by Aaron Davis
Furthermore, when the series gets well into the double digits, the ratio of one number to the one next to it settles at .618, a number known as the Golden Proportion, which means that the ratio of the smaller and the larger of two numbers is the same as the ratio of the larger number to the sum of the two numbers.
In nature, this is the proportion of a perfect spiral, like that found on a pinecone and a pineapple.57
Amongst the scientific community, because of the compounding evidence, the theories of divine design or intelligent design are becoming less and less a doubt.
With the advancements in quantum physics, the discovery of the consistent application of the Golden Mean Ratio (the Golden Section), Divine Proportion and the Fibonacci sequence. Throughout all of creation, from the smallest discernible aspect of an atom and the role it exercises in atomic bonding, to the shape and structure of our DNA, to the frequency at which the brain functions, to the proportion of entire galaxies; universal mathematical consistencies of matter, with astounding and exacting mathematical accuracy, hold true and recur throughout all of the known physical universe. It is a pattern present in all of creation that is convincing scientists and intellectuals in overwhelming numbers that this could not have happened by mere chance. These natural recursions are God’s signature throughout all of nature . . . the Golden Section is ‘Nature’s greatest secret’ but really it is God’s greatest secret encoded into the entire universe as a compelling evidence of divine design.58
MIND-CHANGING
It is through this and similar continued scientific advancements that more and more professed atheists, formerly citing science and a lack of theistic evidence for their atheistic position, are conceding that the evidence is now pointing in a different direction. A perfect recent example of this is in the life of the renowned philosophical atheist, Antony Flew.
Antony Flew was the son of a Methodist minister and theologian (Robert Newton Flew). By the age of fifteen, Antony denied the existence of a God and subsequently spent over fifty years lecturing as a philosophical atheist teaching at Oxford, Aberdeen, Keele and Reading, and York Universities. Flew had written over thirty books and papers denying and arguing against the existence of God. However, at the turn of the twenty-first century, Flew cited “advancements in scientific discovery and the argument for Intelligent Design being enormously stronger than it was when I first met it” as challenging and changing his perspective to acknowledge the existence of God.
He told Christianity Today that although he was not on the road to becoming a Christian convert, he reaffirmed his theism: “Since the beginning of my philosophical life I have followed the policy of Plato’s Socrates: We must follow the argument wherever it leads.”59
For decades it has been assumed that science contradicts religion and to truly believe in science by default, one would have to deny the existence of a Creator. Now it seems that the tables are turning and science is acknowledging the need for a Creator and mathematically pointing to intelligent design as perhaps being the more intelligent theory.
The nature of scientific discovery is that it is ever evolving. What was taught as truth when I was in high school is now being confronted with new evidence perhaps supporting other truths. Whether or not you believe in God or the Bible, my hope up to this point is that this chapter has caused you to consider the possibility that science and theology may not be as diametrically opposed to each other as you may have assumed (from either side of the science/religion fence) as now, the groundwork is laid to discuss the beginning and what God’s intent was when He created man.
As Mason states toward the end of Chapter 9 in Quantum Glory, “We are privileged in the 21st century to gaze into a deep and enduring mystery. The human mind is not only capable, it is also designed to contemplate the mind of God. We were created to contemplate the mystery of our own creation and to discover the evidence for the mind of God that permeates all of creation.”60
Contemplating the weight of that statement, I find myself longing to understand what more God has in mind for His beloved creation, who are made in His image, according to His likeness.
THE BEGINNING OF WHAT?
In order to establish what will be addressed in the rest of this chapter, I have to disarm what I know will be the most immediate arguments against the scriptures that I will refer to.
Genesis 1:26–28 (AMP)
God said, Let Us [Father, Son, and Holy Spirit] make mankind in Our image, after Our likeness, and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the [tame] beasts, and over all of the earth, and over everything that creeps upon the earth.
So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them.
And God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it [using all its vast resources in the service of God and man]; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and over every living creature that moves upon the earth.
Whether you theorize the earth to be 4.54 billion years old or 6,000 years old, it is irrelevant from this point forward. Everything in the remainder of this book will be posed from the perspective of Genesis 1:2 forward, with the Genesis account of the creation of man and his commission by God to rule here.
In Genesis 1:26, we see that man was created in the image of God and that he was given complete authority over all the earth. I speculate that this may be a foundational principle as it pertains to who we are and what man has been purposed to do in the earth. God in His omnipotence and omniscience created the earth and all of its inhabitants, and then within the confines of that same unlimited power and all-knowingness, gave it to man to rule over with complete authority.
The words complete authority from Genesis 1:26 imply an absolute. God didn’t partially give the earth to man. He didn’t segment off the Garden of Eden and say, “We’ll start here and see how you do and then maybe extend your boundaries.” When God created the earth, He gave it to man with the intent of handing him the reins and his ruling in this realm.
Psalm 115:16 (AMP)
The heavens are the Lord’s heavens, but the earth has He given to the children of men.
Considering the interaction that God displayed with Adam in the Garden, it seems apparent that He was directly accessible to Adam for instruction much like a consultant, mentor, or advisor would be working alongside the new CEO of a corporation. Adam and subsequently his offspring, it seems, were given the authority to rule the earth and it appears that the original intent was that he would do it with the direct help and instruction of God, and as a result, the kingdom of God would be established in the earth. Although the amount of time they were in the garden is not absolutely known, it is proposed that it couldn’t have been more than 130 years:
Genesis 5:5 states clearly that “all the days that Adam lived were 930 years.” We know, of course, that “days” and “years” already were being counted by the time of Adam’s creation because in Genesis 1:14 (day four of the Creation week) God mentioned both in His discussion of their relationship to the heavenly bodies. Therefore, however long Adam and Eve may have been in the garden, one thing is certain: they were not there for any time period that exceeded Adam’s life span of 930 years. But there is additional information that must be considered as well. Genesis 4:25 explains that Seth was born after Cain slew Abel. Since the biblical account makes it clear that Seth was born outside the garden, and since Genesis 5:3 informs us that Adam was 130 years old when Seth was born, it is obvious that Adam and Eve could not have been in the Garden of Eden any longer than 130 years . . . 61
In this, God’s rule and lordship would be established in and through His creation who was created in His image and they would willfully have an intimate relationship and knowledge of Him. Within the establishment of His kingdom, they would experience the benefits of all that comes along with a close relationship with their Creator, which, according to Rom
ans 14:17, is right standing with God, peace, and joy.
Romans 14:17 (NIV)
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit . . .
However, in order for man to have a willful relationship that established God’s kingdom (His way of doing things) on the earth, there would have to be an option for them to willfully choose something outside of His kingdom, or free will would only be an illusion.
Genesis 2:16–17 (AMP)
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may freely eat of every tree of the garden;
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and blessing and calamity you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.
As we read on in Genesis, we see that man chooses to do the only thing that God asked him not to do, which was to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. In doing so, Adam, as ruler of this earth, submitted his kingdom-establishing authority to Satan and established another kingdom rule of sin in the earth, whose end result is death.
Romans 6:23 (NKJV)
For the wages of sin is death . . .
With the establishment of the kingdom of sin on the earth also came a separation from the original intent of God for man to live in the full benefit of His kingdom through an intimate relationship with Him and institution of His principles. Sin created a separation between God and man that separated man from the benefit of living within the fullness of God’s kingdom on the earth. This doesn’t necessarily mean that all of the physical or spiritual laws that were instituted for man to function within his rule over the earth were now gone, but the benefit of God’s direct and intimate interaction with man was. He would now only communicate to them through priests, prophets, an occasional angelic visitation, or when securing a covenant with man (as in the case of Abraham). To say the least, God’s interaction with man was on a very limited basis and typically only with those He postured as leaders in the lives of His people.
Sin introduced a factor to the equation that created a wedge. Because the kingdom of sin was established, man could not experience the fullness of the kingdom of God, apart from the influence of the kingdom of sin, until the power of the newly established kingdom of sin was broken.
“Our battle is always a battle for dominion—a conflict of kingdoms.”62 I wonder if a significant aspect of functioning in the kingdom of God is a deeper understanding of things that we don’t know because we haven’t been taught, and if it’s possible that God’s original intent was to teach man all of the rules and physical laws of time and space before they were to be exposed to the knowledge of good and evil. And if this were His intent, what if the benefits of His kingdom would be the freedom to express and wield the unlimited power available to them to use at their will in the face of any other kingdom that would attempt to set itself up above the knowledge of God?
Of course with great power comes great responsibility, but if man was functioning in the full embodiment of God’s kingdom (God’s way of doing things) without the influence of the kingdom of sin, then this power in God’s kingdom would not be corrupted by the pitfalls commonly experienced by man today because of his submission to the kingdom of sin in his life. Think about it—unlimited power tapered only by the intense desire to do only what was right with it. I wonder if perhaps this was God’s original intent for the man that He created in His image.
Dallas Willard said it this way in his book, Divine Conspiracy:
But it is nevertheless true that we are made to “have dominion” within an appropriate domain of reality. This is the core of the likeness or image of God in us and is the basis of the Destiny for which we were formed. We are, all of us, never-ceasing spiritual beings with the unique eternal calling to count for good in God’s great universe.
Our “kingdom” is simply the range of effective will. Whatever we genuinely have the say over is in our kingdom. Lead our having to say over something is precisely what place is it within our kingdom. And our having the say over something is precisely what place is it within our kingdom. In creating human beings God made them to rule, to reign, to have dominion in a limited sphere. Only so can they be persons.
Any being that has say over nothing at all is no person. We only have to imagine what that would be like to see that this is so. Such persons would not even be able to command their own body or their own thoughts they would be reduced to completely passive observers who account for nothing, who makes no difference…
. . . We are meant to exercise our “rule” only in union with God, as he acts with us. He intended to be a constant companion or coworker in the creative enterprise of life on earth. That is what his love for us means in practical terms.
Now, what we can do by our unassisted strength is very small. What we can do acting with mechanical, electrical, or atomic power is much greater. Often what can be accomplished is so great that it is hard to believe or imagine without some experience of it. But what we can do with these means is still very small compared to what we could do acting in union with God himself, who created and ultimately controls all other forces.
. . . But at the same time our fundamental makeup is unchanged. The deepest longings of our heart confirm our original calling. Our very being still assigns the “rule” in our life circumstances, whatever they may be.63
CREATED IN GOD’S IMAGE
Science will typically attribute human progression to an evolutionary process in which man’s understanding of complex issues has progressed exponentially as time has progressed. But is it possible that the further we went in time away from the influence of God’s direct communication with man, that perhaps we first went through a digression before rebounding and experiencing a progression again? Maybe we are just now scratching the surface of understanding information that we once knew but, in some effect, lost.
I’ve heard it speculated that God created in Adam the perfect genetic specimen. And that would seemingly make sense when considering the perspective that God was first creating man in His image and likeness and that He intended to populate an entire race of people through the offspring of a single set of parents. (Even science agrees that all of mankind likely came from a single mother genetically, although they would argue that she existed between 140,000 and 280,000 years ago.)64
When we look at both biblical accounts and historical events, there are things that they seemingly understood several thousand years ago that we do not understand today. Take for instance the Great Pyramid at Giza. This, the world’s oldest known structure, built at least 4,600 years ago, is so complex that we do not know how the Egyptians built it with their primitive tools. Yet the accuracy of the pyramid’s workmanship is such that it was built with 2.3 million limestone blocks, the largest of which were mined in Aswan, 497 miles away, some weighing in at 80 metric tons (over 176,000 pounds)65 and still the four sides of the base have an average error of only 58 millimeters (2.28 inches) in length.66
In astoundingly similar fashion, there are some issues addressed in the Old Testament that have also begged the question of how or even why they happened. Some might chalk it up as part of a fairy tale, but I wonder if maybe there is some legitimacy to the accounts that we simply do not understand.
FAIRY TALE OR FACT?
Consider first Moses. In the book of Exodus, the children of Israel have been enslaved for 400 years. As an infant, the Hebrew baby Moses is saved from death by the daughter of the Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Moses is adopted and raised as royalty in the house of the king but finds himself exiled after killing an Egyptian slave driver who was beating a Hebrew slave. Forty years later, Moses has an encounter with God on the backside of a mountain in which God speaks to him from a bush that appeared to be on fire but was not consumed. In this encounter, God tells Moses that his purpose is to be the one who leads well over a million slaves out of Egypt.
Naturally in this case, like any of us would have likely done in the face of such a d
aunting feat, Moses thinks of every reason that he’s not the man for the job, but God gives him a list of things to do as proof to those he encounters that he was sent by God. One of these involved a wooden shepherding rod that he was holding in his hand as explained in Exodus 4:2–5:
Exodus 4:1–5 (AMP)
And Moses answered, But behold, they will not believe me or listen to and obey my voice; for they will say, The Lord has not appeared to you.
And the Lord said to him, What is that in your hand? And he said, A rod.
And He said, Cast it on the ground. And he did so and it became a serpent [the symbol of royal and divine power worn on the crown of the Pharaohs]; and Moses fled from before it.
And the Lord said to Moses, Put forth your hand and take it by the tail. And he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand,
[This you shall do, said the Lord] that the elders may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has indeed appeared to you.
From a modern-day perspective, this seems like a telling example of God’s power displayed through Moses, but I always simply chalked up this supernatural experiences to God moving on Moses’ behalf. Until this following scripture jumped out at me . . .
Exodus 7:10–13 (AMP)
So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did as the Lord had commanded; Aaron threw down his rod before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent.
Then Pharaoh called for the wise men [skilled in magic and divination] and the sorcerers (wizards and jugglers). And they also, these magicians of Egypt, did similar things with their enchantments and secret arts.