Design Engineering Shows 1) God Created Life 2) Genesis 1 is literal 5. Final Remarks. Having established that true science and the Bible support each other, The issue of whether we are here by an act of a living God or from the operation of unguided, randomizing processes is important. Unlike discussion of the best opening move in a chess game, how a person responds to the issues discussed here potentially has eternal significance. Genesis Chapter 1 proclaims that the God of the Bible directly created the heavens, the Earth, and the life we see on Earth. Chapter 2 declares that as Creator He has the right to establish rules for our behavior and to judge us if we disobey. Chapter 3 demonstrates that God exercises His right to rule and to judge. Chapter 4 reveals that God is willing to be reconciled to us through a proper offering—but only on the terms He establishes. The importance of these chapters makes them a target for any who do not like the message they contain. The third chapter of Genesis describes a historical event with consequences still affecting us today. Adam, the first man, and Eve, his wife, chose to disobey God in the hope that their action would result in them acquiring greater wisdom and experiencing a fuller life. Moreover, they could do this without consequential judgment. Man is still pursuing this goal today. We are descendants of Adam and Eve— ones who rejected God’s authority over them, wanting to become their own gods. They wanted to determine truth according to their own wisdom. They were the world’s first humanists. Unsaved man has no desire to submit His will to a holy God. In line with the promise Satan made to Eve in the Garden, man wants to be his own god, determining for himself what is right and wrong. Jesus said that “He who sins is a slave to sin (John 8:34). An unsaved man does not have a personal, living relationship with God. To him God is merely one who takes offense to the things that to him make life worth living and to which he is enslaved. In an effort to soothe his conscience about God, he vociferously attacks the legitimacy of the opening chapters of Genesis. Since he does not have a personal relationship with God, he finds that the standards of a holy God are too stifling and too restricting for him to live by. He does not understand the inward joy and satisfaction with one who knows God and has an intimate personal relationship with Him. Those who claim to be believers and yet reject a literal understanding of these chapters imply that God was not accurate in these chapters, even though they are so essential to everything that follows. They implicitly agree with atheistic materialists that the arguments for naturalism are stronger than those for a literal interpretation of these chapters. As a pastor, I believe this offends God greatly. God honors belief. God hates idolatry. This theme runs throughout both Old and New Testaments. God is a jealous God and He judges idolatry severely (Deuteronomy 4:24-29, Romans 1:18-2:5). He will not give His glory to another (Isaiah 42:8, 48:11). In traditional idolatry, physical objects are worshiped instead of God. He hates this. In modern society a physical process—natural selection—is worshiped. None of the wisdom and creative power God used to plan and make the various life forms around us is acknowledged. Instead, all of the credit is given to a mindless process, natural selection. Modern idolatry is more subtle and dangerous than traditional. Physical idols have no power, yet can get a powerful grip on a person’s mind. By contrast the process of natural selection is claimed to have such great power that it can account for the appearance of all of the various life forms around us. Since, according to Romans 1, natural man wants to suppress truth about God and turn to idolatry, the hold of evolutionary theory on unsaved man is potentially even stronger than traditional idolatry. We can readily observe this in how desperately biologists still cling to a natural origin of life despite all of the evidence God provides showing He made it. Sadly, unsaved man wants idolatry to be true. From Romans 1, God’s wrath is aroused by the worship of any form of idolatry. He alone is worthy of worship. This natural bias for idolatry is a spiritual issue to be fought against. God is a God of love. He demonstrated this in sending Christ to die as our substitute, bearing the punishment we deserve for our sins. The Bible states in Romans 5:8, “…while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” This is true love! Nonetheless, Christ Himself spoke about eternal judgment in Hell almost more than any other issue. It is the truth of Hell that motivated Christ to die for our sins. It is foolish for someone to claim to rely on Christ for salvation while rejecting what He taught. This shows he still hates the light (John 3:16-21). God sets standards for salvation. His love provided a means of reconciliation to those who want reconciliation—but He also reveals that salvation is only available under His terms (Genesis 4). His love does not provide an excuse for the behavior of those who in their hearts still reject Him and His Word, wanting Him to submit to their conditions. This was the mistake of Cain in Genesis 4. Woe to the one who in his heart believes that the arguments presented by those who reject God are stronger than what God has given us in His Word and for His Word. Woe to leaders who teach others these things even while claiming to be His servants. Give the living Creator God glory by believing Him and His Word! The fifth of the five articles mentioned above serves two purposes. First, it uses shows how Jesus fulfilled various prophecies concerning the Messiah in the Old Testament. This is presented as evidence to confirm that the God of creation and the God of the Bible are plausibly one and the same. However, there is something bigger in Jesus than merely representing fulfilled prophecy. These passages present Him as Savior, as uniquely the One who can reconcile us to a just and holy God. The issue of whether the God of the Bible is the God of Creation has significant and eternal ramifications. Perhaps this is best explained by a passage in the Bible, Romans 1:18-20: 18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,19because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. I would like to examine the contents of this passage in reverse order, starting with verse 20. This verse implies that the God of the Bible designed the creation, including the life that is in it, to reveal His person, that is, His eternal power and Godhead. Earlier we saw how the combined observations of science and engineering plausibly led to the origin of life as being the product of an Intelligent Being who had the characteristics of a personal God. According to verse 20, this is exactly what we should expect to find. Truly unbiased engineering and science work together to lead a person to the understanding that a living, personal God created the life we see around us. It can be effective in doing this because God designed the creation to do this. I believe the arguments presented in the earlier discussion were clear and powerful. God says the evidence from creation leading to understanding basic qualities of His person are so clear that HE counts a person as without excuse who rejects the testimony. This paper attempts to show how. Verse 19 says that God works within each one of us individually to show us that He exists. He uses the creation to do this. So, deep down every one of us knows this God truly is the Creator. The last half of verse 18 talks about how the natural reaction of man (i.e., each person individually and societies as a whole) is to suppress personal knowledge of God. I believe the reason for this is that the word “Godhead” in verse 20 refers to His nature as God and this includes His holiness. God shows each of us individually through our conscience that He is holy and that we are sinful. It is the guilt we naturally experience because of the sin in our life and the personal recognition that this sin offends God that causes us to reject God as Creator. We do not want to know of a holy God. It is in response to this common reaction that verse 18 closes with the statement that we suppress truth about God because of our sin. However, doing this is dangerous. The first part of verse 18 tells us that God’s wrath is aroused by our ungodliness and unrighteousness. There are severe, eternal consequences to the sin we covet. We need to run to the truth, not from it by suppressing it. So, the true reason men hate the opening chapters of Genesis is not because of science as much as it represents an effort to deny their accountability to God. Science becomes an excuse to ignore the warnings. It appears to be easier for us to sear our consciences if we can somehow make science appear to justify rejection of the inward testimony God gives each of us personally. Yet, doing this only increases God’s wrath in a coming day of judgment. God sees the inward motives of our hearts. Earlier we mentioned that God in His love makes reconciliation with Him possible. This is what Genesis chapter 4 is all about. However, He tells us His terms; we don’t tell Him our conditions. The basis for forgiveness is simple. The 5th article in the collection mentioned earlier talks about how Messianic prophecy in Isaiah 53 tells of a coming Savior (Jesus Christ) who will offer Himself as a sacrifice to pay for the sins of men. God declared that this Savior would offer Himself as a sacrifice over 700 years before it took place. In the proper time this is exactly what happened as God sovereignly carried out His plan. The prophecy was not mere foresight. It was revealing a specific action God had determined to do, which in time He did do. This is the power of the God we need to serve. The Bible reveals that God already existed in the beginning (of eternity). Jesus existed as God with God in the beginning. In time, He was made flesh (John 1:1-2, 14), becoming fully man and fully God. He was made flesh for our sakes, to bear our sins. God in His love for us took the penalty for our sins onto Himself. These things are to be believed as revealed by God concerning Himself. Our response reveals our degree of submission. If God is working on your heart even now to seek reconciliation with Him, call on Him with your lips to save you, submitting to Him as Lord. He is worthy of obedience in this life. Come to Him relying on the sufficiency of the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus on the cross to wash you from your sins. Rely on Him in His resurrection to receive you into eternity as a new child of God. He promised that all who come to Him in this manner will be received (See Romans 10:9). After receiving Christ, you should also be immersed (baptized) in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (See Matthew 28:19). "You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created." Revelation 4:10 https://www.trbap.org/OOL.pdf page 21