In the Bible we read the story of the Tower of Babel. Men had become so skilled at cutting and fitting stone that they imagined they could build a high tower, high enough to reach God’s Heaven. And so they began their work. But while we know that no one could ever build a tower made of stone or even steel that could extend beyond the pull of earth’s gravity and into space, they did not have this understanding, nor the wisdom to know where their knowledge was lacking. They believed themselves to be invincible, all-powerful, and God rewarded their over-weening arrogance by changing their languages so that no one could understand anyone else and the work ground to a halt.
In the last two centuries, man has again made great progress in his knowledge and skill, in science, in math, in technology. And with these advancements, he has again imagined himself to be capable of all things, the fount of all knowledge, of all wisdom. And out of this over-weening arrogance these “men of science” have cast aside the wisdom of thousands of years in order to advance as “Truth” their theories, “The Theory of Evolution” and “The Big Bang Theory” as more “scientific” answers to the creation of man and the world. So, let’s look at these theories compared to the traditional, thousands of years old tradition of the Bible creation. Which is the more logical of the two?
In the Big Bang Theory, as put forth in 1927 by astronomer Georges Lemaitre, the universe began as a tiny spot of hot particles which grouped together forming stars and galaxies, expanding into more particles and stars and galaxies. Edwin Hubble later proposed that a huge explosion caused matter to expand in all directions, creating our solar system among others. And out of the star that we call the sun, particles formed together to become earth.
Life, they explain, evolved from DNA and RNA particles found within the exploding matter, becoming first simple organisms in the ocean waters, then fish, then fish which miraculously grew legs and lungs and knew not to use the lungs until they had crawled out of the ocean onto dry land. And from these legged, fish-like creatures, sprang bunnies, horses, cats, dogs, cockroaches, ants, and humans (by way of the apes). Likewise, plants began to grow on the dry land, randomly producing ragweed or roses, apple trees or mighty oaks, evergreens or poison ivy.
And then it all stopped. No more fish crawled out of the ocean on their feet. No more legged fish produced foals. No more apes had human babies. Suddenly, every species began to reproduce after its own kind. Evolution had ended. Certainly, historians will argue that people today are taller and live longer than people did one hundred or five hundred years ago, and they would be correct. But one can easily argue that we now know the importance of sanitation, of cleanliness, of eating healthy foods (although most of us do not do as well as we should!). We have medicines to cure our illnesses, doctors to operate when needed, and vaccines to prevent us from getting many diseases that killed our ancestors. That is why we are healthier, taller, and live longer. It is not evolution because we are not changing into something different, more advanced.
In the Biblical explanation of creation, we begin with God, who like that tiny clump of hot particles that Georges Lemaitre posited began the universe, has no known beginning to which we can point. God has always existed and will always exist. He created the universe, setting stars into solar systems with planets to revolve around them, and into our solar system he set the earth. And on the earth, He created oceans and dry ground, mountains, rivers, lakes, and plants of all kinds. He created, made, animals of intriguing types to inhabit the waters and the dry ground; giraffes with necks long enough so they can eat the leaves from trees, elephants with long noses, trunks, that can suck up water to spray into their mouths or over their backs or snatch up bundles of grasses to stuff into their mouths like a giant hand. And He made a man and a woman with bodies perfectly formed to fit each other in the reproductive act of making more little humans to people the earth.
The vast intricacies of the human body, the delicate petals of roses, the vast variety of flowers that bloom around the world show workmanship, not chance, order not chaos. Everything on earth is ordered. The seasons, night and day, the aging of all things. It is not random. It is impossible to imagine that having evolved from a bit of DNA in the ocean, every living thing on earth should at the same point have simply stopped evolving. But how much more logical to believe that a Master Designer drew up the plans and created all that exists, setting everything into motion. The Deists in the 1700s believed in God and that God had created the world and the universe, but they viewed Him as a Divine Clockmaker, who once having built His masterpiece of a grandfather’s clock, wound it up, set it running, and then let it go. I believe God remains a good deal more involved in our daily lives than that, but the image of the clockmaker is apt in that He created and set everything in motion in an orderly fashion and it does not deviate from that order because He is God.
So, when you look at the world around you, the glorious mountains, the majestic trees, the beautiful flowers, the rushing rivers; when you consider the vast array of humans and animals that inhabit the earth, ask yourself this: Why not God?