Creation and Current Questions

By Rev. Frederic W. Baue

POP QUIZ

1. Why do high schools have Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender (GLB T) groups?

2. Will your Biology 101 professor in college flunk you if you reject Evolution?

3. The Baptism Formula (“in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”)—is it sexist?

4. Is God really in control?

5. Does Creation have anything to do with Jesus Christ?

These and many other intriguing questions came up in the course of writing my new book on the Doctrine of Creation. Most orthodox Lutheran theologians simply say that God created the world out of nothing (ex nihilo) in six days and leave it at that. They oppose Evolution, but do not connect Creation with wider cultural issues.

The vast majority of modern theologians, both Protestant and Catholic, have compromised with Evolution. Regarding question #2, not only will your biology professor flunk you, so will your theology professor. They espouse what is called “Theistic Evolution.” That is, the world and its living things came into being the way science describes it, but God was guiding the process. Then somewhere along the line God anointed some cave man with the gift of reason, and old Trog became the first human being.

Today, a new idea is emerging—a Theology of Evolution. The basic principle is not the Bible, but Evolution. God has some power but is not omnipotent. He has some knowledge, but is not omniscient. He kind of got things going in the beginning, but now He is standing by and watching in amazement as things evolve according to natural, scientific principles. So much for question #4.

The bottom line: Darwin’s Theory of Evolution has become a basic first principle of modern thought, not only in science but also theology. But the problem is, when you destroy the Doctrine of Creation, you also destroy the Doctrine of Redemption. As I say in my book: “No creation, no Adam; no Adam, no Fall; no Fall, no sin; no sin, no need for a Savior. Thus is the axe laid to the root of the cross.” (Question #5)

Everything the Bible says in Genesis 1-3 is literally true, and connects in every way with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who is the Last Adam, the Image of God, the King of Creation, the Gardener of Paradise, the High Priest of the Tree of Life, and the Bridegroom of the Church.

Modern man—and particularly modern woman—cannot stand this. The Bible sets forth God the Father and God the Son. Of course the maleness of the Divine Persons is not the same as the maleness of human beings, as the Bible teaches. But for many scholars, the Bible is just a collection of myths and legends. And Christianity is patriarchal, sexist, and oppressive. Evolution, of course, frees one from these medieval superstitions and customs. Man is just another animal, and in many animal social groups, the female rules. So feminist theologians put pressure on liberal churches to change the Baptismal Formula to something less offensive, like “Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier” (Question #3).

The Bible knows nothing about such nonsense. It simply says, “Male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). And, “She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man” (Genesis 2:23). So the Bible gives headship to the man in marriage, because of the Order of Creation. Note, however, that even before the Fall, in a sinless world, the woman is in a subordinate role. She is Adam’s helper (Genesis 2:18). This does not mean she is inferior to him in any way. After all, Adam says of her, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh” (Genesis 2:23).

But modern thought continues to lurch recklessly onward, destroying one cultural institution after another. I once heard Dr. Francis A. Schaeffer say of the Sixties’ rebels, “They seem to think that if they smash everything, something wonderful will drop out,” as if society were a big piñata. How many people your age do you know who “hook up” with a member of the opposite sex? How many of you are in “blended” families? How many have divorced parents? How many have older brothers or sisters who are living with someone to whom they are not married? How many know someone who is gay or lesbian? (Question # 1).

The Doctrine of Creation speaks to all these contemporary issues. As Jesus Himself said, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate” (Matthew 19:4-6).

Study the Doctrine of Creation. It is the foundation of everything else that follows.

Rev. Frederic W. Baue, STS, Ph.D., is the pastor of Bethany Evangelical Lutheran Church in Fairview Heights, Illinois. He takes his youth group to Higher Things every year, and has often been a featured speaker. He is the author of Creation: A Literary, Apologetic, and Doctrinal Approach (Naperville, IL: Blue Pomegranate Press, 2010). His email is fbaue@sbcglobal.net.