Читать книгу The Modern Creation Trilogy - Dr. Henry M. Morris - Страница 10

Chapter 8

The Importance of Creation

One of the common misconceptions among evangelical Christians is the notion that the doctrine of creation is only a peripheral doctrine, important to scientists and philosophers perhaps, but not to ordinary lay Christians. Winning people to Christ and building them up in the Christian life, they think, are much more important. Furthermore, creationism is so controversial and generates such heated opposition whenever it is advocated that it is best just to ignore it. As long as one believes in God and that He created things, it really doesn’t matter how He did it, or when.

But that is the traditional attitude of the head-in-the-sand ostrich. Creation is not a peripheral doctrine. In fact, biblical creationism is the most important of all biblical teachings, because it is the very foundation of everything else in the Bible. That is why God put it as the very first revelation in His written Word.

Similarly, the Book of Genesis is the most important book in the Bible, for it is the foundation of every other book of the Bible, without which the whole structure of God’s revelation would collapse. Then, further, the very first verse of Genesis is the most important verse in the Bible. If a person really believes Genesis 1:1 (“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”), he should have no difficulty believing all the rest. On the other hand, if he does not believe that verse, he might as well discard the whole Bible, for it becomes no different from any other religious tome or sacred book in value or meaning.

As we shall see in this chapter, creation is the foundation of all the basic doctrines of the Christian faith, and even of true science, as well as of our American nation.

Creation, the Foundation

In a very real sense, the creationist world view is the foundation of all that is good and true in this world and in the world to come. Evolutionism, on the other hand, is the root cause of all that is false and harmful. At this point, however, we wish only to survey the foundational importance of creation to biblical Christianity (the effects of evolution are explored in some depth in Volume 3 of this Trilogy).

1. Foundation of True Religion

The true religion must necessarily be based on worship of the world’s true Creator. Other religions may deify great men, or man-made systems, or the world itself, but these are all merely variant forms of humanism, as men “worshiped and served the creature, rather than the Creator” (Rom. 1:25). It is highly significant that all such religions and religious books begin with the creation, rather than the Creator, except the Bible! That is, they all start with the universe already in existence, and then try to delineate how the primeval space/matter/time universe somehow developed into its present array of complex systems. This supposed sequence characterizes both ancient paganism and modern humanism; these and all other atheistic, pantheistic, or polytheistic religions are merely various forms of evolutionism. Only in Genesis 1:1 (the foundation of all foundations!) is there a statement of the creation of the universe itself. Without this foundation, true religion is impossible.

Now although creation is the foundation, it is, of course, not the complete structure. Orthodox Judaism and Islam, like Christianity, believe in one eternal Creator, as revealed in Genesis 1:1, but they have rejected Him as Savior. In addition to the general revelation seen in the creation, God has explicitly revealed himself through both His Word and His Son. Those who reject either or both, even though they believe in one God as primeval Creator and, like Christianity, are monotheistic, cannot know God in His fullness. He must be known in His human incarnation as gracious Redeemer as well as omnipotent, but offended, Creator. Therefore, biblical Christianity is the only truly creationist religion.

2. Foundation of Christology

Similarly, neither can one know Christ as He really is if one knows Him only as Redeemer. Faint-hearted Christians often justify their lukewarm attitude toward creation by saying that it is more important merely to “preach Christ.” They forget that we are preaching “another Jesus” (2 Cor. 11:4) if we do not preach Him as He really is, consistent with His complete work. The threefold aspect of the person and work of Jesus Christ is beautifully outlined in the majestic declaration of Colossians 1:16–20:

1 Past work, creation: “By him, were all things created” (Col. 1:16).

2 Present work, conservation: “By him, all things consist” (Col. 1:17).

3 Future work, consummation: “By him to reconcile all things” (Col. 1:20).

The great scope of this threefold work is “all things in heaven and in earth.” Jesus Christ was Creator before He became the sustainer (or Savior) and reconciler, and the awful price of reconciliation, “the blood of his cross,” is the measure of mankind’s terrible offense against our Creator. That offense, furthermore, consists essentially of rejecting His Word, and thereby denying that He is really the Creator. One truly “preaches Christ” only when he first of all presents Him as the Almighty Creator, from whom man was alienated when he rebelled and repudiated God’s veracity in His Word. Only when this is first understood is it really meaningful to speak of God’s forgiving grace and saving love, His incarnation and redemptive sacrifice as Son of Man.

3. Foundation of Faith

The great message of Christianity is that “the just shall live by faith” (Heb. 10:38), speaking of “them that believe to the saving of the soul” (Heb. 10:39). But exactly what is this living faith — this saving faith? Faith in the abstract is only naive sentimentality; it must be faith in something and/or someone to have any substance.

The faith of which the apostle speaks, of course, is outlined in the verses immediately following, the great “faith chapter,” Hebrews 11. It is the faith of Abel, offering an acceptable sacrifice; it is Enoch’s faith, pleasing God in obedient witness; it is Noah’s faith, believing and acting on God’s Word; and Abraham’s faith, stepping out trustingly on God’s promises.

But, first of all, it is the foundational faith of Hebrews 11:3, the faith by which “we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” This affirmation clearly tells us that any meaningful faith for salvation and the Christian life must be founded, first of all, on faith in God’s special creation of all things, not out of already existing materials, but out of nothing, and solely by His omnipotent Word!

4. Foundation of the Gospel

Many Christians who either ignore or compromise the biblical doctrine of creation have urged creationists just to “preach the gospel — not creation!” But this is impossible, because the saving gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is squarely founded on creation. The wonderful threefold work of Christ (creation, conservation, consummation) as outlined in Colossians 1:16–20, is identified as “the gospel” in Colossians 1:23. The very last reference to the gospel in the Bible (Rev. 14:6–7) calls it the everlasting gospel (therefore, it could never have been any different), and its message is to “worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.”

While it is surely true that the central focus of the gospel is on the substitutionary atonement and victorious bodily resurrection of Christ (1 Cor. 15:1–4), it also includes His coming kingdom (Matt. 4:23) and His great creation. Any other gospel is “another gospel” (Gal. 1:6), and is not the true gospel. Without the creation, a supposed gospel would have no foundation; without the promised consummation, it could offer no hope; without the Cross and empty tomb, it has no saving power. But when we preach the true gospel, with the complete person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ as they really are, we build on a “sure foundation,” we can promise a “blessed hope,” and we have available “all power in heaven and earth” through Christ who, in all His fullness, is “with us, even to the end of the world” (Matt. 28:18, 20).

5. Foundation of True Evangelism and Missions

If creation is the foundation of Christology, saving faith, and the saving gospel of Christ, as we have just seen, then it must also be the foundational basis of leading people to Christ as Savior. This is further proved by the fact that the one book of the Bible with a specifically evangelistic purpose begins with the doctrine of creation. The apostle John said that what he had written was to help men to believe on Christ as the Son of God and, thereby, to receive eternal life (see John 20:31). Significantly, then, he began this writing with “In the beginning was the Word. . . . All things were made by him” (John 1:1–3).

Later, after the death and resurrection of Christ, as the apostles scattered everywhere to preach the gospel, they would likewise begin with creation whenever their hearers neither knew nor believed the Scriptures (Acts 14:11–18; 17:22–31). When they preached to those who already believed the Old Testament Scriptures and the Genesis account of creation, they proceeded to preach Christ and His resurrection (e.g., Acts 17:1–3).

Even Christ himself, in His first teaching ministry after His death and resurrection, began with Genesis. “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27).

If we would follow the example of Christ and His apostles, we also should begin with Genesis and creation if we would firmly ground our potential converts in the truths of the gospel and lead them to a genuine, stable, understanding faith in Christ. This is especially true if they have been raised in a pagan culture or in an educational system structured around evolutionism.

6. Foundation of Home and Family

The most important human institution is that of permanent, monogamous marriage. This was established by God when He created the first man and woman on the sixth day of creation week (Gen. 1:26–28; 2:18–25; also Matt. 19:3–6). The family, especially the father, is then responsible for the teaching and training of the children (Gen. 18:19; Eph. 6:4).

7. Foundation of Salvation

The very reason we need a Savior is that we have rebelled against our Creator, both as individuals and as a whole. Because of His holiness, God must judge and condemn all sin, so none who are in a state of sinful rebellion can possibly have the very fellowship with their Creator for which He had made them. At the same time, since God is both omnipotent and omniscient, He will not fail in His purpose in creation. Consequently, the Creator himself must pay His own righteous penalty for the redemption of sinners and for the sin of the world. Neither angels nor men can accomplish our salvation. Only God the Creator can be our judge, and only He can become, as the God-man and Messiah, “the only wise God our Saviour” (Jude 25).

The Dominion Mandate

When God created man, He placed him in dominion over His entire physical and biological creation, as His steward, not to exploit and misuse, but to develop it for the good of all and the glory of God. He was given “dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. . . . Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth” (Gen. 1:26–28).

This “dominion mandate,” as it has been called, is still in effect, authorizing every honorable human occupation as necessary to understand and administer God’s great and complex creation. Thus, every person has the high privilege of being a “minister” of the Creator in his or her particular sphere of service.

1. Science and Technology

In order to “subdue” the earth, men must first understand its systems and processes. This implies scientific research. After understanding, comes application or development (engineering, agriculture, medicine, etc.).

Evolutionary assumptions abound in the writings of modern scientists. Leading biologist Stanley D. Beck says, for example:

No central scientific concept is more firmly established in our thinking, our methods, and our interpretations, than that of evolution.1

But it was not always thus. Beck himself, after defining and discussing the basic premises of science (that is, the existence of a real world, the capability of the human mind to understand that world, the principle of cause-and-effect, and the unified nature of the world), admits that “each of these postulates had its origin in, or was consistent with, Christian theology.”2 That is, since the world was created by a divine Creator, and man was created in God’s image, therefore nature makes orderly sense, man is able to understand its operations, and true science becomes possible. If the world were merely the chance product of random forces, on the other hand, then our human brains would be meaningless jumbles of matter and electricity, and science would become nonsense.

Consequently, the great founding fathers of real science (Kepler, Galileo, Pascal, Newton, Boyle, Brewster, Faraday, Linnaeus, Ray, Maxwell, Pasteur, Kelvin, etc.) were almost all creationists, and they believed that they were glorifying God as they probed His works. Yet today such great scientists would not even be considered scientists at all, because they believed in the primeval special creation of all things by God!

In order then to utilize such research and development throughout the creation, all the business occupations would be involved (commerce, communication, marketing, transportation, etc., with all the “service” functions accompanying them). To transmit the information from one generation to another, the educational professions would be necessary. To interpret and enjoy the creation, the humanities and fine arts would be developed (music, art, literature, etc.). Indeed, all honorable vocations are subsumed under this primeval creation mandate.

2. Human Government

Initially, there would have been no need for men to exercise dominion over other men, so such functions were not included in the original dominion mandate. Sin came into the world, however, and the ultimate result was God’s cleansing judgment by the great Flood. When God started over, as it were, with Noah and his family, He not only in effect confirmed the original dominion mandate (Gen. 9:1–2), but also enlarged it with the basic governmental control of life and death over mankind.

“Whose sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man” (Gen. 9:6). With this authorization of capital punishment for murder, some kind of human government became necessary in order for man to be able to properly exercise his stewardship responsibilities over God’s creation. Here are implied all the governmental and social occupations of mankind (law, military, police, etc.).

In this original mandate, God did not ordain a particular form of government, but rather only the institution of government. No doubt the ideal form would have been the theocracy that He established later for His chosen nation Israel (note Deut. 4:5–8). Israel failed, however, at least for this present age, and God turned again to the Gentile nations — especially, it would seem, to Europe, and finally, in a distinctive way, to America.

Although not all of America’s great founding fathers were Bible-believing Christians, almost all of them were theists and true creationists, believing that God had created the world and man and all natural systems. The colonies had been settled and developed largely by Christian people who had come to this continent to gain freedom to believe and do what the Bible taught and to spread Christianity to the inhabitants, and they acknowledged that the foundational faith was belief in special creation. The historian Gilman Ostrander reminds us:

The American nation had been founded by intellectuals who had accepted a world view that was based upon biblical authority as well as Newtonian science. They had assumed that God created the earth and all upon it at the time of creation and had continued without change thereafter.3

Note that these great pioneers were intellectuals, not ignorant emotionalists. They placed great emphasis on education and science, founding many schools and colleges, in confidence that true learning in any field must be biblically grounded and governed. Christian historian Mary-Elaine Swanson, says:

In colonial times, the Bible was the primary tool in the educational process. In fact, according to Columbia University professor, Dr. Lawrence A. Cremin, the Bible was “the single most primary source for the intellectual history of colonial America.” From their knowledge of the Bible, a highly literate, creative people emerged.4

In a July 4 address in 1783, Dr. Elias Boudinot, then president of the Continental Congress, stated that his reason for advocating an annual Independence Day observance in America was the great precedent set by God himself.

No sooner had the great Creator of the heavens and the earth finished his almighty work, and pronounced all very good, but he set apart (not an anniversary, or one day in a year, but) one day in seven, for the commemoration of his inimitable power in producing all things out of nothing.5

The fact of creation was also clearly implied several times in the Declaration of Independence (“endowed by our Creator,” “created equal,” “Nature’s God,” etc.). Marshall Foster has pointed out that at least the first 24 state constitutions recognized biblical Christianity as the religion of their states.6 Yet today, the Bible, Christianity, and creationism have been banned from the schools of the states, which were founded to teach these very truths! All this has been done in the name of a gross distortion of the First Amendment to the Constitution. The amendment, which was intended to prevent the establishment of a particular national denomination (e.g., Catholic, Anglican), has instead been so twisted as to establish evolutionary humanism in the United States as the quasi-official religion of all our public institutions!

That the primeval dominion mandate is still in effect, with its implied responsibility of all men to their Creator for exercising careful and fruitful stewardship over His creation, is evident from various later passages of Scripture. The mandate itself is cited in such Scriptures as Psalm 8:6–8 and Hebrews 2:6–8. The Christian is not excused from his responsibilities under the dominion mandate just because he is now also under the missions’ mandate of Christ’s great commission (Matt. 28:18–20; Acts 1:8). Both of these are age-long, worldwide commissions, and, if anything, the Christian “ambassador for Christ” (2 Cor. 5:20) is under even a greater responsibility than the unbeliever to fulfill the first commission, as well as the second.

He is commanded, for example, to serve with enthusiasm in whatever legitimate vocation that he follows, and no calling is excluded if it is done in obedience to God and His Word. “Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men . . . for ye serve the Lord Christ” (Col. 3:23–24). Likewise, the Christian is commanded to be a good citizen of the secular government — and this also because he is thereby serving God. “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake. . . . as the servants of God” (1 Pet. 2:13–16). Effectiveness in witnessing for Christ under the second mandate, to a large degree is contingent upon our faithfulness under the first mandate — by being good stewards of God’s creation, good workers in our jobs, and good citizens of our countries.

Creation in All the Bible

A third indicator of the importance of the doctrine of creation is found in the emphasis that God has placed on it throughout the Bible. Not only is creation the theme of the first and foundational chapters of the Bible (Gen. 1 and 2), but the restored creation is the theme of the final, consummational chapters of the Bible (Rev. 21 and 22).

The longest divine monologue in the Bible is God’s response to the philosophical disputations of Job and his friends, as recorded in Job 38–41. This response does not deal at all with the issue of human suffering, which these men had been debating for 35 chapters, but solely with God’s creation and His providential concern therewith.

The New Testament has many references to creation, with the prologue to John’s evangelistic Gospel being of special significance. In fact, every book of the Bible (except the three one-chapter personal epistles of Philem., 2 John, and 3 John) contain one or more references to the people and/or the events of the first 11 chapters of Genesis.7

The doctrine of special creation is the foundation of all other Christian doctrines. The experience of belief in Christ as Creator is the basis of all other Christian experience. Creationism is not peripheral or optional; it is central and vital! That is why God placed the account of creation at the beginning of the Bible, and why the very first verse of the Bible speaks of the creation of the physical universe.

Jesus Christ was Creator (Col. 1:16) before He became Redeemer (Col. 1:20). He is the very “beginning of the creation of God” (Rev. 3:14). How then can it be possible to really know Him as Savior unless one also, and first, knows the Triune God as Creator?

The very structure of man’s time commemorates over and over again, week by week, the completed creation of all things in six days. The preaching of the gospel necessarily includes the preaching of creation: “The everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth . . . worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters” (Rev. 14:6–7).

One of the greatest blessings of the study of God’s creation is the increasing sense of wonder and gratitude that it generates. The planning and fabrication of the infinite array of beautiful stars in the heavens and animals and plants on the land and in the sea, with systems of incredible complexity and marvelous symbiosis, can only be explained in terms of an omniscient Creator!

Praise to God for His Creation

One of the greatest mysteries of human nature is the fact that intelligent scientists, familiar with these phenomena, can actually attribute them to blind chance, acting through random mutations and natural selection processes operating on eternal matter. The only explanation of this strange belief is, as the Apostle says, they “became vain in their imaginations. . . . Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. . . . they did not like to retain God in their knowledge” (Rom. 1:21–28).

The normal response to the beauty and order of the creation, however, is one of thanksgiving and praise! This is one of the dominant themes of the writers of the Bible, especially in the Book of Psalms. A few of such passages are noted below:

For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised: he also is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the people are idols: but the Lord made the heavens (1 Chron. 16:25–26).

Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright. . . . By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth (Ps. 33:1, 6).

Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving. . . . The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our Maker (Ps. 95:2, 5–6).

Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves. . . . Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name (Ps. 100:3–4).

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well (Ps. 139:14).

O give thanks unto the Lord of lords. . . . To him that by wisdom made the heavens . . . . To him that stretched out the earth above the waters . . . . To him that made great lights: for his mercy endureth forever (Ps. 136:3–7).

Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God: Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains (Ps. 147:7–8).

Let them praise the name of the Lord; for he commanded, and they were created (Ps. 148:5).

And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever . . . saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created (Rev. 4:9–11).

Many other such references abound in the Bible, ascribing praise and thanks to God for His magnificent work of creation and for His providential and loving care thereof. In contrast to the people who offer such praises, however, those who refuse to acknowledge and thank God for His creation are condemned in these words of bitter irony:

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened (Rom. 1:20–21).

But there is another important teaching of Scripture on the theme of thanksgiving. There is a greater number of references in the Bible to giving thanks and praise for God’s work of salvation and personal guidance than even for His work of creation. Christ’s work of creation is foundational, but His work of salvation is both transformational and motivational! We are “created in Christ Jesus unto good works” (Eph. 2:10).

A beautiful study of “first mentions” is found in the Bible in this connection. The main Hebrew word for “give thanks” is yadah, which is often translated “praise.” It occurs first in Genesis 29:35, when Jacob’s wife Leah gave birth to Judah: “And she said, Now will I praise the Lord: therefore she called his name Judah.”

As events later developed, Judah turned out to be the most Christlike of Jacob’s sons (in his willingness to give up his life for his brothers), and he was selected as the one through whom Christ would come (Gen. 49:10). Thus, the first mention of giving thanks to the Lord introduces us, in a human type, to His coming work of salvation.

The New Testament word for “give thanks” is the Greek eucharisteo. It occurs first in Matthew 15:36–37, in which the Lord Jesus Christ manifested himself as Creator and sustainer, creating a great quantity of food for the multitude: “And he . . . gave thanks. . . . And they did all eat, and were filled.”

The first recorded thanksgiving in the Old Testament was for Judah, whose very name means “thanks,” pointing forward to God’s work of salvation. The first recorded thanksgiving in the New Testament was by the promised Son of Judah, the Lord Jesus, whose very name means “salvation,” looking back to God’s work of creation. Today, let us praise the Lord continually, first for His splendid creation, but even more for His gracious salvation!

1 Stanley D. Beck, Bioscience, vol. 32 (October 1982), p. 738.

2 Ibid., p. 739.

3 Gilman Ostrander, The Evolutionary Outlook, 1875–1900 (Marston Press, 1971), p. 1.

4 Mary-Elaine Swanson, Mayflower Institute Journal (August 1983), p. 5.

5 Dr. Elias Boudinot, Address to the New Jersey Society of the Cincinnati (July 4, 1783).

6 Marshall Foster, Mayflower Institute Journal (August 1983), p. 1.

7 For listing and exposition of all these references, see Biblical Creationism, by Henry M. Morris (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 1993), 276 p.