Creation Theory

Questions like “where did we come from?” and “why are we here?” have been asked throughout time to achieve one universal goal: to find our purpose. Purpose gives us a reason, a motive, to exist. Without a purpose, nothing we do is meaningful, and everything is just a waste of time. Perhaps this is why people, especially Americans, like to keep so busy, to distract them from the emptiness in their lives. Because when you sit back and actually think about why you are doing an activity, it becomes meaningless in the grand scheme of life. So obviously, the search for the answers to the questions above seem imperative to human life.

Of course, there are multiple perspectives. Islam believes Allah created the world, Christians believe God did, and then there are the philosophers. Darwin stands out as the most prominent in history with his view of evolution, with Steven Hawking as a close runner-up. I will be comparing these two theories to the Christian perspective of Creation.

Although Genesis 1-3 talks a lot about creation and how things are made, the specifics are very vague, which makes it difficult for some people to understand/believe. For example, God created everything in 6 days and rested on the seventh. But what does “day” mean? Could be actually a day, or maybe just a split second, could it be a year, or could it be eons of time? We really don’t know. What we do know is that God spoke creation into existence. That’s it. Either you believe it or you don’t. What does that mean for humanity? Looking at God’s character, it means we were created by an omniscient, omnipotent God in His image. Our purpose here on earth is to glorify Him. In the new covenant, Jesus gives Christians another purpose to go out and share the gospel with the world and baptize them.

Darwin created the theory of evolution, a wide spread belief that everything in life was created by a big bang. To sum up, there was always some sort of very small matter, and over time, these matters collided and created some sort of catastrophic collision, after which the universe was formed. Then slowly (like over eons of time slowly) creation started to develop. Perhaps the most classic example is man, starting as a lowly Australopithecus (some type of ape) and transforming into our modern-day Homo sapiens. The biggest question surrounding evolution is “well where did that matter to cause the big bang come from?” An evolutionist would perhaps answer this question with the question, “well where did God come from?” Both forms of belief have the same grounding principle, it was just there, it always was and always has been.

As stated earlier, the Bible is vague on how the world was created, other than that God spoke it and it happened. Could it be that when God spoke, a big bang happened and life was formed? Maybe. Could each day of creation take billions of years? Maybe. We really don’t know. After man was created, however, the Bible gets a little more specific on time and dates. Genesis 5 gives us the genealogy from Adam to Noah. After the world was destroyed by the flood, Noah and his family re-populated the earth. Then in chapter 11, just two years after the flood, the genealogy from Noah to Abraham is given. Furthermore in Mathew 1, the genealogy from Abraham to Jesus is given. These genealogies, though boring to read, give us a pretty good idea for how long man has lived on the earth. This is why most biblical scholars date the earth around 6000 years old, assuming that creation did indeed only last one day. Other Christians and everyone else believe in an old earth, one where it took billions of years to create the earth.

Personally, I’m trending toward a new earth idea of creation. Although, theories like Pangaea intrigue me, and perhaps if more evidence surfaces, I will switch beliefs. Ultimately, how old the earth is doesn’t really matter in my belief in God. Basic principles: God created the universe, the heaven’s and the earth, and everything in it. When? I don’t know except for man. Why? To give glory to Himself. The debate is pretty insignificant between old earth and new earth and again, not exactly faith altering.

Personally, I’m trending toward a new earth idea of creation. Although, theories like Pangaea intrigue me, and perhaps if more evidence surfaces, I will switch beliefs. Ultimately, how old the earth is doesn’t really matter in my belief in God. Basic principles: God created the universe, the heaven’s and the earth, and everything in it. When? I don’t know except for man. Why? To give glory to Himself. The debate is pretty https://www.livescience.com/38218-facts-about-pangaea.html

https://www.darwins-theory-of-evolution.com

https://www.britannica.com/science/human-evolution

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mathew+1&version=NIV