| This Site is offered with the prayer that it will help us to respect one another in
our differences, while affirming together that the Genesis account of creation
is true.
FOSSILS AND THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH
Packing in their tools, scientific
instruments, and lunch, Professor Jeffrey Greenberg and his geology students
work up a sweat reaching their target meadow in South Dakota’s Black Hills. As
a part of their degree program at a Midwest college, they’ve been spending
several midsummer weeks studying this jagged upthrust near the western edge of
America’s great prairie. Getting out into the field like this is the joy of a
working geologist’s life. As a boy, Greenberg, like most kids, had a
fascination with rocks—but his curiosity led to a career! Jeff is still taken
with his desire to understand the story of the earth told by the rock strata and
fossil remains that usually go unnoticed beneath our feet.
There is another fact about Jeff
that is important for us to understand. In addition to being a man of science,
he is a man of faith who accepts the Genesis account of creation. Jeff believes
that there is no contradiction between the biblical account of creation and the
fossilized remains of plants and animals that lie within the geological record
of the earth’s history.
Because Jeff is a scientist who
embraces the worldview of the Bible, he often finds himself surrounded by
disagreement. On one hand, he works with many scientists who do not share his
faith. When he needs information of fossil evidence or geological formations, he
is likely to consult with a paleontologist, a paleobotanist, a paleozoologist,
and others who specialize in ancient life (paleo is a Greek prefix that
means “ancient” or “prehistoric”). Many of his colleagues embrace a
worldview that rejects the Genesis account of creation.
On the other hand, Jeff’s
interaction with people of faith is also surrounded by disagreement. Some
believe the generally accepted scientific estimates of the earth’s age, while
others are convinced that the Bible describes a world that is several thousand
rather than many millions of years old.
How does someone like Dr. Greenberg
handle the controversy? More important, how do any of us live honestly and
faithfully in the middle of so much uncertainty and disagreement?
In the following pages, we will
suggest an approach that allows the Genesis account of creation to be read side
by side with the evidence of the natural world around us. Our focus will not be
on what people of faith disagree about, but rather on the most important
question: What does it mean to believe in the Genesis account of creation while
living and working among those who believe that the world is the product of
natural and material forces?
GOD’S TWO BOOKS: NATURE AND THE BIBLE
Theologians have historically
categorized the Bible and nature as “two books”: special revelation
and general revelation. The inspired Scriptures of the Jewish and
Christian faith are together called “special” revelation. Their combined
influence extends all over the world and stands at the heart of Western culture,
making the Bible the most widely translated, circulated, and studied book in
history.
The Bible speaks of itself as the
written revelation of God. It claims to teach us what is true and to help us
understand what is wrong in our lives. It offers to point us in the right
direction and to teach us how to develop good relationships with both God and
man (2 Tim. 3:16-17).
The second of God’s two books is
the book of nature. This is the record of God that is written in the natural
world around us and in the pages of the human heart. It is considered
“general” in that it is a revelation of truth that has always been available
to all people throughout history. It is the handiwork of God in the creation
itself, and it serves as the record of God’s actions in earth and human
history.
The Bible itself speaks of how God
reveals Himself through the book of nature. The apostle Paul wrote, “Since the
creation of the world His [the Creator’s] invisible attributes are clearly
seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and
Godhead” (Rom. 1:20).
The Jewish author of Psalm 19
expressed a similar observation when he wrote, “The heavens declare the glory
of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and
night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their
voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their
words to the end of the world” (Ps. 19:1-4).
So, according to Scripture, the
second book of God, read by all people, reveals God’s glory (splendor and
riches), His handiwork (creativity), His everlasting power (including His moral
strength and His capacity to do miracles), and His divine nature (His
attributes). Together these disclosures show that the natural world is a vast
collection of divine gifts that reveal to us a great deal of truth about the
personality and character of our Creator. The creation not only shouts
“God,” it shouts that “He is powerful, and wise!”
Reading Both Books.
Science, at its best, is an attempt
to read the book of nature (or God’s works). For the past 150 years (since the
rise of Darwinism), there has often been within the church a general aversion to
the sciences, which has been to our loss. The sciences today appear to be made
up primarily of agnostics, atheists, or pantheists. But the fact that many
science professionals do not accept the biblical worldview does not make the
profession itself ungodly. Before Darwin, the biblical worldview predominated in
the sciences. In fact, it was belief in a rational, intelligently designed, and
orderly creation that made modern science possible. Many of the pioneers of
science were devout followers of the Bible who believed both revelations to be
witnesses of the truth: Kepler, Bacon, Newton, Pascal, Faraday, and many others.
In an oral essay on National Public
Radio, Joseph Loconte pointed out that “too many skeptics have forgotten the
massive historical debt they owe to the Jewish and Christian belief in an
orderly cosmos. They cast religion as the enemy of science and progress, when in
fact it was the religious [biblical] worldview that helped launch the scientific
revolution over three centuries ago.”
Perhaps that’s one reason so many
influential spiritual leaders throughout the centuries have received their
enlightenment while being in the wilderness: They were surrounded by the truth
of God’s general revelation (nature) while they were meditating on the truth
of His special revelation (the Bible). Many have found that when separated from
the noise and distraction of civilization, the book of God’s works and the
book of God’s words together can become overpowering revelations of truth.
People like Moses, David, and John the Baptist seem to have found in the
wilderness a sanctuary where the books of God’s special and general revelation
spoke in harmony.
The Problem Of Reading Both
Books.
In our day, many have found that the
book of God’s special revelation does not always seem to be saying the same
thing as the book of nature. The bones of dinosaurs, for instance, have caused
many to wonder if the story of the natural record is in conflict with the record
of the Bible. One problem with dinosaurs (the word dinosaur is made up of
Greek terms meaning “monstrous lizard”) is that they are not clearly and
obviously mentioned in the Bible—though some have noted that the book of Job
describes two monstrous creatures that do not match existing animals: behemoth (40:15) and leviathan
(3:8; 41:1).
A more significant difficulty with
dinosaurs and other fossilized remains of extinct creatures is that scientific
measurement and evaluation seem to place the vast majority of them on earth
millions of years before the appearance of mankind. So it’s understandable
that many have wondered why the Bible does not explain in a direct way the
appearance of great age nor the story of dinosaurs and other extinct species as
it seems to be told in the record of the earth’s crust. This and other
scientific findings about apparent geological time (earth history) and apparent
astronomical time (cosmic history) seem to place God’s two revelations in
opposition to each other. Can both be true?
This is where disagreements are apt
to arise. Bible scholars disagree among themselves about where to place
dinosaurs in the story of the Bible. Sometimes the disagreements become intense,
with both sides accusing the other of not being faithful to the revelation of
Scripture nor to the revelation of the natural world. What we need to see,
however, is that regardless of how we individually approach the problem of
dinosaurs, there are possible explanations. And for those of us who accept the
factual nature of the Genesis account, what we agree about is far more important
than our disagreements.
Before we look at the dinosaur
difficulty more closely, let’s focus on the higher ground of belief that all
who accept the Genesis account can affirm.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BELIEVE THE GENESIS ACCOUNT?
The disagreement among Bible
scholars about how to explain the appearance of great age and extinct species of
creatures is not the most important issue. More important is that along with the
overwhelming evidence of nature . . .
1. Genesis Affirms The Existence
Of God.
When we declare that the Genesis
account of creation is true, we are saying we believe that the cosmos owes its
material existence to an eternal, personal Spirit. The first words of the Bible
are, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen.
1:1).
It’s important to understand that
Moses wrote these words in the historical and natural setting of Mount Sinai.
Not only had he seen the evidence of God in the skies and in the expanse of the
wilderness, he also saw the special revelation of God through the miracles of
the Exodus and through a direct encounter with his Creator on the top of a
mountain.
Moses’ affirmation that “in the
beginning God created the heavens and the earth” is in contrast to the
worldview of naturalism. Naturalism, which forms the philosophy of many
scientists, denies the existence of God. It takes for granted that the material
world is all that exists. (Hence, naturalism is also called materialism or
secular humanism.) Its theology was summed up by Carl Sagan: “The Cosmos is
all that is or ever was or ever will be.”
2. Genesis Affirms The Power Of
God.
When we declare that the Genesis
account of creation is true, we are saying we believe that by the power of His
eternal word and wisdom God spoke the material world into existence. By the word
of His mouth, God brought something out of nothing, order out of chaos, and
light out of darkness.
The rest of the Bible repeats this
creation theme. The songbook of Israel declares, “By the word of the Lord the
heavens were made . . . . He spoke, and it was done” (Ps.
33:6,9).
This affirmation is in contrast to
the naturalistic worldview that intelligence, contemplation, and communication
are the result of Darwinian evolution and therefore could have no causal effect
on the origin of the material world.
3. Genesis Affirms The
Personality Of God.
When we declare that the Genesis
account of creation is true, we are saying we believe that the cosmos has its
source in a living Person who is good, loving, and merciful, and that the
original creation gave evidence of those personal characteristics. The beauty
and usefulness of the natural world have their origin in their Creator’s
capacity for thoughtful and loving purpose. All the original species of the
earth were good because they reflected the knowledge, wisdom, and infinite
genius of our Creator. His personal character is the source of all that is good,
beneficial, and beautiful.
Moses reflected this personal
involvement of the Creator with His creation when he said, “God saw everything
that He had made, and indeed it was very good” (Gen.
1:31). Later David
declared, “The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and
great in mercy. The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His
works” (Ps. 145:8-9).
This belief in an infinite, personal
Creator is in contrast to the naturalistic worldview that does not recognize a
creator but claims that personal attributes are the product of unguided
evolution, and therefore could not have had any part in the “creation” of
the material world.
4. Genesis Affirms The
Purposefulness Of God.
When we declare that the Genesis
account of creation is true, we are saying we believe that the order of our
material world has its source in the purpose and plan of an all-wise and
all-powerful Creator. By the design and order of God, the astronomical features
of the universe, as well as the oceans, land, and atmosphere of the earth were
formed. In six periods of time the Scripture calls “days,” the Creator
invested His genius in providing for the elemental, the plant, and the animal
interdependencies of the natural world. By His purposeful design and order, God
created the original families of life and commanded them to reproduce, each
“according to its kind” (Gen. 1:24).
The book of God’s special
revelation explains what we can see all around us. Nature’s balance is the
result of God’s purposeful and intelligent design: “He has made the earth by
His power, He has established the world by His wisdom, and has stretched out the
heavens at His discretion” (Jer. 10:12). It was this great awareness that
inspired the songwriter of Israel to declare, “O Lord, how manifold are Your
works! In wisdom You have made them all. The earth is full of Your
possessions” (Ps. 104:24).
This belief that all of life is
designed, significant, and purposeful is in contrast to the naturalistic
worldview that the cosmos is accidental and that the features of the earth,
including life itself, are merely the unintended result of matter plus time plus
chance.
5. Genesis Affirms The Sustaining
Providence Of God.
When we declare that the Genesis
account of creation is true, we are saying that God constantly oversees and
sustains the creation and continues to grant life to all living things.
After singing to the God who laid
the foundations of the earth, the psalmist celebrated the sustaining work of the
Creator when he wrote:
He sends the springs into the valleys;
they flow among the hills. They give drink to every beast of the field; the wild
donkeys quench their thirst. By them the birds of the heavens have their home;
they sing among the branches. He waters the hills from His upper chambers; the
earth is satisfied with the fruit of Your works. He causes the grass to grow for
the cattle, and vegetation for the service of man, that he may bring forth food
from the earth . . . . These all wait for You, that You may give them their food
in due season (Ps. 104:10-14,27).
This belief in a Creator God who
also sustains His creation by the word of His mouth is in contrast to the
naturalistic worldview that uncreated natural laws sustain and maintain the
integrity of the universe.
6. Genesis Affirms That God Made
Man And Woman In His Likeness.
When we declare that the Genesis
account of creation is true, we are saying we believe that the personality of
man and woman has its origin in a personal Creator who made us in His own
likeness (image). To crown His creation, God took the nonliving matter of the
earth to create a man. Then to provide man with a companion and complement, He
took living matter from the man to create a woman. This original human pair was
Adam and Eve.
The book of God’s special
revelation says, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He
created him; male and female He created them” (Gen. 1:27); “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” (Gen. 2:7); “then the rib which the
Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman” (Gen.
2:22).
This belief that, of all God’s
creatures, man and woman were made in God’s likeness is in contrast to the
naturalistic worldview that emphasizes that mankind is merely the product of
Darwinian evolution and has no special nature related directly to the
personality of a supernatural Creator.
7. Genesis Affirms That We Were
Made For Relationships.
When we declare that the Genesis
account of creation is true, we are saying we believe that the relationships we
enjoy have their origin in a God who is eternally relational. The result of
God’s purposeful creation was a series of relationships that explain the
meaning of life itself.
Not only did God create people, He
entered into a personal relationship with them. He was in fellowship with
Adam and Eve and walked with them in the Garden of Eden (Gen.
3:8).
The relationship of God to the earth
was ownership. The people of Israel declared their acceptance of this
claim when they sang, “The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, the
world and those who dwell therein” (Ps. 24:1).
The relationship of mankind to the
earth was stewardship. From the first days of man’s life on earth he
understood that his responsibility was to care for the earth that his Maker
entrusted to him: “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden
to tend and keep it” (Gen. 2:15).
This belief that we were made for
relationships that have their origin in our Creator is in contrast to the
naturalistic worldview that does not acknowledge God and denies the existence of
any interpersonal or authoritative relationships or responsibilities aside from
those that have evolved among people.
8. Genesis Affirms That Disorder
Is The Result Of A Rebellion.
When we declare that the Genesis
account of creation is true, we are saying we believe that there was an original
rebellion in the spirit world. This was spread to the material world by a fallen
angel who persuaded the first man and woman to disobey their Creator. This
disobedience resulted in the spiritual and eventual physical death of Adam and
Eve. It also had a devastating effect on the creation.
To remind the human family of its
fallen condition, God added consequences to the human rebellion. Other judgments
followed, many of which changed the nature of the earth drastically and altered
the original relationships. According to Genesis, the problems that burden the
natural world have their origin in God’s decision to mercifully add pain to
the rebel decisions of His creatures. These judgments, which were designed to
let us know that we could find life and light only in relationship to God, can
be seen in the biblical descriptions of what happened in the fall (Gen.
3:1-5),
the curse (Gen. 3:17-19), the flood (Gen. 6–9), and the tower of Babel
(Gen. 11:1-9).
The belief that pain and trouble are
the result of human rebellion and God’s loving correction is in contrast to
the naturalistic worldview, which holds that until the advent of modern man all
changes on the earth were unrelated to purposeful and intelligent
activity—especially supernatural causes.
9. Genesis Affirms God’s Desire
To Reclaim What Has Been Lost.
When we declare that the Genesis
account of creation is true, we are saying we believe that immediately after the
fall of man the Creator provided a way to ultimately redeem the family He had
made in His likeness (Gen. 3:15; Rev. 13:8).
Throughout the rest of the Bible, we
read the record of our Creator’s loving pursuit of a fallen, rebel race. This
redemption theme runs throughout the Old and New Testaments and is fulfilled in
the most inexpressible and miraculous act of intervention. The New Testament
summarizes this redemptive rescue:
In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All
things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. .
. . He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did
not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many
as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those
who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth (Jn. 1:1-3,10-14).
This belief that God personally
intervened to come to our rescue is in contrast to the naturalistic worldview
that all people, like all animals, will eventually die, decompose, and be gone
forever—that nothing within the human being survives death except our chemical
components, which will be recycled by nature to perpetuate life and evolution.
10. Genesis Affirms God’s
Commitment To Restore What Has Been Lost.
When we declare that the Genesis
account of creation is true, we are saying we believe that not only did the
redemptive intervention of our Creator provide for the rescue of mankind, but it
also provides for the eventual restoration of the entire creation. The paradise
lost by Adam and Eve will be regained. The Bible goes on to declare:
Repent therefore and be converted, that
your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the
presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you
before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things,
which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began
(Acts 3:19-21; see also Isa. 11:6-9 and Rom. 8:19-23).
The belief that God will eventually
restore all that has been lost is in contrast to the naturalistic worldview that
recognizes no God and no Savior. This view asserts that there is no future hope
for the individual person, just hope for a human race that will survive only by
doing what it can to assure the progress of evolution.
WHAT DOES BELIEF IN THE GENESIS ACCOUNT IMPLY?
Those who accept the Genesis account
of creation do so with the conviction that the book of God’s general
revelation also tells the story of a Designer and Creator of inexpressible
intelligence, wisdom, and power. This conclusion brings some additional
implications:
1. Naturalistic Explanations Are
Not Adequate.
Those who see the reasonableness of
the Genesis account reject as inadequate any evolutionary explanations for the
origin of mankind that deny an intelligent, loving, good, personal, and
superintending Creator who is the origin of everything our senses perceive.
Michael Polanyi, one of the 20th
century’s great scientific philosophers, disturbed the ivied halls of academia
by declaring in 1958: “The book of Genesis and its great pictorial
illustrations, like the frescoes of Michelangelo, remain a far more intelligent
account of the nature and origin of the universe than the representation of the
world as a chance collocation of atoms.”
2. Darwinian Evolution Is Not
Necessary.
The Bible gives no indication that
the creation and development of anything living was the result of a long
evolutionary process from the less complex to the more complex. The writers of
Scripture, inspired by God’s Spirit, did not present the story of evolutionary
progression that most scientists believe is evident in the general revelation.
Further, the genetic resistance to change found among living things, the
overwhelming implication of intelligent design, and the absence of evidence for
anything truly simple in the cosmos currently stand opposed to the basic
Darwinian explanation of origins.
3. Unanswered Questions Are To Be
Expected.
Once we understand that the cosmos
has been created by an eternal, infinite, personal Creator, who also took the
initiative to communicate to us through His two books, we can accept the mystery
of what He has chosen not to tell us.
For the honest, God-fearing
individual who desires to see consensus between the special and general
revelations (the Bible and science), this can create a tension. Such tension,
however, does not have to hinder the quest for understanding. Actually, it can
empower it. Since both are God’s revelations, we can truly enjoy pursuing the
mystery. No fact arising from scientific study should threaten the faith of the
follower of Christ, who is the Author of both books.
We would gain much by adopting the
attitude expressed by George MacDonald’s father in a letter to his son about
the mystery of God’s sovereignty and man’s freedom: “[I cannot] bear to
see that which is evidently gospel mystery torn to pieces by those who believe
that there is no mystery in the Scriptures and therefore attempt to explain away
what it is evidently for the honor of God to conceal. I see so much of mystery
in nature, and so much of it in myself, that it would be proof to my mind that
the Scriptures were not from God were there nothing in them beyond the grasp of
my own mind.”
4. Abuse Of The Natural World Is
Not Acceptable.
From the beginning it was clear that
this natural world was a treasure entrusted by the Creator to those who bore His
likeness. We are probably safe to believe that it is more important to our
Creator that we honor Him in our care and use of what He gave us than that we be
right about what He chose not to tell us. It is our wonderful responsibility to
be humble students and faithful stewards of God’s handiwork. Those who accept
the Genesis account should be among the world’s most ardent “earthkeepers.”
QUESTIONS ABOUT THE GENESIS CREATION ACCOUNT
According to the Bible, how old
is the earth?
We don’t know. The Bible doesn’t say. Throughout the centuries, devout
believers have debated about the age of the earth. Many thought that all you had
to do to determine the age of the earth was to apply simple math and some
logical deductions to the genealogies of Genesis 4, 5, 10, and 11. But a problem
is created by the limitations of words. The word begot used in our
English Bible to indicate the paternal line between generations does not always
mean father to son. It often refers to the great, great grandfather (or any
number of “greats”) of the named individual, with the in-between progenitors
unnamed. So there is no accurate way to measure the generations back from
Abraham to Adam.
Even if you could estimate closely
the number of years from Adam to Abraham, you would still run into another
problem. While the Bible doesn’t say how old the earth is, it also doesn’t
imply anywhere that it is as old as modern cosmological and geological studies
indicate. Some Bible scholars suggest that the earth had to have been created
with the appearance of age. Since most living things were created in a mature
state and had to appear to have grown, so also the nonliving elements would have
had to show apparent age. Distant galaxies would appear to have been
transmitting light for millions of years. The earth’s crust would appear to
indicate long-ago sedimentation, volcanic activity, erosion, decomposition, and
chemical reactions.
Others are equally convinced that an
honest “reading” of the book of natural revelation must acknowledge the
appearance of great age. They are likely to point out that there are problems in
saying that a literal interpretation of the 6 days of the Genesis creation
requires 24-hour periods. The first 3 days passed before the sun, moon, and
stars were even created (Gen. 1:14-19).
In either case, it’s important to
note that the Bible doesn’t say how old the earth is. It doesn’t say whether
thousands or millions of years are hidden between the lines of sacred Scripture.
While we might wish otherwise, the Bible does not directly tell us how to read
the enormous appearance of age that often seems to be reflected in the book of
God’s general revelation. But the Bible does humble us by showing that some of
the scientific evidence for gradual change could be drastically altered by
catastrophic events of judgment such as Noah’s flood. When the Genesis account
of a great flood is considered, it could suggest an alternative explanation of
the geological record.
Because of the different ways people
interpret such evidence, it’s not surprising that there are differences of
opinion about how to read God’s two books side by side. Dr. James Sawyer of
Western Seminary has pointed out that when the International Council on Biblical
Inerrancy was formed in 1978, “the founding membership held over 30 discrete
positions with reference to the interpretation of Genesis 1. Only one of these
positions involved a 6-day recent creation.” Apparently, most of those on the
council felt that the book of God’s words did not demand that the days of
creation be considered standard 24-hour days—or that no time elapsed between
the days.
Many committed Christian scholars
continue to debate this issue. So it’s wise for the church to allow what is
uncertain to remain uncertain. There is no need for endless debate when God’s
two books appear to be in conflict. The important thing is to consider it all
with a great amount of humility. As Dr. Sawyer explains, when we cannot
distinguish between our understanding of the truth and the truth itself, we are
boastfully claiming that “we have, at least on this issue, the complete
understanding of God Himself.”
Further, genuine humility would also
demand that there be as much room for misunderstanding the message of general
revelation as there is for our failure to understand the full meaning of the
special revelation—the Bible. Both revelations undoubtedly contain much that
is beyond our mental grasp.
What does the Bible say about
dinosaurs?
God’s special (written) revelation says nothing directly about the dinosaurs.
The Bible’s primary teaching on the subject is that God is the Creator of all
things. So when these impressive creatures were alive on the earth, they would
have been cared for and cherished by their Creator (Ps. 104:27-28;
145:15-16).
Some have speculated that the
dinosaurs may have been a creation of Satan after he was cast out of heaven, and
before God’s creation of animals. Others have speculated that they all lived
during the time from Adam to Noah and were destroyed with all the other
creatures in the flood—and that in order for them all to be taken aboard the
ark, only the immature dinosaurs were included. Then after the flood, because
the earth was so vastly different, they could not survive. Still others say that
because God knew that the change in the earth after the flood would not allow
dinosaurs to survive, He let them die in the deluge. Some have even concluded
that the fossilized remains are part of a deceptive scheme concocted by the
devil to weaken the faith of Bible believers.
Such speculation is
inconclusive—and often the cause of unnecessary dissension in the church. The
revelations from both of God’s books show that many of the animals that were
created by God have appeared on the earth for a time and have then become
extinct. Dinosaurs are one class of animals that the creation itself indicates
became extinct so long ago that their remains have become fossilized.
It’s always the best policy to be
dogmatic only where the Bible is dogmatic. If the Bible doesn’t make a clear
affirmation about dinosaurs, we must be content with that fact. It’s almost
certain that we have not seen the end of our great Creator’s delightful
surprises! We know that the paradise lost by a sinful Adam and Eve will be
regained through the work of Jesus Christ, the sinless last Adam (Acts 3:19-21;
Rom. 8:19-21). How do we know that in the restored and renewed earth, flocks of
pterodactyls won’t be as common as starlings, and schools of plesiosaurs as
familiar as porpoises? Our imaginations can work as creatively about the future
as they do the past.
Does the Bible say anything about
man evolving from simple, primitive life?
No. There isn’t even a suggestion that mankind is anything less than the
direct result of a special act of God’s creation. Nature itself (God’s
general revelation) shows us that the spiritual, emotional, contemplative,
communicative, creative—and destructive—capacity of people is so far removed
from the rest of the creation that it is impossible to imagine an evolutionary
origin for mankind that is not entirely speculative.
Perhaps the greatest barrier to the
“molecules to man” idea is that science has never discovered anything truly
simple. Molecular biology and the study of subatomic particles have done little
more than demonstrate a complexity that defies scientific explanation.
Cosmology, the study of the origin of the universe, also has recently produced a
vast amount of knowledge about the seeming impossibility of the existence of
life anywhere in the cosmos—except on earth. The existence of life anywhere in
the universe remains a miracle—even to science.
The Bible says nothing about the
Darwinian hypothesis of man’s sub-human, natural origin without a
superintending God. No doubt this is because if Darwin’s “discovery” was a
truth also revealed clearly by the Holy Spirit to the writers of Scripture, it
would have appeared as ludicrous then as it still does to most people today. So
it’s reasonable to conclude that the Bible says nothing about this form of
evolution because Darwin’s theory was wrong.
Can someone believe the Bible and
still believe in evolution?
It depends on what is meant by believing in evolution. It’s important to
understand that the word evolution merely means “to change” or “to
develop.” We make a mistake to equate the word evolution with the
Darwinian scheme, which declares that all of life came about through the
undirected and random process of organisms progressing through billions of years
from simple nonliving molecules to mankind.
No believer in the Bible accepts
this Darwinian concept. If the Creator is a personal, loving, and sovereign God,
nothing in His creation takes place without His intimate oversight. The God who
attends the death of a sparrow certainly would have attended its creation. What
appears to be random in creation is merely that—a human perception, not
a fact.
Those who have closely examined
God’s general revelation recognize that the characteristics of many living
creatures do change over time (like many of the fascinating creatures of the
Galapagos Islands studied by Darwin). God created them with the capacity to
adapt to a changing or restricted environment. This is a form of evolution.
These adaptations that Darwin and other scientists have observed over the years
are sometimes called “micro-evolution”: small-scale changes that may
actually produce new species (new forms that cannot normally breed with the old
forms). But there is no evidence that such a capacity has actually produced
entirely different creatures that have progressed through billions of years from
molecules to man without the superintendence of God.
This large-scale, self-creating
process is what many call “macro-evolution,” and it is this Darwinian scheme
that the general public understands to be evolution. In this regard, the term evolution
is a frail donkey upon which has been heaped such a huge load of speculation and
philosophy that it would topple a sturdy packhorse. No wonder Darwinism has not
progressed much over its 150 years of existence!
There are, however, among people of
faith those who are referred to as “theistic evolutionists.” While not
taking the Genesis record literally, they believe God directed the evolutionary
process from the least complex to the most complex of creatures. They firmly
reject the Darwinian suggestion that this occurred without the supervision of a
Creator. Theistic evolutionists don’t believe natural selection could
create anything without supernatural attention. They believe that the
adaptation hypothesis suggested by Darwin is a marvelous natural process
instituted by God, just like the dozens of other natural processes God
instituted for man’s survival—the water cycle, the carbon cycle,
photosynthesis, plant germination, sexual reproduction, and so forth.
Another group, calling themselves
“progressive creationists,” believes that the days of the creation actually
mark out times when God supernaturally stepped into a long natural history with
periodic supernatural acts of special creation, and that between those creation
events are sandwiched the millions of years most geologists believe are required
by the evidence.
The fact remains, however, that the
special revelation of God gives no hint of such a process. Those who accept the
“billions of years” scenario do so without any direct support from the
Bible. Nonetheless, it’s important for Christians who disagree on this issue
to do so in grace and love.
Here also it is wise for believers
to refuse to make the process of divine creation, rather than the fact
of divine creation, a test of Christian orthodoxy. Many renowned evangelical
theologians over the centuries, from Augustine to B. B. Warfield to J. I.
Packer, have believed that a long and gradual creation process directed by a
loving and superintending Creator is not at all contrary to the Genesis account
of creation.
Once an individual understands and
accepts the essential truth of Genesis, the remainder of the Bible is much
easier to understand—as, for that matter, is the remainder of history. The
astronomer with his vast figures seems to be telling us, after all, what the
ancients said: There are no limits, there are no ends, there are no beginnings
we can see. Bigness gets forever bigger and smallness gets forever smaller. The
attempt to bring it all into the scope of limited human understanding and
intelligence has done what it has always done—we either see God and worship
Him in great awe and humility, or we “suppress the truth” and wander in
self-chosen blindness (see Rom. 1:18-25).
LIVING IN TWO WORLDS
When Dr. Greenberg and his geology
students return from their studies in the Black Hills, they go their separate
ways to different residences and churches. Some journey along I-80 and pass
through the “Thornton Deposit,” where on each side of the highway steep
walls of rock drop 200 feet into an enormous limestone quarry. The pit is merely
a dent in the top layer of what most geologists believe is an ancient saltwater
reef that extends down almost a mile into the earth’s crust. They’re
convinced that this formation is composed primarily of the remains of small sea
creatures that once occupied a shallow ocean for about 20 million years.
Other scientists, however, are just
as convinced that this amazing formation could have been created only by the
catastrophic forces and sedimentation process that would have occurred in the
Genesis flood. They believe that the biblical flood account should compel the
geological mainstream to give more attention to flood factors in the deposits
that are examined.
Those different perspectives bring
us back to where we began. How does someone like Dr. Greenberg live within these
two worlds? More important, how do any of us live honestly and faithfully in the
middle of such uncertainty and disagreement?
The answer is found by being as
honest as we can with the records of God’s two books. Both books declare with
eloquence the power and wisdom of the Creator. Both books demonstrate that it is
God who has made us and not we ourselves. Yet both books stop short of giving us
final answers about many questions of time and process. In these matters, we
must live faithfully, graciously, and humbly with our differences. What we know
and agree about is far more important than what we don’t know or fully
understand.
All of God’s great creation gives
each of us reason to worship and praise with the psalmist:
Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise
Him in the heights! Praise Him, all His angels; praise Him, all His hosts!
Praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all you stars of light! Praise Him, you
heavens of heavens, and you waters above the heavens! Let them praise the name
of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created. He also established them
forever and ever; He made a decree which shall not pass away. Praise the Lord
from the earth, you great sea creatures and all the depths; fire and hail, snow
and clouds; stormy wind, fulfilling His word; mountains and all hills; fruitful
trees and all cedars; beasts and all cattle; creeping things and flying fowl;
kings of the earth and all peoples; princes and all judges of the earth; both
young men and maidens; old men and children. Let them praise the name of the
Lord, for His name alone is exalted; His glory is above the earth and heaven
(Ps. 148:1-13).
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