My interest in
>origins is a result of my belief in Jesus Christ as the supreme
>ruler of the universe, and my love of the Bible as his Word. My
>understanding of Scripture tell me that God created the earth and
>everything in it,
I agree with your statement. God is the author of scripture and the cosmos,
therefore, His character and truth are revealed through both. It is too bad
when someone feels the need to ignore one area of revelatory truth in order
to support another. This is what happens when atheists ignore the Bible and
when Christians ignore the creation. I had one young earth creationist tell
me that he did not believe that glaciers ever existed because nothing could
be that old. He was taken aback when I reminded him that several glaciers
are currently in existence.
How to reconcile the apparent literal 6 day account of creation with what we
have learned about God's creation through science is certainly not the only
confusing issue we face in understanding God through what He has revealed to
us. However, I sometimes wonder if these vexing issues that seem to be
created by a "lack of clarity" on His part are placed in front of us on
purpose. Perhaps we learn something about God and our relationship with Him
when we struggle over these vexing problems while searching for what is true.
There are a good many devout Christians who do not feel that the purpose of
Genesis 1 and 2 is to precisely explain HOW the creation came into being.
Perhaps the significance of those passages have to do with God's
relationship with the creation and humankind, and our relationship with the
creation.
Hang around a bit on this reflector and you will hear numerous viewpoints
held by Christians.
cheers,
Steve
__________________________________________________________________________
Steven S. Clark, Ph.D. Phone: (608) 263-9137
Associate Professor FAX: (608) 263-4226
Dept. of Human Oncology and email: ssclark@facstaff.wisc.edu
UW Comprehensive Cancer Ctr
University of Wisconsin
Madison, WI 53792
Although science has nothing to say about a personal Creator, the fact
of the emergence of novelty, and of creativity, can hardly be denied.
-- Karl Popper, "Natural Selection and the Emergence of Mind",
_Dialectica_, vol. 32, no. 3-4, 1978, pp. 339-355.
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