Thoughts by Theophilus

[theophilus]

If you don’t read the creation account in the Bible carefully you can form a false idea of what it actually says. It is a widely held belief that the Bible teaches that God created the entire universe in six days about 6,000 years ago. But is this really what it teaches? We need to take a careful look both at what the Bible says and what it doesn’t say.

The first two chapters of Genesis describe God’s work of creation. It can be divided into three parts.

The first verse simply contains a statement that God created the heavens and the earth. It gives no details about the steps involved or how long it took.

Genesis 1:2 to 2:3 gives a detailed description of one part of this creation, the world we live in. It took six days and was followed by a day of rest. All this took place during the creation in the first verse.

Man was created on the sixth day and the rest of chapter two is a detailed description of his creation.

The account of the six days in which our world was created begins with this statement:

The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Our planet already existed at the beginning of the first day. It is described as being in darkness and covered by water. The six days do not describe the actual creation of our earth but its transformation from a chaotic condition into one which supports life.

We are not told whether the earth had just been created or had existed for some time. It is possible that it had originally been created perfect but its condition at this time was one of the effects of Satan’s rebellion. If this was the case then the six days were a restoration of the earth to its former state. The Bible ends with the creation of a new earth to replace on that had been damaged by sin. Perhaps it begins the same way.

The six days only describe what happened on earth and tell us nothing about the rest of the universe. The sun was already in existence on the first day because the earth began receiving light from it then. But we don’t know whether the sun was created on the first day or whether it existed before that but there was some barrier which kept its light from reaching the earth.

Genesis 1:14 seems to contradict this.

And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth.

But if you read it carefully you will find that it doesn’t actually say anything about the creation of the sun and the moon. It only says that God made lights in the sky, not that he created the bodies that produced these lights. The presence of light shows that the sun already existed so there must have been some kind of cloud cover which kept the sun from being seen but still allowed its light to reach the earth. This was now removed so that the sun, moon, and stars could now be seen.

The Bible clearly teaches that the world as we know it and all life on it were created in six days. The fossils we have found aren’t millions of years old as some believe, but were formed as a result of the worldwide flood in Noah’s time. We aren’t told whether or not the rest of the universe was created at the same time.

[theophilus]

One question that often arises about the six days of creation in Genesis 1 is whether these are literal days or merely indefinite periods of time.

On the first day light appears and God separates the light from the darkness, calling them day and night. The day concludes with this statement, “And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.” Each subsequent day ends with a similar statement. It is obvious that each day consists of one rotation of the earth on its axis, so these were literal days.

Whether these were days were 24 hours long as our days are now would depend on whether the speed of the earth’s rotation was the same then as it is today. There is an event in the Bible that might possibly have brought about a change.

The flood in Noah’s time was part of a cataclysmic event that radically changed the geography of the earth. For the waters to cover the earth, the topography must have been been different from what it was today. A description of how it was changed as a result of the flood is found in Psalm 104:6-9:

You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. At your rebuke they fled; at the sound of your thunder they took to flight. The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them. You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth.

It is possible that with changes of this magnitude the speed of the earth’s rotation could have been changed. The first civilizations that developed after the flood had calendars with 360 days. Perhaps before the flood the year was in fact 360 days long and the simply retained their old calendars.

It is easy to determine how long the days would have been if the years were only 360 days. There are a total of 7,560 minutes in the extra 5 1/4 days of our present year. If these minutes are divided among the other 360 days the result would be 21 minutes in each day so it seems quite possible that the days of creation were 24 hours and 21 minutes long.

[theophilus]

How long ago did the six day creation recorded in Genesis take place? The traditional date of about 4,000 BC is arrived at by studying the genealogies in the Bible to determine how much time has elapsed. But this method assumes that the genealogies are complete and every generation is included. But is this really the case?

First Chronicles 6:1-3 says:

The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. The children of Amram: Aaron, Moses, and Miriam.

There are only two generations recorded between Levi and Moses. According to Genesis 46:11 Kohath was alive when the Israelites moved to Egypt.

Now these are the names of the descendants of Israel, who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons —The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

Exodus 12:41 shows that they were in Egypt 430 years.

At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.

But Exodus 6:18-20 says:

The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, the years of the life of Kohath being 133 years. The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites according to their generations. Amram took as his wife Jochebed his father’s sister, and she bore him Aaron and Moses, the years of the life of Amram being 137 years.

Since their combined lifespans fall far short of the total time in Egypt it is obvious that the genealogy in incomplete and some generations have been omitted.

More proof that some of the genealogies aren’t complete is found by comparing Genesis 11:12,

When Arpachshad had lived 35 years, he fathered Shelah.

with Luke 3:35,36,

the son of Shelah, the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad.

The genealogy in Genesis omitted Cainan. Others people could also have been left out of the genealogies.

This means that the creation couldn’t have taken place later that 4,000 BC but it could have occurred earlier.

ESV has been my favorite for about 2 years now. I love it.

[theophilus]

When we think or talk about salvation we usually mean the process of having our sins forgiven by repenting of them and putting our faith in Jesus Christ. From the human point of view this is what salvation is but from God’s viewpoint this is only one of several steps in the work of salvation. The complete process is described in Romans 8:29,30:

Those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

We see that salvation consists of five steps: foreknowledge, predestination, calling, justification, and glorification.

The first step, foreknowledge, is the logical result of God’s omniscience. He knew even before he created us who would believe the gospel and who would reject it.

He decided that those who believed the gospel were to be conformed to the image of Christ and so become part of God’s family. This decision is called predestination. He predestined those who believe to become like Christ but he didn’t predestine those who reject the gospel to any particular fate. The final destiny of the lost is simply the natural result of their own unbelief and not anything to which God has predestined them.

The next step is calling those whom he has predestined. He does this thru the preaching of the gospel. He causes someone to tell them the gospel so they can believe it and be saved. From our point of view this seems to be the beginning of the salvation experience because it is the first one we are aware of. When we believe the gospel we are justified in God’s sight because all of our sins are forgiven. This includes all those we will commit in the future as well as those in the past because God already knows what those sins will be.

The final step in salvation is glorification, when the process of making us like Christ is completed. This will occur when Christ returns and takes the believers out in the rapture. Our bodies will be transformed to be like Christ’s body and the bodies of all believers who have died will be resurrected. Even though this is still in the future it is so certain that God speaks of it in the past tense as though it had already taken place.

Some people believe that it is possible for a person to become a Christian and then lose his salvation and revert to an unsaved state. If you look as salvation as only being the person’s acceptance of Jesus as savior this could seem like a plausible belief. It is possible for someone to embrace a belief and later reject it so if our salvation was dependent only on our faith it would seem that we could lose it. But if you look at the entire process you will see losing salvation is impossible. When we put our faith in Christ God already knows all that is ahead in our lives. He would never save us in the first place if he knew that we would turn away from him and be lost.

About fifty years ago a detective story writer named Mickey Spillane was very popular. I recall reading an interview in which he described how he wrote his stories. He said that when he began a book he would write the last chapter first and then write the rest of the book to bring about the conclusion he had already written. This is the same way God works when he saves us. He decides that our final destiny will be to be glorified so that we will be like Christ and the rest of the process consists of bringing about this result. We can have complete confidence in our salvation because our last chapter has already been written by God.

I am aware of one objection that might be raised at this point. All of us know about people who have made a profession of faith in Christ and then turned away from following him. Some of you who are reading this might be among them. Doesn’t this show that a person can become a Christian and then lose his salvation?

This problem has come about because there are teachers and churches who teach a false way of salvation. This false teaching can take many forms. Some teach that something else, such as baptism or good works, is needed in addition to faith. Some teach salvation by faith but have an unbiblical idea of what faith is. The kind of faith which brings salvation involves a recognition that we have sinned and deserve to be punished but that Christ took the punishment we deserve. Some preachers fail to emphasize the fact that we are sinners and so many are led to profess faith without really repenting of their sins. The result of this false teaching is that there are many who sincerely believe that they are Christians when they aren’t. If they fall away from professing to be Christians it appears that they are losing their salvation when in fact they were never saved in the first place.

I know from personal experience that what it is like to make a false profession of being a Christian. I have gone to church all my life but when I was young the church I attended wasn’t very Biblical in it teachings. I never was taught that salvation is by faith alone but thought that is was necessary to be baptized and them work to earn salvation. When I was 14 years old I was baptized and thought that I was now a Christian. About two years later I had a Sunday school teacher who was really a Christian. She listened to a program called Back To The Bible and because of her recommendation I began listening too. As a result of the teaching I heard on the radio I finally came to understand that salvation is a free gift of God and I put my faith in Christ and for the first time really became a Christian. If I had not done this and at some future time had come to reject the truths I had learned about the Bible it would have seemed to others that I had been saved and had lost my salvation when in fact I would never have been saved in the first place. I am thankful that God didn’t allow this to happen but sent someone into my life who would guide me into the truth

[theophilus]

The Bible contains four accounts of the life of Jesus which are very different from each other and each one contains some information that isn’t in the others. Some of the differences are so great that the gospels almost seem to contradict each other.

Why would God inspire men to write four different accounts rather than just one?One thing to keep in mind when comparing the gospels is that they are called gospels, not biographies. None of them is intended to give a complete account of Jesus’ life as a modern biography does. The gospel is that Jesus died for our sins and rose again from the dead. All of the gospels give more detail about these events and the circumstances immediately leading up to them than they do to any other part of Jesus’ life. Each author has selected from the previous life of Jesus only those events which he considered necessary to provide the necessary background for the actual gospel. Each of the writers apparently had a specific audience in mind when he wrote his gospel and this influenced his choice of what to include.

Matthew’s gospel was written for a Jewish audience and often quoted from the Old Testament to show that Jesus fulfilled its prophecies. Luke was written in Rome to a believer named Theophilus who was probably a gentile. Both told of the birth of Jesus but they emphasized different aspects of it.

Matthew began by showing that Joseph was a descendant of Abraham and David. He wasn’t the biological father of Jesus but his marriage to Mary made him the legal father so his genealogy became that of Jesus. As a descendant of Abraham Jesus was the recipient of the many promises God had made to him. He was also in the line of the kings who succeeded David. Apparently Joseph would have been king if the monarchy had continued and so he passed on the Jesus the right to the throne of Israel.

Because of his emphasis on the kingship of Jesus Matthew is the only one who records the visit of the Wise Men who were looking for the king of the Jews. (They are often depicted visiting Jesus while he lay in the manger after his birth but this isn’t Biblically accurate. Matthew 2:16 shows that two years had elapsed between the time they saw the star and their arrival in Bethlehem.)

Since Luke was writing for a gentile audience his readers probably wouldn’t have been interested in Jesus’ kingship over Israel. His emphasis is more on the humanity of Jesus. He tells the story of the birth from Mary’s point of view and the genealogy he includes is hers. When it says that Joseph was the son of Heli it obviously means that he was considered a son because he was married to Heli’s daughter because according to Matthew his father’s name was Jacob. This genealogy shows that Mary was a descendant of David through Nathan rather that Solomon. It also traces his ancestry all the way back to Adam.

Luke doesn’t record the visit of the Wise Men because his intended audience wasn’t Jewish and therefore wouldn’t be interested in whether Jesus was king of Israel. He does record some information not found in the other gospels, such as the visit to the temple when Jesus was forty days old and the fact that John the Baptist was a relative of Jesus.

Mark’s gospel doesn’t say anything about the birth or backgroud of Jesus but begins with his baptism by John. This gospel emphasizes what Jesus did more that what he said. It records more miracles in proportion to its length than any other gospel and has less of his teaching that the others. The fact that he explains the meaning of Jewish customs shows that he was writing for gentiles who were unfamiliar with them.

John’s gospel is different from the other three. There are some events and a great deal of teaching that are found only here and he leaves out much that the other gospels include. There are three reasons for these differences.

1. John’s gospel was the last one to be written. By the time John wrote it the other gospels were in wide circulation and most Christians were familiar with them. He probably didn’t think there was any need to repeat what was already widely known so he selected events and teaching that the other writers had omitted.

2. Jesus had both a human and a divine nature. The first three gospels focussed mainly on his human nature although they also mentioned his deity. John’s emphasis was on the fact that Jesus was God, although he also wrote abouth his humanity.

3. John stated the purpose of his book in John 20:31, “These are written so that you may beleive that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” His purpose was evangelistic, to bring others to faith in Christ. Luke’s purpose for writing given in Luke 1:4, “That you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.” He was writing to instruct someone who was already a believer.

God sent Jesus to die for the whole world and he wants everyone to hear and believe the gospel. Because people are different there is no single way to present the gospel which will be effective for all of them. Paul said,

To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. (1 Corinthians 9:20-22)

When he said this he was reflecting the same attitude that God showed when he gave us four gospels so that each of us can find in them what he needs to bring him closer to God.

[theophilus]

When Christians discuss the Bible we are often accused of choosing Bible verses that support our position and ignoring those that oppose it. Usually this takes the form of quoting some law found in the Old Testament and asking why we don’t practice it. Since we consider all of the Bible, including the Old Testament, to be the Word of God this is a reasonable objection that should be answered.

God has given two kind of commands in the Bible. One kind consists of moral laws that are given to all people and are always in effect. Jesus said that these laws can be summarized in two commands:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

All of the other moral laws of the Bible are simply detailed instructions on how to carry out these commands.

In addition to giving universal commands that apply to everyone God also gives commands to specific individuals and groups that apply to them but to no one else. For example, he told Noah to build an ark to keep all life from being destroyed in the flood. This command was for Noah and his family alone and God never intended for anyone else to obey it.

After he had delivered the Israelites form slavery in Egypt he chose them to be his people and gave them laws which they were required to obey. These laws included all the moral laws which apply to everyone but they also include commands which weren’t ever given to anyone else.

The question is, which of these commands must we obey today and which were only for Israel and don’t apply to us?

Israel was a nation. The Church isn’t a nation but is a body of believers who are subject to the laws of the nations in which they live. A nation has the authority to enforce its laws and punish those who violate them, even executing them if their offenses are serious enough. A church doesn’t have the authority to impose any kind of physical punishment but is limited to expelling from its membership those who continue in sin and refuse to repent. A nation has the right to engage in military activities to protect itself against other nations. Christians are engaged in warfare but it is spiritual, not physical. If church leaders in the past had kept this distinction in mind the Crusades and the Inquistion probably wouldn’t have taken place.

God commanded the Israelites to offer animal sacrifices to atone for their sins and he established a priesthood to carry out these sacrifices. These sacrifices were intended to show what Christ would do when he died for our sins and now that he has done this they are no longer needed. The book of Hebrews explains how he fulfilled the sacrificial laws.

[theophilus]

The fact that we are not required to follow some of the laws in the Bible doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t study them. Second Timothy 2:16,17 says,

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

Many of the commands were intended to illustrate spiritual truths. For example, Deuteronomy 25:4 forbids muzzling an ox which is treading out grain. In 1 Corinthians 9:9 and 1 Timothy 5:8 Paul quoted this command to show that Christians are to financially support those who work full time at preaching the gospel. When you read a command in the law you should think not just about its literal meaning but what spiritual truth it illustrates.Here are some some other examples of commands which we no longer have to follow literally but which teach principles which we should follow.

When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house, if anyone should fall from it. Deuteronomy 22:8.

When this was written houses were built with flat roofs and the roof was used as another room in the house so obviously a railing was needed to protect the people on it. Since we don’t build houses like this today we don’t have to follow this law literally but we can learn something from it that does apply today. If God had wanted to do so he could have used his power to protect the people from falling off their roofs and a railing wouldn’t have been necessary, but he has chosen not to do this. We learn from this that he expects us to foresee possible dangers and take precautions to guard against them. We should not use the fact that he has promised to protect us as an excuse for carelessness.

You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed. Deuteronomy 22:9.

When Jesus explained the parable of the sower he said that the seed was the Word of God. When we are telling the gospel or teaching the word we must be careful to teach only what the Bible says and not allow any human views to become mixed in with our teaching.

You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. Deuteronomy 22:10.

An ox was a clean animal which could be eaten or offered as a sacrifice. A donkey was unclean and couldn't be sacrificed to God. Paul might have had this verse in mind when he wrote 2 Corinthians 6:14,

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.

The work of God is to be carried out only by Christians and we must avoid anything which we bind us too closely with unsaved people. This verse has often been used to show that a Christian shouldn't marry a nonChristian, and while this is true it applies to other situations as well. One area where Christians have violated this principle in the past is in making Christianity the official religion of a nation. The result has always been that the unsaved citizens of the country have been able to use this union to lead the church away from following the Bible. Christians should use their influence to ensure that the laws of their country are in accord with God's standards of right and wrong but they should never seek or accept government help in the primary work of the church, which is preaching the gospel and teaching the Bible.

You shall not wear cloth of wool and linen mixed together." Deuteronomy 22:11.

Revelation 19:8 says that find linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. Ezekie 44:17,18 says that when priests enter the sanctuary that must wear only linen and not wool, because wool will cause them to sweat. This seems to show that this law is a warning not to try to approach God on the basis of what we deserve because of our works, but to rely entirely on the righteousness which comes from faith in Christ.

This is just a small sample of the things that we can learn from a study of the commands that God has given.

[theophilus]

In Luke 16:19-31 Jesus tells the story of a rich man and a beggar named Lazarus and describes how they lived in this life and what their circumstances were after they died.

There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out,”‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.” But Abraham said, “Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.” And he said, “Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house—for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.” But Abraham said, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.” And he said, “No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.” He said to him, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.”

This story follows a group of parables and there is much disagreement as to whether this in another parable or a record of something that actually happened.

To answer this question we need to look at exactly what a parable is. Luke 15:3-7 records a story by Jesus which is clearly identified as a parable.

So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Let’s look at exactly what Jesus did here. He told a story about a shepherd and a lost sheep. This was something the people were familiar with because they lived in a culture in which being a shepherd was a common occupation. Then he showed how this everyday which they could see was like a heavenly event which they couldn’t see directly; the rejoicing by the shepherd was like the rejoicing that takes place in heaven when a sinner repents. A parable illustrates a spiritual truth by comparing it with something with which the listeners were familiar.

But does the story of Lazarus and the rich man follow this pattern? It begins by describing a rich man and a beggar who was at his gate seeking help. This was no doubt the sort of thing his listeners had seen. But Jesus doesn’t make any comparison between this situation and something in heaven. Instead he continues the story by telling how the two men died and what their circumstances were after death. In addition, two of the people in the parable, Lazarus and Abraham, are named, and we know for certain that Abraham was a real person. These departures from the usual pattern of parables show that this wasn’t a parable but an account of something that really happened.

This story is the plainest description found in the Bible of what happens after death. We know that at death the body completely ceases to function but we find here that the same thing isn’t true of the soul. It is separated from the body but still continues to function in the same way it did while still in the body.

In the Old Testament there are many references to a place called Sheol which is the place everyone went after death. Both the good and the bad went there. This is the same place as Hades, which is where the rich man ended up. Since he was able to see and speak to Abraham and Lazarus they must have been in Hades too, but in a different part. Abraham said there was a chasm between the place they were and the place the rich man was, so there was a separation between the righteous and the unrighteous even though they were in the same place.

The unsaved still go to Hades immediately after they die but that is no longer true of the saved. The death of Jesus has brought about a change in what happens to them. Jesus told the thief who repented that he would be in Paradise with him that same day. We learn from 2 Corinthians 12:1-3 that Paradise is in the third heaven. Ephesians 4:8-10 says,

Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)

This shows that between his death and resurrection Jesus descended into Hades and took out all the righteous dead and took them to Paradise. Now whenever a believer dies his soul goes immediately to be with Jesus.

Even the unsaved won’t stay in Hades forever. Revelation 20 contains a description of the final judgment, when all those who are lost will be punished for eternity by being thrown into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:13-15 says,

And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

[theophilus]

People who believe the Bible’s account of creation say the the theory of evolution is false. Scientists who reject the Bible’ account say that we see evolution going on around us all the time. Both of these groups are correct because the word “evolution” has more than one meaning and there is more than one kind of evolution.

The evolutionary process we can see is called natural selection. When some individuals are better adapted to their environment than others they are more likely to survive and produce offspring. If members of a species are found in a variety of different environments the characteristics that aid survival may be different in different areas and over time the organisms in each location will come to differ from each other as well as from the parent species. One obvious example of this is the various breeds of dogs that exist. Some of the breeds are the result of intentional breeding by humans but this merely speeded up a process that was already going on in nature. This kind of evolution is a proven fact and those on both sides of the debate agree that it exists.

Evolution is also the name given to the theory popularized by Charles Darwin, that life began with a singled celled organism and this organism is the ancestor of all the different kinds of life that exist today. The real disagreement is over whether this theory of origins is true.

The Bible gives us a different account of the origin of life.

And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:20-25

According to the Bible all the varieties of life that exist today are descended from these original kinds. The Bible doesn’t say how many kinds there were but the number was small enough so that Noah was able to take a pair of each of them on the ark.

We have no way of observing the process of creation but perhaps by examining exactly how evolution works we can reach a conclusion as to which explanation is more likely to be true. One way to do this would be to look at how the various breeds of dog came into existence.

Dogs differ greatly from each other in size, appearance, and other characteristics. But no matter how much they differ all breeds have two things in common. All the genes they possess existed in their common ancestor and each breed has only a small part of the the genetic variation that their ancestor possessed.

The common ancestor of dogs must have descended from another organism that was even more genetically complex. If we carry this process back we find that life must have started with a life form that was extremely complex genetically and possessed the potential of producing a great variety of descendants. This agrees with what the Biblical account of creation says happened.

But how could this process begin if life began with a single celled organism? Natural selection would be impossible because there would be nothing to select from. Before natural selection could begin the original organism would have to somehow develop into a much more complex kind of life by acquiring completely new characteristics. This kind of evolution has never been observed.

Mutation is another mechanism that supposedly causes evolution. Random changes occur in genes and sometimes they can produce beneficial traits that are then preserved by natural selection. But mutations don’t produce anything new; they only change something that already exists.

Suppose we have a sheet of paper filled with writing and begin making random changes in the letters on it. Eventually the paper will contain something entirely different from what was written on it at first. But there hasn’t been any increase in the amount of information on it. If we start with a sheet of paper with just one letter on it, we can change that letter as often as we want and we will still only have one letter. Mutation might bring about changes in the original created kinds so that their descendants are very different from them but it can’t bring about today’s variety of life from a single celled ancestor.

Another argument used against the Biblical account is that the earth is much older than the Bible says it is. But the scientists who make this claim begin their research with the assumption that everything that exists can be explained by natural processes alone and that there has never been any kind of divine intervention in the universe.

A physician who has made a complete examination of a person without having been told his age could probably make an accurate estimate of it because of his knowledge of how the aging process works. But what would happen if he were to travel back in time and examine Adam and Eve just after they were creted and was then asked to estimate their age? If he was unaware of the circumstances of their creation and thought that they were born and grew up like other people do he would his estimate would be much too high. If the Biblical account is true then those who try to calculate the age of the earth are in the same position as that physician.

We live in a culture in which few people believe the Bible or know much about what it teaches. One result of this Biblical ignorance is that scientists generally begin their research with the assumption that everything that exists can be explained by natural processes alone without any divine intervention. When they begin with this attitude they must believe in the Darwinian explanation of life’s origins because they don’t realize there is any reasonable alternative.