Picture yourself driving onto a college campus and immediately your eyes catch a bumper sticker on the vehicle in front of you that reads, “In the beginning man created god.” It’s a fresh reminder that people all over the world hate the doctrine of creation—but more troubling is the fact that such people hate God.
A Wrong View of Jesus Leads to a Wrong Understanding of Creation
In order to understand the entire universe, we have to first understand God. Many people want to go to the creation to learn about God, and that’s possible to a certain degree. However, the true revelation of God comes from the page of the Bible—not the creation itself.
I remember having a passionate conversation with a man during a long bus ride several years ago. The man embraced an old earth theory of creation and was taking me and another gentleman to task on our views related to young earth creation position. The more we talked, the more he continued to pull his evidence out of various scientific theories as opposed to allowing the Bible speak with sufficient authority.
At one point I asked the man if he was ashamed of Jesus’ own teaching on the subject of creation? He claimed to affirm Jesus’ position, so I went on to quote what Jesus actually said about creation. Notice that Jesus actually embraced a literal six-day creation position.
- In Mark 13:19, a passage about the Abomination of Desolation, Jesus made the following statement, “For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, and never will be.” No matter what your position is on the subject of eschatology, it’s clear that Jesus was a creationist.
- In John 17:24, Jesus is praying to the Father in what is known as the high priestly prayer, and he speaks of the “foundation of the world.” If the world evolved, there would be no foundation moment to speak about. This language solidifies Jesus’ position on creation.
- In Mark 10:6, in Jesus’ teaching on the subject of divorce, He states, “But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’” As we read Colossians 1, we find that Jesus is the Creator, so it makes perfect sense that He would understand the doctrine of creation since He was is the Creator God.
- In Matthew 19:5, Jesus rebukes the religious Pharisees by asking them, “Have you not read?” He was pointing to the creation account as recorded by Moses in Genesis 1:27.
Sadly, the man I had this conversation with in the bus has since walked away from the faith. This is the case in far too many circumstances. When a person has a wrong view of Jesus—they will likewise have many other theological problems lurking in the shadows.
Rejection of the Miraculous
When it comes to the truth of creationism as clearly taught in the Bible, many people conclude prematurely that science and Christianity are incompatible based on the reality of the supernatural within Christianity. It is true, science seeks to explain and understand nature and laws of nature by facts. Unfortunately, many people who have bought into the theory of evolution have no idea that it’s a theory and that many holes and unvalidated truth claims make up the foundation of what we know as evolution.
Make no mistake about it, the creation of the entire universe by a sovereign God is indeed a miracle. For many rational unbelievers, they are fine to discuss the existence of the historical Jesus or to debate Noah’s ark based on the size of the boat verses the size of dinosaurs and other animals, but they’re unwilling to accept the supernatural as fact. Miracles make unbelievers blush. This is also the reason far too many Christians reject a young earth creation model in exchange for an old earth creation model that fits closer with the evolutionary numbers.
What about the supernatural? Does the entire universe bear the mark of a supernatural beginning or a slow evolutionary development from nothing? Thomas Jefferson is one such example from history of a man who rejected the miracles—that’s why his Jefferson Bible is a compilation of Jesus’ moral teachings stripped away from the miracles. When you are taught that you must divorce the God of miracles from the God who created the universe it causes a great deal of confusion. Does a divine and supernatural God who creates and orders the entire universe by laws of nature make logical sense or does a random series of actions and reactions that form an entire universe make the most sense? Make no mistake—science and Christianity are not opposed to one another.
The Devil is the Father of All Lies
At some level, anyone who has gone through the public school system has been taught the theory of evolution. Subtle lies have been taught as validated truth for many years—and we’ve all bought into it. The Bible points out another clear reality about Satan. The fallen angel that we often depict as a red devil with pointy horns and a pitch fork is actually a beautiful angel who masquerades himself as an angel of light. He is the great deceiver. In short, he is the father of all lies.
If you read about Adam and Eve and their fall in the Garden of Eden, you will discover that Satan was at work in the Garden casting doubt upon the reliability of God’s word. He asked them, “Did God really say?” He was trying to cast doubt upon the truth and trustworthiness of God’s own word. The same thing continues to this very day. Satan does not want people to come to understand and believe that God exists and that He is responsible for the entire creation. Satan is a liar and has been from the beginning according to Jesus (John 8:44).
The next time you hear some teacher or journalist asking questions in a subtle and negative tone about fitting dinosaurs on the ark or about how the entire world could flood in the span of 40 days—remember the devil is tricky. Lean into the study and don’t be afraid to ask such questions to God’s Word. What you will find is that the more people dig into the Bible and into the dirt of earth—the more evidence there is for God’s creation—and a young earth creation position of approximately 6,000 years.
Science is not at odds with the Bible—but the devil is. Beware of his schemes and remember that Noah was not a stupid man. He could’ve brought small animals of the same “kind” onto the boat without causing massive problems on the ship. Don’t disconnect your mind from your faith. Think. Learn. Know God and the more you do—the higher will be your worship.
