Creation Speaks!

When it comes to the matter of the origin of life, it is impossible for a person to hold any position other than one of faith.  Indeed, faith is required to believe that God created the universe; but so much more faith—what a wild imagination—is necessary to believe that the world came from nothing, was created by nothing!  Atheists believe that man evolved from ape, and before that from a shapeless, lifeless blob that rose from the sea.  How much more faith is required to believe this than to simply admit to the existence of an intelligent Creator!

If we are to accept the assumption that human beings are simply the result of the random activity of chemicals, and we are only a part of the self-creating, self-sustaining, impersonal force called ‘nature,’ then what more worth do we have than a monkey or a tree or a rock?  If we are not created in the image of God, stamped with the fingerprint of our Creator, then where indeed is the meaning and purpose of life?  If we adopt the belief that we came into existence by random chance, then how can we even trust our own thinking?  C.S. Lewis said it best:

“Supposing there was no intelligence behind the universe, no creative mind. In that case, nobody designed my brain for the purpose of thinking. It is merely that when the atoms inside my skull happen, for physical or chemical reasons, to arrange themselves in a certain way, this gives me, as a by-product, the sensation I call thought. But, if so, how can I trust my own thinking to be true? It's like upsetting a milk jug and hoping that the way it splashes itself will give you a map of London. But if I can't trust my own thinking, of course I can't trust the arguments leading to Atheism, and therefore have no reason to be an Atheist, or anything else. Unless I believe in God, I cannot believe in thought: so I can never use thought to disbelieve in God.”

Additionally, if we do not believe in God—and therefore in thought—we can never trust our own decisions regarding such things as medicine, civil government, law, or any other matter. 

The God of the Bible is a personal, thoughtful, intelligent being; whereas the god of ‘Nature’ is merely an impersonal force with no real power.  Had not God spoken, giving the ocean its waves, the wind its blast and the clouds their rain, what many revere as ‘Nature’ would have no bearing whatsoever.  Anglican Clergyman William Paley compared creation to a watch.  If a man came across a watch in the woods, he would not automatically conclude that it had always been there, or that it had come to be there by random chance; rather, he would know that the watch had had a watchmaker, and that someone had lost that watch in the woods.  Likewise, one should not see any part of Creation—or ‘Nature’—and conclude that it has always been there or that it came to be by random chance.  Instead, we should see in Creation an indication of a Great Watchmaker, a higher intelligence that designed the universe. 

Man is made in the image of God; this is a privilege that is seldom fully recognized and appreciated.  We are created in the very image of our Creator.  We are set apart from the rest of creation in this: we are imprinted with the physical beauty, spiritual emotion, and superior intelligence of our Great Watchmaker.  We are also given the duty of bearing that beauty, emotion, and intelligence before the rest of Creation, for our very presence proclaims the name of God most high.  If a person accepts the assumption that all people are “image-bearers” of God, it will affect every aspect of his life.  He will never struggle with a poor self-image, because he knows that he bears the beauty and intelligence of his Creator.  Additionally, he will treat others as special and priceless because he acknowledges that they, too, bear the unique mark of a God who loves each of us as if there were only one of us.

After God created everything, he declared it to be ‘good.’  The world is fallen, but it was created by a perfect, beautiful, sinless God, and He cannot create anything that is not good.  In spite of the evil and sorrow inherent to our beings and to our world because of sin, both are still called beautiful by the God who made them.  To quote Sam Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings, “There is some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.”  There is beauty and goodness to be found in this world, and we are here to overcome the evil and strive for that good.  God’s grace and goodness make this world good—these are things of goodness so great that sin can never spoil them.

Man was not consulted prior to the birth of the universe.  This reveals to us another fascinating aspect of God’s character: he is Love, and he created man simply so that he would have something—someone—to love.  He is an up-close and personal God; when he had finished creating the world—the skies and seas, the fish and trees, the bears and bees—he saw that it was good.  But he also saw that, though he loved it all, there was nothing capable of loving him back.  He wanted someone with whom he could enjoy a personal, intimate, two-way relationship.  That is the kind of God by whom we are loved!

“One must not view creation as merely a one-time action of the past, but rather as a continuing deed of the present,” writes Dr. Christian Overman in Assumptions that Affect our Lives.  God created the world and set the heavens in motion, but he did not then simply sit back and let time unfold.  If we return to the clock analogy, we see that in this respect Creation is not like a clock; God did not simply wind it up and then go hands-off.  He is present at every hour of every day, and were he to become absent for even one moment, the universe would descend speedily into darkness and chaos.

Creation speaks, testifying to the greatness of its Creator.  A logical, open-minded person cannot look at the planets—how each is placed exactly where it belongs, and how, if one were even a degree out of place, all would be in ruin—or a flower—the beauty and delicacy of each blossom, and the intricate designs necessary for its functionality—or an amoeba—the tiny, complex inner workings of what is so often mistakenly called a “simple cell”—and remain deaf to the shouts of “behold the handiwork of our Creator!  See the design so evident in my being!”  All of creation daily proclaims the existence of the fingerprints of its watchmaker, its present, personal, loving overseer.