Does Creation Prove the Bible is True?

It’s my favorite time of the year again! The time where we celebrate the birth of Jesus. I’ve been reflecting on who Jesus is, and I’ve dug into some really cool stuff! As a farmer, I’m very intrigued with Genesis 1. I tried figuring out what was going on in Genesis 1 when I was in college in a Bible class. It seemed so strange to me then… so crazy that it seemed no scientific explanation for it existed and that I just had to believe it, or believe what science said about how the earth evolved over millions of years. I know many Christians say that Genesis 1 is not a scientific document about the creation of the world… that it is poetry and there is plenty of room for millions and billions of years if you view it all as poetry rather than facts. That sounds good for not butting heads with the scientists, but deep in my soul, it doesn’t sit right with me. How can I believe anything in the Bible if the first chapter I read is nothing but a made up poetic story? As a Christian, I feel very strongly the need to prove the Bible is true.  After all, it literally says, “God’s word is truth.” John 17:17. I love science, don’t get me wrong. I am a scientist in a way. I have a bachelor’s of science in Mechanical Engineering Technology from LeTourneau University. I had 4 years of very intense scientific training. I worked as a weld manufacturing engineer for John Deere for 6.5 years applying science to their manufacturing facility. But now I’ve been farming for 6 years. Am I still in touch with science? Absolutely! My paraphrase of the definition of science from a google search is ,”Science is people trying to figure out the physical world through systematic observation, testing, and hypothesis.” My super simple definition of science is, “Science is people trying to figure out what God has made!” God told us what He made and how He made it in Genesis 1. I say Genesis 1 is a scientific document since science is people trying to figure out what God has made. Genesis is so crazy that most people just say it’s a story… let me open your eyes from what I’ve learned as a farmer.

These verses came to life to me as I was making my first greenhouse.

“And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.”

Genesis 1:6-8 NIV

Isn’t that a crazy statement? What in the world does it mean? Most people think it is talking about clouds… or the upper atmosphere that is blue during the day. What I realized putting the plastic on my greenhouse is that’s what God did on the second day! God put a crystal clear water barrier above the sky. It was most likely crystal clear ice. I was driving down the road this winter in my nice toasty van when outside the van was 25 F. I could see right through the glass everything outside the van, but outside was cold, the glass was cold, but inside the car was like 85 F. Even with the car off, the sun heats up the car by the light shining through the glass. That’s how my greenhouse works! Then that opened a whole can of worms in my mind.

If God made a greenhouse on the second day, that would explain why there are woolly mammoths and all kinds of creatures and plants that are thawing out of the ice in the arctic tundra. It wasn’t ice all over the north and south poles at one time! They were warm enough to grow lots of vegetation to feed elephants, but cool enough for the elephants to need big thick fur coats!

You can’t deny the evidence you find in nature. Nature tells you it’s story when you  really think about it and apply all your scientific knowledge to what you observe. There are these bizarre things in nature that baffle scientists. Here are a few:

• Massive scratches on rocks from glaciers all over the earth 40 degrees latitude north and south of the equator
• Millions of creatures and plants thawing out of ice sheets
• Massive and many soil layers across the globe (like seen in the Grand Canyon)
• Fossils found in the soil layers
• Seashells deep under the earth
• Seashells on the top of mountains
• Whale fossils in the middle of deserts
• Dinosaur fossils
• Ancient cities filled in completely with dirt

Isn’t that crazy! The scientists try to make up stories of millions and billions of years to make sense of it… since long amounts of time mean anything could have happened… right? They try to prove their made up stories by performing outrageous mathematical calculations based on radioactive property hypothesis’s that flabbergast the common person into believing the monstrosity.

What if I told you the Bible tells you how all these crazy things happened and that modern day science proves the Bible is true?

Here is my rhetoric based on biblical events:

In the beginning, God made the entire universe and everything in it. He made the earth with a crystal clear ice barrier (greenhouse film) above it so that plants, animals, birds, fish, and people could thrive across the entire earth. There were no clouds, no rain, no rainbows… plants were watered by water coming up from the ground (just like in my greenhouse through drip irrigation). God made people in His image and likeness and created us to steward all He created and to live with and for God. Everything was good and lovely until Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that He told them to not eat from. The consequences were banishment from the garden He created for them, death, separation from God, and burdensome labor for their food. (Sounds awful harsh over something they ate… do you think God cares how we treat our food?) After that, people lived for nearly 1000 years with how God had originally designed the atmosphere. After Adam and Eve sinned, their offspring became exceedingly wicked as people populated the earth. It got so bad that God was sad He made people. There was only one righteous man in all the earth. His name was Noah. God told him to build an ark because He was going to flood the entire Earth and wipe all the wicked people off the earth and start over with just Noah and his family. Noah told those people for nearly 100 years what God was going to do as he was building this massive boat far away from any water. Rather than repenting of their wicked ways, they just made fun of him because they had never seen rain, or storms, or floods. God finally brought two of every kind of creature on the face of the earth to Noah to get on the boat. Then Noah and his family got on the ark, and God shut the door. The great springs of the deep that used to water the earth exploded in a huge volcanic blast, then the ice barrier God made above the sky started to melt. It melted and rained for 40 days and 40 nights until the entire earth was covered with water… covering the tallest mountain by over 20 feet. Just imagine water pouring down the land bringing billions of pounds of dirt, debris, people, and creatures with it. Burying tons of plants, people, and creatures under layers of earth to be fossilized and turned into oil, gas, coal, and limestone. The hot volcanic activity turning clay to granite, sea creatures into calcium carbonate, animal bones into rock phosphate, all kinds of chemical reactions going on turning soil layers into concrete like layers. What didn’t get buried floated to the top. Just imagine a massive floating barrier of trees and dead bodies as far as the eye can see… oh the stench! Once the ice barrier above the sky was completely gone, there was nothing to hold the heat in, and the north and south poles began freezing over all the way down to 40 degrees latitude north and south of the equator. The water remained for nearly a year before God caused the waters to subside. This is why there are billions of seashells on the tippy tops of the mountains. Clams can reproduce around a month… that means you could have around 12 clam crops forming on the top of the mountains during that time. They are several feet under the topsoil… remember the floating trees and dead bodies that came to rest on the surface of the land as the waters subsided? As the waters subsided, water began rushing in the valleys carving the Grand Canyon and all the other canyons we see today. The massive glaciers remained, and have been melting and scratching rocks ever since. The oceans have drastically changed over time. Around the equator was able to be traveled due to all the water being froze in ice sheets in the north and south poles. As they melted over thousands of years, the sea level has risen and the climate has gradually warmed. Noah and his family reproduced and spread across the whole earth. It looked totally different then. Can you imagine looking out from the ark and as far as the eye can see, nothing but mud and muck? It finally began to heal as seeds germinated and covered the barren landscape after the flood. God put the rainbow in the sky to remind mankind that He would never do that again. That means He made clouds, and rain, and storms to water the earth after the flood. Rainbows only form when sunshine shines through rain falling from clouds. Before the flood, that didn’t happen. People’s life spans were no more than 120 years after that because the “greenhouse film” was gone. This created a much harsher climate… extreme temperature swings of hot and cold. This made lots of wind which wasn’t that intense before the flood. The intense heat causes water to evaporate into clouds and be blown by wind flowing from the cold areas to the warm areas. Radioactive elements became more prevalent due to the intense sunlight bearing down on them.

Sounds crazy doesn’t it? This is my “Pickenpaugh Paraphrase”… read the actual narrative in Genesis 1-9 in your Bible. A lot of scientists would say I’m full of it. But am I? They say it takes millions of years to make a rock… I can do it in less than 24 hours with concrete. They say that’s man made… no, that’s God made. They say it takes millions of years to make soil layers… I can do it in less than 24 hours by taking soil and shaking it up in water and watching the layers settle out by density. They say it takes millions of years to make a fossil… I can make one in less that 24 hours by burying a shell in clay and firing it in a kiln. Engineering is where observed science and applied science reveal the wonders of the universe.

I love what Jesus said during the triumphal entry into Jerusalem not long before He was to be crucified on the cross as the atonement for our sins.

“When He came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” “I tell you,” He replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.””

Luke 19:37-40 NIV

The rocks will cry out about the truth of God’s word if the people won’t! Let me tell you, they definitely do!

So can you believe the Bible? Absolutely! It is a scientific document. And if you can believe the first words you read, you can believe that Jesus is the Son of God, born of a virgin, born around all God’s creatures and laid in their feed trough. He turned water into wine! He made the blind see and the lame walk! He walked on water! He calmed the stormy weather and raging sea! He fed 5000 people with 5 loaves and 2 fish! He raised people from the dead… even a man so dead he was 4 days rotting! Wow, He is truly the Son of God! He lived a perfect life, but was crucified by wicked people… all this being God’s plan as the perfect and final sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins. But He didn’t stay dead! He rose again on the 3rd day, appeared to over 500 people, then ascended into heaven and is sitting at the right hand of God. But He’s not really gone… He sends the Holy Spirit to live in all His people who believe in Him and live for Him. Sounds crazy, but it’s true! He came for you. He came to restore that relationship God designed in the beginning… for you to live with God and for God. He came to heal that which was broke. Listen to Him this day… do what He is telling you. Repent of your sins and surrender your entire being to the Creator of the Universe.

With love,

Your regenerative shepherd,

Ryan Pickenpaugh