The Origins of Life

Last night  there was a great debate about the origins of life.  Online at debatelive.org you could, and still can, watch a debate between the famed scientist, Bill Nye the Science Guy and creationist scientist, Ken Ham.  The basic question being debated was whether the Creation accounts in Genesis, as modeled by Ham's Answers in Genesis ministry, were a viable option for the origins of life.  Simply put, is the account of creation in Genesis the way that life began.

Both Nye and Ham presented as much as they reasonably could in the short amount of time they had for sharing.  They both made logical cases for why their view of the origins of life was correct.  In the end, as with any debate, there is no clear winner per say.  It's not like a sporting event where there is a clear cut winner and loser.  In the end, neither Nye or Ham were willing to waver from their fundamental beliefs.  But that is no shocker either.

Being a bit of a science nerd I enjoyed the information being shared.  I knew some of what Ham shared and some of what Nye shared.  But when all was said and done, I was like Nye and Ham, I wasn't swayed from my convictions on the origins of life.

Like Ham, I am a believer in Christ.  I have put my faith in Christ and trust God to lead and direct my life because of the faith I've put in my relationship with Christ.  Because I am a Christian that means I have given up my right to view every part of life from a humanistic point of view.  It means that every aspect of my life is to be viewed through a lens of faith or from God's perspective.  Do I accomplish that in every moment of every day?  No.  But do I attempt to live my life with a perspective of how God views my life?  Yes.  That being said, I can't take certain parts of life, science and the origins of life, and say that I can view them from a way contrary to what God has revealed to us.  When it comes to the Bible, if I believe what it says in the New Testament about God's love and redemption of mankind, then I must believe what it says in Genesis about the creation of the universe.  Something that I've taught plenty of times before and will continue to teach is that the Bible does not tell us everything we want to know, only what we need to know.  God doesn't tell us how Noah fit all the animals on the ark, or how many animals were on the ark or if creation occurred in six 24 hour periods.  It's because those are things that we don't need to know.  Yes we want to know but that information is not a necessity for us to understand what God wants from us, a relationship, and what He wants to share with us, His grace.

Until Christ returns or we all go into eternity, we will never know the answers to all of our questions.  When we do have all the answers given to us in eternity, then they won't matter to us anyway.  Yes, we should continue to seek out evidence that proves the truth of the creation accounts.  But in the end the Bible, God's Word, is not a science text book but more of a love letter to mankind.

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