This week, we kicked off a brand new series at CATALYST called "HIGHLIGHT REEL" where we're looking at some of the GREATEST MOMENTS, the highlights, in the Bible!
Kicking things off, we started right on the first page of the Bible looking at the CREATION story in Genesis.
We talked about how, in our culture today (including school) we're never really given the possibility that we were CREATED as even a potential option or possible theory. Instead, we're told that our existence is a result of some weird cosmic accident that happened billions of years ago, and over the process of time, that accident somehow produced a planet that’s perfectly suited to sustain life, and that the accident also created all of LIFE itself-- including creatures that evolved into living, intelligent and creative PEOPLE with distinct personalities, skills, and interests!
But the problem is that no textbook or scientific study has ever been able to explain HOW life started….how something came to exist out of nothing! It’s a big question mark even in the scientific community.
The reason why scientists, our textbook writers, and the people on the news choose to believe that life came about because of some random chance, as far-fetched as it might seem, is because they start off with the assumption that there is no God. Science is all about observing and reporting on those observations, and for the most part, it discounts the supernatural. Because of this, they are looking for any natural explanation for our existence. But tonight, we explored how-- if we have open minds, there is a A LOT more reason to believe in a creator than to believe that all of life and creation just happened by accident. When we try to explain life without factoring God or the supernatural into it, we’re left with a lot of big question marks--- because EVERYTHING coming from NOTHING is a pretty big miracle!
In the first few pages of the Bible—in the Book of Genesis, we’re given an alternate theory for all of us to consider--- what I think is a far more plausible reason why life exists and why this planet is perfectly suited for us!
Now there are some Christians who interpret the Creation story very LITERALLY—where they believe that God created all of those things over a LITERAL period of 6 days…and that each of those days was a 24 hour period (which, I might add- is not impossible—because we’re talking about God here).
There are others who aren’t super nitpicky about the specific details of the Creation story, These people would suggest that it’s not really important whether or not this happened in 7 literal days---or whether it took a billion years--- or whether God sped up the growth process of our planet to make it appear older than it is, or whether or not there’s a million years between each day of creation, because this was never meant to be a scientific research paper-- it was something that was passed down from generation to generation and was told in a way that could be easily remembered and memorized so that people could learn and remember ONE IMPORTANT TRUTH.
The key takeaway from the Bible’s creation story, and one that ALL Christians agree on--- is that WE WERE CREATED. That, “IN THE BEGINNING, THERE WAS GOD…AND HE CREATED!”
If there is a CREATOR—than it means that we aren’t here by accident. It’s not random chance that our planet is the only one we’ve ever discovered that can sustain life and has life on it! The Bible tells us that our planet and humankind was CREATED with intention and purpose by a God who loves us.
John 1:3 says, “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made”.
Job 12:7-11- “But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind”.
This isn’t saying that animals will LITERALLY take us to school and teach us stuff or that the earth has a mouth--- but it’s saying that by scientifically examining animals, the earth, plant life and all of the things we find in nature, the intricacy of those things lets us know that they couldn't have all appeared out of nothing by complete accident, rather, “the hand of the LORD has done this.”
I’ve used this example before, but if you were to walk in the woods and happened across a chair— you wouldn’t assume that it just grew out of the ground and naturally appeared that way--- you would ASSUME that it was CREATED and put there by somebody. By looking at it, you would see that it was sanded or painted, that pieces of wood were cut, that metal or plastic was melted down and poured into a mold—that someone shaped the materials and put it all together.
But here’s the thing--a chair, in comparison to humanity or what we see in nature, isn't really that complex. Look at our bodies—our eyes compete with some of the best cameras that technology can build! When we cut ourselves, our body has the ability to heal itself! Look at our minds—we can create and invent all kinds of amazing things, from a tablet to an amazing piece of artwork! Nature, our bodies and our minds are far more intricate and complex than a chair—and yet we say it’s OBVIOUS that someone made the chair, but it’s not OBVIOUS that someone created life? That life is a completely random occurrence!
Our textbooks always say that the first spark of life came from nothing. That a big bang happened (and again, there’s no answer to who might have caused that big bang), and somehow a spark of life occurred and it started as a plankton and it took billions of years for that plankton to slowly improve and eventually become a human being. Our textbooks say that the answer is in the "billions of years"—that somehow, when you add a long period of time to the equation- ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE! But, that doesn’t make sense.
To use another of my favorite illustrations. I’m a fan of LEGO—I actually have a big collection of Star Wars Microfighters in my office. A LEGO set isn’t very complex. You can have a box with around a hundred pieces that contains ALL of the parts inside to build that exact model. But if I shook that box for billions of years, do you think at the end, a fully built LEGO set would be inside the box? No. If anything, the pieces would wear down and degrade over time!
I'm a colossal failure when it comes to baking. Just a little while ago I made some homemade bread…but I accidentally had one ingredient wrong--- I used Baking Soda instead of Baking Powder. Let me tell you, the look on my kids faces said it all--- just one simple mistake and the bread turned into a doorstop! To say that a loaf of bread could be made out of nothing, with no intelligence, no creator, nobody stirring or mixing things together is completely ridiculous! I mean, BAKING is insanely complicated—you’re supposed to mix it--- but if you OVER-MIX it, you’ve ruined it! How a tree works (this living thing that grows from a seed, produces delicious fruit, and even creates oxygen) or how a baby is born is WAY more complex and miraculous than making a loaf of bread.
But, that’s what we’re being told is the most PLAUSIBLE explanation for our existence—that the building blocks of life (and remember, they can’t explain how those building blocks of life came to exist in the first place) somehow became something as complex and intricate as a human body over billions of years WITHOUT SOMEONE ACTUALLY CREATING IT OR CAUSING IT TO HAPPEN! Our bodies and minds are WAY more complex than a few pieces of shaped plastic! To say that we evolved over a process of billions of years with no intelligent designer or creator is a HUGE stretch of logic! It’s like saying that a simple LEGO model built itself! It's like saying that a loaf of bread made itself!
Psalm 19:1-4 says, “The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world”.
Here, the Bible isn’t saying that nature LITERALLY talks to us—but that everything in nature, is in a sense, SCREAMING out that it was created by a “craftsman”- by an intelligent designer! The evidence is ALL around us!
So what does that mean for you and me?
Well, if we agree that all of the complexity of life and this planet couldn’t have just happened by accident, then it leads us to ask some deep questions!
WHO CREATED US? CAN WE KNOW OUR CREATOR? DOES THIS CREATOR HAVE A PLAN AND PURPOSE FOR OUR LIVES? IS THERE AN ACTUAL RIGHT/WRONG WAY TO DO THIS THING CALLED LIFE?
Next week, we’re going to look at the story of Adam and Eve—and what it says about who God is and why we were created.
But, that’s what we’re being told is the most PLAUSIBLE explanation for our existence—that the building blocks of life (and remember, they can’t explain how those building blocks of life came to exist in the first place) somehow became something as complex and intricate as a human body over billions of years WITHOUT SOMEONE ACTUALLY CREATING IT OR CAUSING IT TO HAPPEN! Our bodies and minds are WAY more complex than a few pieces of shaped plastic! To say that we evolved over a process of billions of years with no intelligent designer or creator is a HUGE stretch of logic! It’s like saying that a simple LEGO model built itself! It's like saying that a loaf of bread made itself!
Psalm 19:1-4 says, “The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world”.
Here, the Bible isn’t saying that nature LITERALLY talks to us—but that everything in nature, is in a sense, SCREAMING out that it was created by a “craftsman”- by an intelligent designer! The evidence is ALL around us!
So what does that mean for you and me?
Well, if we agree that all of the complexity of life and this planet couldn’t have just happened by accident, then it leads us to ask some deep questions!
WHO CREATED US? CAN WE KNOW OUR CREATOR? DOES THIS CREATOR HAVE A PLAN AND PURPOSE FOR OUR LIVES? IS THERE AN ACTUAL RIGHT/WRONG WAY TO DO THIS THING CALLED LIFE?
Next week, we’re going to look at the story of Adam and Eve—and what it says about who God is and why we were created.
DISCUSSION FOR HOME
1. What are some reasons why people might disbelieve that God created all of life and creation?
2. This week we looked at how all of Creation bears God's signature (that creation tells us about God). By looking at life and creation, what are some clues that reveal that it isn't be accident-- that we were created?
3. If God is our creator, what do you think that means for our everyday life? Should it affect or change how we live?
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