Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Fact 1
The Story of Man I
In the introduction, I promised to tell you the true story of man. First, let us pick the brain of man himself.
What answers do we have for ourselves? Without the help of parents or carergivers or those present at the time of our births, including the photographer, how could we know about our true parentage and the circumstances of our births? The alternative can only be conjecture and illusion.
Let us briefly review mankind's scientific and non-scientific explanations regarding his formation, his purpose for existence, and the creation of the universe.
Non-believing mankind has not been humble enough to admit that he does not know how he originated or how our planet and the hosts of planets, stars, galaxies, and nebulae surrounding us came into being.
Instead, scientists have hatched the Big Bang theory. The theory stated that the entire known universe started from a very tiny source, perhaps a few millimetres across. An incredible explosion occurred that caused this massively compressed source to expand outwards at a very great speed, and as cooling occurred, space, time, planets, stars, galaxies, atoms and others began to form, and the expansion process still continues until today but at a slower pace.
No one can explain who caused the initial explosion or explain convincingly how the universe, space and time got created in this fashion or how life forms sprouted.
Concerning the origin of life forms, there are variously tendered theories.
Abiogenesis was one of the initial theories, a natural process by which life arose from non-living matter. Proponents of this theory would include the early Greek philosophers as further explained below. Biopoesis was another: a process by which living matter evolved from self-replicating but non-living organic compounds or molecules. The "primordial" or "warm soup" theory and the Miller-Urey experiment explained this below.
These arguments can be discussed further under two broad headings: the spontaneous generation hypothesis (i.e. abiogenesis) and the primordial soup hypothesis (i.e biopoesis).
Before this, let us consider a few general theories in a nutshell.
One states that molecules of matter collided randomly, perhaps 3 billion years ago, and, by pure chance, the first primordial lives formed when electric sparks as in lightning ignited the primordial atmosphere laden with water, methane, ammonia and hydrogen to form amino acids and sugar. The Miller-Urey experiment of 1953 proved that a mixture of water, hydrogen, methane, and ammonia, when cycled through a laboratory device and electrified in an oxygen-deficient environment, turned into a number of organic compounds. The compounds included amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins vital for living cells. No life was produced, however.
Over millions of years these molecules used clay as a template, coalesced and formed more complex structures like DNA which became self-replicating!
Another theory, opined that primordial life was transferred to earth from outer space when cosmic collisions caused rock pieces teeming with these life forms to be deposited on our soil. Even if this was true, who caused the initial formation of these organisms?
From these elemental lives, scientists suggest that more complex life forms evolved. Several million years down the track, man eventually evolved from apes!
More recently, scientists, through the mouth of synthetic biology researcher, Christopher Voigt of the University of California, San Francisco, admitted that they "don't have a very good definition of life".
As we can see, a number of theories and hypotheses have been proffered to suggest how life originated on our planet. These are many and confusing. The few examples shared above are only a tip of the iceberg. Some are superfluous, others ludicrous. Researchers kept suggesting ideas to be considered and discarded in the light of superior scientific investigations and opinions.
The scientist is groping in the dark. He is in a guessing game and needs help from He who knows all, who is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent — God Almighty Himself, the Creator of all things living and non-living.
Spontaneous Generation of Life
The theory of spontaneous generation dates back to the time of the early Greek philosophers like Aristotle (384–322 BC). This theory was paired with another belief, heterogenesis, which states that one life form derives from a different form. For example, bees derive from flowers! Aristotle is said to have written that aphids arose from the dew that formed on the plants they suckled on; fleas arose from decaying matter; mice developed from dirty hay; and crocodiles took shape from rotting logs sunk deep in the water.
With the discovery of the microscope in the late seventeenth century AD, scientists and other life researchers like Robert Hooke (1635-1703) and Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) were able to debunk these errors. Now we know, for example, that crocodiles must lay eggs, which must hatch for the young ones to wriggle out.
The Primodial or Warm Soup Hypothesis
The primordial soup hypothesis is a more recent theory. Alexandr Ivanovich Oparin (1894-1980), in his 1924 book, Origin of Life, suggested there had been a "primeval soup" of organic molecules. He argued that in an oxygen-deficient environment, the energy of sunlight (or electricity, as was later shown) could cause molecules to combine in an increasingly complex manner to form droplets. These droplets would adhere to generate much bigger droplets, which would later split to generate daughter droplets. He claimed the first life originated this way.
JBS Haldane (1892–1964) argued that primordial oceans would have generated "hot dilute soup" forming organic compounds. He was a contemporary of Oparin, and they shared the same thoughts although published independently, Oparin in 1924 and Haldane in 19299.
Biogenesis
In later years, the idea of biogenesis developed — that every living thing developed from another living thing. This came after the invention of the microscope and Louis Pasteur was thought to have first developed this idea.
In the 1880s, Louis Pasteur (1822–1895) declared, on the basis of painstaking experiments, that microbes caused certain infections like rabies, anthrax and postpartum sepsis.
Another popular contemporary of Pasteur, Charles Darwin (18091882), produced a famous book, On the Origin of Species (1859). He suggested that through very gradual processes, complex creatures evolved from more simple ancestors over time. As the more complex creature evolved, random genetic mutations (alterations) occurred in its genetic code. Beneficial mutations preserved the species and non-beneficial mutations destroyed the species. The former led to species survival and the latter to species extinction. He called this natural selection.
Darwin argued further that as beneficial mutations were handed to next generations, beneficial mutations accumulated, resulting in an entirely different organism.
I have gone to this length to show that man, without divine intervention, is unable to explain how the first man was created or how the universe was made and by whom.
We can easily discern that man's approach to knowledge is of a trial-and-error kind. What makes sense today can be a complete disaster tomorrow. Since man lacks true knowledge of his origin, purpose, and destiny, he behaves terribly. Is it any wonder our world is in so much turmoil?
Why has there been so much of man's inhumanity to man over the ages? Think of wars — internecine and global — the trans-Atlantic slave trade, colonialism, imbalances in global wealth distribution, terrorism, human justice systems, transvestism, homosexuality, bestiality, alcoholism, drug addictions, mental illnesses, divorce rates, incest, rape, murder ... the list is endless.
Man has tried to govern himself with his limited understanding. Has he produced a utopia to date? Which is the best system: capitalism, socialism, welfarism, the monarchy, or communism? It is my humble submission that all these 'isms' have failed, none has benefited man equitably.
Is it possible for man to live in harmony with his neighbour without animosity, paranoia, or bloodshed? Is it possible for man to love man better than he does at the moment? Can man live righteously? Is there a clear destiny for man in this life? Is there life after death? Is man likely to exterminate everything on this earth via a horrific nuclear bomb detonation? What is going to happen to innocent humanity if North Korea and the United States decide to flex their nuclear muscles?
Fact 1: Without divine revelation, man does not know his true origin. This lack of knowledge affects his ability to live a wholesome life.
Meanwhile, life ticks on, as dangerous as a ticking time bomb.
CHAPTER 2
Fact 2
The Story of Man II
In the last chapter, we reviewed what the inquiring man, using only his limited senses and instruments, has been able to unravel regarding his creation and the creation of the universe. One aspect of this limited approach is the need to keep changing the facts in view of new observations. For how long will this go on?
There was a time when the great Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727) reasoned that the speed generated by a moving object was unlimited as long as sufficient acceleration was applied. This reasoning was held sacrosanct until Albert Einstein (1879-1955), writing in 1905, disproved it with his "thought experiment" on the special theory of relativity. He broke new ground in science.
Thanks to Einstein, we now know that nothing with a mass in our immediate universe can travel faster than the speed of light in a vacuum — some 186,000 miles per second. As this speed is approached, length contracts and mass of the object becomes incredibly big, approaching infinity. Time dilates too.
The truth is, relative to the wisdom of God, who is omniscient, what man knows is still less than a drop in the ocean. "'For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth; so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts'"(Isa. 55:8–9).
It is time to find out from the Designer of the universe how He did it.
Why do we date our calendar relative to the year in which Jesus Christ was born? The year in which this book is being written is AD 2017. AD stands for anno Domini, an old Latin phrase meaning "in the year of our Lord." Of all world calendars, why is this particular one the most universally accepted and used? Is God trying to tell us something here?
The Bible is the book of God. It was written by men inspired by Him. The Bible is the best proof of its own divine authorship. I am talking from first-hand experience here. Whatever opinion you have held regarding the Bible, this is the time to re-approach it from a fresh and open-minded perspective.
The Bible is God's manual about man and the universe. All we need to know about these subjects are there and much more.
The Bible consists of sixty-six books written by different authors under divine inspiration. Some of these writers were prophets like Moses, Joshua, Isaiah, and Samuel. Some were shepherds, like Amos and David, who later became king. Others were among the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ: Matthew, Mark, John, Paul, Peter, James, and Jude.
In the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, written by God through Moses, God tells us the story of creation and how man came into existence.
God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. He is ageless, timeless, immortal, invisible, invincible, incredibly intuitive, and creative. He is loving, forgiving, sinless, righteous, principled. He can be jealous. He can be angry. He can destroy. He can be a consuming fire. He hates sin and all forms of immorality. He hates disobedience and lies. He loves the sinner, hates the sin, and wants the sinner to sin no more.
In Genesis, God reveals Himself as a family of three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They operate and live harmoniously. They have always been in existence. God is therefore triune (Mark 1:10–11; Matt. 28:18–19; John 1:1).
The Son is also known as Jesus, the Word of God. Reading the Bible, or the Word of God, in the spirit and imbibing the rhema, which is powerful, life-giving, and life-changing, allows Jesus to live in you through the Holy Spirit.
This is different from reading the Bible only for the sake of knowledge — reading the letter or logos only. The logos kills, but the rhema gives life (2 Cor. 3:6). In the gospel of John, it says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (1:1).
The Holy Spirit is the third person of the divine troika. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. He represents God's power to do all things. God can pour out his Spirit into all flesh, as He did at Pentecost in the book of Acts. The Holy Spirit descended on the apostles in the upper room as tongues of fire, and transformed them (Acts 2:1–4).
In the beginning of creation, not in the beginning of God's existence, God (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) said, "Let there be light." And just as He uttered it, it happened. It was that simple. The Word of God is potent, creative, and powerful, the source of all energies. The Bible advises that before God started commanding events to happen, there was only emptiness, darkness, and waters. The Spirit of God hovered over liquid vastness.
God knew from inherent creative savviness that light took priority in the scheme of the universe. Light represents energy, electricity and illumination. In the first creative day {which could be a literal day or one thousand years; the Bible attests that a day in the eyes of God is like 1000 years and 1000 years like one day (Ps. 90:4; 2 Pet. 3:8)}God separated light from darkness. The darkness was called night and light was called day.
Five more creative days were to follow.
On the second creative day, God decreed into existence an expanse to separate the waters above and below this divide. This divide was called the sky.
More happened on the third creative day. God commanded the waters below the sky to be gathered to one place so that dry ground might appear. The dry ground was referred to as land and the gathered waters as the seas.
God did not stop here. He commanded the land to bring forth vegetation — seed-bearing plants and trees, capable of sustaining their own reproduction.
On the fourth day, God worked the sky. He created lights in the expanse of the sky, to separate day from night and to mark seasons and years. This was the genesis of the sun, our solar system, the stars, and the moon.
On the fifth day, God worked below the sky, commanding that the waters be populated with living creatures and that birds fly across the sky. God spoke all these into existence. God further ordered that these creatures have the power of reproduction to regenerate their species after their kinds. (Compare this with Darwinian reasoning.)
On the sixth day, God commanded living creatures of different species to arise from the land. All were commanded to be capable of reproduction to maintain the regeneration of their individual species. God did not say that one species would evolve by natural selection into another species, as modern science would have it.
After these events were completed, the God family decided to create man in God's own image. Please note: God did not create man by a fiat. God did not just command man to appear. God took the pains to work the soil and fashion man in His own image. Man was moulded from the soil as the potter makes his clay pot. To make man a living being, God had to breathe His breath into man. This was the forerunner of pulmonary resuscitation! Man became a living being, formed in the very image of God. God put man in charge of everything He had created on the earth, under the earth, in the waters, and in the sky.
Think for a moment about scientific breakthroughs in medicine, physics, chemistry, biology, agriculture, oceanography, climatology, astronomy, aquaculture, computers, engineering, telecommunication, and aerospace technology. It is mind-boggling what man has been able to achieve since his creation.
There are some who think man is just another animal. Reflecting on animals in general, which of them has been able to transform this planet the way man has? Which of them has dominated all other animals as man has? Submarines rule the ocean depths and huge ships rule the surface. Which birds can fly higher or faster than a modern jet plane? Which animal can run faster than a Ferrari car at top speed?
God first made a single man. He put the man in charge of a special garden designed for him, called the garden of Eden. This was paradise itself. It had everything man needed for his existence and much more. The first man could fellowship with God face-to-face without any difficulty.
The man was called Adam. He was given the authority to name all the creatures and things God had made, and was given the ability to rule over them. This explains why man has the ability to tame any animal, whether domestic like cats and dogs, or wild like lions and tigers.
God later decided it was not good for man to be alone and that he should have a companion. God performed the first general anaesthesia. He put man to sleep, then removed one of the ribs and fashioned a woman for him. She was called Eve.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Ten Facts Unmasking Our Origin, Purpose And Destiny On This Planet"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Dele Babalola.
Excerpted by permission of iUniverse.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
