Kyle Tolliver
Stephanie Olson
English 102
12/31/2016
The Bible: Creationism
Genesis is the first book of the old testament section of the bible and it is truly unique when factoring in the topics it covers. It is so unique, that the topics covered in inside of it, have divided the body of believers that read it. In the first couple chapters of this book it establishes that there is a God who created heaven and earth, as well as all known life as we know it. For the people who believe in the God of the bible who is depicted in Genesis, there is no unified standard of belief in regards to creation and the age of creation. Genesis also portrays how God formed the earth and even created all life known in existence today.
When talking about Genesis and creation in any form it is very beneficial to clarify what genesis means as well as remaining open minded to its text. To understand genesis in a different light the person who is reading it needs to not rely on their own understanding of what they read. Although science has a version of creation that many people believe to be more accurate, but also a lot different than the version illustrated in Genesis. It is widely believed by the scientific community who are labeled evolutionists, that the earth and universe started from nothing and evolved into everything we know now.
The title of the first book of the bible is called Genesis, which is a Greek word that means in the beginning. It is translated from the Hebrew word Bereshit which at the end of the day means in the beginning as well. When a reader opens up the bible to read the first book it is put in front of them as the origins, in the beginning, creation of heaven and earth, or even as the head of creation. These could also be referenced to the "first seven days." The origins of the bible date back thousands of years and it has also been proven to be a very accurate historical and archeological document according to the Institute for Creation Research (Evidence for creation).
The first verse (Day 1) found in the King James Bible, is found in the book of Genesis and it states "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1). This verse is one of significance for any believer who believes in the God of the Bible, because it establishes God as the creator of everything, instead of only using the scientific theory that from nothing all life began. Although that is a widely-accepted thought on creation, the bible gives basically a similar version, but establishes God as the creator. In the beginning, when there was nothing, God the creator of it all, created not only earth the planet we live on, but the heavens. The heavens would include the universe and everything in them. As a Christian in society today, understanding this verse of the bible is a key foundational element to their belief system. It teaches them that God the father of all creation creates the whole universe and everything in it. From the ground, they walk on, to the birds flying in the sky. Everything they see and can't see is there for a reason and that reason is the creator made them. It shows Gods finger print on everything they see, touch, smell, hear, and taste.
Although Genesis clearly depicts how creation of the earth and universe started with God there are many people who believe that the universe and everything in it has no creator. The common belief taught in most schools today is that the start of creation simply started off from nothing and simply bang there it is. This viewpoint is commonly referred to as the big bang theory and has left many people who believed it at first, baffled when looking into it by using scientific methods. As a result of this flawed logic, it has allowed for a growing number of scientists to arrive at the same conclusion, the universe and earth had to be created by a creator because there are too many unexplainable facts that continuously arise and contradict what they believed.
The next verses of the bible depict what took place on the first day of creation. "The earth was without form, and void... And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters" (Gen 1:2). This verse found in Genesis, is literally talking about the earth before it was even formed. The earth was just a mass that was formless and without shape, but yet God was there establishing his presence reviewing his creation as he began the forming of earth as he saw fit. As he was doing this he created light and darkness and decided that it would be called day and night and that would conclude the first day of creation depicted in Genesis. Christians take a lot out of this verse by it covering how the earth became what it is, from chaos and waste to order and perfection. This verse shows Christians that the earth was created and not all at once just the key parts were involved in the beginning.
Evolutionists believe that the earth over an uncertain amount of time evolved from the initial bang was formed by chance. It would be as if the earth did not have any form in the initial stages just different elements gathering by themselves. Genesis paints a whole different picture of the exact same scene. It points the reader back to the creator who was creating this masterpiece and not to elements simply gathering in space waiting for the right time to merge together. The problem with evolutionist theory is that biology and science does not have a solid answer on how this could randomly occur, although it does start point back to a creator.
Even though day one was complete, the earth was still without form so God continued on day two. God started by creating a firmament which when translated from Hebrew you get raqia, which means an extended surface or expansion. Once this expansion was created God took all the water and separated it the waters from above and below this expansion. God was creating the sky, the atmosphere and the rest of the universe. He was starting to establish the earth as its own place not mixed or confused with anything else and this wrapped up the second day of creation. God establishes everything in the sky allowing life to be created and the expanse of the atmosphere.
When it comes to evolutionists explaining how the universe became what it is today we find them uncertain of many things. The belief that the universe evolved into what it is now is only the first part of confusion that has now led to the belief the universe is still growing to new lengths. As a result of this the distances of other known parts of our galaxy keep going away. When Genesis talks about the God the creator, it depicts him as the head of all things, the all-knowing and powerful. As Christians view God, they understand that He created universe and He created earth and as a result they are not left with questions that contradict their belief system.
As Genesis unfolds, it leads to day three of creation which was a big turning point for the earth. It started to take its shape and started growing its first items. God establishes dry ground and as he did that it he started to create grass, plants, and trees all bearing seeds (KJV, Gen.1:. Now that the earth has taken shape the waters finally separated and dry land was available, God was eager to create a foundation for all life to exist. He took time and created grass, plants, trees, and was laying the foundation for his future creation of animals and humans. As a result of day three of creation we see God as the creator from the grass and trees on the ground. You can see the dirt, the rock, buildings, homes, cars, and everything else got its start here on day three.
When talking about the Earth many evolutionists explain that the earth itself is extremely old. Science over the last 100 years has shown the earth age change in age from 2 billion years old to 3.5 billion years old and most recently up to 4.5 billion years old (All about creation). Christians to this day also have a belief that the Earth itself is much younger than most scientists have dated. As a result of this belief held by many Christian's it has led to several break throughs in science that support a much younger Earth creation by challenging the science used to prove the old earth version.
Now on day four of creation, God put the stars in the expanse of the sky to help separate the day from the night. He did this for signs, seasons, days, and years. He put them in the sky to shine upon the land. God made the sun and the moon, the sun to rule of the day and the moon to rule over the night time. As Christians this plays into our daily lives in many ways. often time we look to the sky for signs and also when we are looking for God. God uses what we see in the sky from cloud formations, the stars in the sky, and star constellations. He uses these different parts of creation to communicate with us in different ways. These signs and wonders inform us about weather, seasons and the appointed times of God as He communicates us in different ways.
The way everything comes together from the stars in the sky to the constellation systems, at first glance seems like independent items that have no coordination with each other. Over the years people have been able to determine significant changes that occur based on certain formations that appear and as they have done this they have established connections between the events that occur in the sky and what actually takes place on earth. Many times people believe that natural selection, evolution, mutations, or genetic anomalies just happen or occur but when factoring how each and every part of the universe ties back into itself and how also signifies how events happen as related to the earth it leaves even the biggest skeptics with limited explanation.
Now that God established the sun and the moon and the stars in the sky, He continues on in creation on day 5 by creating living creatures. God allowed the waters to fill with living creatures as well as allowing flying creatures to fly across the sky. God created large sea creatures and living creatures that crawl and after he was done creating all of these creatures of life he gave them a commandment to follow be fruitful and multiply. By God giving this commandment it becomes evident that God created both male and female species to have sex and reproduce. As Christians we are able to go outside and see the glory of Gods creation, we are able to go to a stream and see fish swarming about, we are able to go and sit in a field and watch the birds fly about in the sky, if you are a pet owner you may even have the chance to see new life created by the animals God created. We find evidence of Gods creations on a daily basis. One of the times that is shown to us is when we are eating meat, it has become part of our diet.
This direct view of God creating plants, animals, and all living things directly conflicts with the theory held by evolutionists, that from one part it evolved and mutated so extravagantly that it formed water, air, earth, an atmosphere, and all the other intricate pieces needed, not only to sustain life, but to evolve into it. If this view of creation was to hold it weight, archeologists would be constantly finding numerous fossil records that would easily show the evolutionary process taking place. We would at least be able to see the mutation process found in fossil records, occurring from apes to humans as well as everything that led to and after it as well.
After God was done creating the animals and the birds he found himself needing a new creation to rule over his previous creation. During this time God decided to create human kind in His image both male and female. God bless them and gave them their first commandment Be fruitful and multiply. This is the same commandment given to the animals and the birds, but the main difference was that he wanted human kind to rule over and have dominion over all his other creations. As a result of this, any human to this day, can understand that Gods original intentions for humans as a whole, was to rule over all that He created. God knew that his creation needed food to survive, after creating the human he commanded them to eat every green plant yielding seed that is on the surface of the land and from every tree that had seeds and yielded fruit (Gen.1:29). As a result of this simple commandment God intended for humans to be vegans and not eat any of the animals that he created.
When it comes to evolutionists thoughts on how the human race came to pass, it differs significantly from the view point shared in genesis. Evolutionists wants society to believe that all of the human existence that we have was an evolutionary process that occurred alongside with natural selection. One of the biggest influences of this belief comes from a viewpoint held by Charles Darwin. Darwin believed that evolution and natural selection led to the start of the human race as we were given are start by evolving from apes (creation vs. evolution). Darwin knew he did not have any evidence of this but was convinced that after enough time passes archeologists would discover significant amounts of fossils that would support his theory. Unfortunately, Darwin and his theory of natural selection and evolution have not yielded any results to support his claim and now leaves evolutionists scrambling to find another theory.
As God wrapped up the six days of creation it led him to complete his work on the seventh day. On the seventh day God rested from all of his work that he was creating. God Took the seventh day and blessed it and sanctified it (Gen2:3). As Christians start to understand that God took seven days to create the universe and everything in it they realize start to realize that everything is connected back to the creator. On top of this the creator wants us to rule over the land and to also take time to rest from work and glorify him.
The 1st chapter in the book of Genesis, touches on several key points in understanding the origins of earth and space. The main fact for this is to believe in God the father, that he is the creator of everything we know and don't know. With his touch and by his breath he created the universe, and everything in it, even the planet we live on. He created all the animals, the water, the air, and all the living organisms we see. It also depicts that an evolutionary process, doubled up with natural selection, is a flawed belief that simply isn't even justifiable.
When Genesis was written, it depicted several ideas and beliefs, that have challenged the way people think for thousands of years. As a Christian believer, they need to know that many of the things listed throughout Genesis have led to many modern-day discoveries and influences that impact us to this day. The belief that there is a creator and that this creator designed and orchestrated everything we can see, hear, taste, touch, smell is an easy thing to understand and believe. When people began to take in the fact that God took his time and created the sun, the moon, earth, plants, trees, animals, and humans people start to see that his fingerprint is all around them.
Many times, people will disagree with the accounts listed in Genesis and they try to find other ways of explaining creation. It has led to many flawed ways of thinking, like the big bang theory, evolution form animals, natural selection etc. that sound great at first but are quickly disproven as scientific theory is used against them.
Works Cited
"Scientific Accuracy: Evidence for Creation" - Evidence from Scripture"
Eckman, Jim, Dr. "Atheism: A Worldview in Resurgence?" Issues In Perspective Atheism A Worldview in Resurgence Comments.
Lipka, Michael. "10 Facts about Atheists." Pew Research Center.
Lisle, Jason, Dr. "Atheism: An Irrational Worldview." Answers in Genesis.
Nelson, Matt. "Why Atheists Change Their Mind: 8 Common Factors". Word on Fire."
Slick, Matt. "Mistakes Christians Make When Dialoguing with Atheists." CARM: Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry.
Vander Elst, Philip. "From Atheism to Christianity: A Personal Journey."
"What Is Atheism?" American Atheists.
King James Bible "Genesis". Bible Gateway