October 23, 2024
In the Beginning - Part 3
Genesis 1:11-13
10/23/2024
11 And God said, ``Let the earth sprout vegetation,
plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing
fruit in which is their seed, each according to
its kind, on the earth.'' And it was so.
12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants
yielding seed according to their own kinds, and
trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each
according to its kind. And God saw that it was
good.
13 And there was evening and there was morning, the
third day. (ESV)
According to the United States Department of Agriculture,
about 88 percent of the soybean crop in Minnesota had been
harvested as of October 13, 2024.[1] While looking at the soybean
fields a few weeks ago, you might have noticed some stalks of
corn growing in the rows. No one would suggest that somehow the
beans had mutated into corn. Rather, one would rightly conclude
that there were kernels of corn in the seed which was planted
last spring. Likewise the weeds which infested the beans were
not caused by some sort of evolution, but by natural processes
where seeds may be blown or transported by insects or animals.
This agrees with the words of Genesis:
And God said, ``Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants
yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which
is their seed, each according to its kind, on the
earth.'' And it was so. The earth brought forth
vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own
kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed,
each according to its kind. And God saw that it was
good. And there was evening and there was morning, the
third day.
We expect bean fields to produce beans and corn fields to
produce corn and sunflower fields to produce sunflowers. Can we
question the idea of macro-evolution that suggests that one
species may mutate to become another species? If that teaching
is correct, why do we no longer see such changes? What happened
to give us the sure and certain hope that planting a field of
beans will produce more beans?
May our Lord grant us faith to see His almighty power in
sustaining this world. Amen.
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1. https://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Minnesota/Publications/Crop_Progress_&_Condition/2024/MN-Crop-Progress-10-15-24.pdf