The Apostolic faith expressed in the Apostles’ Creed proclaims, “I believe in God the Father almighty maker of heaven and earth.” Yet, some Christians have also accepted the secular teaching that creation is the result of a mindless natural evolutionary process. You can’t have it both ways. If God is not creator, He is not Lord and human beings are.
If God did not create all that exists out of nothing, then the material world is beyond God’s domain and He is not Lord of all. If God is not the creator, He is not the sovereign, all powerful ruler. If God is not the creator, God has no right to impose His laws on us. If God is not the creator, human beings are not created in the image of God with special value and special responsibility.
If human beings are the result of natural evolutionary forces, then human beings are at the center of the universe, the end product of an upward momentum evolving to perfection. Human beings instead of being “wretched” and sinful, are the pinnacle of evolution so far, free to determine what laws they will follow and to what authority they will submit. They are confident that the past is imperfect and the future is higher and more perfect, as society, human beings, and nature move ever upward until perhaps one day they evolve into divine perfection.
On the other hand, if God is the creator, as the Bible teaches and Christian doctrine affirms, creation will always remain substantively distinct from its creator. God rules over all and we stand under His Lordship.
This article first appeared in Theology Matters, Vol. 5, No. 2 (Mar/Apr 1999).
