And I love science.
From a very early age I was interested in how things worked and why things worked. I wanted to know what made the world turn and if it was true that the water goes down the plug-hole the other way in the southern hemisphere (the answer is that it doesn’t, at least not because of gravitational effects).
When I was 8 or 9 I got my first chemistry set and proceeded to perform experiments, although my sisters were reluctant to act as lab technicians for my work. I suspect my chances of a Noble prize were seriously undermined by their lack of faith in my scientific genius. At school I was in my element, so-to-speak, when I was in a chemistry or biology lab. I loved dissection and I loved mixing chemicals.
At university I studied environmental science and chemistry.
When people say that it’s hard for a scientist to believe in creation, I wonder why it’s so hard. It has never conflicted with my view of science.
So what about Genesis chapter 1?
#1 Don’t ask the wrong question
Genesis 1 is not a scientific paper looking at first origins. It is not a faith competitor for Darwin. It never has been. Although Genesis 1 describes a ‘how’, ‘How’ is not the focus.
The culture in which Genesis 1 was written was full of stories of the chaos of the primeval universe. Of good fighting evil, of gods battling with each other for supremacy. Earth and humanity were, according to many of these stories, the result of the battle.
Then along comes the writer of Genesis and we see something new.
#1 A new perspective
1. In the beginning God
Genesis begins with a profound statement: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The implication is this: Before God created anything there was nothing. In the beginning God. No battles, no minor deities fighting it out in the cosmos, nothing. And from that nothing, the writer tells us, God made everything. The universe, the solar system, the planets, the world in which we live find their beginnings in the creative plans and purposes of God.
2. Order: … and there was evening and morning
The second point the writer wants us to notice is that God’s creative work was an orderly work. This is one of the key reasons I think that we have a timetable. Later in Israel’s history, the orderliness of creation would be one of the reasons why taking a rest day once a week was enshrined in their legal system.
And this orderly creation by an orderly God pays attention to the detail. As the story unfolds it become clear that God is concerned with all he makes. Nothing is done by chance, everything is done with purpose.
3. And it was good
The third thing to notice today is that when God made something he made a good job of it.
As each day’s work comes to completion there is the simple declaration that God saw what he had made and it was good. As one writer once put it: God does not make junk.
#2 God so loved the world
If we fast-forward to some time in the first century we’ll find an old man living in exile on a small island. There is nothing particularly remarkable about this old man. To some he probably appears a little odd even crazy as he describes visions of future events. But this old man has a remarkable tale to tell because he was one of the 3 people closest to Jesus. When he wrote his version of the events surrounding the life and work of Jesus he began his story this way:
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God…Through him all things were made.
This, John tells us, is Jesus. And the reason Jesus came was because God so loved the world.
It is in John 3 that we read the words that remind us that the God who began it all continues to care for the world he made and people who live in it. He cares so much that he was willing to send his Son who was in turn willing to come, to live and to die that we might know the God who began it all.
Conclusion
Genesis chapter 1 introduces us to the God who loves us, the God who created the world in which we live and who, through his Son, has demonstrated the extent of his love.
Now you can ask about evolution and you can ask about creation, but maybe the better question is this: If God will go to this extent to create a world for you, how much must he love you?
