A Creationist’s Testimony

Being a Christian I’ve always been a Creationist in a general sense. Without very robust discipleship when I was young I was exposed to everything from Young Earth Creationism to forms of Old Earth Creationism and everything that exists in between within contemporary Christian culture. I grew up in an age where evolution was mildly present in the education system and so felt a tension between the Bible and prevailing beliefs. By default I affirmed some basics of Creation but also was willing to settle upon aspects of an older earth viewpoint. However, I had other more pressing questions in my discipleship and so this question was left for another day.

Fast forward to 2017–2018 and this still described my position, though I was continually bumping up against the subject and knew—not in any way avoiding it—that it was a subject I really needed to get a more decided view of. Then I became what I like to call a Classic, or Younger Earth, Creationist (Classic because some forms of Young Earth Creationism can still bear some peculiarities). As I’m not a scientist, though certainly scientific, most of the arguments that unhinged my view were biblical-philosophical, etc, rather than science based.

Here are the key points that led to me becoming a Creationist:

1. What saith the bees? As a beekeeper, very well acquainted with the wonder and complexity of the honey bee, I knew it was impossible for such a complex organism and society to simply evolve. Remove any one component and the whole simply does not work. I.e. evolution doesn’t work when set against the bee. This is known as Irreducible Complexity.
2. How could the earth be young when it looks old? Here I was exposed to a man who had both scientific and theological qualifications. In fact, he was a university professor who had overseen multi-billion dollar space agency programs. Specializing in design he shared a simple antidote: engines used to have to be ‘broken in’ after they came off of the assembly line. Today engines are designed ‘road worthy’ as soon as they come off of the assembly line. It is a new engine but appears ‘old.’ This helped unhinge my thinking and led to further cataclysmic discoveries.
3. What saith Church History? Being the respecter of church history I came to appreciate that prior to the late 1800s all Christians had either held to a literal six days of creation or a younger earth view. Men whose other views I respected, such as the authors of classic Protestant/Baptist confessions, had this to say: “In the beginning it pleased God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,1 for the manifestation of the glory of His eternal power,2 wisdom, and goodness, to create or make the world, and all things therein, whether visible or invisible, in the space of six days, and all very good.” (1689.4.1). Was I wiser than they?
4. What would bring God more glory? Even a cursory glimpse of the Bible tells us that all things exist for God’s glory, to demonstrate the greatness of His being. What would glorify Him more, slowly creating the world over time or suddenly speaking and Creation coming into being because of the power of His words? The latter appeared to be the clearest and most compelling answer to me.
5. What saith the Bible? While all of these other hinges are useful, what saith the Bible? This is where every Christian should seek to find their answers. Yet surprisingly it wasn’t Genesis that ultimately led me to adopt a Creationist view but Hebrew 11:3, “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” Speaking of how evolution taxed our faith more than the Bible because of what is necessary to believe the theory, Spurgeon said, ‘O infidelity! thou art a hard master, and thy taxes on our faith are far more burdensome than those which Revelation has ever made.’ This certainly proved true for me, for when, in faith, I trusted and accepted another historic quote was proven true, “I believe that I may understand” (Anselm). In believing my mind found rest to be able to move on to not only seeing correctly but advancing in other areas of theology.  

 
*Since then other blocks have been laid that have reinforced my view (such as the distinction between observational science and speculative science- science is not history or religion, there are questions it cannot answer).

As we see the negative fallout of evolutionary thought in our world (e.g. hopelessness and immorality) I hope many Christians who aren’t Creationists in the strict sense will see the value of reconsidering these matters and that this testimony has given you cause for consideration (or encouragement if I’ve been preaching to the choir).