Is Intelligent Design Really Intelligent?

Why is it so difficult to get one answer to the question, how did human life begin on Earth? Think about it. Our prosperous and well-educated Western societies, founded on Judeo-Christian principles cannot come to a satisfying conclusion as to whether human life originated as a planned, purposeful act of a supreme, all-powerful being, or as the result of a random, gradual process called evolution. There can only be one answer to this question. Yet examining the beliefs people embrace on the subject is massively confusing.

1. What is termed “old-earth creationism,” is the acceptance scientific evidence that the universe is billions of years old but nevertheless that God created all there is by separate acts of miracles.
2. What might be called “young-earth creationism” is the arguement that the universe, earth, and all life were created in just six days about 10,000 years ago.
3. Most scientists say that science cannot prove the existence of God, and believe in a Theory of Evolution – the sequence of events involved in the evolutionary development of a species or taxonomic group of organisms.
4. The Intelligent-Design Theory states that creation is the work of an intelligent designer (though he is not specifically named), and that the Earth is billions of years old, not the thousands of years that most “biblical creationists” believe through their “literal” reading of the Bible.

In truth, true religion says the Bible account in Genesis actually describes a re-creation of the Earth. Therefore man was created 6000 years ago, but the earth is also millions of years old.

Gen. 1:2 is not actually the initial condition of the earth. Without form and void is not a regular sequence of events, but means  tohu (Strong’s # 8414 – waste & desolation) and bohu (Strong’s # 922 – to be empty, ruin).

Looking at this a little more in depth through the scriptures, we can see there is something wrong with this condition. Isaiah 45:18 says God did not create the earth in vain – same word tohu (waste and desolation). Is there a contradiction?

No, we simply understand that something happened between verse 1 and 2. The word “was” is Strong’s # 1961 [hayah], which is better translated as “became.” So the earth “became” without form and void. Something happened to cause it to become waste and desolate. It was not created like this by God.

Albert Barnes’Notes On The Bible further states:

“On the second day Gen. 1:6-7 a new disposition of the air and the water is described by the verbs “be” and “make.” These indicate a modification of what already existed. On the third day (Gen. 1:9, 11) no verb is directly applied to the act of divine power. This agency is thus understood, while the natural changes following are expressly noticed.”

In other words, the air and water was already in place before a great destruction came about, and then re-made by God. The grass, herbs and fruit are new creations, (though modifications of existing materials in place), not having been necessary in the time of dinosaurs. These were now necessary for the nourishment and existence of man to come.

In the fourth day (Gen. 1:14, Gen. 1:16-17)  the words “be,” “make,” and “give” occur, where the matter in hand is the manifestation of the heavenly bodies (two great lights) and their adaptation to the use of man. In these cases it is evident that the word “create” would have been improperly or indirectly applicable to the action of God. It does not prove the universe was created a couple of days before man. The Hebrew words in Genesis 1 indicate the universe already existed then.

1. “Create” means “bara” or to create a new condition or circumstance.
2. “Make” means “asap” which is creating or making something from existing materials. Moses used these 2 words deliberately and carefully.

In verse 1, God created from new, but in verse 16, they were “made.” Whatever happened in the destruction, God was making it right again. So verse 16 was not a new, fresh creation but God was working from materials that were already there at the beginning of the universe.

Looking at verse 21, we again see that the original language implies creation from new, when the sea creatures and birds of the air were made.

In Genesis 2:3, God rested from the work He created and made. A lot of parts of the universe were already there – from the earth and universe.

The Bible is an old book and if it wasn’t inspired by God, you would expect to find scientific inaccuracies, yet this is not so. Scientists are just coming to understand these truths. Satan will try to confuse religion and science about the truth of God. We should read and believe what the Bible says – that the earth is older than mankind. And we should give thanks directly to God for it all.