CREATION SPEAKS
9. Paganism or Literal Creationism
THE Genesis record is a simple story of creation, step by step, through six days.” The question as to whether these days are to be understood as literal days of twenty-four hours each, or as representing long periods of time, has invoked much discussion.
A few Christians, who believe that the Genesis record should be taken literally, define the word days in the same sense as is commonly given to it throughout the rest of the Scripture. Confirmation for this view is seen in Exodus 20:11, where the observance of the seventh day as the Sabbath is enjoined as a memorial of the six-day creation. On the seventh day, we read in Genesis 2:1,2, God rested from His creative work. To be consistent, the same meaning must be applied to the word days in Genesis 1, Genesis 2, and Exodus 20:8-11. To change the meaning in any of these places would do violence to the plain rules of language.
The great majority of theologians, as well as practically all scientists, are influenced by traditional views which are hoary with age, and prefer to regard the creation story as allegorical or figurative, having no significance from a scientific angle. In order to understand this popular belief, and to know wherein it differs from the literal Bible story, we must go back into history and trace the development of modern thought through the ages.
PAGAN IDEAS IN CHRISTIANITY
When intellectual leadership passed from the valleys of the Nile and Euphrates to the northern shores of the Mediterranean, it was the young and virile Greek people who took up the torch of civilization and developed a culture that was destined to spread throughout the modern world.
Had Israel fulfilled the high destiny to which God had called her when He placed her in Palestine, at the crossroads of the ancient world, she might have seen her creation doctrine become the background for scientific research for all future time. But Israel’s apostasies deprived her of her glorious privilege of making the true God known to the world, intellectually and spiritually, and pagan philosophy became the foundation for modern thought.
Around the fifth century before Christ there arose in the Greek colonies in Asia Minor a number of philosophers who attempted to find an explanation for the activities of nature. One said that all things were derived from water; another thought that earth, water, air, and fire were the basic elements of nature; still others denied the existence of any material substance, but supposed that all “matter” was merely an illusion.
As time went on, the scholars of Greece devised many interpretations for natural phenomena, and their influence was widely felt in religious thought. Their systems of philosophy, however much they might differ, were all alike in one respect, and that was in the fact that everything was explained by some natural cause. Therefore Greek philosophy can be designated as “naturalism,” in contrast with the supernaturalism of the Hebrews, who believed that God was the direct source of power for the operations of nature.
Two Greek philosophers of the fourth century before Christ stand out as especially influential- Plato and Aristotle.
Plato taught that there was one supreme power in the universe, from whom all lesser beings were derived, and from whom all material substance had emanated. Matter, he believed, was not a reality, ‘but only a manifestation of the supreme spiritual power of the universe. It was this Platonic viewpoint that gave rise to the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. Souls, Plato taught, were spiritual entities sent out from God to dwell in the physical bodies that had been created by His power.
Aristotle’s views were in many respects opposite to those taught by Plato. He thought that matter was the foundation of reality, and that it had always existed. By its own inherent properties it had been enabled to develop into a multitude of forms, and by purely natural processes living creatures, mind, intelligence, and spiritual beings had come into existence.
From the Platonic viewpoint developed the Stoic philosophy, which made duty the highest aim in life, whereas the Aristotelian logic gave rise to the Epicurean philosophy, whose principal objective was “Pleasure - eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.”
These Greek doctrines are of no value to us as merely historical developments, but rather because of their profound influence on Christian theology and modern scientific thought. Our present day views on many questions are determined largely by ideas which have been inherited from these ancient Greek thinkers.
As Christianity grew powerful in the third and fourth centuries, many pagan customs and views were introduced into the church. Pagan holidays and festivals were celebrated, but in honor of Christian saints or events in the history of the church. And while the forms of religion were essentially Scriptural, many Christian doctrines were interpreted according to the philosophical views of Greek scholars.
Among the various Greek ideas that were made prominent at this time was the teaching regarding creation. The outstanding Christian scholar of the late fourth and early fifth century was Augustine. He introduced into Christianity the Platonic doctrine of the immortality of the soul. As to the creation of the earth, he taught that the substance was created by God at some indefinite time in the past, and endowed with power for developing into the highly organized state which the earth now possesses. Thus was laid the foundation for a thoroughgoing evolutionary philosophy, which dominated the thinking of men for centuries to follow.
At the time of the Renaissance in Europe Aristotle’s writings were rediscovered. Theologians saw plainly that if the materialistic teachings of Aristotle were allowed to be propagated, they would present a grave threat to the authority of the church, since Aristotle’s views were in many ways antagonistic to those of Plato.
The day was saved by Thomas Aquinas, who proposed the doctrine of dualism. In other words, he taught that men might think and study as they pleased with respect to the humanities, science and social studies-as long as they recognized the authority of the church in matters of religious dogma and authority.
That teaching has enabled the Catholic Church to hold its position of authority in the modern age of scientific development.
CREATIONISM
With the Reformation came a “back to the Bible” movement, which assumed that the Genesis story of creation and the Flood was to be taken literally. The views of the Reformers concerning these questions cannot be termed scientific in any sense, but were purely theological interpretations of the Bible record.
At the same time brilliant Jesuit writers were propounding the doctrine of literal creation in an effort to counteract the philosophical errors that had been introduced into Europe from Greek and Arabian sources
Thus it came to pass that theologians of all classes, from the sixteenth to the middle of the nineteenth century, departed from the medieval viewpoint of evolutionary development and taught the literal interpretation of Genesis.
MODERN VIEWS ON EVOLUTION AND CREATION
Around the middle of the nineteenth century the rise of modern geological theory introduced confusion into the ranks of Protestant theologians. Attempts were made to harmonize the new geological knowledge with the “days” of the first chapter of Genesis. The Flood was variously interpreted, and many wild and fantastic views were proposed.
The most popular of all geological views at this time was the catastrophism of Cuvier, the great French scientist. He observed in the Paris basin a succession of layers containing bones of extinct animals.
These layers he attributed to a series of catastrophes by which the life of the earth had been periodically overwhelmed. Noah’s Flood was supposed to have been the final catastrophe. These catastrophes were supposed by many to have been the events to which Moses referred in the Genesis record of the days of creation. Thus arose the “day-age” theory of the theologians, by which Genesis and geology were “harmonized.”
As a scientific confirmation of Genesis, Cuvier’s theories were worthless. The simple facts of the case are that the succession that he found near Paris only involved the Tertiary rocks, which are a small fraction of the sedimentary deposits of the earth, or even of Europe. To interpret these in the light of the “days” of Genesis is absolutely unwarranted distortion of the geological data as well as of the meaning of the Bible record.
In 1785 James Hutton presented to the Edinburgh Geological Society a Theory of the Earth, which proposed to account for all the geological phenomena in terms of long ages of uniform action of natural forces. This doctrine assumed that there had never been any definite “beginning” and there would never be any catastrophic end to the earth.
The English geologist Charles Lyell published a voluminous work, Principles of Geology, in 1830, in which he gathered together many illustrations of Hutton’s hypothesis, generally known as uniformitarianism. During the next quarter century this hypothesis rapidly gained popularity, until by the time of the publication of Darwin’s Origin of Species in 1859 the scientific world had quite fully accepted it. Thus the way was prepared for complete acceptance of evolution when the ‘Darwinian theory' gave a plausible explanation for the organic aspects of the problem.
The advent, or Millerite, movement, which culminated in 1844, focused attention on the literal interpretation of Scripture. While little was said regarding the origin of the earth, much was said of its expected destruction by fire. The Adventists generally accept the Bible record in its simple, matter-of-fact rendering.
When the disappointment of 1844 turned many away from their belief in the literal return of Christ to this earth, the churches committed themselves quite generally to liberal doctrines that were colored by the influence of German higher criticism. The clergy turned toward belief in uniformitarian geology, and accepted the theory of long ages of time with little or no protest.
The Bible record of the Flood came to be regarded as merely a tradition; and as for biological evolution, about the only serious objection to Darwin’s Origin of Species when it was published was that it implied the animal ancestry of man.
At the very time that the Protestant churches of Europe and America were turning to evolutionary views, the Seventh-day Adventists arose, and their attitude was that of consistent and thoroughgoing acceptance of the literal Genesis record. As a matter of historical interest it may be noted that even those who do not believe that Ellen G. White received inspired visions have quite freely admitted that her descriptions of the early history of the earth have exerted a powerful influence in molding these literal views of the Seventh-day Adventists.
It was not until the beginning of the present century that much attention was given to scientific aspects of the Genesis record. The first and for many years the only scientific writer of any prominence among this people was George McCready Price, whose principal points of contention were two; namely, (1) that there is no proof of long geological ages, but that the various types of life had been contemporaneous instead of consecutive, and (2,) that while there had been change within the major groups of animals and plants, there has been no change from one such group to another. Under various aspects and by various arguments and illustrations these propositions have been kept before the public for almost half a century of active writing and speaking.
The most important work of this leader in modern catastrophism was in pointing out the weaknesses and inconsistencies in the popular geological theories. From the rediscovery of Mendel’s laws of heredity in 1900 the problem of the origin of our present-day species took on new interest.
Darwin had built his theory on outward appearances alone, but twentieth-century theories of the origin of species have been based on experimental work in genetics. For forty years the controversy continued over the question of whether new species had actually arisen or whether all our modern “species” were merely variations in originally created kinds.
In 1940 my book Genes and Genesis was published, giving a review of the whole situation, and pointing out the fact that while modern science has shown the possibility of many changes in the lower categories resulting in the production of new species or genera, it has failed to prove that such changes are sufficient to account for the higher categories, such as families, orders, classes, and phyla.
Much the same argument has been followed in a later work (F. L. Marsh, Evolution, Creation, and Science, 1944), with additional discussion of the relation between the “Genesis kinds,” as he conceives them, and modern “species.”
10. Creation and Science
IN preceding chapters consideration has been given to the scientific facts that have a bearing on the question of whether the earth and its life came into being by direct creation or were evolved by natural processes. It would he well in conclusion to review these main points briefly and to bring together the major scientific aspects of the creationist philosophy as it stands opposed to evolution.
MATTER AND ENERGY
Although matter and energy are realities, they must be considered as realities of creation, not of independent existence. The chemical elements and compounds are so diverse in their manifestations, which we call “properties,” that it is impossible to imagine them as eternal, having always possessed these properties.
But when we begin to analyze the complex properties of chemical substances, we find it absolutely out of the question to explain the more complex in terms of the simpler. For instance, water is a compound of oxygen and hydrogen. But its properties are not a combination of those of oxygen and hydrogen. Similarly, sulfuric acid is made of hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen; but its properties are not those of its components.
The only satisfactory explanation for the properties of matter is that God created material substances as instruments through which to manifest His power. He has ordained that certain combinations shall manifest His power in certain ways, but the properties are not the result of any inherent activity of the matter itself.
The Greeks conceived of matter as made up of discrete particles, which they called atoms, because they were supposed to be the final indivisible units. The properties of matter were supposed to be due to the sum total of the properties of the atoms themselves. This hypothesis, however, did not settle any of the problems, for ultimately there remained the question as to what gave the atoms their properties.
The difficulty in all such materialistic interpretations lies in the failure to recognize the fact that the atoms are complex dynamic systems, made up of units of force, such as electrons, protons, etc. This dynamic system, therefore, does not exist as an ultimate lump of matter, but as a combination of forces.
But forces must have a source; they cannot exist in and of themselves. Thus we arrive at the conclusion that there must be some ultimate cause of causes back of and behind all material things. This makes it a logical necessity that we accept the creation of matter as the only possible interpretation for its origin and its properties. We have now overcome the difficulty in the idea that matter is self-existent.
ORGANIZATION OF MATTER
Matter and energy, even though they might have existed independently, could never have constituted an organized universe. The very existence of organization is a proof for creation.
Let us suppose we have enough type to set up a copy of the Constitution. How long would we have to pick at random and place the type in composing sticks before we happened to get every letter and punctuation mark in the right place? How long would it take for blind chance to “compose” a living creature? How long to bring together a world? And what about solar systems, galaxies, and super galaxies?
The laws of chance are so remote, even on the smaller units of existence, that when we think of the greater units we cannot but see the hopelessness of trying to bring order out of the chaos by any kind of blind, automatic action.
The creation record of Genesis is not simply a record of origin, it is a record of organization. The matter was first created, then formed into land, sea, and sky. Then living creatures were produced, each “after his kind,” in systematic order.
From the organization of the simplest atoms, throughout the complex groups of substances, to the minerals and rocks, to the living creatures, from atoms to worlds, from cells to living creatures, from worlds to systems and systems to galaxies-in and through all this marvelous universe may be seen divine plan and order. And this order is so complicated that none but an Infinite Mind could have planned and directed it. The very fact that so much mental effort is required to understand scientific principles is evidence of the Intelligence that is back of all natural phenomena. Things did not “happen;” they were the products of the power of Infinite Wisdom.
Nature is full of evidences for design. Take, for example, the manner in which physical factors are related so as to make life possible upon the earth. The range of temperatures between interstellar space and the interior of stars is millions of degrees. Even on this earth, temperatures range from below zero to thousands of degrees above.
Life can exist only in a small part of this range. How is it that the surface of the earth is maintained so closely within the limits that allow the existence of life? Surely not by chance, for the laws of chance would not make such a small range likely. We must recognize that the hand of the Almighty is controlling the physical factors acting upon our earth in order to allow life to continue.
When one enters the field of biochemistry, the wonder becomes even more profound. For life exists, not in a simple mixture of elements, but in an almost incomprehensible complexity of chemical substances making up what we call “protoplasm.” The wheel within a wheel of Ezekiel’s vision is probably the best concept one can suggest for the complexity of the activities by which life is carried on. Not only does protoplasm contain mixtures of protein, fats, sugars, and minerals, but it actually manufactures other substances such as hormones and enzymes and uses them to regulate its processes.
Amazing as is the chemistry of living bodies, even more amazing is the manner in which these bodies develop from simple cells during the embryonic process. Take for example, any of the well known animals. Each begins as a single microscopic cell. Within this tiny bit of protoplasm is a small portion, the nucleus, inside of which are groups of protoplasmic thread known as “chromosomes.”
On these are infinitesimally small granules, the genes. These genes not only transmit the stream of heredity from one generation to the next, but they also govern the development of the body from the single cell to its fully completed state, and do so in such a way that when it is fully developed it has not only become a new individual “after his kind,” but possesses those peculiar characteristics that enable one to recognize its exact relationships to others of its kind. In other words, heredity is so accurate in its laws that we say of a child: “He has his father’s features,” or “He is a perfect image of his mother.”
It is hard to see how anyone can follow through the changes in the embryo without seeing in them the working of a superintending Providence. The single cell divides to form a ball of cells; they in turn become a hollow tube; three germ layers appear, the ectoderm, mesoderm, and entoderm.
From each of these arise certain tissues, which combine into organs. Each part arises at exactly the right time and in exactly the right place so that they all fit together perfectly to form the completed organism. There is in each developing embryo an inconceivably complex chemical mechanism, by which enzymes and hormones are released in exactly the right proportions and at the right stages to stimulate the development of new tissues and glands, which in turn liberate other substances to carry on the process. How can such a complicated series of events come by accident?
We might go through the whole realm of biology and point out wonder after wonder that require intelligence and design. A few of these might be mentioned: the social life of ants, termites, bees, and wasps; the relationship between the yucca flower and the Pronuba moth. The fig wasp and the development of figs; the relation between insects and flowers in general; devices for preventing self-pollinization; bird migration; different types of eyes, as seen in mollusks, arthropods, and vertebrates; faculties of the human mind.
The thousands of adaptive structures by which plants and animals carry on their life and maintain their existence constitute abundant evidence for intelligent design in nature. Let anyone try to figure how these things came by chance and he will see how unreasonable is the materialistic view of nature and how necessary it becomes to believe in creation.
UNIFORMITY VERSUS SUPERNATURALISM
Belief in evolution rests on the unproved and unprovable hypothesis of uniformity-that throughout the past, natural processes have gone on at the same rate as now. According to this idea, all the actions of the past have been uniform, and there has been no universal catastrophe to destroy the earth.
Not much thought is required to arrive at the conclusion that the uniformitarian hypothesis is incapable of proof. Accurate scientific records have been kept only a comparatively few years; how can we prove that climatic conditions have always been like those we know? How can we prove that the sedimentary rocks of the earth have been deposited under conditions now prevailing? How can it be proved that the uplift of the mountains and the outpouring of the molten rocks were slow and uniform? These and many other phenomena are assumed to have taken place naturally, but this assumption cannot be demonstrated.
Creationism and Flood geology are based on the idea that God brought the world into existence by supernatural means, and that He destroyed it by a catastrophe. Each of these two ideas supplements the other. To be consistent, we must believe in a literal creation and a world-wide destruction.
The doctrine of creation is based on the plain statements of the Bible, and supported by logic and reason, as previously pointed out. Flood geology rests on the literal interpretation of the Genesis record and is supported by evidence from the rocks. The ecological zonation theory, as already suggested, will explain the sequence of the fossils without recourse to long ages of deposition.
NO NEW KINDS
On this point it is important to notice that although biological science has arrived at a fairly clear understanding of the manner in which modern species and genera have arisen, there is no scientific evidence for the origin of the higher categories-the families, orders, classes, and phyla.
To the creationist who believes that God created all plants and animals after their kinds, this fact is significant. Between the families-for example, between the dog family and the cat family-there are such clear cut distinctions that it is practically impossible to believe that any known genetic changes are capable of deriving one from the other or both from common ancestry.
In this case, therefore, the family seems to some students of the problem to satisfy the requirement as an original Genesis “kind.” On the other hand, families appear to have been divided into smaller groups. In the case of the cats, it is likely that lions, jaguars, lynxes, and such groups have descended from separate original “kinds.”
The fact that no proof can be given for the origin of new “kinds”-new families, orders, etc. -constitutes a complete scientific vindication of the Genesis story of the creation of each “after his kind.”
The fact that variation has taken place, and that the variants have been distributed over the earth in a mosaic of species and subspecies in no way proves evolution. On the other hand, once it is recognized that these variations have all taken place within the kinds, or by means of a limited amount of confused crossing between similar kinds, the more clearly can it be seen that all the facts of variation, adaptation, and distribution fit into the creationist viewpoint.
SCIENCE AND FAITH
In conclusion, it can be truthfully said that scientific theories which are not in harmony with the simple record of the Bible are unproved and unprovable. The established facts of science can all be fitted into the literal Genesis record.
Whether in the field of logic, mathematics, astronomy, geology, archaeology, biology, or in any other field of science, the creationist who accepts the Bible story as inspired history finds it possible to interpret the data in accordance with this literal story.
It is said that the greatest reason why men have accepted evolution is not that it can be proved, for evolutionists generally admit that positive proof is impossible, but rather that known scientific data can be interpreted in the light of the evolutionary theory.
Thus, one ought to be as ready to accept the creationist doctrine if it can be shown that scientific data can be correlated with it. The purpose of the discussions in this book has been, not particularly to disprove evolution nor to prove creation, but rather to show how the facts of science fit with the Scriptural doctrine of creation. The way will be open, then, to accept creationism as a plausible explanation of the earth and its life.
Now that we have placed creation with evolution as a scientific theory, what basis do we have for a choice between them? Here is where we must make our final decision, and it is upon this basis: The evolution theory, including the geological ages and the origin of the present life of the earth by evolutionary processes, is based on human opinions and assumptions.
The creation doctrine, including the origin of the earth, the creation of plants and animals each “after his kind,” and of man in God’s image, is based on the plain statements of the Bible, which is given by inspiration of God.
Upon which basis do we prefer to build our scientific knowledge? The facts are the same for all; whether evolutionist or creationist, we learn the same laws, we observe the same phenomena. The difference lies in the interpretation that is placed on them.
In the final analysis one must choose one of two logically consistent systems of interpretation, either pure materialism, which dispenses with the need of an intelligent Deity, or a system which recognizes that the universe is upheld by the power of a God who personally and directly superintends the activities of His vast creation. A person cannot believe the doctrine of inherent natural force without committing himself to infinite regress, which explains every phenomenon in terms of some other natural phenomenon, with no place for a beginning or an end.
The doctrine of a personal God centers everything in a personality with a mind and a will. In all reason, therefore, this interpretation is the only satisfactory one.
Some persons claim that it is unscientific to believe in God. But it should be pointed out that these same persons find themselves in the world, and accept the common facts of daily life without proof. They learn to read, to do business, and to take the experiences of life as a matter of course. Why should they hesitate to accept the idea of a supreme intelligence?
Men who have received visions of deeper things of the Spirit are confident that there is a God. Why should His existence be doubted because it cannot be demonstrated by scientific methods? Light, gravitation, electricity, and all the other forces of nature are taken for granted, though no one can tell what they are, nor explain them.
Naturalism has to take all its basic principles for granted. Why should it be considered any less scientific to believe in the existence of God? The difference between the position of the Christian and that of the materialistic evolutionist is that one assumes a natural, material, impersonal cause, while the other assumes the existence of a personal God, as the immediate and direct cause of all natural phenomena.
The Bible has been accepted by millions of men as the revelation of God to man. If this is wrong, religious experience becomes mere superstition, and the skepticism of the critic is lifted to a more exalted position than the deep moral conviction of millions. To replace a belief which is grounded on the experience of men by an unproved and unprovable hypothesis is a serious matter. Let the skeptic weigh carefully the responsibility which the universe would ask him to bear if he denies to God His rightful place as ruler of the material as well as of the spiritual world.
“He that comes to God must believe that He is.” Hebrews 11:6. The element of faith cannot be avoided, even in the scientific field. There is no way to get at the underlying “Cause” of the universe except by faith. Natural forces do not proclaim their own origin. There are only two choices, either a blind mechanical causality or a personal God. The creationist chooses the latter, and offers no apologies for his choice; nor can anyone prove that it is unscientific.
There may be some who think that nothing can be known with certainty-that all human knowledge is merely guesswork, speculation, or imagination. This attitude of mind leads to the conclusion that science is nothing but an accumulation of human opinions, with no settled basis of truth, and that philosophy is only a vagary, the diffuse muttering of disordered minds. Such a viewpoint of life is entirely unsatisfactory, and will accomplish no good result.
Life must be conducted on a positive plane if any good is to come from its activities. Some settled ground for behavior must be found if men are to continue to pride themselves on being rational human beings. The skeptical attitude leaves a man weak and helpless before the great problems of life. Unless he has faith in some underlying causes for the phenomena of nature, he cannot attack those phenomena with any assurance of understanding them.
The universe is a cosmos, not a chaos. Things are ordered according to law, and do not occur haphazardly. Science has achieved no greater triumph during the past three hundred years than to reduce an apparently confused mass of natural phenomena to orderly, systematic arrangement, and to discover the laws that govern this organized universe.
Today no man who has any training in science thinks of questioning the validity of the great mass of scientific knowledge; and all investigators of nature proceed on the assumption that nature is organized in an orderly manner. Order demands intelligence. Who ever heard of inanimate objects organizing themselves into systematic groups?
Furthermore, the orderly organization of nature is intelligible. In other words, man, as a thinking and reasoning being, can understand the relationships existing in nature, and can get some idea of the meaning and purpose of these relationships. He looks upon the flower blooming above the black soil, and as he studies its life he finds certain laws of physics and chemistry manifested in its structure. He learns that these laws govern the flower’s ability to assimilate its food and to produce its lovely blossoms.
He appreciates the underlying forces at work; and when they have accomplished their purpose and the completed bloom appears, he marvels at the beauty that has been revealed. So in all the phenomena of nature; intelligent organization is displayed. Certainly, if these things are intelligible to human minds, they must have been the product of some other intelligent mind. There must have been a mind at the other end, or our minds would not have been able to grasp the meaning of the orderly processes in nature.
The very fact that all the laws of science have a mathematical basis should be ample proof that they proceed from a mind of profound intelligence. It requires exact, deep thinking to understand the laws of higher mathematics. These laws are not, and could not be, the result of chance; they must have been ordered by a higher intelligence.
This world is a world of life, and from the tiniest mote that floats in the sunbeam to the mightiest denizen of the sea, all nature vibrates with the forces that life sets in operation. Air, water, and the earth itself-every corner and cranny of our globe-abound with living, active creatures.
Life manifests itself not merely in activity, but basically and fundamentally in expressions of ideas. Gazing at a beautiful painting, the beholder catches the inspiration of its meaning, and says that he understands the thought of the artist, who, as a living, thinking, feeling person, embodied his ideas in the pattern of the pigment on the canvas. His character is displayed in the work which he produces, quite as truly as in the activities of his own body.
So it is with the sculptor, who puts his own soul into the marble or the bronze. The photographer, even, who catches on the film the subtle beauty of the landscape, composes his scene in such a way as to interpret its meaning to him. The musician draws from his instrument those strains that will tell the story of his inmost heart; his emotions are bared to the world by the chords that he plays.
If he will, the naturalist may find in the world of the great outdoors myriad illustrations of this same truth, for nature stands as a great object lesson designed by the mind and created by the hand of the Infinite. Each manifestation of natural law reveals the character of the great Lawmaker; each strain of natural music tells of the heartthrobs of the Master Musician; each bit of beauty displayed in flower and sky shows the skill of the divine Artist.
The mighty mountains speak of the wisdom of the Supreme Architect. He who can look at nature and see in it only a blind array of self-operating forces has failed to see the real meaning of nature and science. To the deep thinker the intricate laws revealed in the field of scientific investigation show a Master Mind behind all things.
The charge is sometimes made that the belief in God implies the idea of caprice in the operation of natural forces, that if natural forces are under the direct control of God, they may be erratic in their action. Such a charge is without foundation. The exactness and system observed in natural phenomena is an evidence of the wisdom of the Ruler of nature. His omniscience is so far-reaching that He has no need of changing His manner of working through His created things; yet He is not bound by nature, but can supersede the ordinary manner of working by actions suited to the occasion, when the need arises.
SCIENCE AND THE BIBLE
One who takes the position that there is a Supreme Being is bound to look for evidences of His revelation to man. Any system of thought that would deny God the right to communicate with His children would deny the very essence of His personality. In a pantheistic system all nature would be a revelation, and the only revelation possible. According to the materialistic conception, natural revelations are the only ones possible. On the personal basis, special revelation is as reasonable as the idea of the existence of God.
Accordingly, the Bible as the word of God is an essential doctrine to those who believe in the personality of God. There is no alternative; either the Bible is God’s revelation to man or there has been no divinely revealed truth.
At once the cry is raised that the Bible is being placed on a scientific basis and used as a textbook of science. In reply it may be said that it is not a textbook, but does contain the fundamental principles to which all interpretations of scientific discoveries must conform.
If there is a God, He must be the author both of the Bible and of nature, and the two must agree. If the Bible is to mean anything at all, it must be inspired by the Spirit of God; and if thus inspired, its historical records must be true. When, therefore, human speculative methods of thought presume to interpret the past history of the earth in a manner diametrically opposed to the record given in the Bible, Christians ought to object and to take their stand on the declarations of the word of God. They ought willingly and knowingly to allow themselves to be known as opposing the current interpretations in regard to the origin and past history of the earth. In so doing they may rest assured that these interpretations are not scientifically proved facts, and they may feel that they have the right to take exception to them.
The scientific world is today in a state of confusion because it has denied the truth of a personal God as the center of life and force in the universe. It has interpreted nature as a self-running mechanism and assumed the ability of the human mind to explain the phenomena of nature and to interpret their significance in the moral and spiritual realm. It has refused to accept the divine revelation regarding the past history of the earth and has substituted in its place a speculative theory of long ages of evolution.
The struggle for existence, the presence of degeneracy and death, and in the moral world the ‘ fact of evil-these and many other points are interpreted in the light of evolution instead of the Bible record of the fall of man and the reign of rebellion. Science has exalted human research; theology has adopted its methods, and has turned to a social gospel instead of the religion that exalts Jesus as a divine Savior.
The greatest need of the world today is not more scientific research, although facts thus brought to light are valuable; the world needs a true philosophy to enable it to make a correct interpretation of facts already known and to guide it in the acquirement of new knowledge.
A new revelation is not needed, but faith to accept the one already given. When the word of God is accepted as a guide in scientific research as well as in spiritual study and experience, then, and only then, can men hope to solve the great problems of science and religion.
RETURN
