In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. This statement is a given for Christians and a stumbling block for those who are blinded by the god of this world. As Paul points out in Romans 1:20, God’s invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
Those who refuse to acknowledge their Creator must work very hard to formulate alternate explanations for their world view. Philosophers, physicists, and astronomers scratch their heads while attempting to postulate viable constructions for a God-less beginning to our universe. Their theories are often couched in scientific sounding auras of plausibility as they come up with explanations such as an infinite number of universes, or quantum tunneling.
Moving along the plausibility spectrum from dumb to dumber, one encounters the essence of dumber, directed panspermia. This theory, first proposed by Dr. Francis Crick and Dr. Leslie Orgel in 1973, suggests that the seeds of life were spread throughout the universe by an intelligent alien race - maybe a bit like the Star Wars equivalent of Noah’s Ark. Never mind that they have absolutely no evidence for such a theory.
Richard Dawkins, the famed British ethologist, evolutionary biologist, and atheist, is one of those who posits the directed panspermia theory as one counter to creationism and intelligent design. Ironically, isn’t he arguing in favor of intelligent design by suggesting that life on earth was started by an intelligent alien race? And while this theory answers the question of how life developed on earth, doesn’t it just postpone the obvious question? How was life started on the alien’s planet? There has to be a first cause.
Yet there is a more elegant explanation as to how our planet and life on it were started, an explanation which involves evidence and truth. On the first day the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters, God spoke, and through His Word all things were created. As Isaiah 45:12 proclaims, “I made the earth and created man on it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host.” And the full reflection of that truth is the revelation of the incarnate God, the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ. As John testifies in the first chapter of his Gospel, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
It says of Jesus in the first chapter of Colossians:
Those who refuse to acknowledge their Creator must work very hard to formulate alternate explanations for their world view. Philosophers, physicists, and astronomers scratch their heads while attempting to postulate viable constructions for a God-less beginning to our universe. Their theories are often couched in scientific sounding auras of plausibility as they come up with explanations such as an infinite number of universes, or quantum tunneling.
Moving along the plausibility spectrum from dumb to dumber, one encounters the essence of dumber, directed panspermia. This theory, first proposed by Dr. Francis Crick and Dr. Leslie Orgel in 1973, suggests that the seeds of life were spread throughout the universe by an intelligent alien race - maybe a bit like the Star Wars equivalent of Noah’s Ark. Never mind that they have absolutely no evidence for such a theory.
Richard Dawkins, the famed British ethologist, evolutionary biologist, and atheist, is one of those who posits the directed panspermia theory as one counter to creationism and intelligent design. Ironically, isn’t he arguing in favor of intelligent design by suggesting that life on earth was started by an intelligent alien race? And while this theory answers the question of how life developed on earth, doesn’t it just postpone the obvious question? How was life started on the alien’s planet? There has to be a first cause.
Yet there is a more elegant explanation as to how our planet and life on it were started, an explanation which involves evidence and truth. On the first day the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters, God spoke, and through His Word all things were created. As Isaiah 45:12 proclaims, “I made the earth and created man on it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host.” And the full reflection of that truth is the revelation of the incarnate God, the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ. As John testifies in the first chapter of his Gospel, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
It says of Jesus in the first chapter of Colossians:
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
The creation of the universe and human life were not a random event. Life did not rise up out of some primordial slime, nor was it deposited here by aliens. Before the universe existed, God already had a plan. That plan can be seen to some extent by the evidence of the universe itself, is more clearly revealed in the text of the Old Testament, and is fully revealed in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
Ephesians 1:4-10
God’s plan for His creation is one of redemption. He sent His Son into the world to redeem sinful men from their lost condition, a condition which they were powerless to change. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Do not be deceived by empty words and smooth talk, wandering off into scientific myths. Pray that all people may come to a knowledge of the truth, the truth that can only be found in Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth, and the life.
This article, and others like it, can also be found at my apologetics website www.soundwitness.org.
This article, and others like it, can also be found at my apologetics website www.soundwitness.org.
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