Come, Follow Me Week 2, Part 4/7 (Jan 3 – Jan 9, Genesis 1–2; Moses 2–3; Abraham 4–5) – powered by Happy Scribe
Are science and religion in conflict as to how the Earth came to be? There’s no saying that science doesn’t answer any of the really interesting questions. The creation accounts found in Scripture are less concerned with questions like how, how, what, when, where, and more concerned with the question of why God gave men and women a natural curiosity that leads us to explore the wonders of the world around us by utilizing our own natural senses. Science can be an important and enlightening part of our exploration of the world around us.
But answering why questions is where religion and philosophy become useful.
The creation accounts found in Genesis, Moses and Abraham are concerned with the whys surrounding the creation of the Cosmos. The Lord gives the most direct answer to why when he tells Moses, this is my work and my glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. The other accounts of creation are designed to help us know why things exist and not necessarily how or when they came into being. We also see some interesting and subtle nuances in all of the texts as the creation of this operation.
For instance, when it was time to create plants, the record reads, And I God said, Let the Earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed should be in itself upon the Earth.
And it was so even as I Spake and the Earth brought forth grass, every herb yielding seed after His kind, and the trees yielding fruit whose seed should be in itself after its kind. And I God saw that all these things which I had made were good. God is the Creator of plants. But in this instance, he delegates creation, saying, Let the Earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed when it comes time to create animals, the Lord delegates the work as well. The record reads, And I God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly, the moving creature that hath life, and the fowl which may fly above the Earth in the open firmament of heaven, an eye.
God created great whales and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly after their kind, and every winged foul after His kind. And I God saw that all things which I had created were good when it comes to the creation of man, the record reads a little differently. Instead, it says, And I God said Unto mine only begotten, which was with me from the beginning, let us make man in our image after our likeness. And it was so. And I God said, Let them have Dominion over the fishes of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over the Earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the Earth.
And I God created man in my own image, and the image of mine only begotten created by him, male and female created by them. Did you catch the subtle difference there? God directed the creation of all things through his son, Jesus Christ. But he delegated parts of the creation. There was one instance where both the father and the son were hands on, and that was in the creation of men and women.
Our creation was not delegated because we are literally the sons and daughters of God. Maybe you’ve been involved in the creation of a book or a work of art or a building or even a video like this one. It is your creation and a lot of your love and heart went into it. But there’s not a comparison between how you would feel about those works of creation and how you would feel about your own child. One is a creative work made with love, and the other is your offspring an object of your love because it is really a part of you.
God loves all of his creations. He asks men and women to serve as wise stewards over his creations, to use them to find joy and to provide for themselves and their families. Why stewards do not abuse or destroy the stewardship in their charge. But there is a big difference in how God feels about a creation like a deer or a tree or mountain compared to how he feels about his sons and daughters. One is a creation and the other is his child.
Guest Author
dyejo
