|
Naturalistic Worldview –
Everything came about through time, chance and
natural processes now operating in the world. No God
is necessary.
-
How does an evolutionist
answer the above questions?
2TI
3:16
All Scripture is inspired by God and
profitable for teaching, for reproof,
for correction, for training in righteousness;
2TI 3:17
so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped
for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NASB)
PS
119:142
Your righteousness is an everlasting
righteousness, And Your law is truth.
Psalm 119:142 (NASB)
JN 1:14
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us,
and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten
from the Father, full of grace and truth.
JN 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the
truth, and the life; no one comes to the
Father but through Me.
JN
17:17
“ Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is
truth.
John
1:14, 14:6, 17:17 (NASB)
Scripture can give us truth and
has answers for the tough questions, like, “How did
the world get here?” and “How did I get here?”
-
Now lets look at some
Scripture to begin to develop a Biblical worldview.
Lets look at what the eyewitness (God) tells us
about how the heavens, the earth, and living things
came to be.
GE 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the
earth.
Genesis
1:1 (NASB)
GE 1:26
Then
God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according
to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of
the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the
cattle and over all the earth, and over every
creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
GE 1:27
God created man in His own image, in the image of
God He created him; male and female He created them.
Genesis 1:26-27 (NASB)
PS
148:5
Let them praise the name of the
LORD,
For He commanded and they were created.
Psalm 148:5 (NASB)
ISA
40:26
Lift up
your eyes on high And see who has created these
stars, The One who leads forth their host by number,
He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness
of His might and the strength of His power, Not one
of them is missing.
Isaiah
40:26 (NASB)
ISA
45:12
“It is I who made the earth, and created man upon
it. I stretched out the heavens with My hands And I
ordained all their host.
Isaiah 45:12 (NASB)
COL
1:16
For by
Him all things were created, both in the heavens and
on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or
dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have
been created through Him and for Him.
Colossians 1:16 (NASB)
What should our worldview be about the origin of
the world and man?….GOD CREATED IT
ALL
-
Does it make a difference whether you are a special
creation of God or simply “came from inert
chemicals”?
-
Would it make any difference in your worldview?
-
Would it make any difference on how you would live
your life?
Lets look at another passage of Scripture and
what God says about a naturalistic worldview and
what He wants us to show us through His creation.
RO 1:18
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men
who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
RO 1:19
because that which is known about God is
evident within them; for God made it
evident to them.
RO 1:20
For since the creation of the world His
invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine
nature, have been clearly seen, being understood
through what has been made, so that they are without
excuse.
RO 1:21
For even though they knew God, they did not honor
Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in
their speculations, and their foolish heart was
darkened.
RO 1:22
Professing to be wise, they became fools,
RO 1:23
and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God
for an image in the form of corruptible man and of
birds and four-footed animals and crawling
creatures.
RO 1:24
Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of
their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would
be dishonored among them.
RO 1:25
For they exchanged the truth of God for a
lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather
than the Creator, who is blessed forever.
Amen.
RO 1:26
For this reason God gave them over to degrading
passions; for their women exchanged the natural
function for that which is unnatural,
RO 1:27
and in the same way also the men abandoned the
natural function of the woman and burned in their
desire toward one another, men with men committing
indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the
due penalty of their error.
RO 1:28
And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge
God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved
mind, to do those things which are not proper,
RO 1:29
being filled with all unrighteousness,
wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder,
strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips,
RO 1:30
slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant,
boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
RO 1:31
without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving,
unmerciful;
RO 1:32
and although they know the ordinance of God, that
those who practice such things are worthy of death,
they not only do the same, but also give hearty
approval to those who practice them.
Romans
1:18-32 (NASB)
What three things do we learn about God from
studying His creation? (v. 20)
How does Paul describe the men in verse 18, and
what are they doing?
Do they have an excuse for what they have done?
(v. 20)
What phrase is repeated in verses 24, 26 and 28?
Do we see people doing these things today?
What kind of worldview do these people have?
Within churches there are
different views of the creation model, sometimes
very strongly held ones. For example, some
people believe in a literal 6-day creation and a
young earth. Some believe that God created, but that
the earth is billions of years old. Others believe
that God used evolution as His method of creation.
-
C.I. Scofield believes in the
Gap Theory and makes provisions for the Day Age
concept.
-
J. Vernon McGee believes in
the Ruin-Reconstruction Theory.
-
John MacArthur believes in a
literal interpretation of creation, “Special
Creation.”
-
Billy Graham addresses how
Christians should act…
-
“It is important to note
that there can be no real conflict between the facts
of the Bible and the facts of science, since God was
the Author of both. The problems arise when we begin
to interpret those facts. Since Christians
hold various views, it is important to keep an
attitude of humility and charity toward others in
these complicated areas. One fact is absolutely
clear from the Bible—God is the Creator!”
(9)
Within the evolution model
there are also different views. Some people
believe evolution happened gradually in slow steps.
Some people believe that evolution happened in fast
bursts.
Who is right?
-
Again, we will look at the
Bible for the answer and what the evidence most
clearly supports in view of the Bible.
When we consider
how everything came into existence, we are left with
only two possible choices: either we were created,
or we evolved.
-
People will often disagree
with limiting creation (especially the origin of
life) to only two choices. Some will say that there
are many ways the universe, or even life, could have
come into existence.
-
Some will say life came from
meteors. In 1996 scientists say they discovered
fossils of ancient Martian bacteria on a Mars
meteor.
-
“ At a televised press
conference in Washington, a team of NASA and
university researchers revealed that this
well-traveled, 4.2-lb. stone had brought with it the
first tangible evidence that we are not alone in the
universe. Tucked deep within the rock are what
appear to be the chemical and fossil remains of
microscopic organisms that lived on Mars 3.6 billion
years ago.” (13)
-
“Cornell University
astronomer Carl Sagan, perhaps the most prominent
champion of the search for extraterrestrial life,
was exultant. ‘If the results are verified,’ he
said, ‘it is a turning point in human history,
suggesting that life exists not just on two planets
in one paltry solar system but throughout this
magnificent universe.’” (13)
-
Other scientists disagree and
believe the “fossils” are really nothing more than
mineral structures. “They argue that most of the
putative microfossils are nothing more than narrow
ledges of mineral protruding from the underlying
rock, that under certain viewing conditions can
masquerade as fossil bacteria. ‘There are regions
that are absolutely teeming with these emergent
[mineral] structures, whose shapes appear to be
indistinguishable from some of the proposed
nanofossils.’” (14)
-
Others say the universe was
created by an advanced race.
-
“In [Guth’s] view,
an advanced race could harness the engines of
inflation and create a whole cosmos from scratch.
Indeed, our universe could be such a creation.”
(8, pg. 33)
-
Others say that aliens seeded
the earth.
-
“After winning the Nobel
Prize for helping to discover the structure of
DNA…Francis Crick theorize[s] that
life on earth may have sprung from tiny organisms
from a distant planet – sent here by spaceship as
part of a deliberate act of seeding. This
bizarre-sounding theory…results partly from
uneasiness among scientists over current
explanations about how life arose spontaneously on
earth.” (15, pg. 53)
-
But do these theories answer
the question of how life originated, it only pushes
the question to outer space.
-
The only conclusion is –
there are no third choices. We were either created
or we are here by accident.
|
We
need to be aware that the questions about the
origins of the universe, the earth, and life, are
not like other scientific questions because…
