the Bible reading plan as well. Print your copy below and mark off those passages as you go. God bless your journey with Him – from beginning to end!
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