BY MARK A. FINLEY

During my public evangelistic meetings I routinely conduct question-and-answer sessions. The subject of Creation often surfaces. Audience members ask questions like these: “Did God really create the world in six literal, consecutive, 24-hour days?” “How do we know He didn’t take billions of years?” “Does it really make any difference if the days of Creation week were literal?” “After all, if we believe that God began the process of creation, isn’t that what is important?” “Why should we be concerned about how He did it?”

These questions are vital, and they demand rock-solid answers. The implications move far beyond the Creation story. How we personally relate to these critical issues will determine our confidence in the integrity of Scripture and dramatically affect our understanding of significant Bible truths. Our answers will also directly influence our personal relationship with God…

One of the great theological problems with theistic evolution is that it limits God’s power. It exalts natural law above the Creator of natural law. Theistic evolution doesn’t allow for an all-powerful God to miraculously shape our world. It reduces God to the scale of human imagination, and exalts reason above revelation. This was precisely why humanity fell in the beginning. Eve listened to the voice of the serpent in the garden and trusted what her eyes could see rather than what God said. Her mind became the final arbiter of truth.

Reason is certainly a gift of God, but left alone and unaided, it is an insufficient guide. Our first parents turned from the authority of God’s word to the folly of their own wisdom. The danger of this habit is readily apparent: our first parents’ decisions were disastrous.