Published on 13th August 2009.

Hi all,

Firstly, greetings from a far corner of the United Kingdom (well, sort of) known as Wales. It's that little country next to England, for those who don't know. My name is Huw (which is pronounced similarly to the English "Hugh"), but you may also know me as Skywatcher from ChristianTeenForums.com. I'm 19, currently studying physics at the University of Nottingham, am a non-denominational Christian, and this is my first contribution to Redemption Radio.

With the start of this blog, I'd like to talk to you a little bit about the start of something even more important - the first book of the Bible, known as Genesis.

Genesis 1 tells us only the most important aspects of creation:
that God purposefully made the universe, the Earth and life itself.

A lot of controversy and, perhaps, uneasiness surrounds Genesis 1 and its account of creation. Many people - not least Christians - often assume that there is an incompatibility between what Genesis says, and what mainstream science tells us.

As we (hopefully) all know, Genesis tells us that God created the universe and the Earth...

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth.  (Genesis 1:1)

...and all life upon the Earth...

And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds--livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds." And it was so.  (Genesis 1:24)

...and most importantly, He created us:

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.  (Genesis 1:27)

So far, so good. Genesis tells us that we were created by an intelligent entity, along with the universe itself, which by intent implies that the same entity (God) also created space, time and matter. Taking another step forward again, we can see that this must mean that God is not bound or affected by space, time or matter itself. So:

• God does not have spacial dimensions (i.e. he is unbound by space);
• God is not a subject of entropy (i.e. he is unbound by time);
• God is not made out of matter (i.e. he is not something that, by nature, we can physically see).

The problems that seem to arise with Genesis are with the more subtle details of the creation story. For example, that God created the universe, Earth and life in 6 "days" (Genesis 1:31), or that He created woman from the rib of man (Genesis 2:22).

There are a multitude of usually quite rational explanations for contentious issues such as these, e.g. translationary (the Hebrew word for "days" also means simply "periods" or "eras", which is a general way of conveying distinct spans of time), or metaphorical aspects.

Perhaps the main rival of the creation account today is the notion of evolution. Now, the process of evolution is proven - we see it happening - but this is not the same as Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution. The Theory of Evolution attempts to provide a scientifically-based explanation for how the natural process of evolution takes place, and its consequences. Despite popular misconceptions, the Theory of Evolution does not - nor does it attempt to - explain how life arose on Earth (which is a completely different process, known as abiogenesis).

Like most scientific theories, the Theory of Evolution is not proven - by its very nature it can't be - but it is, for now, a collaborative "best guess" as to how life on Earth has matured and changed over time. For the believers amongst us who see evolution as a particular threat to the Christian, I ask you: could not God have started the evolutionary process himself? (Please do not take this as anything more than food for thought.)

Evolution is often confused with abiogenesis, which is defined as the
process by which life begins. As of yet, there is no solid scientific
evidence to support any proposed abiogenetic mechanism.

So, back to Genesis. As Christians, it is important for us to acknowledge that the primary purpose of Genesis was to provide us with the information that we needed about God, and of course our existence. Genesis doesn't pretend to explain every last detail of creation. In fact, its intended purpose was simply to convey the message that we were created, by God, and are not simply an "accident" formed from the natural progression of time, space and/or matter.

Whether one considers the Genesis account of creation literally or not is actually, in my opinion, not a terribly important issue. The fundamental message we must take from Genesis is that God created everything in existence - including us - and, indeed, that such a universal being exists in the first place.

There are two logical assumptions we can draw from the world as to why we and it exist:

1. The universe is the "uncaused cause". The universe had no beginning and has no end; it has always been here, and we are a product of its existence.
2. God is the uncaused cause, i.e. the universe was created, just like us. God had no beginning and has no end; He has always existed and we are a product of His existence.

If we take the Bible into account - whose validity is actually backed up by a lot of historical evidence, even from non-Christian sources (in fact, almost all scientists and historians now acknowledge without a doubt that Jesus was a real man that did exist) - we need not question which of these two assumptions is correct.

God spoke to Moses and said to him, "I am the LORD.  (Exodus 6:2)

I leave you with the pivotal words of John:

These [things] are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.  (John 20:31)

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