AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF GENESIS (PART 5)

Theological Bites

The strongest apologetics of Evolution I have read is one that says that Evolution is not a response to the question of Origin but an evaluation of the distinguishable differences which are due to modifications in successive generations. This however, is not a position of all honest evolutionists. For some, Evolution is an attempt to address the question of Origin. It is the question of Origin that matters more than the state of things.

When it comes to the question of Origin, Evolution presents to us a caused unintelligible and inanimate matter as the cause of both inanimate and animate beings. Evolution starts with the ‘caused pre-existing something’ to explain the origin of another. The problem with this is that we are left without knowing the origin of that very first matter from which everything else evolved.

It is scientifically dishonest to assert the origin of species without a scientific explanation (read evidence) of the first cause. Science has not even supplied a functional hypothesis from which we can draw a theory of what caused the first cause in the principle of Causality (a genetic connection of phenomena through which one thing (the cause) under certain conditions gives rise to, causes something else (the effect). The situations that trigger evolution to occur have both explainable and unexplainable reasons and causes of the same.

In Evolution therefore, while there is a scientific reason of ‘being’, there is neither a psychological purpose that supersedes neurological justifications. In other words, there is nothing like a spirituality scientifically speaking. It is just how the brain works and various modes of socio-anthropological psychologies due to various experiences. Whether the idea of Purpose is important or not it is something we can fetch from the very book (Genesis) we are reading.

The narration of the creation in the first two chapters of the Bible demonstrates the idea of purpose and intention in all creation. We learn that whoever created the myth of creation did not formulate it in a vacuum but out of observation. Genesis 1-3 therefore is a product of a scientific exercise of observation. All science is inductively born out of Observation, experimental Patterns, Tentative hypothesis and theorizing.

When it comes to deductive approaches it is testable top-bottom, and the process commences from Theory, Hypothesis, Observation then confirmation. What we have in Genesis might not have gone through all these scientific stages but at least it is a product of observation to start with and the approach in Genesis 1 is inductive.

Man observed his environment and the question of Origin (origin if everything) arose, then that of Identity (who we are), the Problem (what is wrong) and what is the solution henceforth. Such questions are the four pillars of every sensible worldview. The observation in Genesis chapters 1-3 therefore, is that there is an animate self-existent (un-caused-cause) and intelligent being that created everything and everyone for a reason.

This is where being a creationist as opposed to being an evolutionist becomes coherent and consistent to what it means to live in this world as we know it. The authors of the content of Genesis chapters 1-3 were not there when all the events recorded (in there) took place, but rather as scientist utilizes the pre-scientific tool of observation that lead to an inquisition through experiments, so did the authors of Genesis.

The Bible therefore is a response to human perturbing questions like where did we come from, why are we here, what is wrong and how can we fix it?  Any science that doesn’t address these questions beyond the material world is either dishonest or immature. The intentional and intelligent being that created us, must have had a purpose for each of us and we cannot be products accidental eventualities in the inanimate world.    

Originated from a Self-existent ‘Being’

The biggest defense of the creationist like myself is twofold: 1-having God as an uncaused cause of everything and 2- that very God as the designer not just of the functionality of things but for purpose as well. So we believe that all creation is a product of a self-existent intentional and intelligent supra-being we call ‘God’. And therefore believe that what is rational can only be designed by a rational self-existent being but not an irrational one. There is no way life can come from inanimate objects.

We believe therefore, that our life, and living was drawn from another eternally living being whose life was not given and therefore the source of all other lives. We believe that human rationality is a reflection of our origin from a Supra-intelligent God to whom we gained our reasoning. We therefore logically and reasonably affirm that we were made by a being whose intention was to duplicate Himself in creation through creatures like us. To argue that life evolved from inanimate matter and reason evolved from the unreasonable is unreasonable for reasonable beings like us.

It is for this reason that we Creationists, insist that there is a self-existent God-Being, who is the uncaused Cause of everything caused into being and existence. We find this argument consistent with the generally accepted laws of reasoning as well as the practicality of being human. Without a being as the creator of everything then life and living on Earth since time immemorial has no meaning as well as Purpose.

Purpose in Creation

A careful read of the creation account will demonstrate that the creator was not merely intentional in his act of creation but also had purpose to create and purpose for every creature he created. Let us use humanity as the sample creature for him alone among all creatures philosophically concerns himself with the concept of purpose.

The first verse discusses time (Genesis 1:1), in other words Time as I have mentioned before, is a creature and it is here with us for a reason. Purpose in life begins when we understand that our life is not only qualified but also quantified. We don’t only live in space/place but we also dwell within time and man’s greatest goal is to ensure that he dwells in time forever that is what Christianity terms as eternity.

Time is the initial evidence that we are purposely created and how we use our time demonstrates how much we have appreciated the idea of divine creation and purpose as well. It is important that we maintain that time is a creature for that will protect all of from worshipping the creature as opposed to its creator.

Genesis 1:2 exhibits the state of existence in the absence of purpose (I will in future introductions explain its place theologically) but for now I would like us to understand its function while we are discussing creation as a purpose driven divine activity. While we work and anticipate a perfect purposeful world, verse 2 immediately presents its opposite.

A life without purpose is a life without form, void, filled with darkness and the spirit of the Lord is not indwelling but hovering. We learn this right way from the creation. Genesis 1:2 does not chronologically fit into Genesis chapter one but a contrast inserted in immediately as a reminder of what isn’t order (pre-disorder) within what is orderly.

Talking about order we find it to be a purpose of creation based on the structure of the six creation days. In the first 3Days God creates Habitations:

• Day 1: Day and Night (Light and Darkness separated) Genesis 1:3-5.
• Day 2: Space/Sky (Waters above/below separated) Genesis 1:6-8
• Day 3: Land (All its Minerals and Vegetation within) Genesis 1:9-13.

The other three days of creation God created the inhabitants and rulers of the habitations in the first three creation days.

• Day 4: Sun/Moon/Stars (Rule over day and night) Genesis 1:14-19
• Day 5: Sea Creatures and Birds on the Land and Sky (Fill waters, Space and Below) Genesis 1:20-23
• Day 6: Animals and Humanity (Dominion-particularly for humans over all creation) Genesis 1:24-31.

This is not a chronology assembled by the narrators of the Genesis account but evidentially something that can be proved in nature. There are things that cannot exist in the absence of the other and this is a science that could have been discovered by the primitive writers of Genesis. We see a purpose driven God who not only created this world but designed it for both its existence and functionality. Next we will look at the views on Genesis 1 creation account and other important theological lessons from the book.  

God bless you,

I invoke TRUTH, WISDOM and FAITH (2Tim 2:7)
Priest M.I.T White (+256-775 822833)
iTiS Well of Worship Fellowship (John 4:24)
Questioning to Believe and Believing to Live