Our Creator could have immediately revealed everything there is to know about His creation from the beginning—but He didn’t. Could it be that He enjoys a good mystery? Perhaps He sees value in the process of scientific investigation, the search for greater understanding of what He has made. At the very least, it seems He created people with an innate curiosity and desire to explore.
On the other hand, some mysteries don’t have to be mysteries at all. But they remain mysterious to those who are trying to understand God’s world without a knowledge of God Himself. For them, even some “clearly seen” clues remain unresolved.
No matter the mystery, if it relates to creation you can bet the Institute for Creation Research’s scientists will be on the case. They’ve dedicated themselves to examining the evidence and offering solid answers to confounding questions, and they talk about a few of them in this issue of Acts & Facts.
In “A Texas-Size Spider Mystery,” ICR zoologist Frank Sherwin introduces us to a “delightfully creepy spider.” (It’s a mystery to me how anyone could call a spider delightfully anything.) He says the creature was “dubbed the Texas Mystery Spider” but points out that it’s no mystery to those who understand creation. He says, “Although Myremecicultor is a mystery to secular scientists, it’s not one for creationists who see spiders as having always been spiders.”
Drs. Brian Thomas and Tim Clarey address mysteries of another kind in their Park Series article “Gunnison’s Black Canyon: The Flood Solves Mysterious Missing Time.” They say, “Black Canyon does more than drop jaws. It conceals mysteries, including supposedly lost eons of time.” Read on to see how they explain the mystery and how Noah’s Flood is involved in exposing “one of the wildest stories ever to wind its way into science.”
Dr. Jeff Tomkins addresses the mystery of the missing tetrapod transitional forms in his article “The Fossils Still Say No: The Fins-to-Feet Transition.” He examines supposed water-to-land transitions offered by evolutionists and concludes, “The ultimate death knell for the evolutionary story is that fully terrestrial tetrapod tracks were found in rocks dated older than when any of these so-called transitional forms supposedly existed.”
In “Do We See Complex Design in Mosquito Eggs?” ICR researcher Scott Arledge provides details of the Creator’s intricate design in tiny mosquitoes, but he points out that some things are still unknown. He says, “It’s still a mystery how the melanin [in the mosquito egg] reduces water leaving the egg, but these two features masterfully work together.” He continues, “Things seem complicated as we observe creation all around us, but if we take the time to zoom in on the details, we find even more mind-boggling complexity.”
So, where do we go to uncover answers to the mysteries that continue to puzzle us? Dr. Randy Guliuzza reminds us of the foundational source of truth that our Lord Jesus has given us—the precious gift of His Word. He says, “God clearly communicates what He wants to say to people….The average person who doesn’t have an advanced degree in science or theology can attain a clear understanding of what the Bible means” (“ICR Upholds the Clarity of Scripture”). He emphasizes the importance of Scripture, saying, “By reclaiming biblical clarity, Christians embrace a truth that releases them from the bondage of theological or scientific elites.”
We may not find the answer to everything there is to know about creation in the Bible—after all, even the Author seems to love a good mystery. But His Word offers the truths we need to know Him and to walk honorably as we explore His world. And as we take His Word at face value, we’ll find that many creation mysteries were meant to be uncovered by us all along.
* Jayme Durant is Director of Communications at the Institute for Creation Research.