Made From Dust (Part 2)

Can you or I create a man from the dirt? Can science create a man from the dirt? Can evolutionary theory create a man from the dust? Man, in all of his intricate anatomical structure. From the human eyeball to the central nervous system, to the spinal cord, and ligaments, and sinews. Think of the human body and how it works in perfect unison. Have you thought about how the arms, legs, and hips work together in complete unity? 

God made man from the dust! The next time you are at the beach, pick up a handful of sand and allow it to run through your fingers. Then tell yourself, “this is where I came from”. The incredible part is that God used dirt to create man.  We can think of God creating the universe out of nothing and say “Wow!” We can think of God parting the Red Sea and of God raising the dead. These are miracles in the truest sense of the word, miracle. God has miraculously done what no created being can ever do: create something out of nothing! 

What should be said of the fact that God used dirt to create the human being? Doubters and skeptics scoff at this idea of spontaneous creation while believers stand in awe and say, “Praise the Lord of heaven and earth!” 

There is no possible way that the human being has evolved from some other pre-existent life form. First, there were no other life forms in existence when God used the dirt to create man. Someone could argue that dirt is a “life-form” and I would challenge them to prove this. Besides this, before there was dirt there was no dirt. And while there was a time when there was no dirt, there was never a time when there was no God. Someone could attempt to argue that there is no God. I challenge them to prove this and to do so without using the logic that has been given him to do so. CS Lewis said “there is difficulty in arguing with God. It is like a man sawing off the branch that he is sitting on.” One cannot be created in the image of God, by God, and then say, ‘God does not exist’. (In part three I shall address the idea of “burden of proof”) .

Secondly, macro evolution, which is the theory that man has evolved from a completely different species, has never been proven or observed in a scientific laboratory. Yet, anti Christian institutions and places of education hold this form of evolution as truth and hold the Bible and its teachings as myth or speculation. Advocates of this evolutionary theory have attacked the Christian worldview and beliefs upon the assumption that Christianity is based upon unproven faith claims. Yet, evolutionary theory itself is based upon an unproven “faith” claim. Evolution believes in something that it has never actually witnessed take place. So Christians are not the only ones who live by faith. Evolutionary theory also lives by faith. Keep in mind that the Christian world view has tons of historical facts which lay the foundation of its beliefs, while evolution has not one transitional fossil form supporting the idea that a man evolved from another species. This is not surprising whatsoever, as the Bible does not mention nor teach macro evolutionary ideas. Macro evolution has originated in Charles Darwin’s ideas that there is no God. If there is no God then how does Darwin explain the origin of the universe and of mankind? This is the challenge that Darwin faced. Macro evolution is an attempt to replace God’s testimony of creation, the fall, redemption, and the consummation of God’s kingdom.
Christianity has historical support validating its claims. Christian and non Christian witnesses have written about and have testified to the truth claims of Christianity. For instance, over 500 people at one given time witnessed Jesus after he was raised from the dead ( 1 Corinthians 15:1-6) . In fact, there is more credibility for the Christian world view and the scriptures of the Old and New Testament than there is even for Homer’s Iliad, and the writings of Plato. No one ever questions the authorship of these historic writings, so why question the veracity of and authorship of the Bible? At the end of the day Christianity is not a faith that is devoid of historical facts and verifiable evidence. Christianity is the worldview that leaves all men without excuse.
God creating everything out nothing is far more extraordinary than anything Darwin could ever think of or write about.
One final thought is that the truth of scripture is something that is believed by “faith alone”. Yes, it is an article of faith. Hebrews 11:3 teaches us, “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.” It is not possible to believe in God in a saving way without faith. Faith requires repentance and submission to the God who is love, holiness, and truth.

In the next part I will talk about the burden of proof the meaning of life.

Made From Dust (Part 1)

Have you ever thought of the first human being and where it came from? Have you ever thought of the idea of identity and where the human being got his identity from? How about the human personality? Where did this human personality come from? 

Let’s look first to the creation narrative in Genesis 2:7,

Then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

This verse is more powerful than we have probably given thought to in the past. If you’re like me I have read this in the past and simply glossed over it as the “creation of man account”. While some reject the Bible as God’s infallible word to mankind, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ believe and know that this is the very Word of God to mankind regarding the source and generation of all life. 

How deep and majestic is this verse in Genesis 2:7? Along with every other verse in scripture we admit up front that this is the Word of the all powerful and eternal God. One word of God can create the universe and one word of God will one day recreate the universe. Isn’t this an amazing thought?

Another amazing thought is that God created from the dust a living human being. Better yet, God created a simplistic element such as dust and from this simplistic element formed perhaps the most complex and dynamic life form in the universe: humanity. God took something as minuscule as dirt and created a human being and bestowed upon this human being an identity, a personality, and a will. God breathed into the man and it is at this very point that man became of living creature. Wow! Who can create a “living creature”? No one but God! This is part of what makes God so awesome and holy. 
David said in Psalm 139, “I praise You for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” When we come to this point in our life and we begin to understand what David understood, we now begin to see that God has a purpose for us dust creatures after all. We began as dust, but through grace and Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection we become sons and daughters in God’s eternal family. As it is written in Ephesians 3:14-15 “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,” There is no other name that creates and that saves than Jesus (Acts 4:12) .