2021-02-13
Matteus 19:4 NLV
‘n Fassinerende aanhaling uit ‘n 1995 uitgawe van die U.S. News & World Report lees as volg: ‘Navorsers stel voor dat amper alle moderne mans – 99 persent van hulle, sê een wetenskaplike – geneties nou verwant is of gene deel met een manlike voorsaat wat ‘Y-chomosoom Adam’ genoem word. Ons is besig om uit te vind dat mense baie, baie vlak genetiese wortels het wat na een onlangse voorsaat nagespeur kan word. Dit beteken dat daar ‘n oorsprong op ‘n spesifieke plek op die aarbol was en dat dit van daar af uitgesprei het.’
Verder weet ons dat die man die vrou nodig het om voort te plant, en andersom. Geeneen van die twee kan lewe sonder die ander een voortbring nie. Jesus het dit uitgewys deur te sê: ‘…die Skepper [het] die mens van die begin af man en vrou gemaak…’
Wie het dus volgens die evolusieteorie eerste gekom: die man of die vrou? Soos een skrywer opmerk: ‘As ‘n man sonder ‘n vrou begin bestaan het, hoe het die manlike van elke spesie sonder vrouens voortgeplant? Hoe is dit moontlik dat ‘n man en vrou elk spontaan begin bestaan het, maar tog komplekse, komplementêre voortplantingstelsels het? As elke geslag in staat was om sonder die ander een voort te plant, hoekom (en hoe) sou hulle voortplantingstelsels ontwikkel het wat beide geslagte benodig vir die spesie om te oorleef?’
Net omdat ‘n akademikus iets sê, maak dit dit nie waar nie! Christene moet begin antwoorde eis by diegene wat onbewese teorieë in die naam van hoër onderrig aanbied. Jesus het gesê dat ons die waarheid sal ken en dat die waarheid ons sal vrymaak (sien Johannes 8:32). Vry waarvan? Vry van foute!
Sielskos: Pred 1-4; Matt 14:13-21; Ps 145:14-21; Spr 4:23-24
Matthew 19:4 NCV
When God designed the earth, He knew exactly what we needed, and worked it all out flawlessly. If there was even a small variation, we wouldn’t be able to survive. For example, if the earth was 10 per cent larger or smaller, life as we know it wouldn’t be possible. If we were any nearer to the sun, or any further away from it, we wouldn’t be able to cope with the temperature – it would either be too hot or too cold for us. Ours is the only planet in the solar system that’s tilted at an angle that allows the sun touch all parts of it over a year, which stops it getting too hot or cold.
God made this earth especially for us: ‘For this is what the LORD says – he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited’ (Isaiah 45:18 NIV). And He designed us to live in companionship: ‘When God made the world, “he made them male and female.” In the Garden of Eden, God created Adam and Eve as the perfect complimentary companions for each other.
That’s how much God cares for us. Using His infinite power, He built our incredible earth from nothing, and made sure He was meeting all our needs. And He’s still doing that today – every time we bring our prayers, our joys and our fears to God, we can trust that He’ll provide whatever we need. He knows exactly what’s best for us, just as He did when He created the earth.
Ecc 1-4; Matt 14:13-21; Ps 145:14-21; Prov 4:23-24
Matthew 19:4 NKJV
A fascinating quote from a 1995 issue of U.S. News & World Report reads: “Researchers suggest that virtually all modern men – 99 percent of them, says one scientist – are closely related genetically and share genes with one male ancestor dubbed ‘Y-chromosome Adam.’ We are finding that humans have very, very shallow genetic roots which go back very recently to one ancestor…That indicates that there was an origin in a specific location on the globe, and then it spread out from there.”
Furthermore, we know that the male needs the female to reproduce, and vice versa. Neither can carry on life separate from the other. Jesus pointed this out, saying, “He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female.'” So which one of them came first, according to the evolutionary theory: male or female? As one author writes: “If a male came into being before a female, how did the male of each species reproduce without females? How is it possible that a male and female each spontaneously came into being, yet they have complex, complementary reproductive systems? If each gender was able to reproduce without the other, why (and how) would they have developed a reproductive system that requires both genders in order for the species to survive?”
Just because an academic says something, doesn’t make it so! Christians need to speak up and demand answers from those who offer unproven theories in the name of higher learning? Jesus said we would know the truth, and the truth would set us free (See John 8:32). Free from what? Free from error!
Soul food: Ecc 1-4; Matt 14:13-21; Ps 145:14-21; Prov 4:23-24
2021-02-12
Genesis 1:1 NLV
‘n Groeiende aantal opvoeders en wetenskaplikes rondom die wêreld glo die Bybelse weergawe van die skepping en verwys ons terug na die waarheid van hierdie woorde: ‘In die begin het God die ganse heelal gemaak, die hemel daarbo en die aarde hieronder.’ Die vraag: ‘Evolusie of skepping?’ word duideliker wanneer jy dit herfraseer as ‘Ongeluk of ontwerp?’
Sir Fred Hoyle, professor in astronomie aan die Cambridge Universiteit, het gesê: ‘Die kans dat ‘n hoër lewensvorm dalk op hierdie manier (deur evolusie) gevorm is, kan vergelyk word met die kans dat ‘n tornado deur ‘n rommelwerf swiep en ‘n Boeing 747 uit die materiale aanmekaar sit.’ Hy gaan voort: ‘Die waarskynlikheid van die vorming van lewe uit lewelose materie is een uit 1040,000. Dit is groot genoeg om Darwin en die hele evolusieteorie te begrawe. Daar was geen oersop, op hierdie of ‘n ander planeet nie en as die begin van lewe nie toevallig was nie, moet dit dus die produk van doelgerigte intelligensie wees.’
Selfs die evolusionis Stephen Hawking, een van die mees gerespekteerde wetenskaplikes sedert Albert Einstein, het erken: ‘Die heelal en die wette van fisika kom voor asof dit spesifiek vir ons ontwerp is. As enigeen van ongeveer 40 fisise wette effense ander waardes gehad het, sou die lewe soos ons dit ken, nie kon bestaan nie. Atome sou of nie stabiel gewees het nie, of hulle sou nie in molekules saamgevoeg kon word nie, of die sterre sou nie die swaarder elemente kon vorm nie, of die heelal sou ineengestort het voordat lewe kon ontwikkel.’
As iemand wat in die Bybel glo, moet jy nooit verskoning maak of toegee wanneer dit by die waarheid kom wat sê: ‘In die begin het God die ganse heelal gemaak, die hemel daarbo en die aarde hieronder’ nie.
Sielskos: Rom 15-16; Matt 14:1-12; Ps 145:1-13; Spr 4:20-22
Genesis 1:1 NKJV
You’ve probably come across the argument that science and the Bible disagree with each other, and there’s no way to reconcile the two. Many scientists reject the biblical account of creation, and are firm believers in evolution. But there are scientists who believe that the words, ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,’ have some truth in them. Physicist Henry Margenau put it this way: ‘There’s only one convincing answer…creation is by an omnipotent omnipresent God’.
Although scientist Stephen Hawking didn’t believe in God, even he said: ‘The universe and the laws of physics seem to have been specifically designed for us. If any one of about 40 physical qualities had more than slightly different values, life as we know it could not exist: either atoms would not be stable, or they wouldn’t combine into molecules, or the stars wouldn’t form the heavier elements, or the universe would collapse before life could develop.’
Isaiah 40:28 says: ‘Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom’ (NIV).
Creation is a miracle and a mystery to us, but as Christians, we’re privileged to have a relationship with the Creator. Quantum physics can help us discover some of the delicately-balanced rules that keep our world under control, but nobody except God understands exactly how the world was created and how those intricate rules work together. And as children of the Creator, we should never apologise when we state our belief that ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.’
Rom 15-16; Matt 14:1-12; Ps 145:1-13; Prov 4:20-22
