The Beginning of All Things (Gen. 1-2)

Genesis 1-2

Genesis means beginnings.  How appropriate that God would start His account of history by discussing the very beginning.



Image courtesy of Victor Habbick / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
 

In the first two chapters of Genesis, God recounts the beginning of creation.  In it, he also answers some of the most fundamental questions related to meaning and origin.  Where do we come from?  What is our purpose?  Does life truly have any meaning outside what we see, hear or feel?

In these first two chapters, God provides the answers to the modern day problems of origin, order, life and morality.*  If we were to take God away from the equation of creation, as the modern atheist movement wants to, we are left with no plausible way to understand how these four concepts could have possibly evolved on their own.

Origin

The Big Bang Theory, no matter your view on the age of the universe, showed scientists that the universe had a definite beginning point.  However, if the universe hasn't always existed, then what or maybe more importantly Who existed before the formation of the universe?  In Genesis 1:1, we are given the most logical answer:  "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."

Order

While the Big Bang may give us a reason to believe that something existed before the universe did, the fact that we have order rather than chaos speaks to the design of the universe.  The universe isn't just random, it has order...order that we can understand.  This is very important and speaks to an Intelligence behind the order that we see.  Explosions, of any sort, don't create more complexity, it normally destroys complexity.  Don't believe me.  Blow up your computer and see if it runs better.

However, if we look at the days of creation in Genesis 1 and the care of the garden in Genesis 2, we see an intentional formation of each of the things created on each day or each circumstance.  We get the sense that the beginning wasn't just a random explosion, but rather a controlled environment designed to sustain all the complex things it created. 

It looks much more like a science experiment designed to succeed by a Being rather than an accident waiting to happen.

Life

Everything we have ever encountered through science tells us that life must come from life.  Never have men created anything living from any non-living material.  The more that we learn of the very complexities of life, the more implausible the idea that life could have just arrived by a random accident or chance becomes.  The very spark of life must be given by One who has that spark to share. 

Morality

On top of the idea of life itself, comes the knowledge that humans are a special kind of life.  We reason.  We are above the other forms of life and are yet responsible for them, as well.  Where did we get this commission?  Where did we get the idea of how to caretake for other forms of life or even how we were to treat one another?  Genesis 1 & 2 shows us both the commission and responsibility of being made in the image of God.

Without God, these fundamental ideas of origin, order, life and morality lose all meaning.  If there is no God, then who cares how we live, life becomes a cosmic accident, order is an illusion and origin leads ultimately to a death where there is no afterlife and no one cares that we lived, died or even existed.  The writer of Ecclesiates had it right...without God everything is meaningless.

How cool is it then that here at the very beginning of His word, where these most important questions are posed, God not only addresses the answer to these questions, but assures through His explanation that He is there and He is the answer to the questions we have...the only Answer that makes sense.


* I heard the ideas of origin, order, life and morality being evidence for God through the ministry of Ravi Zacharias.  You can follow the work of his ministry at www.rzim.org.