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By Pastor Greg Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson went on a camping trip. After a good meal they lay down for the night, and went to sleep. Some hours later, Holmes awoke and nudged his faithful friend awake. "Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see." Watson replied, "I see millions and millions of stars." "What does that tell you?" Holmes questioned. Watson pondered for a minute. "Well, by the position of the stars I figure it’s about a quarter past three. And since it’s a clear night I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. Why, what does it tell you?" Holmes said, "It tells me, my dear Doctor, that someone has stolen our tent."
Did you ever meet someone who can’t quite see the obvious? Oh, they see the facts, but cannot (or will not) acknowledge what those facts reveal. The truth is right there in front of them, yet somehow they just can’t see it.
You know, I’m not sure what it’s like today, but back when I was in school we were left with a choice. We either believed the evidence and embraced evolution or rejected the evidence and believed in creation. And I remember growing up thinking that science had the facts and Christianity had faith. I suspect this mindset still exists today. I suspect there are a lot of non-believers in this world who think they have science on their side. I also suspect there are a lot of Christians who think they need to reject science so they can embrace faith. But what if this were not true? What if the scientific evidence, which Evolutionist claim is all theirs, actually does point to the hand of God? What if God can be seen and found when we look at the things around us? I believe if we will only have eyes to see and ears to hear, we will find a God bigger than we have ever imagined when we take a look at the very evidence Evolutionist want to use against us. And instead of needing more time to explain things, as the Evolutionist do, we will find our explanation in a bigger God.
Take, for instance, the Creation Story found in Genesis chapter one. It seems to paint a different image into the origins of life. Evidence and research point to a Great Cause at the dawn of time. Evolutionists look at creation and ask for more time. Time is the solution to how things came to be. But the Bible says the Great Cause is God. God is the One who spoke all of life into existence. Which of these is correct? They both can’t be right. Either chance and time accomplished all of this or the God of creation spoke this into existence. Listen to the story and then let me show you what the scientific evidence has to say (Read Genesis 1).
One theory hotly debated back when I was younger was something called “The Big Bang”. The theory is still supported today. Evidence indicates that the universe exploded into existence. However, this explosion was not a disorderly event, rather one that was fine-tuned.[1] Out of nothing the universe suddenly appeared. Nobel Prize-winning scientist Steven Weinberg explains that this “explosion” isn’t like the kind we see here on earth when fireworks explode during the 4th of July. What he describes is an explosion which occurred simultaneously everywhere. In a blink of an eye there was light.[2] Bill Bryson wrote that in about three minutes 98% of everything in the known universe suddenly sprung into existence; every proton, neutron, electron, every atom, everything that exists began to exist. Think about it for a moment. In about three minutes all the Physical Laws which govern our universe were put into place; laws so precise that if any one of them varied by the tiniest amount, the universe would not be able to support life[3].
Unlike the uniform dispersion seen in a fireworks display, the universe has empty spaces here and there. Recent studies have mapped our cluster of galaxies in the universe. The images of this clustering are amazing. Each point of light in this clustering (called Laniakea) represent a galaxy.
Its easy to see from the image that not all parts of the universe are the same. You can watch a video explaining Laniakea HERE. Some galaxies are round, some spiral. Some are elliptical. Some stars in those galaxies are grouped close together while others are far apart. But all are approximately the same age[4] made up of the same basic elements; as if they came from the same source. Will someone please tell me how all of this disproves the existence of God?
If the complexity of the cosmos doesn’t impress you, how about its size? The Bible says God stretched out the heavens like a curtain and spread them out like a tent (Isaiah 40:22). A tent, huh? That’s some tent. The distance from the earth to the sun is 93 million miles. And let’s say that the thickness of a sheet of paper would represent those miles. Then the nearest star would be a stack of paper 71 feet high. What’s 93 times 71? Anyone? Beuller? Beuller? So the nearest star is 6.6 billion miles away (only a Ford could drive that far). Our Galaxy, The Milky Way, would equal a stack of paper 310 miles high. That’s a stack of paper stretching from Harrisburg to Columbus Ohio. Our known universe would be a slack of paper 31 million miles long. Is anyone’s mind woozy yet? Yea, I know. You math nerds are thinking, “Okay, I got it”. I doubt anyone can picture the vastness of our universe. In one mile there are 10.4 million pieces of paper. So what I’m talking about is a stack of paper 31 million miles long with 10.4 million pieces of paper in each mile, with each piece of paper representing 93 million miles. And with a universe that big and with the amount of time evolutionists propose, could someone please explain why the temperature in this universe varies by less than 4 degrees above absolute zero? You would think some spots would be hotter than others. But everywhere you look the background radiation is very consistent. This evidence is where the Big Bang theory came from. The universe suddenly sprang into existence. God said “Let there be light” and suddenly it appeared! So when I think of the Big Bang I think of a God who is so beyond my comprehension that He could speak the heavens into existence in about the time it takes to make a sandwich.
Another theory tossed around is how the earth was formed. Some claim that the earth was a ball of super-hot gas that eventually cooled, forming the crust of the earth. But if the earth’s crust was nothing more than a barren rock, where did the organic matter found in soil come from? Erosion? The breakdown of the elements? Everyone knows that it takes organic matter to support life. And organic matter sustains life. Without it the earth is sterile. So how could life begin in a sterile environment unless someone introduced life into that environment? Again the research indicates that there was a sudden appearance called the Cambrian Explosion; a sudden appearing of life. And it appeared on an earth ready to support life.[5] Geologists find that as they dig down through layers of earth they reach a point where evidence of life suddenly appears. And it is not the simple forms of life they discover, but complex organisms; red blooded mammals that give birth, not simple single cell amoebas or protoplasm. Once again it points back to a Great Cause. Something or someone caused this appearance. But rather than acknowledge God as the Great Cause, some ignore the evidence. Some even twist the evidence (they claim ancient aliens introduced life on the planet, but fail to ask the question who created the aliens). In search of an explanation, Evolutionists ask for more time. I tell them to find a bigger God.
From the evidence it is obvious that when God created the earth, He created it ready to support life. He created soil filled with the nutrients and organic matter that are necessary to support life. He spoke all of this into existence.
I could go on and on for days. I could point to the fact that when the earth was created it was spinning, had an atmosphere, and was rotating around the sun in its present location in our solar system (see the mention of water in Genesis 1:2). Without gravity and without the sun, there would be no water. I could speak about the fact that Macro Evolution (where a fish becomes a cat) could not possibly be true. Kind only reproduced like Kind (Genesis 1:21, 24-25). DNA determines life. Life does not rewrite DNA. How do I know this? I know this because this is what the evidence proves. The DNA code in a fish determines that it must grow a fin, not a leg. I could make the argument about a literal 6 day creation just by pointing to the Second Law of thermodynamics. Things move from organized to unorganized. Things deteriorate over time, not improve. Over billions and billions of years the earth and this universe would one big pile of rubble by now. To take the creation story and stretch it out to billions of years not only contradicts the evidence, but shrinks God down to a size we can comprehend; a God we can manage.
As I said I could speak of so much more, but I simply wanted to get you to understand that the evidence is there to support the Creation story. I want and need God to be more than some magician performing some parlor tricks to impress His audience, although that’s the God some people portray. But for me, when I look up at the stars at night I see a God bigger than I could ever imagine. And a God big enough and powerful enough to speak all of this into existence is the kind of God I want watching over me.
[1] The Case For a Creator by Lee Strobel, Chapter 5: the Evidence of Cosmology
[2] Steven Weinberg, The First Three Minutes (1988)
[3] Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything (2003)
[4] Donald Hamilton, The Spectral Evolution of Galaxies as published in Astrophysical Journal 297 (1985)
[5] The Cambrian Information Explosion: Evidence for Intelligent Design – Stephen C. Meyer, PHD
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