Thoughts on Creation and Evolution

The debate continues to rage; You know, Evolution vs Creation.

I want to direct your attention to five passages of Scripture:

Genesis 1; Genesis 2; Colossians 1:16; John 1:3; Hebrews 11:3

Many people see Genesis 1 & 2 as contradictory. I’m not so sure about that.

My points are simple.

Genesis 1 is poetic, for sure, but I think there is still a literalness to it

For one, all of the passages mentioning or referencing the creation account strongly imply a literalness.

There is a distinct difference between the first chapter of Genesis and Genesis 2, yes. But what seems to be present in chapter 2 is the language of agriculture.

When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground ~Genesis 2:5-6

Agriculture: Various plants will not grow without tilling or human interaction / intervening. And so, it sets the stage for what comes next:

then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. ~Genesis 2:7-9

Once the point of the need for someone to care for the field is made, God makes man.

Jesus created all things

This point is very important, even though many would not think it’s needed to be said. Colossians 1 has an air of personal involvement. John 1:3, likewise, expresses this point. Evolution presents a non-personal outlook.

Hebrews 11:3 continues this thought and adds something very convincing, in my mind:

By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

The one thing that strikes at the heart of Evolution is this:

What is seen was not made out of things that are visible

There could not be a “mass” (ala, “the Universe was once in an extremely hot and dense state which expanded rapidly”) or anything that existed which made a “big bang” from which all things came to being.

There was a big bang, for sure, but that big bang was the voice of God, the Word of God as Hebrews shares, and His name is Jesus.