CREATION The Garden JOHN VOOYS What a wonderful world we live in! We are awed by a beautiful sunset, an eagle’s graceful flight, the unique design of a snowflake. We are deeply touched by a child’s smile, a friend’s greeting, a lover’s embrace. So, it’s not surprising that we wonder, “How did all this come about?” Some attribute all this to chance events, random evolution. But does that account for the order and design we see in the world? When we observe the recurring seasons, when we see the planets in their orbits, when we see marital love blossom into a newborn child, can we believe it’s mere chance? Besides, if impersonal evolution is behind it all, how do we account for all that makes us human – the capacity for feelings and the ability to think and to communicate? It doesn’t seem likely that an impersonal something plus time plus chance would result in personality. If random evolution cannot adequately explain the beauty and design of the world, may another explanation be possible? If an impersonal source cannot adequately account for the makeup of men and women, may a personal origin be suggested? The answer to both questions is, “Yes!” Millions of people throughout the ages have found satisfying answers in the Bible. There we read of a personal God who designed a beautiful home for us to live in. The opening line of Genesis, the first section, or “book”, of the Bible, says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). Further on, Genesis states, “God created man in His own image . . . male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27-28). The first human environment was called the “Garden of Eden”, which men and women were to “take care of” (Genesis 2:15). The truth in these statements gives significance to our lives as well as to the rest of creation. God formed our beautiful world, He created human beings, and He seeks to have a relationship with those He has created. As a result, He gave the first humans names and purposeful lives. While it is true that all living things are God’s creatures, it is people who are special, for only they were made in His “image”. This does not mean that we look like God, but rather that we have the capacity to reason, to use language and to relate to other humans and to God. We, like God, also express creative abilities, by producing art, music and literature. God has given us this wonderful world as a gift, a gift we are to take care of. It is a world that everywhere shows the Creator’s craftsmanship. Clearly, all of us owe Him a debt of gratitude. Theologian James Montgomery Boice once stated, “There is enough evidence of God in a flower to lead a child as well as a scientist to worship Him. There is sufficient evidence in a tree, a pebble, a grain of sand, a fingerprint, to make us glorify and thank Him.” John Vooys is an instructor at Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford, B.C.

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