Origins: Editorial

June 17, 2020

Origins: Editorial

For some Christians, mentioning creation and evolution in the same sentence elicits eye-rolling and groans. Haven’t we thrashed this topic to death already? For some, who have very definite views on the issue, a martial light enters the eyes. Others may be mystified at the emotional responses that raising these issues can evoke, or simply confused about the whole thing.

How does the Genesis creation account fit with the accounts learnt in school about the age of the earth and evolution? Why are some Christians apparently not fazed by the tensions, while others see the answers as tests of true Christian belief?

Origins is a significant issue as it has direct implications for our understanding of God’s interest and intervention in our world. Within broader society, some wish to remove God from having any significant role in human affairs. Some wish to deny that God intervenes in the history of the world. This stands in stark contrast with the Christian position that God is intimately interested in our lives (Matthew 10:30; Luke 12:7ff) and each of us will be held accountable by Him for our present conduct at a future judgment (Matthew 7:2; Luke 11:29ff; John 5:25ff). The core Christian message is of God’s transformation of human history by the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus.

Our writers in this edition would doubtless agree that the earliest chapters of the Bible are profoundly insightful into human nature. In an amazingly small number of words, these chapters capture the foundations of human nature and our relationship with the world: our creativity, our sexuality, our frailty, our fears, our passions and our actions—both profoundly good and terrifyingly evil. For vast rafts of contemporary human endeavour and thought, these texts form a key point of engagement with rival views, spanning from the physiological to the sociological.

In an age of near-instantaneous broadcast of misunderstanding, we thank our present authors for their time in respectfully encapsulating their Christian views of Origins. We trust that our readers will benefit from their careful efforts.

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