Creationism - a joke??

Ricky Gervais is a well-known TV person(ality?!). He was mentioned, a couple of days ago, on the news programme to which I listen on my way to LHS each morning. Apparently, he had been at the Edinburgh International Festival with a new 'show' entitled "Science". As an example of Mr Gervais' humour, we were treated to his discovery that there are some 60,000 different types of vertebrate animal on planet earth, and the side-splitting question as to how Noah would have managed to get two of each of them into the Ark!

Perhaps Mr Gervais should learn that one of the basic maxims in the study of science is proper examination of the evidence. If he had done his homework properly, he would have discovered, first of all, that the Ark, according to the record in Genesis 6, was not the simple little boat that is so popular in children's story books, or in The Early Learning Centre. It was, in modern measurements, some 450 feet long; 75 feet wide; and 45 feet high. It had three decks, or floors and a total capacity of more than one-and-half-million cubic feet!!! That's a lot of space in anyone's book.

However, Mr Gervais, had he taken the time to check, would have discovered that the Bible doesn't speak of every breed of animal, but of each 'kind'. Putting it as simply as possible, that means that Noah didn't need a pair of spaniels; a pair of wolves; a pair of poodles; a pair of daschunds; etc. Indeed, most of the modern dog breeds did not even exist in Noah's time. All he needed was a pair of canines - from whom, eventually (and over a relatively short time) all of the present breeds would have descended. He would also have taken, not the largest, oldest, animals, but the youngest (and, therefore, smallest). When one takes all of this into consideration, it becomes clear that Noah not only had room for all of the necessary livestock, but also for foodstuffs, bedding, and all of the other necessities for both the animals and his family.

The problem is, I would suggest, two-fold. First of all, there is the basic - and false - assumption that 'science' has provided all of the answers to the big questions of life, and that it the evolutionary process has been "proved". However, evolution is just one interpretation of the available evidence. The other is that those who agree with the apparent beliefs of Mr Gervais tend to look only at some 'big picture' that they have been fed by people like Richard Dawkins, without asking the questions that are missed out by him and his ilk. Take, for example, something as common as the eye. It is one of the most complex organs in the body. Yet without being complete as it is, it is of no use at all. Why, we might ask, did such a 'useless' organ evolve to its present useful complexity?

The real reason for the popularity of the evolutionary model is, of course, nothing to do with science in its proper sense. It is nothing more, or less, than a rejection of the Creator God - the Eternal One Who lives in a dimension that mere mortal beings are incapable of understanding. The wonder of the Christian Gospel is that it tells us that that same God loves us so much that, in the Person of the Son (for a message on the doctrine of the Trinity, please go to www.revcbross.blogspot.com) He took upon Himself our humanity; lived among us as the One we know, historically, as Jesus of Nazareth; died on a cross, at Calvary - taking the punishment for your sins and mine; and rose again from the dead so that we might have the offer of His life within us.

I commend Him to you.