Knowing God 101--the creation

Originally posted 10/1/07

I'm currently in the middle of Knowing God 101 by Bruce Bickel and Stan Jantz. I have to say, this book is absolutely awesome! It's really informative, yet really simple. It's not the kind where you're reading information, and your eyes start to glaze over, because it's just too much. I know some people like to read details upon details upon details, but most of the time, I'm not one of those people.

I just finished the chapter called Creation: A Likely Story. It didn't just say, here's what the bible says, believe it or be damned. It gave information on how the creation story in Genesis actually gels with science. That was a cool part for me, because I've never really seen it laid out like that. And I'm sure there are books that go extensively into this (and maybe I'll read one someday), but this was just short and right to the point, but I feel like it laid out enough information that I could understand it.

They briefly touched on the "when" of creation. How the debate used to be between creationists and evolutionists, but now the debate is between Young-Earth and Old-Earth creationists. I've read theories for both young earth and old earth, and I have to say I fall into the old earth camp. And evolution without creation just doesn't even fall onto my radar, because I think it's ridiculous.

There was a quote in the book that I especially liked. It said: "What can be more foolish than to think that all this rare fabric of heaven and earth could come by chance, when all the skill of science is not able to make an oyster." (Jeremy Taylor)

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone, although there are a couple of things that I have disagreed with so far, such as the part where they referred to the Jehovah's Witness religion as a cult. Also the part where they said there are two worldviews about how the earth came about, and that's the Christian or the Secular view. Off the top of my head, don't the Jewish people and the Muslims both believe that the earth was created by God? I can't say I'm an expert on religion, but I would think that they do. Other than that, though, I think this book is excellent.