In the beginning God created the heavens and the
earth…
Genesis 1:1
“I don’t think it is
important how God created everything, what processes He used or how long it
might have taken. All I need to believe is that God did it.” These were the
words of a friend, an individual both devout and wise. Maybe you feel the same
way.
Or maybe you are like me and
during your years of formal education you made a sincere effort to avoid every
math and science class that wasn’t required. I know what I would like to
believe, but everywhere I turn, there are conflicting viewpoints on the origin
of things, with lots of really smart people supporting each side. I don’t have
the background in upper level math or science to discern the solid reasoning
behind one argument or the holes in another.
It isn’t as easy as picking
a team, either. From many pulpits you will hear that the “creation myth” of
Genesis 1 and 2 is simply the way a primitive people explained things they
couldn’t understand. But for anyone who has taken time to really read the
magnificent narrative of Genesis 1 or the tender, intimate story of God’s
special creation of man in Genesis 2—it is hard to see such words and thoughts originating
from a bunch of cavemen swapping stories around a campfire.
In the past months our little
home Bible study has homed in on the first chapters of Genesis. The speed of
our study is glacial and we laugh about that. But there is something to be said
for a snail’s pace when studying Scripture. If we believe that its words are
God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16) and inhabited by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21),
then we don’t study the Bible to obtain information, but to get to know a Person.
And, as we all know, relationships take time.
What I want to share with
you has nothing to do with missing links, carbon dating or the Big Bang theory.
Yet I think you will find that where we stand on Creation is central to how we
understand ourselves, our lives and our God.
Nancy Shirah
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