Where did people come from? Who or what made everything? These questions burn in the minds of those who note the magnificent world in which they live. The animals, each with their own ways, bring joy to the heart and sometimes tears to the eyes. The plants show forth beauty to be consumed by human eyes and savory scents to be inhaled through the nostrils. Are the sights, smells, sounds, and textures experienced by human senses the product of random chance?
Well educated people have answered “Yes” repeatedly, that the earth and all things in it have come together randomly and spectacularly, and that what is seen is the product of hundreds of millions of years of natural selection paired with random chance. The Bible stands forever in opposition to such claims, teaching instead that God is the Creator of all things, that chance played no part in the process, and that only six regular length days were required to complete the entirety of the universe.
One may ask, “Why should I believe the claims made by the Bible?” Such a question is reasonable and is complemented by this thought: Only if the Bible proves its own divine origin from within is there good reason to believe everything claimed by it.
Many passages reasonably prove the divine origin of the Bible, one of which is Psalm 8:8. Psalm 8 praises God for creating all that exists with the eighth verse making a passing claim that there are “paths in the sea”. Matthew Maury, an American naval officer, was reading that Psalm and consequently began a series of experiments to track the paths of the sea, concerning which David had praised God. Maury found what are currently known as “currents” in the water, paths which run through the oceans and allow for greater speed and ease of naval travel. Following his death, Maury was inducted into the Hall of Fame for Great Americans. A monument erected in his honor still stands today, recording as his inspiration Psalm 8:8 and Ecclesiastes 1:6.
Believe the claims of the Bible because of its complete accuracy on passing matters of significance. The paths of the sea to which David referred were not discovered for thousands of years, leading the reasonable reader to this conclusion: the origin of the Bible is not human, for no human knew these things at the time they were written. The Bible must be beyond human; divine. Faith in the accuracy of the Scriptures is built on the foundation of irrefutable evidence. Because of the proven divine origin of the Scriptures, every person should adhere to its teachings and follow its precepts.
God does not expect blind, baseless faith. On the contrary, He has provided evidence to wipe away doubt and replace it with confident, evidence-driven faithfulness. The writer of Hebrews references that same kind of faith when he says, “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible” (Hebrews 11:3).
Believe the message of the Scriptures, and let evidence-driven faith bring about a correct view of the world and the things in it: They were created by God’s divine decree to draw the human mind back to Him, that all may find their Creator and with Him the purpose of life itself.
Comments