Microscopic Evidence of our Big God

Microscopic Evidence of our Big God

“For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse…”

– Romans 1:20

 

We often look for the evidence of God’s existence in big things. We seek God’s presence by looking at the stars and the sky or by appreciating the vastness of the ocean. However, we tend to ignore the evidence of God’s presence in the small things around and within us. Did God, who is infinitely bigger than the entire universe, really leave His mark in the small things?

 

Seeing God’s Handiwork Under the Microscope

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, who is also known as the ‘Father of Microbiology’, has always been amazed at how God’s perfection is manifested even in microscopic creatures. He believed that God is responsible for creating everything, including the microscopic creatures that he is so fond of. He wrote the following in one of his letters:

 “From all these observations, we discern most plainly the incomprehensible perfection, the exact order, and the inscrutable providential care with which the Most Wise Creator and Lord of the Universe had formed the bodies of these animalcules, which are so minute as to escape our sight, to the end that different species of them may be preserved in existence. And this most wonderful disposition of nature with regard to these animalcules for the preservation of their species; which at the same time strikes us with astonishment, must surely convince all of the absurdity of those old opinions, that living creatures can be produced from corruption of putrefaction.“

  – Measuring the Invisible World: The Life and Works of Antoni van Leeuwenhoek by A. Schierbeek

 

DNA and Single-Celled Organisms

If we are smaller than a speck of dust compared to the vast planets and multiple solar systems in the entire universe, just imagine how small a single-celled bacterium would be in the overall scheme of things. Yet God, in all His perfection and meticulous attention to detail, still took the time to embed a complex DNA structure even in these single-celled organisms. They may be invisible to the naked eye but they are a crucial part of God’s masterpiece and such complex structures cannot be a product of chance or random splicing of amino acids.

 

God Left Clues for Us to Discover

Genesis states that in all the six days of creation, God saw that everything He made was ‘good’. God is so satisfied with His creation that He left clues in order for us to see His workmanship.

Before the microscope was invented, we had no idea that God made each cell in our body in a very complex manner, or that its processes can be compared to that of a highly advanced city. As science and technology advances, God’s hand in the creation process is slowly unfolding right before our eyes.

Psalm states that

“…the Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.” (126:3)

 

 

However, let us not limit ourselves to glorifying God in the great things alone. We should be joyful for everything that God has created, even the smallest creations. By celebrating Creation Day, and signing the petition to establish Creation Day as an official holiday, we can glorify God by showing our appreciation and concern for all the things that He has done.

 

 

 

The Green Bible

The Green Bible

For those concerned with creation care, the Green Bible couldn’t be a more fantastic idea.

Christianity has often been berated for failing to live up to the ideas of stewardship and responsibility for creation that the Bible encourages, but the Bible has now gone green – and it calls us to our responsibilities.

 

What is the Green Bible?

The Green Bible is an English version of the Bible, with a concern for the environmental teaching in the Old and New Testaments. Similar to the Red Letter Bible, the Green Bible highlights verses in green, which focus on the environment.

In print since 2008, The Green Bible is a comprehensive study Bible that features essays by prominent theologians and environmentalists such as N.T. Wright, Wendell Berry and Pope John Paul II. The Green Bible has also been officially endorsed by many environmental groups including the Sierra Club, The Humane Society and the Eco-Justice Program.

The Green Bible aims to encourage readers to see God’s vision for his creative work, and to help engage humanity in matters of environmentalism.

 

How Did it Come About?

The inspiration for the Green Bible originally came from the desire to produce a specialty Bible that centres on issues of sustainability, stewardship and creation care.

Mark Tauber, Senior Vice President of HarperOne states:

“…the Bible has a profound message of sustainability—some might argue, the original message—is not all that surprising. What is surprising is that it is not one of the first things that comes to mind when most folks think about the Bible and its message… this Bible seeks to change that fact. We believe that the unique and specially added features by some of today’s most important thinkers, writers and leaders, across the ecumenical spectrum make it a must-have for those who already find motivation, comfort and inspiration in it and for the many more who might see it freshly as a critical resource in their journey to sustain our planet.”

 

What’s so Special About it?

Because the Green Bible is designed to be a study Bible, it features a ‘green trail study guide’ which directs readers to verses which are germane to issues of environmentalism and creation care, as well as a topical index to help readers find verses pertaining to specific subjects.

As well as being focused on ‘green’ issues, the Green Bible is printed on recycled paper using soy-based ink. The cover is also designed from renewable cotton linen.

 

 

‘Green’ can be traced throughout the entire Bible – from creation to new creation. We see green in the Garden of Eden, in Noah’s olive branch, in the parting of the Red Sea, in Gethsemane, on the wooden cross and in the new heaven and new earth. The Green Bible reminds us that as Christians, and as people, we are called to care for the earth because God cares for the earth, and because God cares deeply, for all things green.

 

To purchase a copy of the Green Bible, go here

 

If you would like to celebrate God’s creation, then sign our petition to establish Creation Day as an official holiday

Creation vs Evolution: The Basics

Creation vs Evolution: The Basics

Unless you have been living under a rock, you will be aware of the ever growing divide between the world of science, and faith – particularly in relation to the creation versus evolution debate.

Mainstream science believes that the earth is billions of years old and has come into existence through the process of evolution, popularised by Charles Darwin. Evolution also maintains that humans have evolved from single-cell organisms to their present state: homo sapiens.

Christianity adheres to the Biblical account of creation, described in Genesis. This view maintains that the universe was created in a seven day time period and a literal reading indicates that the earth may only be 6,000 to 10,000 years old. Genesis also describes humans as having been divinely created in the image of God himself.

It is at the cross section of these two views that we, as 21st century people, find ourselves. The media has done a fantastic job of branding these two views as polar opposites, placing Christianity and science as two teams fighting within a cultural war. Recent studies indicate that most people now believe that their position on our origins is an ‘all-or-nothing’ issue. They must choose a side: Christian and creation, or non-Christian and evolution.

If this is the case, then how do we know which side we should be on? With children now being taught evolution in schools and being raised in a culture where we are encouraged to choose a side, we need to have a good understanding of this faith issue.

 

History of Evolution

The creation versus evolution debate is relatively recent, having began during the late 18th century in Europe and North America. When new interpretations of geological evidence began to emerge, questions were raised about the age of the earth. This drove some early ideas about evolution, including Lamarckism, which describes the idea that a cell can pass on characteristics to its offspring. By the mid-19th century, books were being written such as Robert Chambers’ “Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation” which began popularising the idea of the transmutation of species. This idea paved the way for Darwin’s theory of natural selection.

While on a voyage studying the wildlife, Charles Darwin observed the variation in the appearance of individual animals. This, he concluded, meant that with enough time, these variations in their physical appearance would look significantly different. The publication of his work “On the Origin of Species” in 1859 further popularised the theory of evolution and allowed the theory to become an entire field of study.

 

History of Creationism

By the early 19th century, debate had begun to develop regarding the Bible and how this should be read and interpreted. Some theologians were arguing that a less literal approach should be taken, with the focus shifting to the theological concerns presented within the Biblical accounts. With the advent of new thinking on the age of the earth, religious thinkers sought to reconcile the two ways of thinking by developing ideas such as ‘gap-creationism’.

While most 19th century scientists came to accept the theory of evolution, theologians were accepting it also, understanding it as a vehicle God had used to bring about the earth.  In the 20th century, several factors including the rise of Biblical literalism, Christian fundamentalism and the scepticism of the post-modern era led to a backlash against evolutionary ideas – parents soon began to voice concern over evolutionary teaching in schools and clergy became concerned that belief in evolution would invalidate the creation story described in the Bible.

Then 1960s saw the first major modern creationist book go to print. “The Genesis Flood: The Biblical Record and Its Scientific Implications argued for a literal reading of creation week and suggested that humanity must have co-existed with dinosaurs. These views rose in popularity, particularly in Britain and were soon the foundation for the establishment of the Institute for Creation Research which aimed to promote creationism throughout the world.

The belief held within the scientific community that evolution explains the origins of life continues to be challenged by creationists today.

 

The Debate

Alongside the rise of the theory of evolution on the world stage in the 19th century, was support, particularly from Christianity. The reverend Charles Kingsley of the Church of England, openly supported the theory of evolution and saw God as having worked through evolution in order to bring about the earth. Prominent botanist Asa Gray also produced an influential book explaining that religion and science were not mutually exclusive, and set forward his support for Darwin’s work. As the theory found more global support, the Catholic Church became accepting of Darwin’s ideas and more recently Pope Francis has even stated that both evolution and creation may be two halves of the same equation.

Though on some occasions faith and science have been able to see eye-to-eye, there are many points on which they have not. Creationists often feel that scientific theories are inadequate due to the processes and biases involved in developing them, while science claims that creationism is a pseudo-science, based on faith and lacking in solid evidence.

Biology often comes under significant scrutiny within the controversy between creationism and science. Within biology, human evolution is by far the most hotly debated topic as it is perceived to threaten the accounts of human creation found in the Biblical texts. Scientists argue that fossil records and DNA comparisons demonstrate the evolutionary process that the human race has undergone, having evolved from primates to humans. Creationists reject this idea, and argue that the theory of human evolution is largely based on assumptions. While science argues that all organisms (including humans) have common descent, Christianity proposes that God created different kinds (humans and different kinds of animals) at the same time, so not every organism can have a common ancestor.

Two other areas of frequent dispute are macroevolution and transitional fossils. Creationists readily accept microevolution (the idea that small evolutionary processes take place within kinds – dog breeds for instance) but reject the scientific idea of macroevolution which argues that evolution also happens on a grand scale.  Creationists also reject the existence of transitional fossils, which scientists use as evidence in the case for evolution.

Geology is another prominent area of debate within the creation versus evolution debate. Creationism maintains the position that based on the Biblical chronologies, the world cannot be older than around 6,000 years, when God created it. Science claims that the age of the earth is closer to around 4.5 billion years – a point which is rejected by creationists on the grounds that the methodology used to come to these conclusions is flawed. Creationists argue that scientific processes such as radiometric dating are unreliable, and thus cannot be used to make conclusions about the age of the earth.

 

How Should We Handle This?

While Christianity and creationism have often been diametrically opposed to scientific claims about the origins of the earth and humanity, we must also recognize that the world of faith and science approach these ideas with very different ways of thinking, asking fundamentally different questions about our reality. We must allow space for both science and faith to take place within us, and not continue to reinforce the dichotomy that exists between the two.

Although some Christian leaders have come forward and posited views which either accept or reject claims from the scientific community, as Christians we must have an awareness that everything depends on our creative God – and our finite, human understandings may  never be able to fully grasp how he went about his creative activity.

We must also acknowledge that while the accounts of Genesis describe the origins of our earth and of human life, it also contains writing that is beautiful, poetical and ultimately theological. While these texts may contain clues about the science behind God’s creative action, they are not designed to be a scientific manual. They are designed to provide us with a theological guide to understanding our creative God.

 

Sign our petition to establish Creation Day as an official holiday!

Why Do We Not Live As Long As Methuselah?

Why Do We Not Live As Long As Methuselah?

Genesis 5 describes the oldest man to ever live:

“Thus all the days of Methuselah were 969 years, and he died.” (v27)

Though Methuselah did not have a starring role in the Old Testament, his life, and its length in particular, has been a subject of much interest for creationists and theologians. Nowadays, the name Methuselah has come to be associated with anything that is old.

Though Methuselah is only mentioned briefly in the Hebrew Bible, he came from a prominent line of Old Testament characters (Methuselah was the son of Enoch, the father of Lamech and the grandfather of Noah) and his final mention in Genesis 5 is of great significance, begging the question:

 

Why do we not live as long as Methuselah?

 

Some creationists argue that certain environmental and theological factors have affected our ability to age to this degree, including the introduction of sin into the original design, the elimination of the water vapor canopy over the earth. DNA and changes in lifestyle factors.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at each of these factors.

 

The Original Design

Anybody who has read the book of Genesis and taken notice of the genealogies it contains will have noticed a sharp shift that occurred after the flood, particularly in relation to lifespans. Creationists have long agonised over how to explain the discrepancies in lifespans in the pre- and post-flood ages but have failed to come up with any single argument to explain the difference.

Theologians, however, often argue that the solution lies back at the beginning, in the Garden of Eden.

According to Genesis, God created the first man and woman, perfect and without sin. The Garden of Eden where he placed them was abundant with everything they would need to live forever in their perfected state. Adam and Eve were commanded not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil:

“Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (v16)

In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve eat from the forbidden tree and humanity is changed forever.  Access to the tree which was once able to sustain their lives permanently was forbidden:

Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.”

From this point onward, the perfect creation had been radically altered. Sin and death had entered the world and changed the original design. Humanity was no longer able to live forever.

Genesis 5 tells us that Adam eventually went onto die, as God predicted:

Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.” (v5)

 

The Great Deluge

In the time between Adam and Eve’s fall in the Garden of Eden and the great flood, lifespans continued to be long, though not eternal as they had been originally intended. However, after the flood, there is a progressive decline in the lifespans of the Old Testament characters, which raises questions about how the flood and the conditions of the earth after it took place, affected humanity’s claim to long life.

The decline is depicted as rather rapid, describing Noah as one who lived to be 950 years old, with Abraham living only to 175. By the time of Moses, the expected lifespan is only 70-80 years old (similar to what we would expect today):

“Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures” (Psalm 90:10)

Interestingly, extra-biblical evidence also supports the decline of long life spans after the flood in Genesis. The Sumerian King List is an ancient surviving manuscript which describes a flood similar to what is depicted in the Hebrew Bible, as well as a list of kings who reigned before the flood took place. What is most interesting is that the Sumerian King List also portrays a significant decrease in lifespan following the flood.

The rapid decline in life years which appears to take place after the flood indicates that something about the world radically changed at the flood. We can assume that such a cataclysmic event would have changed the environment and living conditions substantially and possibly changed larger systems such as weather patterns. Crop fields and pastures were wiped out, as were trees and all animal life. Where, before the flood, the world had been a perfect creation which was fractured, now it was completely destroyed.

 

Diet

In addition to the environmental changes that took place at the flood, something else about humanity changed radically – Noah and his family were granted permission to eat meat. At the creation of Adam and Eve, the pair are given abundant access to all plant life for food, but after the flood, in a world now filled with nothing but scarcity, humanity is now able to start incorporating meat into their diet.
In his Commentaries on Genesis, Martin Luther attributed the long, pre-flood lifespans to the diet that was adhered to in the opening chapters of Genesis, stating that:

“…the general vigor and strength of limb which men had in paradise before the advent of sin, had passed away…. With reference to food, who cannot easily believe that one apple, in that primeval age, was more excellent and afforded a greater degree of nourishment than a thousand in our time? The roots, also, on which they fed, contained infinitely more fragrance, virtue and savor, than they possess now. All these conditions, but notably holiness and righteousness, the exercise of moderation, then the excellence of the fruit and the salubrity of the atmosphere – all these tended to produce longevity till the time came for the establishment of a new order by God which resulted in a decided reduction of the length of man’s life.”

At creation, humanity was appointed a vegetarian diet which would sustain them, but after the flood, meat was allowed to become a part of the human diet. Modern medicine is quite clear about the effects of meat eating on human health, so it stands to reason that in allowing meat eating, God may have intended on shortening the human lifespan, as Luther suggests.

Since we now cannot live beyond the age of around 120, the effects of moderate meat eating are probably negligible, but in an age where humans lived for several hundred years, the introduction of meat eating may have changed everything.

 

DNA

Since we know that Noah continued to live for another 350 years after the flood, some suggest that it’s unlikely that the post-flood environment was so hostile that it alone was the cause of lifespan decrease. Rather, they argue, it is more likely that other internal factors, such as DNA were responsible.
Modern science has found that DNA in our systems is constantly mutating and evolving. If Adam and Eve were created with perfect DNA, then it’s likely that the DNA become less and less perfect as it was passed down through each generation. We develop genetic mutations of our own, as well as inheriting some of the mutations from our parents, which we then pass down to our children. This creates a kind of snowballing effect for substandard DNA.

Since we know that the first humans were created perfect, we must assume that genetics associated with aging and lifespan were radically affected at the fall – in fact, we know that they were, since death did not exist before the fall.

 

Water Vapor Canopy

Though a lot of creationists no longer subscribe to the vapor canopy idea, some still insist that this theory is the cause for the dramatic change in lifespan.

Genesis 2 tells us that before the flood, it did not even rain:

“Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.” (5-6).

However, we know from earlier in Genesis, that God placed large amounts of water above the sky:

“And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so.”(v 6-7)

Since we know that it did not rain, we can conclude that this body of water was not simply a collection of rain clouds. This body of water was what creationists call the ‘water vapor canopy’ – a large body of water suspended above the sky.

When we come to the great flood in Genesis 7, we see God using this canopy of water to cause the deluge.

“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.” (11)

These ‘fountains of the great deep’ most likely refer to the water vapor canopy which is unleashed over the surface of the world for ‘forty days and forty nights’ (12). The fact that there is no mention of rain in the Bible until after the food reinforces this idea.

The argument put forward by creationists is that this body of water, while suspended in the air, would have been functioning as a filtration system for much of the harmful radiation that the earth is exposed to from space. Once this water had been released, our earth would have undergone many changes, including a decrease in the amount of oxygen we inhale, and an increase in the UVA and UVB rays that we are exposed to – two significant factors which scientists agree have an impact on health and lifespan.

 

So, Can We Live for 900 Years?

Put simply, no. The Bible is very clear that the sin of humanity, both through Adam and Eve and through the pre-flood generations caused an unrepairable fracture in God’s creation. We will never be able to attain the long lifespans granted to those early generations because they were a result of God’s perfection which was ruptured in Eden. We also know that the earth underwent significant changes during the great flood, and we cannot repair it back to its original pre-flood state.

We also know that regardless of how long we get to live, death is always going to be the end result. Even if it were possible for us to live until we are 900 years old, we would never be able to eliminate death. It also pays to remember these words by the Psalmist, which point out that our lifespan has already been predetermined by God before we are even born, whether it be set for 100 days or 100 years.

“…all the days ordained for me were written in your book, before one of them came to be.” (139: 16)

 

 

 

 

 

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What Does the Bible Say About Global Warming?

What Does the Bible Say About Global Warming?

Global warming and climate change are concepts that you will not see in the Bible. However, does this mean that as Christians we should just accept what’s happening around us as part of God’s grand design? While the Bible does not mention these terms, it is explicitly clear about our role in taking care of the earth.

 

Causes of Global Warming

One of the identified causes of global warming is the significant increase in greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. Apart from the lesser amount of carbon dioxide that humans release during the breathing process, the majority of these greenhouse gases come from cars, production factories, fertilizers, and other things that humans use regularly.

Natural occurrences such as volcanic eruptions or the sun’s radiation cycles could also contribute to global warming. However, there are no definitive studies yet that will conclude how much of the earth’s increase in temperature can be attributed to natural or artificial causes.

 

How Should Christians Respond to Global Warming

The issue does not lie on whether we are causing global warming or not. The more important question to ask is what are we going to do about it?

Revelation says:

“The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was allowed to scorch people with fire.” (16:8)

Should we accept global warming as an apocalyptic event? Or has God given us instructions on how we must deal with global warming and climate change?

 

God’s Specific Instructions

As stated in Genesis,

“God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (1:28)

Even in the Bible’s first book, God has made it clear that we should have dominion over the earth and be good stewards.

All throughout the Bible, God has also given specific instructions on how we can make this happen. For instance, he gives the following instructions in Leviticus:

“For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a year ofSabbath rest, a Sabbath to the Lord. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards.” (25:3-4)

He also told us to rely on His goodness and His sovereign will and to be totally dependent on Him by praying to Him, about the earth. In 2 Chronicles, He says:

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (7:14)

 

 

Only God knows what will happen in the future. However, He has given us clear instructions on how we can be good stewards over all of His creation. Aside from His word, He has also given us advanced scientific and technical knowledge that we can use to alleviate global warming and heal the earth for the sake of future generations, who will inherit God’s blessings.

 

By signing the petition to make Creation Day an official holiday, we can spread awareness among fellow Christians about God’s mandate and our inherent role in taking care of the earth.