We previously saw that everyone has faith to some degree regarding some things. We also saw that both a belief in naturalism (everything can be explained through natural science) and a belief in supernatural forces (some things can’t be explained through natural science) involve faith. Only an “agnostic” (one who takes no position about such things) can claim to not have faith about such things.
When it comes to the issue of “creation or no creation” we have a similar issue of faith. None of us can directly observe what happened “in the beginning,” so any beliefs we have regarding how the universe and life came into existence involve some degree of faith.
For me, the greatest evidence for a creation (which implies some kind of supernatural force at work) is science. Through science mankind’s knowledge about natural things has greatly multiplied. Many things that were once thought to be simple are now known to be very complex. The sheer complexity of life and the complexity of the universe appear to me to be far too great to have happened based only on natural forces, time, and chance. When I view a complex universe, and complex life in this world, I see a “creation,” not something resulting from random chance and time.
Some who think otherwise embrace the viewpoint of Charles Darwin, who wrote the book “The Origin of Species” (originally published in 1859). In that book, Mr. Darwin promotes the idea that complex life has evolved over long periods of time by time and chance, with no supernatural creator involved. On page 194 (in the edition published by P.F. Collier & Son, copyright 1909, edited by Charles W. Eliot) he writes:
“If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down. But I can find no such case.”
While there is a lot of evidence that “microevolution” does happen (as Mr. Darwin correctly observed), to the best of my knowledge no one has ever observed “macroevolution” to occur (one kind of animal changing into another kind, or life developing from inanimate matter). No one has ever observed any “complex organ” forming “by numerous, successive, slight modifications” from some other kind of organ. Mr. Darwin shows himself to be a person who has faith in the beliefs of naturalism by believing such things have happened by random chance and time in the past, when no such things are observed to happen anywhere today.
Since Mr. Darwin’s time, the science of molecular biology has shown that even just a single living cell is incredibly complex. Science still cannot bring a single living cell into existence from lifeless non-organic matter; nor can science yet fully explain how cells function. In my opinion, it is self-evident that every living cell in existence today is too complex to “possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications” from lifeless matter. I conclude, based on Mr. Darwin’s own statement, that modern science has shown his theory to “absolutely break down.” This leads us to another self-evident truth:
There is a creation.
For Further Reflection: