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Lessons From Creation
By Kevin Ford

The apostle Paul proposed an interesting challenge to the skeptics of his day. "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made..." (Romans 1:20).

n our modern scientific age many feel it has become harder to maintain faith in God. In fact, no previous age has been witness to so many demonstrations of God's supreme power and creative genius.

Knowledge need never lessen our sense of awe and wonder at the beauty that exists in our world.
In past eras people wondered at the mystery of human conception and birth. Today we can watch the various stages of the incredible miracle of a human fetus growing and developing in its mother's womb. What was once merely puzzling by its mystery is now awe-inspiring by its observance.

Biochemistry now reveals that what were once thought to be relatively simple processes, such as the clotting of blood or the forming of images on the human retina, are actually of mind-boggling complexity.

Knowledge need never lessen our sense of awe and wonder at the beauty that exists in our world. A trained musician with an understanding of musical forms and the principles of harmony can still be overwhelmed by a Beethoven symphony; a physicist with a thorough knowledge of the laws of refraction can still be moved by the beauty of a sunset.

Coincidence or the handiwork of a Creator?

The list of amazing coincidences is impressive: the ideal distance from the sun, a 23-degree axis tilt (to provide changing seasons), an accompanying moon whose gravitational pull stabilizes the rotation and inclination of the earth as well as creating tidal activity, an ozone layer to shield us from harmful solar rays -- the list goes on and on. There is even the presence of a nearby giant planet (Jupiter) whose gravitation diverts the comets and asteroids that might otherwise endanger the earth. No wonder that even atheistic scientists now acknowledge that if only one of a thousand variables were lacking, life on earth would not exist.

"Taken one by one, these conditions already look like unlikely accidents. Taken together, they elevate the Blue Planet to the level of a probably unique phenomenon, a miracle of balance between a thousand variables which should never have come together". L'actualité, August 2001, p. 25, emphasis added). For thousands of years, human beings have gazed up into the night sky with wonder and seen in it the handiwork of a great Creator.

"When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him" (Psalm 8:3-4).

For thousands of years, human beings have gazed up into the night sky with wonder and seen in it the handiwork of a great Creator.
We don't know how much King David really understood of what he was seeing. It is unlikely that he realized the moon to be about one fourth the diameter of earth, or that one day men would walk on its surface. He may have imagined the stars to be small points of light only a few miles above the earth's surface. Is it less or more impressive to learn that some of these "points of light" are so immense that if the giant star Antares were in the position of our sun, the earth's orbit would be within its surface?

Our increased understanding of the nature of the universe should only give us an even greater awe for God's creative power, for as the frontiers of knowledge move constantly outward, their discoveries only become more sensational.

Jesus put the question to His disciples, "When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8). For most of humanity, the answer will, sadly, be no; but for us -- Christians with eyes to see and hearts to comprehend -- there is surely no excuse.

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Copyright 2006 by United Church of God, an International Association All rights reserved.


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Keywords: creation intelligent design God as creator 

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