SUPPOSE you were walking alone, deep in the forest, miles and miles from anywhere, when suddenly you came upon a clearing and in the middle of the clearing you discovered the prettiest little cottage you had ever seen!
"That's strange!" you would say to yourself. "Fancy building a house away out here! I wonder whose it is and why they built it in such an out-of-the-way place?"
Suppose you walked over to the gate, up the path, past neat flower beds and trim lawns, and around the back, where you saw a well-kept vegetable garden plus fruit trees, fowls, a cow grazing, a couple of goats, a clothesline, an incinerator, a wood pile, a well, a windmill, and an electric light plant. However, there was no sign of any occupant around, except footprints, clear and distinct, on the front path, on the lawn, and in the soft loam of the back yard.
Suppose you went up to the back door and knocked. Not a sound. You called out. Still no sound. Just then you noticed near the door a small, neat placard. "Welcome, friend, whoever you may be. Please step inside and look around. Signed: The Owner and Builder."
Your curiosity thoroughly aroused, suppose you went inside. You found a kitchen, fully furnished; a pantry crammed with a large variety of delicious foods; a refrigerator; a bathroom where you turned on the tap and the water ran freely; a medicine chest; a linen closet liberally stocked with towels, soap, sheets, blankets, pillowslips, and tablecloths. You passed wonderingly and admiringly from room to room. There were bedrooms with comfortable-looking beds, and closets full of serviceable clothing. There was a dining room with the table spread with a tempting meal, and a spacious lounge with carpeted floor, cozy chairs, and shelves crowded with interesting-looking books. A piano stood in one corner of the room; a radio in another. The walls of bedroom, dining room, and lounge were adorned with choice pictures. There were fireplaces with kindling and wood all ready to light; ventilation and fans to ensure a comfortable circulation of fresh air; ample windows to let in the light; electric lights all ready to switch on. Flowers in exquisite arrangement and delightfully harmonious interior decorations combined to give the cottage a warm and inviting atmosphere of home.
You have discovered an intriguing little dream house, all imaginatively prepared and tastefully furnished for someone to occupy. Every wish seems to have been anticipated, every need supplied, every comfort and convenience thoughtfully provided for. You walk through the house again; you pass outside; you walk around the house; you call, but still there is no reply. Then, with increasing wonder, you sit down and ponder the mystery of it all.
Now, I could be mistaken, but I am sure that all the time you were making your tour of inspection something would be going on in your own mind. Clearly and distinctly as the ringing of a bell—arrestingly, compellingly—a question would be taking shape:
"Who built this house? Who planned and furnished it with such imagination and good taste? Why was it built away out here in the forest? And for whose benefit were all these thoughtful preparations made?"
Houses do not build themselves! Every house that was ever built argues convincingly for the existence of an architect, a dreamer, a planner, a builder; it argues for a rational motive for building, and for an intelligent intention or purpose in the mind of the architect, the dreamer, the planner, or the builder!
To suggest that a house built itself by chance or by accident or by magic would be an insult to intelligence.
By the same simple down-to-earth process of logic we arrive at the most elementary belief in God. True, we cannot see God with our natural eyes; or hear God with our natural ears; or touch God with our natural hands, but if we are willing to look around this wonderful world with reasoning minds and sensitive hearts, we can see evidences that it has been planned and prepared as a home for man by an all-wise, all-powerful, all-loving Architect and Master Builder.
With profound insight and overwhelming logic the apostle Paul condenses this evidence into sixteen terse and masterful words:
"For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God" (Heb. 3:4).
The common-sense case for Creationism falls into three natural divisions:
- Creationism is unshakably rooted in facts.
- Creationism is unshakably rooted in Scripture.
- Creationism is unshakably rooted in the heart of man.
Creationism Is Deeply and Unshakably Rooted in Facts
Consider the following facts, which almost anyone can observe and verify for himself without leaving his own back yard:
1. The Earth. The earth itself, with its amazing combination of soil, water, air, animals, plants, foodstuffs, flavors, perfumes, light, heat, sound, and color, is marvelously furnished and adapted as a home for man and other living things. Who planned and executed this complex andingenious combination of desirable factors?
The tilt of the earth on its axis and the shape and length of its elliptical path are also right to produce essential seasonal changes. Who determined the size, weight, composition, shape, temperature, motion, direction, and speed of the earth? Who calculated the distance of its yearly journey and the angle of its tilt? Who maintains these factors century after century, in perfect balance, and in correct relationship to one another?
In this amazing combination of facts is found the essence of the most common-sense and conclusive case for Creationism. If God did not design and produce these things, who did? Who could? What rational alternative is there?
Creationism Makes Infinitely Better Sense Out of the Universe Than Atheism Does!
"Someone has figured out how many chances to one it would take for the world to have happened by chance, and the figures go round the world thirty-five times!"—E. STANLEY JONES, Abundant Living, p. 5.
In the face of these inescapable and easily verifiable facts, how can a man do otherwise than believe in an all-wise, all-powerful, all-loving, personal Creator?
(To be continued)
