Creation Believe It Or Not

Ripley’s Believe it or Not recounted strange stories, bizarre feats, and oddities.  And viewers were challenged to decide whether they believed what they were seeing or not.

But in this sermon we’re not discussing strange, bizarre, and odd things.  We’re discussing the words of God.  The Bible is the word of God and, like Ripley’s, you choose to believe it or not.

Often, to help people decide whether to believe the words of God, men have produced and debated reams of evidence to defend what they believe and to convince others to go along with them.  Many of the arguments between believers and unbelievers are about the evidence and the interpretation of the evidence, rather than about the words of God, themselves.

These are generally smart people who debate, notwithstanding that “debate” is one of the evidences of people in a society given over to a reprobate mind, Rom 1:28-29.  And many times the debates are between people who are “proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth”, 1 Tim 6:4-5.

For example, when men argue about creation, they look to the evidence they see in places like the Grand Canyon.

Those who don’t believe in the Biblical account of creation see periods of gradual formation in the visible layers and date them according to their perceived and relative ages.  And they reject that the Canyon was formed in a catastrophe like Noah’s flood.

Those who do believe in the Biblical account of creation see a rapid formation of the layers which they attribute to creation and they attribute their exposure in the Grand Canyon to Noah’s flood.

These opponents go round and round trying to each prove that their evidence and the interpretation of their evidence is more reliable, factual, and convincing than those who don’t hold their view.  Thus, the arguments are more about the evidence than they are about the words in the Bible.  We’ve probably all seen some really “good” evidence and heard some really “good” arguments substantiating or rebuffing the evidence we’ve seen.

However, today, rather than discuss the evidence, we’re going to simply discuss the words.

The first verse in the Bible says, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth”.  You either believe this or you don’t.  But you say, “I want to see the evidence” before I decide.

And so you start looking up all the evidence you can find.  And after looking at all the evidence, do you know what you conclude?

There is not enough evidence to prove, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that God created the heaven and the earth.  And there never will be enough evidence to prove this, unless God shows us, in the future, how he created all of this.

And there is not enough evidence to prove, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that God didn’t create the heaven and the earth.  And there never will be enough evidence to prove this.

There are just really good debaters on both sides that go round and round arguing their positions and evidence.  And you are left to decide which evidence and debater is the most convincing or the most supportive of what you have come to believe.

In reality, you are right back where you started.  You still have to decide whether, concerning what God said about creation, you believe it or not.  If you believe it, then you don’t need any evidence to strengthen your faith.  You believe God’s words.

If someone asks you about your stand on creation, you can simply say, “I believe what God said, ‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth’, Gen 1:1, and ‘the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear’”, Heb 11:3.

When they pull out their reams of evidence to convince you that you are naive and foolish to believe something so unscientific, you can smile and say, “You haven’t proven that God didn’t create the heaven and the earth; and you never will.  You believe what your sources have said and I, on the other hand, believe what God said.  I’ll stick with God”.

In the end, those of us who believe in God and are around over 1,000 years from now will get to see what no man has ever seen, creation. We’ll be eyewitnesses to one of the greatest miracles to ever take place in the universe.  We’re going to see the heavens dissolve and the elements melt with a fervent heat, 2 Pet 3:12.  And then we’re going to see God create new heavens and a new earth, 2 Pet 3:13, Is 65:17.  You see, the “big bang” is at the end of these heavens and this earth; not at the beginning!

So, it’s not “seeing is believing”.  In fact, it’s “believing is seeing”.  If you believe what the Lord said, you’ll be around to see the creation of the new heavens and the new earth.  John has already seen them the way they’re going to look after they are created, Rev 21:1.  They’re going to be here, Believe it or not.

After listening to all the debates and examining all the evidence, you’re still left with a choice.  The evidence and the debaters can’t make the choice for you.  Creation believe it or not.

Ask yourself, “Is my faith in the evidence I’ve seen and believe, or is my faith in what God wrote”?  If it’s in what God wrote, then no amount of evidence is needed to strengthen your faith, and no amount of evidence will ever convince you to the contrary.