Imagine you and your brother are kids and you are coming inside after a morning of playing hard outside. You grab a drink of water from the fridge and you both turn around to see cake sitting on the table, with a fancy glass cover over it. Both of you are very excited because you love cake and you can't wait to dig into it. There is a note sitting next to the cake that says 'Enjoy! Each of you gets one slice for lunch."
Being the obedient children that you are, you eat a sandwich for lunch and cut one slice of cake for each of you and chow down. While eating the cake, both of you begin to wonder where the cake came from. "I'll bet Mom made it," you say. "Just look at how moist and delicious the cake is. She's a great baker."
"No, I bet she bought this cake at the store," says your brother. "Just look at the designs on this awesome frosting!" Now the argument has started. Both of you point out various parts of the cake to make your case, sometimes even using the same parts to make two separate cases. The cake, the frosting, the design, you both use all of it to prove your points. Clearly the evidence in front of you is on your side. Both of you think this. You are now at an impasse.
Finally you notice that the note in front of the cake is actually a folded piece of paper. You pick it up and realize that it is a longer note from your mother. "Dear kids, I hope that you are enjoying the cake. I made it especially for you this morning using an old family recipe that I've had, and I'll share it with you now. The first thing that I did was . . ." You read through the ingredients and the instructions on the sheet. "Finally, the cake turned out perfectly," wrote your mom. "Now I'm going to take a break from baking. I'll be home later after I run some errands."
"You see! Mom did make the cake!" you shout. "It says so right here."
"I still don't think so," says your brother. "I've seen too many cakes that come from the store. This one looks and tastes exactly like those. She could have bought this cake from the store, there's no shame in that."
"But that's not the point," you say. "She tells us right here that she made it. This is her hand-writing and I recognize the way she talks. She even tells us how she did it. " You even start pointing out all of the parts of the cake again to prove it. Your brother still disagrees and points out everything again to prove his point.
"But Mom is not a liar. Why would she lie about this?" you ask. "We should believe her. She was there and we weren't. This cake is obviously home made."
"Obviously you're crazy. This cake is bought from the store, I don't care what the note says. In fact, I'm not so sure that we can even trust Mom anymore. If she would lie about this, what else is she lying about?"
"But we can trust her. She's a good mom and she doesn't lie," you say, heartbroken. Your brother walks off leaving you alone at the table. You put the note down, resolving to give your mom a big hug when she gets home, thanking her for the wonderful cake that she made.
The crux of the creation vs. evolution debate, what it all really comes down to, is who do you believe? Do you believe an eternal God, who is all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-present? Do you believe sinful man, who has spent thousands of years trying to come up with ways to eradicate God from their consciousness? What is your starting point for viewing the world? Do you see a world created by a wonderful Creator or do you see a world in which death, disease, and random chance have brought us to this point?
The evidence is the same for both sides of the debate. How you interpret the evidence depends upon the view you start with. It depends on who you believe. For if God can't be trusted in this one area, how can He be trusted in any area? How do you decide when it stops being a fairy tale and when it becomes the Truth?
That's why I have chosen to believe all of it, even when I don't always understand it. Even when the things I see seem to contradict what He says. Even when others are telling me that I'm crazy. You see, when it's His Word against ours, I'll take His Word every time.
More on this topic next time.
I would like to thank and acknowledge the ministry of Answers in Genesis who has provided a wonderful website that views the world through the eyes of the Bible. They have been an excellent resource for me over the years and have provided the answers to many of my questions. They truly respect God's Word and use it to help understand the wonderful world that He has created for us.