Theology and Creation

Mountains are a geologic wonder and testament to the power behind creative forces. But what forces made them? Strictly natural, or supernatural?

Continuing our theme for the week, one of the areas closest to my heart as a nature photographer is how theology affects how we view nature itself. Is it the product of natural laws, processes that have been going on for millions and billions of years? Is it the creation of an all powerful God? Could it be both; could God have chosen to use the process of evolution and uniformitarian principles to bring about the world that we observe today?

These are important questions, and ones that I don't believe the Scriptures are silent on.

In fact the very beginning of the Bible doesn't try to justify a God, it declares that He is and that He is responsible for all that we see, taste, hear, smell, and feel.

But it begs the question: are the opening chapters of Genesis literal or figurative? If literal, how do we explain the science that claims billions of years? If figurative, then how do we determine what other parts of Scripture are literal or figurative?

Fair points, and ones that have been debated for a while.

As a Christian, however, we start with Scripture. But this even begs a question: can we claim an unbiased opinion if we default to Scripture? Well, no.

But neither can secular science. What people fail to realize is that when you go and look at the layers of rock in the Grand Canyon, they don't have a manual next to it saying "Established 5-6 million Years Ago".

What we do see is layers of rocks laid down fairly consistently across regions and continents. In certain rock layers are fossils.

We also see that sedimentary layers can be laid down very quickly in catastrophic events, like floods, or the Mount St. Helens eruption, for example.

We also can observe that fossils can be formed fairly rapidly, given such an environment.

Neither of these give us actual dates, and they don't have a written signature from a Creator engraved in the rock claiming ownership (literally that is, cf. Romans 1 and Psalm 19).

My point is, both sides have to explain these, and the result is a bias.

Bias is not wrong if it's based in something that is true and verifiable. So let's quickly look at the two biases.

Can we observe billions of years? No. Have we seen evolution¹ on the scale required to explain the diversity of life we have on earth today? No. Can we say with absolute assurance that dating methods for rock layers are 100% or even 90% reliable? My understanding is that the answer is "no".

What about the Bible? I'll say on the front end, ultimately there is a level of faith required here as well. But, some facts about it: 66 books, spread out over multiple continents, in 3 languages, written over some 1500 years, by around 40 authors, all containing the same consistent themes and stories. Archeological support, historical support, and yes even scientific support. Likely more manuscript evidence than any other ancient document of its kind (over 24,000 manuscripts and fragments for the N.T. alone). Need I go on? Yes skeptics point to things like supposed contradictions, yet these 'problems' are easily explained with even a cursory attempt (check out this article from Gotquestions.org).

And while it's certainly not the greatest example, there are countless changed lives affected by Scriptures.

So with this understanding, looking at those rock layers; does an assumption (that's all it is, as I hope we've established) claiming billions of years, or "In the beginning, God..." better explain what's happened?

But I recognize at this point I've jumped the gun a bit. Because what if God chose to use processes like evolution and billions of years to bring about the current creation? What if the flood was a local event?

To answer the first question I simply submit to you this question: Does evolution require death to happen?

"Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned-" - Romans 5:12

My point is this, death is a RESULT of sin. If eons of evolution occurred before the fall of man, then eons of death occurred as well. Now death as a result of sin is no longer literal, if we take this view. The house of cards comes tumbling down, and Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection were not to redeem us from the power of sin and death, again if we take this view, as death was apparently part of God's "good" creation.

I shudder to continue down this path of thinking. Scripture becomes just a book of examples, not literal history. And what kind of examples are they, if even Jesus, who testified to the authenticity of Genesis (Mark 10:6), must then be wrong? In fact, what aspects of Scripture can we even trust to be literal anymore?

I hope the reasons as to why this is not acceptable are clear at this point.

Now let me back up a slight bit. Do I think that you can be a Christian and deny a literal Genesis? I have to say yes. But if you deny sin, death, Jesus and His authority as the Son of God, the resurrection, the legitimacy of Scripture, and any other essential tenet of the faith, then we have a problem. And denying a literal Genesis logically should come to those conclusions.

I can chase many rabbits at this point, but I just ask that if you do subscribe to the possibility that God used evolution and billions of years, to try to think that through in light of all of Scripture. But also recognize that the ONLY reason to deny a literal Genesis, is because of bias, not facts themselves. There is nothing in the opening pages of Scripture to indicate these are to be taken as myth or figurative. And if you say the supernatural elements are too far flung, once again you undermine not Genesis but much of Scripture.

So, hopefully having answered the question of "did God use these processes" as a logical "no", what about our original question: is creation the result of a big bang, or the very words of God?

As I don't want to make this unnecessarily long, I'll just defer to the Psalmist:

"The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands." - Psalm 19:1

As well as Paul:

"because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse." - Romans 1:19-20

So for the Christian, once again our foundation is the Scriptures. Our theology dictates how we view the world we live in. And Scripture gives us a solid foundation on which we can place our trust: that God created the world.

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¹ - I'm referring to microevolution; a better term would be natural selection. This is an observational fact. Take canines for example. That kind of animal varies from chihuahuas to huskies to pugs to wolves, but all are canines. What we have never observed is one kind of creature evolving to a totally new kind, or developing information that doesn't already exist within their DNA, i.e. macroevolution.