CREATION:  by God or by Accident? by Ralph Woener

     The one thing on which I suppose we can all agree is:  we humans are
living here in the midst of a marvelous creation.  The thing on which we
can't agree is how this all came about.

     Christians believe the universe was designed and created by God
almighty--by the one who reveals himself to us in the scriptures.
Atheists (along with most evolutionists) believe the galaxies above with
their millions of stars and the earth below with its many forms of life
and beauty came about by accident or chance--no one planned it; no one
created it.  It happened by accident, without the aid of intelligence or
guiding hand.

     For some unknown reason, atoms supposedly bumped against each other
over a long period of time.  They arranged and rearranged themselves by
sheer accident--until the sun, moon, stars and planet earth appeared.
They kept on rearranging themselves until the fish of the sea, the animals
of the field, the birds of the air, and all manner of flowers, plants and
trees appeared.  And last, but not least, they ended up creating man.
That's a miracle as big as God! Yet, all of this supposedly happened by
mere chance--without the aid of intelligence or guiding hand.

     What we Christian want to know is:  from where did the atoms come?
How did they become active?  How did they become intelligent enough to
shape the universe into what it is today?  Who gave the peacock, the
flamingo and the cardinal their flaming colors?  Who designed the orchid?
Who taught ants to work, spiders to weave, humming-birds to migrate, and
ravens to fly?  Who taught the caterpillar to spin a cocoon and turn
itself in a butterfly,of there is no God?  Doesn't it take a lot of faith
to believe inorganic matter had the ability to bring all of this about?
Doesn't man who is endowed with the powers of thought and imagination have
to be a reflection of the source from which he came?

     No one, of course, can scientifically prove the existence or the
nonexistence of God.  Both are matters of faith based on the evidence
that's available.

     Admittedly, there's no way Christians can adequately explain the
origin of God.  This is a great mystery.  Atheists can take little comfort
in this, however, because neither can they explain the origin of matter.
The origin of matter is just a great a mystery as the origin of God.

     Suppose, for instance, there was a time when nothing existed but
empty space--not a molecule or atom in the sky--only dark and empty space.
Tell me, how did matter originate?  How did the sun, the moon and the
stars come into being?  How did something spring out of nothing?  Everyone
has to start with something--either with matter--or with God.  Both are
mysteries beyond our ability to explain.

     In the atheist says matter is eternal, that it has always been, that
there was never a time when it was not, why can't Christians say the same
of God?

     Atheists like to give the impression that they've reached the
conclusion that God doesn't exist through careful investigation or
research, and that those who believe in him aren't very bright. The fact
of the matter is:  many of the most brilliant men of the past, and many of
the most brilliant men of the present are ardent believers in God.

     Through their own scientific investigation and research they became
convinced that a supreme being or intelligence has to exist. There's
simply no way the universe could have produced itself by accident.

     Dr. Wernher von Braun became a Christian in his later years. Because
of his study of the universe and space, he said he found it as difficult
to understand a scientist who didn't acknowledge the presence of a
superior rationality behind the existence of the universe as he did to
understand a theologian who denied the advances of science.  "Through a
closer look at creation," von Braun said, "we can gain a better knowledge
of the Creator, and a greater sense of our responsibility to him."  Did
von Braun commit "intellectual suicide" by believing God?

     Von Braun is not alone; many of the leading scientist of our day,
through their studies of science and nature, have been convinced that a
supreme being, or a divine planner, has to exist. There's no more chance
that earth with its natural laws and intricate design could have happened
by chance than there is that a dictionary could result from an explosion
in a printing press.

     Actually, when you come right down to it, the most anyone can
honestly claim about the non-existence of God is "agnosticism"--to say
that he doesn't think God exists.  The moment he says dogmatically that
God doesn't exist he creates a dilemma for himself.  No finite being can
say for certain God doesn't exist for the simple reason that outside the
limits of his knowledge God may very well be there.  To be a true atheist
one must claim, "omniscience" for himself; he must claim that he knows
everything which may be known--that nothing exist beyond his knowledge.
Once he admits that he doesn't know all there is to know, he opens the
possibility that God may exists in the area of his unknown.

     So it all boils down to:  what evidence do atheists have for saying
God doesn't exist and what evidence do Christian have for saying he does?


     It's not enough for the atheist simply to say his reason tells him
God doesn't exist, because my reason tells me just the opposite.  And he's
going to have a hard time explaining why he thinks his reason is superior
to mine.

     The Christian, as well as the atheist, has to draw his conclusion for
or against the existence of God, from the data he has to work with.  And
the data is the same for both.

     When the data is carefully examined, Christians feel atheism doesn't
give a satisfactory explanation for the universe.  We don't believe atoms
had the ability to create themselves out of nothing or to produce creation
as it exists today without the aid of intelligence or guiding hand.

     ILLUSTRATION:  The atheist says to me, "That's a fine watch you have
there.  Where did you get it?"  I reply, "I plucked the parts out of
nowhere, placed them in a box, shook then for two hours, opened the lid
and there it was in all of its excellence." When the man looks at me as if
I were an idiot, I hasten to add, "Perhaps I shook the box for more than
two hours; would you believe six?"  "Surely," he say, "you are jesting.
Such a procedure is unthinkable."  "But," I reply, "you believe that the
solar system and life itself came into being in just such a manner."  "Oh,
but that's different," he observes.  "Is it really?  What makes you so
sure of it??

     The laws which govern the universe are so precise that the Elgin
Watch Company boasts that is sets its time by the stars.  The solar system
is far more intricate and exact that the finest watch ever assembled.  Who
made it?  Is it an accident or was there a mater planner?  Watches
manufactured by men are child's play compared to the minute arrangement of
the planetary systems.  A million billion years of accidents could never
have created such an universe.

     It takes a lot of faith to believe in organic matter sprang to life
all on its own and produce creation as we know it today.

     For years scientists, have tried in every way possible, under the
most favorable conditions, to bring just the right combinations of
chemicals and gases together to cause the spontaneous generation of life.
If the finest minds in the world, with every available too, under the most
favorable conditions, have not been able to do this, what chance is there
that it occurred accidentally all by itself?  It takes some real mental
straining and a great deal of faith to believe that the universe is an
unplanned accident.

     I can't believe a dictionary could have resulted from an explosion in
a printing press, or that a seventeen jewel watch could have created
itself; neither can I believe that the earth and all of its life forms,
which are ten thousand times more complex that these, could be the result
of accident or chance.  There's too much order, to much beauty, to much
design, for this to be true.

     Behind every book that is an author; behind every painting there is
an artist; behind every cathedral there is an architect; behind every
watch there is a designer; behind creation there must be a creator--a
divine intelligence capable of bringing it about!

     If God is real, someone may say, why doesn't he reveal himself to us?
He already has in the scriptures.  He's the one who said, "Let there be
light," and there was light--the one who divided the waters from the
land--the one who caused the earth to bring forth herbs and trees yielding
fruit after their kind--the one who caused the waters to bring forth
abundantly--the one who created the birds of the air, formed man out of
the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.

     He's the one who parted the Red Sea, who caused water to flow from a
rock, who went before the children of Israel in a cloud by day and pillar
of fire by night.  He's the one who descended upon Mount Sinai like a
consuming fire.  He's the one who sent Christ into the world to be our
Saviour--the one who is worthy of our love and devotion and who has a
wonderful plan for those who love him both in this world and in the world
to come.

 source:  The SAYSF Voice of Fellowship Vol. 15, No. 6, dtd August 1991

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