“For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” Romans 8:22*
At the end of the sixth day of creation, God saw that everything He had made was very good: “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them” (Genesis 2:1, KJV). The creation was now complete, functional, and interactive from heaven to Earth and throughout the waters. Terrestrial life was thriving, and there was no death because sin had not entered into God’s perfect creation. However, such peace would not be sustained.
Following his temptation, man’s disobedience to God’s command regarding “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” brought sin into this world, and with it the full force of God’s Curse fell upon the first man, Adam (Genesis 2:17, KJV). As the creation was comprehensive, so was the punishment, which itself “was also a provision for man’s good, forcing him to recognize the seriousness of his sin.”1 This same Curse affected all of mankind during about the first 1,656 years of history, culminating in a global judgment and repopulation of Earth through one righteous man and his family (Genesis 6–9).
Old City of Jerusalem, Israel
Since then, effects of the Curse have continued into recent history, and remain active through godless defiance of the truth (Romans 1:21–23). Over the last 200 years, a progressive accumulation of philosophers and scientists have promoted a purely imaginative story: the ground (earth), all elements within it, all plants and animals made from it, mankind with dominion over it, and the vast complexity of the cosmos have evolved through a lifeless force described as nature. Therefore, Darwin’s false god of natural selection (selectionism) became an alternative creator of the universe and everything in it. Clearly, man has “changed the truth of God into a lie” and worships the creature more than the Creator (Romans 1:25, KJV).
At ICR, one of our primary objectives is to “oppose the deification of nature by exposing Darwinian selectionism as an idolatrous worldview.”2 We oppose nature through faithful assurance that God’s Word reveals the true history of creation. And we expose selectionism through scientific research. In fact, our ongoing studies of adaptation show that blind cavefish and a diversity of cave animals are active, problem-solving organisms that rapidly self-adjust to challenging environments.3 In each case, the organism is the agent of change, not nature. We never observe nature as a creative mechanism of increasing order and complexity. Since the age of the earth is remarkably young (about 6,000 years), and all its inhabitants are continuously trending toward decay (corruption), the aimless, timeless, and lifeless mechanisms of evolution by natural selection are rendered impotent.
Even so, there is great news—the King of kings is omnipotent! From the time of the original Curse (Genesis 2:17), through Jeremiah’s record (Jeremiah 12:4), to Paul’s letter to Roman Jews and Gentiles, and into recent times, the “whole creation” (Romans 8:22) remains under a universal process of decay and death.4 But we are hopeful because the Creator who justly imposed the Curse will someday remove it, even as He has already conquered it on the cross. This is not the wishful thinking of the world. It points to our ultimate liberation from the Curse: “For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God” (Romans 8:19, KJV, emphasis added).
Yes, the Curse is extensive, and the effects extend from the cosmos to cancer. Still, we can be confident that both the power and forgiveness of the Lord actively sustain and prepare us for eternal fellowship with Him. Such hope leads from the first Adam to complete redemption from the Curse through the last Adam, our Savior (1 Corinthians 15:45), through whom will come “new heavens and a new earth” (2 Peter 3:13, KJV).
References
- Morris, H. M. 2006. The New Defenders Study Bible: King James Version. Nashville, TN: World Publishing, Inc., 22.
- ICR’s Mission Statement. Institute for Creation Research.
- Boyle, M. J. 2025. Blind Cavefish Unmask the Convergent Evolution Myth. Acts & Facts. 54 (5): 12–14.
- Morris, 1715.
Dr. Boyle is a research scientist at the Institute for Creation Research and earned his Ph.D. in zoology from University of Hawaii at Manoa.
*KJV
