Be Ready Always
This July 4th I was reminded not only of America’s independence but also of its remarkable youth. In 2025, the United States will mark the beginning of its 250th year—a milestone, certainly, but a mere heartbeat compared to the ancient timelines of the world. European nations trace their roots back centuries, even millennia; Asian civilizations extend farther still, into the expanse of BCE eras. In the Holy Land, history is etched deep—even documenting the days when Moses gazed from Mount Nebo across the Jordan, as recounted in Deuteronomy 34:1-4.
Reflecting on these spans of time, I find myself drawn to consider not only the story of nations but also the story of everything. The history of the universe and of civilization—how it was taught to me, how I wrestled with it, and how coming to terms with it reshaped and reinforced my faith. For years, the narrative I absorbed in school led to confusion and a profound spiritual struggle. Ultimately, I discovered that only by turning to the Bible could I find a reliable foundation for understanding history and science. Scripture, I now know, is our most steadfast record of beginnings.
Even the most ancient human civilizations—those measured in thousands of years—are mere infants when compared to the vast age of the Earth and universe as presented by the science curriculum of my youth. These “facts” remain the backbone of public education today. I’ve come to call it the "illions” teaching. The numbers are dizzying: tens of millions of years for some things, tens or even hundreds of billions for others. I can never keep up. The scale is so immense that it slips beyond comprehension.
Before I share the joyful serenity I eventually found, I must be honest: for most of my life, these illions cast a long shadow over my faith. I’m in my late forties now and have been a Christian for as long as I can remember. Yet it wasn’t until just a few years ago that I found peace. If a lifelong believer like me was so troubled, how much more difficult must it be for those who haven’t encountered God’s Word?
Let me be clear—even as a teenager, I would have told you that I didn’t believe in evolution. I understood evolution to suggest that life arose by chance, without any divine hand to guide it. I knew, deep down, that God created the universe, so that was enough to deny evolution, right? And yet, no matter how earnestly I tried, the lessons from my science classes never quite fit the narrative of Scripture.
Genesis 1: 1-5 has always been a pillar of certainty for me: God created the universe and everything in it. But the details were a battleground in my mind for more than thirty years. I invite you to read what follows almost as a dialogue, a conversation within myself, shaped by decades of wrestling conscience and conviction.
Science textbooks say the universe began with a Big Bang—a cosmic explosion of matter and energy.
I’m not sure if I believe that. A theory is just that: a theory, open to debate. If there was a “big bang,” surely God was behind it.
God created everything in six days. Land animals and humans both appeared on day six (Genesis 1: 24-31).
Yes, that’s what the Bible says.
But what about the dinosaurs? Science claims they lived millions of years ago—long before humans.
I know. I can’t reconcile that. The Bible is silent on dinosaurs (1). Did God create them first and then start over? If so, why isn’t that in the Bible?
No one knew about dinosaur fossils when the Bible was written.
But God knew. He inspired its writers. And still, the fossil record is perplexing. If an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs, how did they remain so pristinely preserved?
Fossils found in thick layers of sediment—how does that match what I know of decomposition in nature? And the “Cambrian explosion”—why would life develop slowly as lesser life forms and then suddenly flourish?
What about those ages and eras—Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Jurassic, Triassic, Cretaceous?
I can’t keep track. And honestly, the illions make my mind spin.
Maybe the “days” in Genesis weren’t literal.
I’ve considered that. Maybe each “day” represents an era—billions of years, not twenty-four hours (2). But if that’s what God meant, why not say it plainly?
Maybe God created life and then used evolution as the mechanism.
I don’t believe life sprang up unaided, but maybe I should accept the scientific timeline. Still, how can I fit that into what the Bible teaches? Science can’t be wrong. But neither can the Bible.
Your teachers can’t be lying.
Neither can God (Titus 1: 2, Numbers 23: 19). But the timelines don’t add up, literally. This conflict has no easy answer—not for me, not yet. I trust that when I reach heaven, clarity will come for things I can’t understand now (1 Corinthians 13: 12).
For decades, this tension gnawed at me. It wasn’t just memorizing the ages of rocks and fossils that troubled me—it was grappling with the sheer magnitude of time. The illions left me feeling infinitesimally insignificant, a blip in the vastness of geologic epochs.
Fast forward to 2022. Preparing Sunday school class material to defend the Christian faith, focusing on Jesus’ life, ministry, death, and resurrection, I stumbled across a new angle. During a trip to what would become my favorite bookstore (3), I picked up books on the Genesis flood. I hadn’t considered the global flood in years, and truthfully my knowledge of it was limited to lessons from my youth. Immersed in the crucifixion, this was a nice change in my studies.
I didn’t know it would change my life.
A hundred pages into “The Genesis Flood” by John Whitcomb and Henry Morris (4), decades of internal struggle were reconciled. Every. Single. Struggle.
There never have been illions of years.
Dinosaurs, like all other land animals, were created on day six.
An asteroid didn’t wipe them out—Noah’s flood did. Their burial in sediment explains their preservation.
Plate tectonics and a global flood catalyzed the rapid movement of continents, triggering dramatic climate changes like the Ice Age.
The geologic column is not definitive proof of evolution, but rather of the flood.
The science I learned could never align with the Bible, because a falsehood cannot harmonize with truth. But as I continued to study, I discovered that real science—rooted in observable reality—supports Scripture. Unknowingly, I’d let the world’s influence overshadow the truth I’d always known. The Bible was right all along (Colossians 2: 8).
At first, resentment welled up in me over the deception that had so slowly crept into my faith. I recognize now that most teachers probably meant well—they simply passed along what they themselves had learned. But the theory of evolution, the expansive timelines, the extinction asteroid: all of it, I believe, was devised to exclude God (John 5: 19). Despite the lack of proof, these ideas have been accepted as fact and have heavily contributed to the declining morality of society (Isaiah 5: 20).
The greatest lesson of all is this: for understanding history, science, or morality, we must return to the Bible. Whenever your conscience is in turmoil, let the Word of God be your standard (Romans 12: 2).
Ultimately, letting go of resentment over my compromised education allowed me to experience a great relief—a liberation from the burden of feeling small and insignificant against vast periods of time. I am not a trivial spark in an endless night. Instead, I am a purposeful soul with a place in the story that Scripture tells. My worth is defined not by evolutionary timelines, but by the truth found in God’s Word (John 8: 31-32).
And so is yours.
Stay tuned for future posts as we explore together the evidence for the global flood that shaped our world and the wonders it left behind.
Notes:
The Bible does reference creatures similar to dinosaurs—not by the name we use, but through words like “dragon,” “behemoth,” and “leviathan.” The King James Version preserves much of this from the original Hebrew.
The Gap Theory proposes a time gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2, accounting for an ancient world. However, I find a literal reading of God’s Word more convincing.
Scripture Truth Book Company, Fincastle, VA, Scripturetruth.com
The Genesis Flood, 50th Anniversary Edition. Henry M. Morris and John C. Whitcomb. P & R Publishing. August 26, 2011.
