Creation and Evolution - a Side Issue?

by Helen "Penny" Fryman

(Originally published in Creation Matters, Vol. 3, No. 3, May/June 1998. Copyright ©1998 Creation Research Society. Reproduction by permission of CRS and author.)

People do think and ask about the world in which we live, and the stars we see above. And they do have questions about it all. So, do we approach Christ via creation, or just not worry about creation? Is it just a minor point in the scheme of God's Word? The best thing to do is to go to the Word to find out.

In Revelation 4, we find the first two of a series of praise hymns. The first one, in verse 8b, praises God for who He is:

Holy, Holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was, and is, and is to come.

It is interesting that, before the beautiful praises in the next chapter concerning Christ's sacrifice and His redemption of mankind, there is this hymn, at the end of chapter 4 (verse 11):

You are worthy, our Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.

This hymn attributes glory, honor, and power to the Lord because of creation. Reading through Isaiah chapters 40-45, we also find the following:

"To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One. Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. [40:25-26]

This is what God the LORD says-- he who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people and life to those who walk on it: "I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand.... [42:5-6a]

"This is what the LORD says -- your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb; I am the Lord, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens who spread out the earth by myself.... [44:24]

For this is what the LORD says -- he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it, he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited -- he says: "I am the LORD, and there is no other." [45:18]

It is evident that God has a very strong identification with creation itself. He uses creation as a witness to Himself as well as saying, in effect: "See this? All this? I made it. It is mine." I think we should do no less when talking to others about our Lord. At some point, it needs to be stated, "See all this? See the heavens and the earth and all, down to the tiniest subatomic particle? God made it. He did it, and it is HIS."

When we talk science to non-believers, we may not be using Bible words, but we are following the example of God Himself as He spoke through the prophet Isaiah. We are praising Him for creation in the same way the 24 elders do in Revelation.

Of course the Bible itself is totally sufficient for those who already know it is God's Word. But for those to whom it has been presented only as a myth or legend, God has also given us His creation to use in showing, as the hymnist has written:

"O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made. I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder; Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Then sings my soul, my Savior, God to Thee, 'How great Thou art!....'"

Looking to creation, then, as evidence for God and His power and provision makes the creation-evolution dispute important in our Christian witness. It is not a side issue.

Our thanks to Helen Fryman for letting us share this article. Helen is the mother of six children, ages 13-24. She works in the education system at the county level -- teaching children who are either falling through the cracks of the system for one reason or another, or those who for various reasons are not in the public classrooms.

Scripture quotations are from the NIV Study Bible, ©1985, Zondervan. "How Great Thou Art" is ©1955, Manna Music.