“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Here we have in the first ten words of the Bible (in English) written thousands of years ago the answer to questions many humans continue to ask: “Are we alone in the universe?” and “how did the universe come to be?” And the answers are “no” and “God” respectively I’m reading again through the Bible, as I do annually, and want to comment on things that strike me as I go. Like the inquisitor’s two main topics, the Who and the How?
I admit without apology that I believe all of man’s answers to life and living as told through this holy book can be accepted only as a matter of faith. That is faith is the assurance that these things that are written are true. Hebrews 11:1 Can you believe in miracles? Can you believe that water can be made into wine? Can you believe that the dead can be raised? Can you believe that an all-supreme being came to earth in the form of man and walked among us? Can you believe that this planet, that all that we see was the result of careful design and engineering and creation and humanity was placed here?
Or would you rather believe that the universe formed on its own unguided after a big bang? Believe that single cell organisms abruptly appeared from the primordial slime and evolved into other creatures all on their own? Can you believe that humans evolved from one species of creature into something different all on their own? Can you believe that life itself was something that spontaneously occurred from a non-living entity creating its own consciousness, its own sense of “self-awareness.” Then for you “Evolution” is the designer, engineer, manufacturer.
If you are in the former camp you can read the books of the Bible with an open mind seeking to understand what is written and why it was written, seeking to know truth.
If you are in the latter camp nothing you read will make sense and you’ll imagine that it is all make believe like the dozens or hundreds of other cultures’ “holy books.” You won’t be alone; I was in your company for the first 26 years of my life until a sudden event had a monumental impact on my perspective of life.
I should say it is possible that one can accept God and true science. At least the science of the kind that is provable, that gave us discoveries like x-rays, vaccines, etc. things that are provable. But I will be honest, science can neither prove the existence of God nor can it prove the existence of what is today accepted as fact called evolution, in spite of what some scientists state are “facts” rather than theories taken on faith.
So if you are somewhere between the camp of the skeptic and the believer and are seeking answers keep reading. What is presented in the 66 books of the Bible does make sense. Read it and see. Next I comment on the first few chapters of Genesis.