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Brush Up On Your Theology; 12. Creationism

by Dr. Henderson Ward  
12/25/2015 / Bible Studies

The concept of Creationism in Christian theology has to do with the doctrine of origins; life, earth, the universe and humanity. In its basic form Creationism is opposed to the Theory of Evolution, as postulated by Charles Darwin, and it does not accept any of the scientific explanations which conflict with the Holy Bible.

The position set forth here is clear and unwavering; that there was nothing in the beginning but God, and everything seen and unseen, known or unknown, past present and future owe its existence to God.

God does not put forward theories, conjectures, suppositions and surmises to try to convince skeptics, agnostics and atheists, hoping that they may examine the material and, on the balance of probability, decide that there could be a god, and that he is responsible for everything.

God will neither ask for anyone to verify who he is, nor seek ratification to his authorship of all his glorious work that we see on display all around us.

Even when Moses, with the best of intentions, inquired of God who he was, the answer was most telling, "And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." (Exodus 3:14)

I do not accept any of the varying forms of creationism where God is not central, i.e. Progressive Creationism, Evolutionary Creationism, Theistic Evolution, Philosophical Materialistic Evolution and Methodological Materialistic Evolution. None of these forms of creationism is Atheistic but each assign God greater or lesser roles in the creation process, and the latter two see God as distant from creation, positioning God merely as a bystander or spectator.

There are other attempts to explain God without referencing the Bible, and although they are satisfying on the philosophical level nevertheless they do not measure up to the highest standards theologically, and are of limited value. Nevertheless it is good to know about them and the four main ones are as follows:

The "Ontological argument", is the concept of God existing because the greatest concept that exists in the mind is God, and therefore the greatest concept must exist. This argument, and there are several variations, was first used by Anselm of Canterbury who was a Roman Catholic monk.

The "Teleological argument", a.k.a., argument from design, is founded on the notion that since the universe is perceived as a product of design then there must be a designer. This is an ancient argument that goes back to the time of Socrates.

The "Cosmological argument" teaches that every effect must have a cause and ultimately something "uncaused" must be responsible for everything to come into existence; and that is God. This is another ancient argument that goes back to the time of Aristotle.

The "Moral argument" which asserts that all cultures accept some kind of law based on a sense of right and wrong; and that could only come from God. The notion here is that there exists objective moral truths and that God must exist to give authority to these truths. As with the others this argument has many variations based on objective moral truths.

In the beginning, whenever that was, there was just God existing, eternal, immutable, omnipotent, omniscience, omnipresent and perfectly Holy, who by a conscious act of will created the universe, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Genesis 1:1) and the world came into being.

It is not known what happened between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2, but something significant must have occurred, for it is difficult to accept the notion that God could have created something without form and void, "And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep" (Genesis 1:2a).

God is not the author of confusion, "For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints." (1 Corinthians 14:33), and the proposition put forward by some that this interregnum was the time Satan was cast out of heaven, see Ezekiel 28:11-19, has a lot of credence.

This period too could have accounted for the time of the dinosaurs, if indeed they ever existed, for God is not limited to the parameters of the human mind. Just because we cannot conceive how God could have done something in no way prevents God from doing it, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8-9).

Here it must be said, that dogmatic assertion is not the order of the day. Many different Christian views prevail where God is centre stage in the creation process, but they see things differently and I am in no way hostile to them. I am however deeply opposed - root, trunk, branch and leaves to Darwinian evolution as it pertains to creationism.

I am aware that some early church fathers, Saint Augustine, and Philo of Alexandria, to name two, did not adhere strictly to the orthodox line; some of them thought that the Genesis account of creation was allegorical, and not literal, and in that case they would view things in a very different way.

It is accepted that the allegorical perspective is an honest viewpoint, but I am unconvinced that it is the correct one. I take the view that the default interpretation of the Bible is literal until context or some overpowering evidence to the contrary proves otherwise; and in the Genesis account of creation the literal view best fits consistent hermeneutics.

I believe the Genesis account exactly as is stated, i.e., that God created everything in a precise order i.e. light, the firmament, earth and sea and their ecosystems, the heavenly bodies, fish and marine life, animals and humans and was pleased with his creation.

Since the Bible was never intended to be a scientific textbook I am perfectly happy to acknowledge that some things are not pellucid clear but believers live by faith, even the Apostle Paul acknowledged that "we see through a glass, but darkly" (1 Corinthians 13:12).

I am prepared to live with some things not fully known, whilst trusting the Bible fully for its marvelous account in Genesis. The world should not be surprised that, as time goes by, more and more evidence will come forward to verify and support the Bible's, and therefore Christians' view of creation.

Already some atheists among the scientific community are being converted to Christianity because they are convinced that the complexity of DNA could never happen naturally. Here is what one such convert said:

"It seems to me that when confronted with the marvels of life and the universe, one must ask why and not just how. The only possible answers are religious. I find a need for God in the universe and in my own life." (Arthur L. Schawlow, Professor of Physics at Stanford University, winner of the Nobel Prize in physics)

I'll conclude here with what another scientist said, because true science will always verify what the Bible has stated, "For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries." (Robert Jastrow, American astronomer, physicist and cosmologist)

The proper attitude to adopt, whether one is learned or uneducated, is that of King David when, in a moment of profound clear-mindedness he said, "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?" (Psalm 8:3-4)

Enough said.

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Dr. Henderson Ward received his Doctor of Divinity in theology, with distinction, from Masters International School of Divinity, USA, where he is currently a post-doctoral fellow. Dr. Ward's career involved pastoring, evangelism, and teaching. Copyright 2017

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