Furthermore, the record in the Bible concerning God’s creation occupies only one and a half chapters, Genesis 1 and the first half of Genesis 2. According to the record in Genesis, God first created the lifeless things and then the living things. Among the living things, God first created the life on the lower level, then the life on the middle level, then the life on the higher level, and eventually the life on the highest level. God first created the lifeless things: the earth, the water, the sun, and the air. These four lifeless items are four great necessities of life. Without the earth, water, sunlight, and air, there would be no way for living things to exist.
In your schooling you learned about the expanse surrounding the earth. The Chinese Bible translated the Hebrew word for expanse as atmosphere, or air. The atmosphere, the air, surrounding the earth is called the expanse. The word expanse means an opening out, a spreading out. If you go to the best English dictionary, it will tell you that this word means to open out, to stretch out, to spread out. I found out that this is also the meaning of the Hebrew word. God said, “Let there be an expanse,” and there was an expanse. This expanse separated the waters from the waters. The waters above the expanse were called heaven, and the waters under the expanse were called earth.
Besides the expanse that surrounds the earth, there is no atmosphere or air anywhere else. When humans landed on the moon, they had to bring air with them because there is no expanse around the moon. Now the scientists are still studying whether there is life on Venus. I would say there is also no life on Venus. This is because the living things were created for God’s unique purpose, which is to have man as His expression. There are no living things on the moon because neither air nor water can be found there. Therefore, it is very proper to confirm science with the Bible. We do not use science to confirm the Bible; instead, we use the Bible to confirm science.
Let me mention another simple matter. You who are doctors know that the elements of the human body are the same as the elements of dust. Dust contains elements such as copper, iron, sulfur, and phosphorus. Scientific studies confirm that the elements of the human body are simply the elements of dust. However, the Bible already told us long ago that the human body was formed out of dust.
When I was very young, I began to read the Bible. I thought it was something laughable when I read about God’s creation of man. I said to myself, “How could it be that God would be like us to use clay to make a little child?” Little did I know that this record is very scientific. There have been many ancient writings, yet not one of them tells us that the human body was made with dust. However, the Bible says, “Jehovah God formed man with the dust of the ground” (Gen. 2:7a). God created man with a mouth and with nostrils. Then He breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life, and man became living and even became a living soul (v. 7b).
Such a record not only corresponds with science, but it also corresponds with Chinese ethics, which does not deal with God but deals with the human soul. God breathed into the nostrils of Adam; then Adam, a man who was made of dust, became a living soul. This living soul is the focus of the study in Chinese ethics. Chinese moralists, from Confucius and Mencius in the ancient time to Wang Yang-ming of the modern age, all studied about the soul. The study of ethics is the study of the human soul. The Chinese moralists found out that there is something in man which they called “bright virtue.” The doctrine taught by the Chinese philosophers was the principle of “The Great Learning,” which is to develop and enhance the “bright virtue” within man. This corresponds with what the Bible says about the soul. This shows you that the record in the Bible is concise yet profound; it is simple and real yet mysterious. Thus, no one can deny that heaven, earth, and man were created by God. The Bible says so, and science also confirms it.
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