Friday Sermon: Some Home Truths About God and Creation

By Babatunde Jose

A growing number of educators and scientists around the world believe the account of creation in the Bible and the Quran and are pointing us back to the truth of these words: ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.’ Genesis 1:1 and Quran 7, Al-Araf:54

The question ‘evolution or creation?’ becomes clearer when you rephrase it as ‘accident or design?’ Sir Fred Hoyle, professor of astronomy at Cambridge University, said: ‘The chance that higher life forms might have emerged in this way [through evolution] is comparable to the chance that a tornado sweeping through a junkyard might assemble a Boeing 747 from the materials therein.’

He continues: ‘The likelihood of the formation of life from inanimate matter is one out of 1040,000…It is big enough to bury Darwin and the whole theory of evolution. There was no primeval soup, neither on this planet nor on any other, and if the beginnings of life were not random, they must therefore have been the product of purposeful intelligence.’

Even evolutionist Stephen Hawking, one of the most respected scientists since Albert Einstein, acknowledged: ‘The universe and the laws of physics seem to have been specifically designed for us. If any one of about 40 physical qualities had more than slightly different values, life as we know it could not exist: either atoms would not be stable, or they wouldn’t combine into molecules, or the stars wouldn’t form the heavier elements, or the universe would collapse before life could develop.’

All divine religions have taught that God created the universe by commanding “Be!” and that its flawless functioning is proof of His great power of creation. Many verses in the Qur’an also reveal this truth. For example, God reveals how He miraculously created the universe from nothing: “The Originator of the heavens and Earth. When He decides on something, He just says to it, ‘Be!’ and it is” (Surat al-Baqara, Q2:117). See also (Surat al-An’am, Q6:73)

God can use particular stages in His creation if He so wills. For example, He produces a plant from a seed or a human being from the coming together of a sperm and an egg cell. Yet these stages have nothing to do with evolution and have no room for chance or coincidence. Every stage in the emergence of a plant, or the turning of a single cell into a human being “in the best of forms,” happens thanks to the perfect systems created by God’s infinite might.

God willed and created the Earth and the Heavens, all that lies between, and all living and non-living things. This is very easy for Him, as indicated in the Qur’an: See (Surat al-An’am, Q 6:73), (Surat an-Nahl, Q16:40), (Surah Ghafir, Q40:68)

Yet some people do not fully comprehend His might and thus judge Him based upon their own limited powers. God says in the Qur’an: They do not measure God with His true measure when they say: “God would not send down anything to a mere human being.”… (Surat al-An’am, Q6:91). See also (Surat al-Hajj, Q22:74) (Surat az-Zumar, Q39:67)

Contrary to what those who believe in evolutionary creation suggest, God did not first create apes and then cause them to evolve into humans through flawed transitional forms with missing organs. Rather, as the Qur’an reveals, God created man in the most perfect manner: We created man in the finest mold. (Surat at-Tin, Q95:4).

Of course, man also has several incapacities and weaknesses, all of which remind him of his poverty before our Lord. Deformities and disabilities are the results of a purposeful creation, for they serve as reminders for those who see them and as a test for those who carry them. They are not imperfections caused by evolutionary process as falsely claimed by the evolutionists.

The Quran instructs Muslims to “contemplate the wonders of creation” (Quran 3:191). The entire universe, which was created by Allah, follows, and obeys His laws. Muslims are encouraged to seek knowledge, explore the universe, and find the “Signs of Allah” in His creation. Allah says:

“Behold! In the creation of the heavens and the earth; in the alternation of the night and the day; in the sailing of ships through the ocean, for the profit of mankind; in the rain which Allah sends down from the skies, and the life which He gives therewith to an earth that is dead; in the beasts of all kinds that He scatters through the earth; in the change of the winds, and the clouds which they trail like their slaves between the sky and the earth; here indeed are Signs for a people that are wise” (Quran 2:164).

For a book revealed in the 7th century C.E., the Quran contains many scientifically correct statements. Among them:

Quran on Creation:

“Do not the unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together, then We split them apart? And We made from water every living thing…” (Quran 21:30).

“And Allah has created every animal from water…” (Quran 24:45)

 “It is He Who created the night and the day, and the sun and the moon. All (the celestial bodies) swim along, each in its rounded course” (Quran 21:33).

 “It is not permitted for the sun to catch up to the moon, nor can the night outstrip the day. Each just swims along in its own orbit” (Quran 36:40). See also (39:5, (55:5).

“You see the mountains and think they are firmly fixed. But they pass away just as the clouds pass away. Such is the artistry of Allah, Who disposes of all things in perfect order” (Quran 27:88).

“Man, We did create from a quintessence of clay. Then we placed him as a drop of sperm in a place of rest, firmly fixed. Then We made the sperm into a clot of congealed blood. Then out of that clot We made a fetus lump. Then We made out of that lump bones and ­­clothed the bones with flesh. Then We developed out of it another creature. So blessed be Allah, the Best to create!” (Quran 23:12-14), see also (Quran 32:9), (53:45-46), (75:37-39).

Ever wonder why we’ve failed to find life on any other planet, yet ours is designed to sustain us and meet our most basic everyday needs? It makes you wonder, doesn’t it? Do you think it’s just a coincidence? Not according to the Bible. In it God says, ‘I…made the earth and created mankind upon it.’ Isaiah 45:12 (KJV)

Did you know that if the earth was 10 per cent larger or 10 per cent smaller, life as we know it wouldn’t be possible? Or that we’re just the right distance from the sun so we receive the right amount of heat and light? If we were any farther away we’d freeze, and if we were closer we wouldn’t be able to survive.

Consider for a moment the amazing tilt of the axis of the earth. None of the other planets are tilted like ours at 23 degrees. This angle allows the sun’s rays to touch every part of the earth’s surface over the course of a year, as the earth circles the sun. If there was no tilt to the axis, the poles would accumulate enormous masses of ice, and the center of the earth would become so hot we couldn’t stand it.

Upon the surface of this earth are incalculable hosts of creatures, varying in size from gnats to elephants, each requiring its regular food, the total amount of which for a single day defies human computation if not the imagination. Those creatures are not set down in a dwelling-place where the table is bare, but where there is abundance for them all; nor are they furnished merely with a few necessities, but, instead, with a great variety of luxuries and dainties. For instance, the lion has a choice of delicious meal ranging from antelopes, buffaloes, giraffes and many more. From whence proceed such ample and unfailing supplies.

The continuous fertility of the earth after million of years of incessant productiveness can only be satisfactorily explained by attributing the same unto the riches and bounty of its Maker. That one generation of creatures is succeeded by another, in endless procession, on its surface, to find such an illimitable store of food available for them, is nothing but a stupendous miracle, the marvel of which is lost upon us either through our thoughtlessness or because of its unfailing and regular repetition.

The constant supplies which God causes the earth to yield for such myriads of beings is just as remarkable as the original production of the place in which they were to live, for the annual re-fertilization of the earth is actually a continuous creation.

To quote Psalm 104: as the reverent beholder contemplates the revived countenance of Nature in the springtime, he cannot but turn his eyes unto the living God and exclaim, “Thou renewest the face of the earth” (Psalm 104:30).

And what could man do, what could all the scientists in the world do, if winter should be prolonged month after month, and year after year? Nothing, but slowly yet surely die of starvation.

But the Creator has declared, “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest shall not cease” (Gen. 8:22).

 The retina in your eye contains 137 million light-sensitive cells, while the focusing muscles in your eye move approximately 100,000 times a day.

Well, guess what? Charles Darwin wrote in On the Origin of the Species by Means of Natural Selection, “To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I confess, absurd in the highest degree…The difficulty of believing that a perfect and complex eye could be formed by natural selection , though insuperable by our imagination, should not be considered subversive of the theory.” ― Charles Darwin. The truth is this: God made you, and He has a plan for your life.

Among other unique characteristics, we have an innate ability to appreciate God’s creation. What animal gazes with awe at…the magnificence of Oke Idanre? What animal obtains joy from the sounds of music or takes the time to form itself into an orchestra to create and harmonize music?