creation

What you believe shapes how you see things

Have you ever noticed that multiple educated people can evaluate the same sets of data, and come up with two completely different conclusions?

One Wall Street analyst looks at a particular company and recommends buying their stock. Another looks at the same company, with the same financial statements and business prospects, and recommends selling their stock.

One football scout watches a prospective quarterback and sees vulnerability and liability. Another sees the same quarterback in the same game and sees the future of the franchise.

Multiple experts, same information, different conclusions.

Today, we see the same things happening in the debate over evolution. The evolutionist sees evidence such as carbon dating and fossils, and concludes that evolution is true. The creationist sees the exact same evidence, and concludes that the fossil record proves the existence of the flood from Genesis 6-9, and thus creationism is true.

Both the evolutionist and the creationist are highly educated and well-reasoned in their conclusions. So, how do they look at the fossil record, carbon dating, canyons and rock formations, and come to such different conclusions?

It has to do with their faith.

The evolutionist has a faith that the world was created by various physical forces and chemical reactions without the intervention of a divine creator. Thus, when he examines the fossil record, his faith is validated by what he sees as evidence of an old earth. Through his faith, he believes in evolution.

The creationist has a faith that the world was created by God, so when he examines the fossil record, his faith is validated by what he sees as evidence of God’s intervention (such as the worldwide flood).

You see, faith is not shaped by evidence, but rather, faith shapes how we evaluate evidence. If you are looking for proof before you believe, then you will never find the evidence you are looking for. However, if you believe, you will see things that validate your belief.

Thus, we find in Hebrews 11:3 that “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”

Our demand for proof of God’s existence will never be satisfied, at least, not until the end time. However, when we decide to trust that God exists and that He is good, then God responds to that faith and rewards it (Hebrews 11:6).

So, the question is, what do you believe? And how is that belief shaping your worldview?

God is Good, We Have Proof!

Is God good?

For decades, if not centuries, the assumption has been that God is good. He is the creator of all things, the redeemer of sinful man, and the good force in the universe that battles the evil forces of Satan and his demons.

However, an increasingly skeptical generation is rising up. While this increased skepticism may alarm some Christians, a sincere search for the truth will not only quench the thirst of the skeptics, but will also deepen their faith, as knowing why you believe something endows you with a faith strong enough to endure the hardest temptations.

The skeptic looks at a broken world full of suffering and questions whether a truly good God could allow such. However, if we only evaluate God by the current conditions of this world, a work that is still very much in progress, then our perception will be skewed.

The fact is that while God created the world, not everything in the world is of God’s doing. God created a perfect world, a perfect environment, and a life for man with no suffering.

And God’s gift to man was the gift of life. To fully understand the gift of life, let’s take a look at Genesis 2:7, “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 soul.”

This concept of life includes a certain consciousness, a sense of self-awareness, a certain creativity, a problem solving ability, and the desire and ability to create beauty.

This concept of life includes a certain freedom, the freedom to choose one’s destiny and will.

To lock in that freedom, God placed the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden. Man was warned that eating of that tree would amount to rebellion against God and death. More on that in a moment.

The life God gave was one of freedom, creativity, consciousness, intellect, problem solving, engineering, art, beauty, music and progress. All of this is birthed from the life God gave, and the life God breathed into man’s nostrils.

Man is capable of all of this because God made him a living soul.

So, everything good we enjoy about life, whether it be music, art, sports, or entertainment, springs forth from the life God gave us. Everything good we accomplish, from building things, business, to medical advancements, comes from the life God gave us.

And God intended on us doing these good things with the life He gave us, which is why He told Adam to keep and dress the Garden, meaning that God’s intention for man was to make his perfect creation even better.

As Genesis 2:15 says, “And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.”

So, everything good you enjoy in life comes from the life God gave, thus everything good in life comes from God, because He is good.

As James 1:17 says, “Every very good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”

So, seeing that God’s creation is good, and seeing that the gifts He gives is good, then we can conclude that God is good. Jesus Christ said that there is none good but God.

So what about the suffering? We did that on our own. God created the perfect world and gave us a perfect life, but in sinning against Him, we broke it. Not only that, but we continually perpetuate the suffering by sinning against each other.

So God is not the source of what’s bad in the world, we are. God is good, but we are not. But praise be to God, He can take all of our badness and turn it into good, and He does that continually (Romans 8:28)

So, God is good. The life He gave is good. The gifts He gives through that life is good. Therefore He is worthy of our faith – we should trust Him all the more.

Why read about the creation in Genesis?

Familiarity with passages of scripture can often rob us of the blessings of God’s truth. All too often, we breeze past familiar verses, thinking that it is pretty basic, and that we already know what they say. The truth is that deeper meaning and Spiritual nourishment can be found in those familiar passages.

One good example of this is in the Genesis account of creation. One might be tempted to skim through that passage thinking, “Yeah, God created the heaven and the earth,” and completely miss the implication of it. So in the interest of maximizing our blessings from scripture, let’s take a closer look at Genesis 1-3.

Genesis 1:1 famously tells us, “In the beginning, God created the Heaven and the Earth.” I cannot read that verse without thinking of a dear Christian friend of mine who emphasized the first four words, “In the beginning, God!”

God was there in the beginning, and He is the beginning. He pre-existed everything. This means He created everything. This means, having created everything, He is more powerful than everything, which means He is more than capable of overcoming that which overwhelms me.

Another observation from the Genesis account of creation is that it demonstrates God’s character and attributes to us. Romans 1:20 tells us that “The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.”

In examining the attributes of God from the creation of the world, we readily see three attributes in Genesis 1.

God creates order from chaos in Gen 1:2. The Earth was without form and void, but the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. The resulting creation is demonstrated throughout the rest of Genesis 1, and can still be observed in person today.

God creates abundance where there is emptiness. Genesis 1:2 tells us that the Earth was “void,” or empty. By the end of Genesis 1, we see a world created with abundant resources.

In the beginning, the world was dark. God’s first creation was light. So, we see that God shines light into darkness. Furthermore, He separates the light from the darkness, giving a picture of our future deliverance.

Then, in Genesis 2, we read about how God created man, and placed him in the garden of Eden, giving him abundant food and a great living space. This demonstrates the loving care God gives us.

However, in Genesis 3, man rebels. Believing that eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil would elevate them to God’s status, thus freeing them from His authority, Adam and Eve ate, and thus rebelled against God.

God responded by offering them redemption (Genesis 3:15) and covering their nakedness.

If you want an idea of Who God is, read about Him in the creation. What you will learn is that He is good, loving and merciful, even when we don’t love Him back.