Category Archives: Creation

Creation and the tabernacle

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As Rabbinic interpreters have long recognised, there are many echoes of the creation narrative (Genesis 1-2) in the description of the tabernacle in Exodus 25-40).

  1. ‘The Spirit of God, present at creation (Gen. 1:2) filled Bezalel and the craftsmen who created the tabernacle with creative gifts (Exod. 31:1–11).’
  2. ‘Israel made the tabernacle, even as God made the world, as a dwelling place for God (Exod. 25:8–9; Ps. 104:1–4).’
  3. ‘God instructed them to erect the tabernacle on New Year’s Day to underscore this new beginning (Exod.
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The Spirit and Creation

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Atheism must regard the existence of the cosmos as inexplicable.  Pantheism (which undergirds Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism) robs God of his transcendence, by subsuming the divine within the universe  (‘all is one and all is God’).  Paganism believes that the divine is immanent in nature, and that spells, incantations and rituals enable the individual to control people’s destiny.  Gnosticism posits a dualism between spirit and matter, and has as its aim the ascending, through illumination and secret knowledge, up to God. …

God and his creation

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Scripture teaches that God is transcendent, and yet immanent. He is far above above creation, yet intimately involved in it, Acts 17:25,28; Eph 4:6; Col 1:17; Heb 1:3.

False views include:

  • materialism, which denies the existence of God altogether;
  • pantheism, which teaches that the whole universe is God, or an emanation from God;
  • dualism, which holds that God and the material universe have existed eternally side by side, locked in eternal conflict, with no guarantee that good will triumph;
  • deism, according to which God created the universe and then left it to run on its own.
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What we learn from creation

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Bible commentator Matthew Henry notes that in creation we observe:-

1. Great variety, several sorts of beings vastly differing in their nature and constitution from each other. Lord, how manifold are thy works, and all good!

2. Great beauty. The azure sky and verdant earth are charming to the eye of the curious spectator, much more the ornaments of both. How transcendent then must the beauty of the Creator be!

3. Great exactness and accuracy.…

Rare Earth?

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Scientifically-minded people seem a little confused about whether they think that intelligent life is rather common in the universe, or exceedingly rare.

In 1961 Frank Drake postulated that there might be between 1,000 and 100,000,000 intelligent, communicative, civilisations in our own galaxy.  The range of possibility is now thought to be between 2 and 280,000,000 following further review of the various values contained in Drake’s ‘equation’.  In other words, we don’t know.

Christian theology has no great interest vested in the question of extra-terrestrial life.  …

Implications of creation

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1. Since God created the world, we have ample demonstration of God’s divinity, Jer 10:11; Acts 17:24. None but God can create. Two books God has written which are sufficient to leave all without excuse: creation, Rom 1:20, and conscience, Rom 2:15. Every star in the sky, every bird that flies, is a witness against unbelief.

2. Since God created the world, we have a mighty assurance for our faith. What cannot our Creator-God do? Ps 124:8.…

Some thoughts on Young Earth Creationism

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According to Young Earth Creationists (YEC) the cosmos came into being not more than about 10,000 years ago.  I must admit that I have tended to regard this view as unnecessary from a biblical point of view, and implausible from a scientific point of view.

But let me just note, without irony or mockery, what kinds of arguments could be used to support it.

1.  YEC regards its theory as theologically coherent. 

YEC is committed to a high view of Scripture. …

Problems with theistic evolution

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Although I’m sympathetic to the idea of theistic evolution, and, in any case, do not regard such theories of origins as of fundamental importance, I think it’s worth taking account of the theological objections that have been levelled against Darwinian theory.

Some of these objections were set out by Alistair Donald in this article published in Evangelicals Now in April 2010.

To summarise:-

1.  Adam formed by a distinct creative act

Although the precise genre of Genesis 1:1-2:3 is notoriously difficult to pin down, the same is not the case for Gen 2:4 onwards, which is written in standard Hebrew narrative style. …

Is God the Ultimate Boeing 747?

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In chapter 4 of The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins attempts to demonstrate that the existence of God is extremely improbable.  He gives pride of place to his ‘Ultimate Boeing 747 gambit’.  This argument, he says, is ‘the big one’.

The starting-point is the comment attributed to Fred Hoyle that the probability of life originating on earth by chance is no greater that a tornado in a junk-yard asembling a fully-functioning Boeing 747.  Theists often like to say that that the universe is so complex that only God could have brought it into being.…

God, evolution, and natural evil

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One of the most significant objections to the theory of evolution is the moral one: if there is an all-wise God, why would he use a process that involves so much waste, suffering and death?

Biology, says, Denis Alexander, is a ‘package deal’. For every ‘plus’ that we might see as positive for life and well-being, there is a ‘minus’. For example: mutations are essential for biodiversity, and yet mutations also cause cancer and genetic diseases.…