I recently finished watching the Discovery Channel series called, How The Universe Works on Netflix. It was amazing. I learned so much about the cosmos that gave me an increased appreciation for this amazing space that God has built for us to explore. The program referenced the Big Bang time and time again, and that didn’t bother me. I am not threatened by science. My faith is not threatened by science, nor do I feel the need to write an article or cite a bunch of research that disproves the Big Bang or natural selection. Attempting to evangelize by proving creationism or Christianity is futile.
We Are Stardust
Numerous times during How The Universe Works, various scientists assert that we are all made of matter that originated in a star. According to their theory, when the star went supernova, the elements that were created during the star’s life and destruction then accumulated over time to form our planet and eventually the atoms in our bodies. Does this challenge my faith that I was created by God? Not one bit.
I had a conversation on Facebook the other day with a couple of friends about Global Warming, and one of them wrote, “Of course we all have to appeal to an authority on this, I don’t have the equipment or the knowledge to test it for myself. I also don’t have the equipment or knowledge to really test out if the earth goes around the sun or not. Pick the smart people to trust, not oddballs with weird agendas.”
Just as this friend can’t prove the orbit of the Earth or directly prove that humans are causing Global Warming, I can’t prove how God created the Universe, all the creatures of the Earth, or humans. The “smart person” that I choose to believe is God through his word, The Bible.
My atheist friends put their faith in scientists and reasoning, and I’m putting my faith in God. I don’t think it’s worth trying to prove the spiritual reality of God through the science of Creationism. Spiritual belief will always require faith beyond mental reasoning.
I did not come to know Jesus because his death and resurrection were proven to me, so why should I expect unbelieving friends, family members, or complete strangers to come to him through proof?
When Faith Is Challenged For Proof
In John 3, a Pharisee named Nicodemus challenges Jesus when Jesus says that no one can see the kingdom of God without being born again. Jesus answers in a seemingly enigmatic way.
Jesus and Nicodemus by Henry Ossawa Tanner
Why didn’t Jesus explain himself in logical terms and convince Nicodemus and the other Pharisees that he was the Son of God? God doesn’t want people who follow him because they think it’s in their best interests. He wants sons and daughters who follow him because they love him and he loves them. Christianity requires faith. A religious Christian life that is based in tradition and what other people say is a train wreck waiting to happen.
A Firm Foundation of Faith
Jesus didn’t need to argue with people because he knew that God didn’t send him to debate people into the Kingdom. In Mark 12, some Pharisees came to Jesus and asked, “Should we pay the imperial tax to Caesar?”
But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” (16) They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
(17) Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” And they were amazed at him.
Jesus basically said that he wasn’t going to mix the affairs of the world with the affairs of God. Giving to God what is God’s requires faith, and he knew that these people weren’t going to be satisfied with an explanation grounded in rhetoric or a financial formula.
Faith comes from more than an understanding of the dogma of Christianity. If you grew up in the church, you probably heard the parable in Matthew 7 of the two men who built houses: one on solid rock, and one on the sand. Jesus says in Matthew 7:24 that everyone who hears His words and puts them into practice is like a wise man who builds his house on a foundation of solid rock. This parable doesn’t illustrate salvation. It illustrates the strength of a Christian’s faith.
If you’ve been going to church your whole life or were raised in a “Christian” home, you were exposed to Christ’s words, but have you put them into practice? By that, I don’t mean, are you being careful not to sin. A Christian life based in head-knowledge is a religious recipe for destruction of Hindenburg proportions.
Being Living Proof of God’s Love
Was the message that Christ spoke Creationism? No, Jesus’ message was about love: loving God the Father, and loving one another. Jesus said, “If you’ve seen me, then you’ve seen the Father.” This is the key to bridging the gap between an unbelieving world and Christianity: allowing people to see the Father at work in us. This is the only evidence that will set their spirits ablaze with a desire to know God personally.
Does Creationism Really Matter?
When I see a sunrise, or a beautiful flower, my lovely bride, or when I think back to the moment when I met my first newborn son, it doesn’t matter to me how God made them. It just matters to me that they are all precious gifts from God. I don’t care how God brought the earth into existence. I just know that God did it.
With that in mind, I won’t waste one breath on arguing with someone who believes in evolution about whether or not evolution is true. My heart knows who it belongs to, and everything else is small stuff that has no eternal bearing on the here and now.
All that matters is that I show the love of Jesus to the people in the world who God blesses my life with, that I share my faith with them when the opportunity arises, and that I pray for them, whether they ask me to or not. God loves them, and I choose to love them too.
I’ll close this post with a video from Gungor of them performing their song, Beautiful Things. Does it matter how these beautiful things came to be? I choose not to concern myself with their origins, and to instead focus on giving God the glory for it all.
