The nature of our origin is important to who and what we
are. This is because from a Biblical perspective we are special creations of
God. We were created for a purpose. From a purely naturalistic and evolutionary
perspective, we are nothing but cosmic accidents without any purpose
whatsoever. So, the question of origins gets at the heart of who and what we
are. Are we special creatures created for a purpose, or just cosmic accidents?
The difference between these two makes for a big distinction.
Biblical Creation is based on the history of the Bible. That
history includes creation around 6,000 years ago and a global flood around
4,400 years ago. Both of these would have been supernatural acts of God, so any
effort to explain the world around us by purely naturalistic means would result
in age estimates there are many times larger than they really are. This is the
primary problem when it comes to dating what we see on this planet.
The fact is that the Big Bang to man evolutionary story is
fundamentally atheistic. The ideas on which it was based have their roots among
18th-century atheists and deists. Modern ideas about universal common descent
evolution, in particular, predate Charles Darwin and was being discussed by
atheists including Charles Darwin's grandfather Erasmus Darwin. In fact,
Charles Darwin got his ideas about universal common descent from reading his
grandfather’s writings. You do not even have to look that far back to see the
atheistic influence in this story. All you have to do is look at the reaction
to intelligent design, or any suggestion of intelligent involvement in the
process. Proponents of the Big Bang to man evolutionary story like to stress
that there was no planning involved but that everything we see is just a result
of unintelligent totally naturalistic forces. Yes, not everyone involved in
creating it has been an atheist, but an atheistic perspective is abundantly
clear.
This may come as a surprise to some people, but creationism
is an alternative to naturalism, not evolution. Both creationism and naturalism
are philosophical starting points for developing theories about the history of
the world and universe. The Big Bang to man story is what you get when you try
to explain the universe by totally naturalistic forces and exclude God from
your reasoning as a starting condition. Biblical creation on the other hand not
only allows for the consideration of God but requires God as an integral part
of it. So, ultimately the question of origins is a question about whether or
not God is taken into account when trying to understand the evidence.
There are several reasons why all this matters. The first is
the logical fact that whether or not you include God when you try to explain
the world around us has a profound influence on the conclusions that you come
to. Furthermore, where we came from is a critical part of who and what we are.
If we are just cosmetic accidents, then nothing is special is lost when you
slaughter millions of unborn babies or even full-grown adults. However, in the
Biblical account of our origin is true then we are created in the image of God,
and we are special indeed and the slaughtering of our fellow human beings is a
crime against God. Finally, Jesus himself spoke of both the creation and the
Genesis flood as real history. So, the very credibility of Jesus Christ is at
stake in this issue. There is no room for compromise, either God created the
world, or the world created itself. Which position you take affects how you see
the world around us in the very evidence you are studying.
or further reading:
Scoffers: Responding to Those Who Deliberately Overlook Creation and the Flood by Simon Turpin
4 Volume Answers Book Box Set Paperback by Ken Ham
