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CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
THE MEANING OF CREATION
THE QUESTION OF DESIGN
In the past two centuries, it seems that the more we have learned about the world
and the universe around us, the more inconsequential we have become in the grand design of
the cosmos. If we were important to God, then why weren't we among His initial creations?
Instead, we are creatures that did not appear until billions of years after the Earth's
formation. If we are the only significant life-form in the universe, then why is the universe
so vast and why does it contain so many other galaxies, stars, and - undoubtedly - planets?
Why isn't the Earth the center of our solar system? Why isn't our solar system the nucleus
of our galaxy?
Because these questions cannot be properly addressed without understanding the mind
of God, many agnostics do not recognize the significance of our creation. Since our very
existence was just as likely generated from natural processes (as most scientists claim),
there does not appear to be any real purpose in accepting the existence of a Supreme Being.
And yet, where is the Bible wrong in any of its claims about humanity? The Creation
Story clearly states that God created all of creation before He made us on the Sixth Day.
We were said to be last among God's creations, not among the first - a fact that science
has since verified. Nowhere in the Bible does it ever claim that the Earth resides at the
center of our solar system, with the sun, the planets, and the rest of the universe
revolving around our world. Human beings may have claimed these beliefs to be true, but
the Scriptures never corroborated with any of them.
Today, scientists and non-scientists agree that the Earth does not appear to be
located at the center of anything. What was once heresy - the discovery that our Earth
revolved around the sun - is now accepted fact. At that time, it appeared that God and
the holy words of the Bible were being seriously challenged by scientific knowledge.
Today, it is clear that the Bible has withstood that discovery.
The Big Bang theory, and the discovery that our universe had a beginning, has
done more than just augment our ever-expanding scientific knowledge. It also allows for
the existence of a Creator. If the universe had always existed - as many had believed
through the centuries - there would not have been a need for someone to create it. Yet
this relatively recent discovery begs the question: If the universe had an origin, who or
what created it? Ironically, with the scientific discovery of the Big Bang and our
universe's origin came the rational acknowledgment that the existence of a Creator
could no longer be dismissed.
(These are selected paragraphs within this chapter. This is not the entire chapter.)
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