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for
man's depredations and mis–
takes which occasionally throw even
naturc ou t of balance. The distance
of our ea rth from the sun just " hap–
pens to be" the right distance to give
us heat and light in the proper
amounts.
Th in k about it fo r a mome nt. lf
the moon were a little closer, ou r
tides would da ily sweep the conti–
nen ts. making th e wo rld uni n–
hab itable fo r any land -dwe lling
creatures. I f th e ea rt h were further
from the sun, our tempcratu re
would be below freezing. and the
earth wou ld freeze solid. lf the ea rth
were a li ttle closer, everyt hi ng on
this good grccn earth wou ld burn to
a crisp. (Jsn' t it in tercst ing that the
othe r planets in our solar system all
tend to have incredible extremes of
temperatures complete!y unknown
to the earth?)
T hc earth's mantlc o f a ir. like a
canopy, sh ields us from the rays of
the sun. protects us from the daily
bombardment of milli ons of astra l
bodies from space, and gives us oxy–
gen to breathe. Did that just happen
accidenta lly?
The Creatures of the Earth
Why do salmon have the incredible
abil ity to return to the very river,
find the same tributary. swim uner–
ringly to thc same branch. and find
the exact grave! bed whe re they
were spawned? Why do migratory
waterfowl ft y thousands o f m iles
through the th ickest storms and find
a tiny ncst with unerring accuracy
tha t defies the finest of man 's radar
and naviga tiona l instruments? Isn't
th e existence of a grcat, a ll-knowing
Crea to r God the only crediblc an–
swer?
God is known by his handiwork!
His na ture. character. and pcrson–
a lity are indel ibly ctched into this
ea rth and discernibly inscribed
across the length and breadth of hi s
creation. Everything you see abou t
you reftects tremendous complexity,
carcful p lanning, meticulou detail,
great beauty and ha rmony and fol–
lows definite, unchangeable. unshak–
able, immutable laws!
Perhaps no living creaturc is a
better illustration o f this great prin–
cipie than a bird. Thcse little crea–
tures have dozens of different types
of specialized a ir frames. wingfoils.
The
PLAIN TRUTH November 1976
and navigational equipment that is
mo re accurate than that on modern
j et planes.
A bird had to be creatcd to con–
form to certain aerodynamic prin–
cip ies, or it never would have gotten
off the ground. We don ' t think of
the fact that a bird simply must
have thc proper lift-to-drag rati o, an
extreme ly lightweigh t structure, and
a powerful system of propulsion.
But the re's no need to worry. The
anatomy of a bird is superbly de–
signed (by a grea t designer) wi th a
streamlined body shape . wings pro–
pelled by powerful chest muscles,
and a r apid heartbeat a nd
metabolic rate - all essentials for
ftight. Bird bones themselves are not
unlike some thing that carne off a n
aircraft designer's drawing board.
They a re no t only hollow, bu t a lso
interlaced with a system of interna!
struts and g irders - all very similar
to sorne of the designs common in
a ircraft const ruction.
Ever wonder why a bird doesn't
"stall out" in mid-air t1ight? Incred–
ibly its wings come equipped with a
little device cal lcd an "alula" which
works pretty much like an antistall
device in a modern a irc raft. Like
aircraft, birds have va rying aerody–
namic designs in order to meet spe–
cific ftight requircments. T he
a lba tross and the vultu re have long.
narrow wings wh ich enable them to
stay aloft for hours with a mínimum
of effort. On the other hand, hum–
mingbirds come equipped with
swive l wings tha t a llow them to
hover like helicopters.
l
cou ld go on and on with the
wonders of design in nature. but the
p9int is that God has indeed re–
vea led himself through the intricate
tapestry o f h is physical creation.
Great scientists and statesmen
have recognized this fact to one de–
gree or the other. Dr. Wernher von
Braun, world rcnowncd German
scientist, once said: "Anything as
well orde red and perfectly created
as is our earth and universe must
have a Maker, a Master Des igner.
Anything so orderly, so perfect, so
precise ly balanced. so majestic as
this c reation can only be the product
of a Divinc idea.... There must be
a Maker; there can be no o ther
way."
Dr. Warren Weave r adds: "Every
new discovery of science is a further
' revela tion' of the order which God
has built into this unive rse."
But even with these great men
a nd o thers like them, the term
"God" is often used to symbo lize
something other th an th e Creator
revea led in the pages of your Biblc.
True, "The heavens declare the
glory of God ; and th e fi rmament
sh eweth h is handiwork" (Psa lm
19: 1). However, there are certai n
limits to wha t man can find out
abou t his God strictly through the
knowledge of the c reation. For in–
stance. the creation itself would
never tell you exactly why the Cre–
a to r God hides himself from his
human creatures. Only the accep–
ta nce of the bíblica! accoun t can an–
swer critica! questions about God,
hi s nat ure, and how and why he
dea ls wit h man.
The Biblical Perspective
Visualizing the fu ll scope of 6,000
years of human history with mul–
tiple dozens of generations strung
end to end, let's understa nd, from
the bíblica1 revelation, the true per–
spective of the relationship between
ma n and God from the very begin–
ning of his creat ion.
The apos tle Paul, thousands of
yea rs after the fact, affirmed tha t
Adam was indeed the very fi rst
huma n being - the first man. (See
I Cor. 15:45; Gen. 2:7.) God dealt
very intimately with his prototype
for a l! mankind. He
literally
wa lked
and talked wi th Adam and Eve in
the Garden ofEden.
But very shortly, our first parents,
through the inftuence of Sa tan the
devil. upset and trampled upon
th eir privileged rela tionship with
the Creator. You know the story.
Satan persuaded Adam and Eve to
take what was not theirs - thus di.–
rectly disobeying the specific orders
of their Creator. Immediately after–
wards, they reac ted in ty pi cal
human fashion: "...
Adam and his
wife hid themse/ves from the presence
of the Lord God
amongst the trees of
the garden" (Gen. 3 :8).
Origi na lly God d id reveal himse lf
to the first man and his wife.
It
was
they who first began
to
play the
game of "hide-and-go-seek." They
began a pattern that was to last
throughout history. Their firstborn
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