Sunday: Turtles All the Way Down…
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen: 1:1).
A scientist had just lectured on the orbits of the planets around the sun, and the orbit of the sun around the center of the galaxy, when an old lady in black tennis shoes rose and said that the earth was a flat disc sitting on the back of a turtle.
Image © Justinen Creative from GoodSalt.com
The scientist, jesting, asked what the turtle sat on, and she responded that it sat on another turtle. “Ma’am,” the scientist continued joking, “what then does that turtle sit on?” She answered, “Another turtle,” but before he could ask what that turtle sat on, she wagged her finger in his face and snapped, “Save your breath, sonny, it’s turtles all the way down.”
However cute, that story deals with the most crucial issue of human existence — the nature of the universe itself. What is this world that we find ourselves in by no choice of our own? Why are we here? How did we get here? And where are we all finally going?
These are the most basic and fundamental questions people could ask, because our understanding of who we are and how we got here will impact our understanding of how we live and how we act while we are here.
Look up the following texts: Gen: 1:1; Ps: 100:3; Isa: 40:28; Acts 17:26; Eph: 3:9; Heb: 1:2, Hebrews 1:10. How does each one, in its own way, answer some of the above questions? What is the one point that they all have in common?
What is interesting about Genesis 1:1 (or even the other texts) is that the Lord does not attempt to prove that He is the Creator. There are no elaborate arguments to make the point. Instead, it is simply and clearly stated, with no attempt to justify, explain, or prove it. Either we accept it on faith, or we do not. In fact, faith is the only way that we can accept it, for one simple reason: none of us were here to see the Creation process itself. It would, indeed, have been a logical impossibility for us to have been there at our own creation. Even secularists, whatever view of origins they hold, have to take that view on faith for the same reason that we as creationists have to: none of us were there to view the event.
| Nevertheless, even if God has asked us to believe in Him as Creator, He does not ask us to believe without giving us good reasons to believe. Realizing that there is a certain amount of faith required in almost anything we believe, write down reasons why it makes sense to have faith that we are here because a Creator purposely put us here, as opposed to our origins being rooted in nothing but pure chance. |
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The Son of man came eating and drinkng, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children. Matt 11:19.
'Write down reasons why it makes sense to have faith that we are here because a Creator purposely put us here, as opposed to our origins being rooted in nothing but pure chance.'
1.Faith is trusting in God to be our guide, provider, protected, sustainer etc for the new day when we wake up in the morning.
2.Faith is something we hope for and did not see as yet.
3.Faith is believing in the reality of the impossible.
4.Faith is trusting in the God who we were told existed who is the creator of everything.
Many of us or even all humans have faith in something that is why we do those things without even realizing what we are doing. E.g we are told one of the function of food is to nourish the body so we can live and become strong. When we eat, we do not know what happens to the food and the extractions of nutrients when it enters the mouth and passes through the digestive system but all we know is, we are growing every day and is in decent health. We cant see in our own body but we believe by faith in the process of digestion and what the body does with food.
We are also told poisonous substances damage our bodies. Because of this, we do not use poisonous substances to prove to see if that is true. We truly have faith that the will kill us.
So it is with believing in God that this world was created by someone, a deity, our Creator who created all thing. We were not there but that Creator still actively wakes us up to a new day that never existed and is in control of the heavens, earth and sea. He still speaks to nature and to humans, we are not here alone to fend for ourselves.
My daughter and I were reading in Romans 8 about the creation groaning and waiting for liberation and her comment was ‘Why am I even here? I did not ask to be here? Why did God not prevent all the agony and sin in the first place?’
So for some persons, their faith in God is unquestionable but they want to know how did He allow things to get out of hand.
There in lies the mystery of iniquity and the mystery of love.
It makes sense to have faith, because my savior wakes me up everyday since birth. Very simplistic response some might say, but as Thomas Aquinas declared "To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.”
When I love the unlovable, I reflect God’s unconditional love for unlovable me.
Faith is knowing, that we have this blessed hope. Jesus reigns forever throughout eternity.
For their “no God” stance the unbelievers rely on theories such as “the Big Bang”, but it gets to be like the turtles. Where did the one “singularity” come from.
In my opinion it takes more “faith” to believe in the Big Bang than it does to believe in a Creator God.
Yes, they can make some math formula work, but they basically have a fairy tale plan for the basis of the theorem.
Turtles all the way down - to what? - and back to a singularity - from what?
Even Believers who don’t acknowledge a literal Creation are better off than the Big Bang theorists.
Amazing that scientists could be so foolish and then say Believers are the misguided ones.
Through HIM, all things are possible........
Through HIM all things are feasible........
Faith is a must -- we have to choose if it is in God or in blind chance. For something to be scientific, it must be 1- Observable (we can see it happening), 2- Testable (we can do an experiment to see it), 3- Repeatable (doing the same thing should give similar results), 4- Falsifiable (we can prove clearly that it is or isn't so). Neither Creation nor Evolution can be observed like that -- That is why FAITH is a MUST.
*But* scientific *laws*-- 1-Cause and Effect, 2-Biogenesis, 3- Probability*, 4- Entropy --- These support Creation rather than Evolution... Did you know that the papacy believes in "Theistic" Evolution? That theory tries to cross the two, which is illogical, but crowds love it.
An explanation of why we are here, and why God did not step on the bug(Satan) when His beautiful sinless creature who became a sinful bug is plausible if we accept the Bible and God by faith. We will realize that God is a God of love, longsuffering, forgiving, not willing that any one should parish, but that all should come to repentence. 2 Peter 3:9. In 2 Peter 3:20 there is another good explanation. I do believe for children, children of the Bible, and even us who have been in the Bible for years, our growing and continued faith in God will bring us an adequate understanding.
Sorry I ment for the second text to be 1 Peter 3:20.
Faith in a created universe/multiverse makes sense. Logic us being created by God, to live in His likeness and to have domination over other created beings and have fellowship which him is simple. Logic that pain, disease and suffering was self-inflicted when we accepted a lie hence this degradation of man and the world makes sense. the logic that I took the creator to restore reaction and Him we can return to the perfect state makes complete sense. the logic that He will defeat death, end sin and we'll live with him eternally makes sense. I won't say there are no questions. I so many questions about these. among all the explanations of origins, purpose, existence, etc, the creationist (adventist interpretation) makes more sense than the chance/national selection/evolution logic. If we completely understand why God created us, then we won't have any wonder about God. I want to understand all these - and I want to spend endless life learning and understanding all this.