Creation in Scripture

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. 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. And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 1:1-2:9)[1]

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For 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: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. (Romans 1:18-25)

Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. (Colossians 1:15-17)

Micro-Evolution vs Macro-Evolution

First, we must differentiate between micro-evolution and macro-evolution. Micro-evolution states that animal species may evolve, but remain in the same species. For example, we could take two dogs, do repeated breeding with them, their offspring, and their offspring, and so on; and we can end up with big dogs, small dogs, white dogs, blue dogs, long-haired dogs, no-haired dogs, and so on; but we will still end up with dogs. Macro-evolution states that we may end up with a cat, or a kangaroo, or something else other than a dog. Actually, micro-evolution is necessary for the Bible to be true:

Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it... And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them. Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he. (Genesis 6:14-16,19-22)

Noah could then have had two dogs, two cats, etc. If he needed two of every dog breed, cat breed, etc., he would have needed a much larger ark.

 

Second Law of Thermodynamics

One place that the theory of evolution falters is with the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which states that things become more disorganized and disordered over time. This is the principle of entropy. Unfortunately for the atheists, a closed system is not necessary for this to be true. The way that evolution would progress with the Second Law of Thermodynamics is that we would have to start with man and evolve down to the slime. Evolution could not progress the other way. More time simply makes the problem worse. Random energy, such as the sun, also makes the problem worse. Entropy increases with heat. Materials liquefy (melt) and eventually vaporize (turn into gas) when heated.

Where did God come from?

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. (Psalm 90:2)

God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24)

In other words, God is not a created being. He has existed from all time. In fact, as can be inferred from the Genesis 1:1-2:9[2] passage, He created time!

 

Age of the Earth

What about the age of the Earth? Isn't it five billion years? The problem is with radio-isotope dating, in this case using Uranium-238 decaying into lead-206. This has several problems: 1) What was the ratio of uranium-238 to lead-206 in the beginning? Was any uranium-238 or lead-206 (or intermediate elements) added or removed in all of this time? How do we know? Radio-isotope dating has been known to produce notoriously inaccurate results. For example, Sunset Crater was dated at 230,000 years old using radio-isotope dating; Indian history and artifacts in this crater showed it to be 900 years old.

Other dating methods show a much younger Earth.

For example, if the oceans began as fresh water, using measured data with how fast the ocean is accumulating salt (such as rivers and hydrothermal vents) and how fast the ocean is losing salt (such as sea spray and absorption into the ocean floor), the oceans could not be more than 31-62 million years old.

Another example is the level of helium in the Earth's atmosphere. It the atmosphere originally had no helium, using measured data with how fast the atmosphere is accumulating helium (principally radioactive decay) and how fast the atmosphere is losing helium (principally escaping to outer space), the atmosphere could not be more than 1-2 million years old. Moreover, if instead of using helium, we use carbon-14, the atmosphere could not be more than 30,000 years old.

Many more examples such as these can be given which date the Earth much younger.

 

The Dinosaurs

What about the dinosaurs? We have a case in the Scripture:

Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox. Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly. He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together. His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron. (Job 40:15-18)

Elephants, rhinoceroses, and hippopotamuses have rope-like tails, not tails like cedars!

Vastness of the Universe

What about the vast distances between stars, galaxies, etc?

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth...And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. (Genesis 1:1, 15-19)

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. (Psalm 19:1-2)

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)

If we were unable to see the stars, galaxies, etc., due to their light not having reached us yet, the heavens would not declare the glory of anyone or anything!

Although we do not have a definitive explanation as to how we can now see quasars 15 billion light years from us, possible explanations exist:

  1. c (the speed of light) may not be immutable. In fact, c had not been measured with any degree of accuracy until less than 200 years ago. If c were nearly infinite at the time of creation; and it has slowed to its current value of roughly 186,000 miles per second, light from these distant galaxies and quasars can reach us now.
  2. God could have started with starlight in motion. He gave the appearance of age to Adam and Eve (they were not created as babies); he could have done this with the rest of the universe.
  3. The speed of light could be much greater than c. If, for example, the Battlestar Galactica races away from Earth at 0.9c; and the Starship Enterprise zips past the Galactica at 0.9c, an observer on Earth would not see the Enterprise racing away at 1.8c. The velocity addition formula v = (v1 + v2) / (1 + v1v2/c^2) would yield a value of 1.8/1.81 c, or about 0.995c.
  4. There could be a mechanism, physical law, etc., that we simply have not discovered yet. We are learning more and more all the time about physics and physical laws. This is not a God of the Gaps type of explanation (an example of God of the Gaps was that, when we did not know how a thunderstorm occurred, we simply said that it was God.). This is simply to state that God may have used a method that we are not aware of yet, such as in Isaiah 55:8-9.
  5. Light reaching us from these distant galaxies and quasars could be a supernatural occurrence. God used a number of supernatural miracles during creation, at the time of Moses, during the time of Elijah and Elisha, during the time of Jesus, and at some other times. Why could He not have done it here?

footnotes

[1] All scripture references are from the King James Version unless otherwise noted. Please see my about page for why I chose this translation.↩

[2] I am adding the ability to link to scriptural references for convenience, especially for users of mobile phones. You will not leave this page by using these links.↩