Humans have a common origin, because we all are human, or most claim to be human who have birth certificates. That's a great starting point for explaining how we arrived on earth. But not all explanations for how humans arrived on planet earth are the same. In fact, they are radically different. One pastor thought to describe how the church is one body by talking about human origins, and how there is agreement about our origins. The problem from a Biblical perspective is that there isn't agreement about human origins. There are radically different explanations for how humans arrived on earth. One says it happened by chance and gives credit to what was already hear, or nothing. Another gives credit to a personal God as described in the first chapter of Genesis. Claiming that all explanations for origins, or how humans arrived on earth, from a Biblical perspective, isn't accurate. There is an exclusivity that is attached to believing in the God of the Bible, in Jesus, because Jesus claims to have been present when the earth and the universe was formed.
This is what the pastor said in his sermon: “Every single human being on the planet is related to you. If you went on ancestry . com and you could trace your lineage far enough back, you would find out that every single human being on the planet is biologically related to you. Every single human on the planet is a member of your family. Every person in here is related to you. The interesting thing about human origins, (is that), you can be a young earth creationist, an old earth creationist, you can be an intelligent design proponent, you can be an atheistic evolutionist, or a theistic evolutionist. Wherever you stand on any of these strands of human origin thought, they all agree that we all share a common ancestry, that we all come from the same source. Whatever camp you are in, they all agree that we are all related.” All explanations for origins are not the same. Starting out as a microbe or something else that can’t be explained is not the same as starting out as a man and a woman where a creative force, the primary first cause, says that it was very good. If we are related by means of evolution, then our common ancestry does not include being created by God, the God of the Bible, or that Adam and Eve were the first humans on earth. There is a radical difference between people who believe in a creation model of origins and those who don’t, like Richard Dawkins. A creationist, by definition, is someone who believes that the earth and starts were created by a creative and personal God. If they don’t believe in the Bible, believing in a first cause, would certainly open the door to believing in the God of the Bible. If one does not believe in the Bible, and a creation model, there is every reason to think that life is meaningless, as has been explained with great authority by many atheists who happen to be scientists, like Carl Sagan. He probably convinced lots of people that life here on earth is meaningless, since planet earth, in his opinion, was nothing more than blue speck in an endless universe. In fact, committed atheists like Richard Dawkins don’t really known how we started out on earth. Atheists like him just know that just know it wasn’t because Jesus did it. Intelligent design, as an explanation for origins, is much more plausible in explaining origins, since it claims that the design and genetic patterns of living things that we see on earth are irreducibly complex. This means that there had to be a first cause to start the design process so that everything could function at first. This theory or model fits well with the Biblical model that says that the first cause was the God of the Bible, Jesus, who claimed to be the first cause, as certain scripture from the New Testament (John 1: 1-3) claims. It’s for this reason since its inception, the Intelligent design theory, has been derided and dismissed by atheists and evolutionists. Why would it be dismissed by atheists? Because it gives more credence to and a logical explanation for the need to believe in the creation model. From a Biblical perspective, in seeking to explain the exclusivity of Jesus and why belief in him is important, the creation model and intelligent design model are both important because they say that a creative force outside of us was necessary to get us to where we are now: It’s the idea that something or someone, like a God who cares about us, thought enough of us to design a world that we could enjoy and explore, as we are doing. One explanation gives credit to dirt and time and space. The other gives credit to the God of the Bible. From an evolutionist perspective, what or who that ancestor is, is critical to understanding origins. If one does not believe in intelligent design or the creation model, there is really no reason to believe in a supernatural first cause, and no reason to believe in the Bible. It’s that simple Committed atheists and evolutionists are also typically hostile to the creation model and the Biblical explanation of origins in the Bible. Dawkins is angry with God and Christians for spreading the idea that the God of the Bible created the heavens and the earth. Read the beginning of the first chapter of The God Delusion. He goes on quite a rant. If Dawkins could punch God in the face, he probably would. He doesn’t just disagree with Christians. He would like to see their influence in science and the culture eliminated. He sees them as a threat. He is not alone. Bill Nye also sees Christians and those who believe in the Bible and the creation model as a threat and a detriment to the future economic and scientific success and prospertity of our nation. If young people are never exposed to the concepts of intelligent design or a creation model that explains how a first cause might be necessary for life to begin, and that Genesis is a rational explanation for how humans arrived on earth, it’s likely that they will believe their teacher or professor who explain away belief in God rather than the Bible. It happens all the time. It’s important not to dismiss differences in beliefs about origins, because it can be a reason why people believe in a God who loves and cares for them. Comments are closed.
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Based in St Louis,
Larry Ingram writes about the news media, movies and culture, as well as on topics like race, privilege, Christianity, religious expression and tolerance. Many news articles are blatantly biased against Christians and conservatives in the news media, movies and culture. Read his exclusive articles and columns that bring balance to mainstream, leftist and liberal thinking on a variety of topics. Categories
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