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58 Chapter
1 Creation
Science (A Personal View) Christians hold
varying views as
to the need
for them to
concern themselves with what
is often called
Creation Science and
it is proposed
to consider some
of them. Before we
do so it
may be mentioned
that as the
act of creation
was something that
took place in the
past it would
probably be more
accurate to speak
of the History
of Nature (or
Natural History) rather than
science. Properly speaking
science deals with
things that exist, examining how they function, etc.
rather than with
the origin of
things, which is
what concerns us. One view
is that we
should not concern
ourselves with the matter of
origins at all, because the
stories in the
Biblical Genesis are
of no great
importance to us
today. On this view, we
should concern ourselves
with what is
found in the
New Testament rather
than with Old Testament
passages of doubtful
historicity. This view
would treat parts
of Scripture as of
little value, quite
contrary to the
value Christ placed
upon them when
he referred to them
to support his
teaching. For instance,
when he referred
to what was
from the beginning to
show the wrongness
of breaking the
marriage bond. Though
we are not under
the law of
Moses, Christ made
it clear that
what was established
before the law
has importance for us
now (Matthew 19:3-12).
Further, what we
get in Genesis
shows us how the
problem of sin
arose, whereas what
we get in
the New Testament
shows us how
the problem of sin
is solved. What
would be the point of
trying to give
an answer if
we had not got
the question ? Again, trying
to understand the
Bible but ignoring
the beginning of it is
the cause of
a good deal
of confusion in peoples minds as
to what the
Bible is all
about. We wouldn't ignore
the first chapter
of a secular
book and then
wonder why we
didn't understand it, so
why do it with the
Bible ? Ignoring what
we have in
the first few
chapters of Genesis is
likely to lead to
doubt as to other parts
of Scripture and
like F. W.
Newman, author of Phases
of Faith, to
unbelief as to
all divine revelation.
Charles Darwin read this book
and could well have
been influenced by it,
to his loss
and through him
to the detriment of the whole
of Christendom. There are
others who though they
would not themselves
be unbelieving as
to any part of
the Bible, they
would not consider
it worthwhile to go outside
the Scriptures as
to the creation when
contending with evolutionists. However,
we must remember
that God speaks to
us in creation
as well as
in the Bible
"But ask now
the beasts, and
they shall teach thee
..." (Job 12:7-10),
and "Does not
even nature itself
teach you ?" (1 Corinthians 11:14). We
are to learn
about God in
nature as well
as in the
Bible. His eternal
power and divinity are
known from the
former (Romans 1:20),
his nature through
the latter (1
John 4:9). Further, it
is not just
unbelievers that we
are seeking to
enlighten regarding God's creation, but
also our children
and Christians that
have been influenced
by evolutionary teaching or
maybe have been
perplexed by it.
We need to be able
to show them
that evolution is not only
contrary to Scripture, but
that it is also
contrary to the facts of
nature. |