Every book produced by Readers Digest, (as far as I know), if it says anything about the origin of life, or the age of the Earth, will say only one thing: that life evolved from non-living materials, and the Earth is millions of years old.
The Readers Digest point of view is common, as most TV programs, almost all science fiction, and almost every natural history (?animal?) program will also carry a similar message. To someone who has never considered an alternative, it seems that there is no other way to view life and the universe. This is what is known as a ?world view?. It is an all-encompassing interpretation and it pervades every aspect of modern, western Man's thinking.
The one great contradiction to this secular world view is a Person. This Person began his human life in a common stable, and lived in an obscure village for most of his life. When he was about thirty years old suddenly appeared beside a small stream, where he was baptized, then he began a three-year program which, if true, ought to force every secular thinker to completely rethink everything they have accepted as true.
Modern science is quite certain about chemical processes ? they cannot be reversed, yet Jesus gave the command and dead people were . . .
Every book produced by Readers Digest, (as far as I know), if it says anything about the origin of life, or the age of the Earth, will say only one thing: that life evolved from non-living materials, and the Earth is millions of years old.
The Readers Digest point of view is common, as most TV programs, almost all science fiction, and almost every natural history (?animal?) program will also carry a similar message. To someone who has never considered an alternative, it seems that there is no other way to view life and the universe. This is what is known as a ?world view?. It is an all-encompassing interpretation and it pervades every aspect of modern, western Man's thinking.
The one great contradiction to this secular world view is a Person. This Person began his human life in a common stable, and lived in an obscure village for most of his life. When he was about thirty years old suddenly appeared beside a small stream, where he was baptized, then he began a three-year program which, if true, ought to force every secular thinker to completely rethink everything they have accepted as true.
Modern science is quite certain about chemical processes ? they cannot be reversed, yet Jesus gave the command and dead people were restored to health. The chemical process of decay was reversed. New eyes, new ears, new limbs and new organs appeared. Skin diseases vanished. All Jesus did was give a command and 'modern science? cannot explain how observed processes were suddenly radically altered.
Modern science is quite certain about the mechanics of displacement ? an object always displaces its own weight when resting on water ? yet Jesus walked on a rough sea. A heavier than air object cannot fly unless it displaces its own weight in air ? yet Jesus rose into the sky without apparent effort. A solid object cannot pass through another solid object without some sort of friction or breakage ? yet Jesus passed through solid walls to be with his friends in the upper room. Modern science cannot accurately foretell the future if there are a wide range of possible futures ? yet Jesus accurately foretold the future to the finest detail, and never made a mistake.
This Person changed water into wine instantly. Evolutionists have no answer to this. Science cannot explain how hydrogen and oxygen could suddenly become a myriad of chemicals. Evolutionists rely on their own understanding. They think life needs to start by accident and gradually improve on itself. They cannot accept spontaneous generation of cellular life, yet Jesus was the one who created two living, perfect human beings, without waiting for them to evolve.
Just consider this for a moment. The universe is enormously interrelated, and acts as a support system for the Earth, and the Earth itself is an enormous 'machine? with all the parts working together to produce an environment conducive to life. Adam and Eve, the first humans, were created with blood already moving in their veins. They appeared finished, mature, fully-formed. If the theory of evolution had been applied to the Earth's biosphere, it could never have reached the level of integration it currently has. As one system formed, the others would have failed. All the systems had to appear together.
Nobel Laureate George Wald once said that he believed the universe was designed for life, because the elements carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen ?have unique properties that fit the job and are not shared by any element in the periodic system.? Modern science supports creation in that it has shown that information does not come about by chance, and if left to itself will soon fall into disorder. Archaeologists usually find it easy to tell the difference between something produced by humans, and something produced by natural events, by the degree of information in the object.
Complexity and information are compelling evidence that some outside agency has applied design and shown intelligence, by imposing order on something which ?nature? would not have shaped this way.
If Jesus is taken out of the equation, and the Bible not included in any discussion of the origin of life, or the age of the Earth, the secular point of view may seem more reasonable. It certainly does to the atheists and humanists.
But this is the crux of the matter. On the one hand we have modern science, which actually supports the Biblical point of view, and on the other hand we have the philosophical theories, (unscientific interpretations) which contradict the Bible. In the center stands Jesus, the miracle-worker, healer, and foreteller of the future.
If we listen to evolutionists and their theories, we must throw away the Bible and ignore Jesus. If we listen to modern science we must come to the point where we say, with many secular scientists ? ?all this cannot be the product of random chance. There must be an Intelligence behind it all?? If we listen to Jesus, we have the key.
Richard Gunther, Copyright 2005