Did the world ‘Just happen’?

(Bible study by John Myers)

A federal judge in Harrisburg, Pa., recently ruled that “Intelligent Design” cannot be taught as an alternative to the “theory of evolution” in the Dover Area School District.

In 2005, school boards in 24 states considered introducing Intelligent Design in their science instruction as an alternative theory to evolution (including South Carolina, but not North Carolina).

Intelligent Design states the natural world is too complex to have “just happened.” If you found a clock lying in a field, would you conclude it “just happened” to get put together that way to keep time? Or would you say a possum “just happened” to make it?

The theory of evolution claims all life “developed through mechanisms of random mutation and natural selection,” which Darwin called “survival of the fittest.”

In other words, according to Darwin’s theory of evolution, life “just happened.”

Here’s a report from the Website, Creation Moments: www.creationmoments.net, written by Pastor Paul Bartz: “New research shows that, when attacked, many plants make chemicals that will give munching insects a bad case of indigestion. They also seem to warn their neighbors about the attack so that they, too, start up their defenses. Some plants even call in air defenses.

“Some plants, when attacked by caterpillars, release a scent that scientists simply describe as ‘green leaf odors.’ These odors attract certain female wasps, who hone in on the plant. The wasp will sting the caterpillar, leaving him paralyzed. She then lays her eggs in the pest, who remains paralyzed until the hatching young wasps consume it. That ‘green leaf odor’ is a plant’s way of calling in air defenses. It is communication between plant and insect!

“Some evolutionary biologists are upset with the intelligence and design in this arrangement. Plants are supposed to be too simple to communicate. As one evolutionist put it, this is ‘not a defense against anything,’ it ‘just happens.’

“I remember trying that excuse as a child. The cookie jar fell to the floor while I was trying to sneak a cookie. ‘It just happened,’ I said, as if the cookie jar had come alive before my unbelieving eyes and jumped to the floor. My mother reminded me that things don’t ‘just happen.’ And science teaches us that things don’t ‘just happen.’ Not only do we see that God exists, we also see a bit of His love in providing for the plant and His intelligence as the author of communication.”

Of course, the Bible says life didn’t “just happen,” but quite the opposite: Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

In God’s world, nothing “just happens.” God created the heavens and the earth and He also created all plants and animals upon this earth, before the first man.

And man didn’t “just happen” by an accident of evolution either.

Genesis 2:7 in the New KJV adds, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”

Let’s take a short side trip here: I’ve been asked many times, “Will we see our lost pets in heaven?” I have taught before that man is the only creature with a soul, while animals do not have souls, based on the ending of this one verse in the King James, Gen. 2:7, “and man became a living soul.” But that is not what this verse really says.

W.E. Vine’s An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words says the Greek word translated “soul" is psuche, which means “an animate creature, human or other.”

The Hebrew word used here for soul is “nepesh,” according to Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, which says, “The KJV alone uses over 28 different English terms for this one Hebrew word. The problem with the English term “soul” is that no actual equivalent of the term or the idea behind it is represented in the Hebrew language.”

Vine says the use of “soul” in Gen. 2:7 is “an unfortunate mistranslation of the term.”

The KJV Parallel Bible Commentary says this about the KJV use of “living soul” in this verse, “A better translation would be ‘a living creature or person,’ as the phrase (identical) is also used of animals (Genesis 1:21, 24). Thus, soul is not a reference to the concept of body, soul/spirit, but rather to the fact man became a living being. Man is distinguished from animals by being created in the image of God.” So, do animals have a “soul”? When Adam sinned, the penalty of death came upon the entire creation, so does that mean we can assume animals did not die until that time?

Romans 8:19-22 refers to when man will be redeemed with new, spiritual bodies, and says the other parts of God’s creation will be delivered also, referring to all other life.

“¹⁹For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. ²⁰For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; ²¹because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. ²²For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.”

Does that mean animals will be resurrected into new life, like humans? I don’t know. Perhaps the writer is accurate who wrote, “Heaven is the place where when we first arrive, we will be greeted by every animal we’ve ever loved.”

It is certainly within the power to God to resurrect any of His creations, man or animal. Heaven will certainly be a perfect place where we shall want for nothing.

Now, back to Genesis 2: Where was Adam created by God? In the garden of Eden?

Genesis 2:8 answers that question. “The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.”

So Adam was created outside the garden, then placed in the garden by the Lord God.

Author John Eldredge in his book “Wild at Heart” makes the point that man was created in the wilderness, then placed in the garden. He says this explains the yearning in the nature of man for the great outdoors, which is not usually the same in a woman.

And where was Eve created? In the garden, which Eldredge says explains a woman’s nature to have order and beauty around her, instead of dirt and danger in the wilderness.

Maybe that also explains why us redneck men carry sharp pocketknives and love guns. And maybe that’s why us redneck men agree with retired Georgia governor and U.S. Senator Zell Miller, who said about gun-control laws, “I’ve already got more guns that I need, but I don’t have as many guns as I want.”

Genesis 1:27 says “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

That means all us, men and women, are created in the image of God. Eldredge points out men are natured like God’s powerful, dangerous side, while women are natured like God’s tender, compassionate side. And we all have a varying mix of both these natures.

Jesus shows both of these natures, the tender, compassionate side that reaches down to lift up the lowliest; and the powerful side that brings down the lofty from their thrones and drives out the money grubbers from His Father’s house with righteous anger.

Submit Bible questions by email to writeme@johnwmyers.com

(John Myers has been a Christian lay speaker, Sunday School adult teacher and newspaper Bible study columnist for more than 25 years.)