Thursday, December 15, 2011

Old Stories in a New Way: Creation

"Old Stories in a New Way" is a series highlighting Bible stories that most people have heard from the time they were infants. Teenagers especially have ceased to see the magic and wonder in the Bible simply because the stories have become so predictably normal. What people forget is that the Bible is anything but normal: the Bible is the world's greatest story, an adventure beyond anything we could ever imagine. It's time for people to hear the old stories of the Bible in a new way.


Recommended reading before the article: Genesis 1. I don't care if you've read it 3 million times. Read it again.


The creation of the world is one of the hottest topics for debate in the world today. People who don't want to believe that what's in the Bible is true come up with explanation after explanation of why Creation is not a plausible way to look at things. Mainly because in order to acknowledge Creation by a higher being, one must then, in turn, acknowledge the existence of a higher being, i.e. God. And they really don't want to accept that.

However, what many don't realize is that the majority of the evidence in favor of Darwinism has been disproved. The diagram with all the monkeys? Doesn't work. The one with the little buggish organism turning into a baby? They found out that it was never even thought to be true. It was fake. Completely fake, known to be so even by its creator.

In fact, much of scientific evidence today points to Creation, though the majority of scientists would choose to ignore it.

But, all this aside, Creation is, first and foremost, a story. One that we've heard so many times that we almost groan at hearing it again. We have stopped seeing how amazing it is because we've heard it so much. But, when you really think about it, the majority of the things in Genesis 1 are so incredible, so preposterous, so unbelievably incomprehensible that we can't even begin to wrap our little minds around it.

Most of us can't grasp the thought that in the beginning, there was nothing but darkness. That doesn't make any sense at all. Not to mention the fact that God was already there. God was there before the earth, before the heavens, before everything. God had no beginning. He simply is. In our minds, things absolutely must have a beginning and an end. But God doesn't. And it puzzles us exceedingly. Where did God come from? He must have come from somewhere.

And while we brush over the creation of the sun, the stars, the oceans, land, and animals, listing them off like something we had to memorize for a test, we skim over the fact that God created something out of nothing. For us measly humans, that is literally impossible. You cannot create something out of nothing.

Turn of all the lights in the room so that it's completely dark. Sit in the darkness for a moment. Then without moving at all, without lifting a single finger, just say, "light." Does anything happen? No, of course not!

But that's exactly what God did. He could utter a single word and something that was previously nonexistent would suddenly appear. How can you not be amazed at that?

Lastly, we forget so often that our God is an artist. We think of God as distant and standoffish. A rather boring, legalistic presence.

Our God is the most creative person that ever lived. He's like Picasso times a million. Do you realize what we do when we skim over the story of Creation like it's nothing new, like it's old information, like we've heard it once and we don't care about it anymore?

We discredit the greatest artist who ever lived. That would be like looking at Van Gogh's greatest painting and saying, "That's absolute crap. It's not even worth me looking at. I don't care about how long it took him to paint it. I don't care that he meticulously chose each of the colors to make it the most pleasing to the mind's eye. I don't care that he took the time to paint it for others to enjoy."

Our God created the world for us. He told us the story of Creation in Genesis so that we would be in awe, so that we would fully appreciate the effort and thought He put into making it for us. He made light because He knew would we delight in the sun's rays on our faces in the summer. He made the moon and the stars and the constellations knowing that the study of them would intrigue and inspire His children for centuries. He created the oceans and the streams so that we could take joy in the sound of rushing water and the feel of the ocean breeze and the sensation of wet sand squishing between our toes. He created the mountains and valleys, the great ruts and majestic landmarks of the earth so that we could look upon them with wonder and think of the God who made them. He created multitudes of animals and fish and other creatures so that we could see them and never have a doubt in our minds that there is a God.

How sad it must make Him when we don't even want to hear about it. When we don't want to take the time to appreciate the work He put into creating this for us. When we can't even take a few minutes of our lives to take in the beauty that He so purposefully placed around us. It makes me so ashamed that I can't appreciate the incredible gift that my God has given me.

And if our refusal to appreciate the beauty of the things He put around us makes Him sad, can you even imagine how devastating it is when we speak or think badly about His masterpieces?

When we gossip about other people or even think badly of ourselves we are discrediting God. God created us in His image, perfectly formed, the way we are supposed to be. When we call each other or ourselves ugly or make comments about our hair, our face, our bodies, we are telling God, "You didn't do a good enough job. You messed up."

God doesn't make mistakes. He knows that. But, oh how it must hurt Him to think that we think His greatest creation is a mistake. When we talk badly about ourselves or other people, we don't even stop to think about how it makes God, our Creator, feel. Maybe we should.