Now the earth was
formless and empty,
darkness was over the
surface of the deep,
and the Spirit of God was
hovering over the waters.
Genesis 1:2
Bible Rank: 57
I have found in my life -- and in the faith of others -- that embracing the creation story is one of the powerful keys that unlocks deeper faith.
We obviously live in a world that is actively trying to disprove God's existence and the Bible's authority. Why? Among other reasons, it's because Christian morality seems like a check on fun, selfish, wanton behaviors. Ultimately, we want to be our own "gods," our own authorities. We want to do what we want to do!
Wasn't that, indeed, the first sin of humanity -- see Genesis 3. We were promised that if we ate of the forbidden fruit, our eyes would be open and we “would be like God.” (Think about this: if the Bible isn't inspired by God, how did almost 4000-year-old human writings describe so perfectly the modern human heart ... when "learned" psychology and sociology books from twenty or forty years ago seem so comically out of date?)
Science has sadly become one modern attempt to disprove the existence of God … and to deny our need for God.
Now let me clearly say that Christians ought to be for the very best science! Why? Because if we truly believe that God created, then studying his creation ought to ultimately draw us nearer to him. (In fact, this Christian understanding of God's handiwork, historically fueled scientific research in the West! Most of the great early scientists in the west were strong Christians!)
As I, then, have watched people in life – believing, hoping, wandering, doubting – I have learned that people’s attitudes toward Genesis 1 and Creation is often a strong predictor of their depth of faith.
Now, the journey toward this deeper faith doesn't have to begin with a literal seven-day understanding. For me, for example, it took realizing that if God was giving us a text book of creation, it would be at least 80,000,000 pages thick! (And I doubt even modern scientists could fully understand it today ... much less the nomads and shepherds in the ancient Middle East who didn't understand gravity, much less atoms and cells!) Therefore, it’s clear that God wasn't giving us a billion-page scientific text book to describe creation in Genesis 1. Rather, he was giving us a one-page spiritual introduction to the Creator!
I like to say that Genesis is a "Wow!" Book rather than a "how book."
And yet, that "wow!" is important!
Until we begin to say in our hearts that God is much bigger than us, that he is powerful, wise, awesome, and holy, we feel free to think that we are in charge of our own destiny. We keep playing "god" over our own decisions until we humble ourselves before a creator who only needs to speak and galaxies tumble into place.
We need to restore the wonder and awe of creation to our hearts because until we do, the lusts of our hearts drive us.
Therefore, Creation is arguably the most important of stories. Why? Because when we say "Wow!" we finally bow our hearts and start worshiping!
In Christ's Love,
a guy who finally bowed
at about age 26 and has
discovered "wow!" ever since
It's funny, when I was a kid in the 1970s, Darwin (and evolution without the necessity of a creator) was "settled" science. Today's it's not. As science keeps uncovering greater levels of complexity , random chance is seeming less and less likely to many in the scientific community.
By verse two of the Bible, we are already getting our first glimpse of the Trinitarian nature of God
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