CREATION. "We [evangelicals] have tended to have a good doctrine of redemption, and a bad doctrine of creation. Of course we have paid lip-service to the truth that God is the Creator of all things, but we seem to have been blind to its implications. Our God has been too 'religious', as if his
main interests were worship services and prayer meetings attended by church members. Don't misunderstand me: God *does* take a delight in the prayers and praises of his people. But now we begin to see him also (as the Bible has always portrayed him) as the Creator, who is concerned for the secular world as well as the church, who loves all men and not Christians only, and who is interested in the whole of life and not merely in religion." From "Balanced Christianity" (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1975), p. 45.

It is hard, sometimes, to cling to the belief that God created the earth. Students at all levels are bombarded with evolution teaching. Much of it is inaccurate, but it often causes doubt. But the Bible is clear in teaching God created the earth. That is my point of initiation. I believe the Bible is God's inspired word. I then have to include creation in that belief.

It is not just Genesis 1-3 that is involved. The Bible is replete with references to God as creator. Words we attribute directly to him, through the prophets, proclaim him as creator. In Isaiah, God constantly refers to himself as the one who created the world and can also destroy it. Psalms is the same. The New Testament has references also. If we excise creation, we must go through the Bible with scissors, cutting in book after book.

That is the problem with the philosophy of some who say they believe in the Bible, but believe the creation story is mythological. God cannot claim throughout scripture to be the creator if the story is mythological.

So the first point for the Christian is this. Do you believe the Bible is true? If so, you must believe in creation.