The Origin of Life (Genesis 1:20-25)
Where did you come from? Did you evolve from a simple cell that was accidentally created by a bolt of lighting billions of years ago? Or was life on earth created by God for a purpose?
I’m sure you have an opinion about how life began on earth. In fact, you are probably very confident about your opinion. But consider this: there are billions of people who have a different opinion. You might think they are ignorant. And perhaps they are. But are you able to convince someone with a different opinion that you are right and they are wrong?
Do you have solid, unshakable evidence to support your view about the origin of life? Or have you simply accepted what you have heard at your church, mosque, or school?
In this lesson I will show you what the Bible says about the origin of life, and compare it to current scientific theories. As always, I will present evidence, and let you decide what to believe.
We will begin with Genesis 1:20-23:
And God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth on the face of the expanse of the heavens.” And God created the great sea-creatures, and every living creature that crawls, which the waters abound with, according to their kind, and every bird with wings, according to its kind, and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.” And there was evening, and there was morning—a fifth day.
Here the Bible describes how God create everything that lives in the water and everything that flies in the air in a single day. That doesn’t match the theory of evolution, which says all life forms we see today evolved over millions of years.
Some people say that in the Hebrew language, the word day doesn’t always mean a 24 hours period. That is true. The word day in the Bible can also refer to a whole year or even a thousand years. For example, 2 Peter 3:8 says “with the Lord one day is like a thousand years.”
But here in the chapter we are reading, the word day is defined as an evening and a morning. It says, “there was evening, and there was morning—a fifth day.” So the days in this chapter are normal, 24-hour days. So here the Bible clearly contradicts the theory of evolution.
Also notice that is says each type of creature was created according to its kind. As I read the verses 24 and 25, notice how it specifically says each creature is created according to its kind:
And God said, “Let the earth bring out the living creature according to its kind, livestock and crawling thing, and beast of the earth according to its kind.” And it was so. And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, and the livestock according to its kind, and every crawling thing of the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
The Bible says again and again that each creature is created according to its kind. Each creature has a unique design, a unique pattern. Again, this is a clear contradiction of the theory of evolution.
In the past several lessons I have showed how the Bible doesn’t contract science. But here, we have a clear and direct challenge to one of the main claims of modern science. We have a showdown.
You have three possible choices here:
- Reject the Bible as a myth created by men
- Reject the theory of evolution as a myth created by men
- Reject part of the Bible and part of the theory of evolution in order to blend them together
Whichever path you chose, you must reject something.
What you believe now is probably based on a decision you made long ago. I suggest that when you made that choice, you may have been missing some important information.
In the next lesson, I will share several important facts that you may have never considered before. I am sure you will find it to be very interesting.