"That's
enough!" Dr. R. A. Gant was furious. His face was red as he held Rod
Lightning's Datapad. Rod felt as if twin laser beams were coming out
Dr. Gant's narrowed eyes and shooting right through him.
"How DARE you
contradict my teaching on the evolution of man with THIS? A
Bible!" Dr.
Gant threw the DataPad into a nearby recycling bin. It hit so hard that the
regulator control popped off of the plasma power unit. Rod was too
distracted by Dr. Gant's angry speech to notice. "God
did not create man. There is no God! We evolved from a complex
series of fortunate accidents and highly improbable chemical and electrical
events. If you want to waste your precious data space on a dangerous
Bible program -- that is your unfortunate business, but you will NOT waste my class time
discussing the fairy tales it teaches as truth. Do I make myself
perfectly clear?" Rod
quickly nodded and took the DataPad out of the recycle bin and tucked it back
into it's pouch, not noticing the missing part. It was hours later, in the the
privacy and safety of his room that he allowed himself to think about what had
happened in class.  "What
is so dangerous about a Bible program?" He pulled the DataPad out
of its pouch and found the program still running. He scanned several
pages thinking over the confrontation with his science teacher, Dr. Gant.
Rod felt confused and a little angry, but didn't know what to think.
"My
adoptive parents love this book - they even carry around paper versions of
it! They keep telling me that everything it says is true... but how can
it be, if Dr. Gant is right about Evolution? He calls Creation a fairy
tale, but they believe it. They can't BOTH be right! Did God create man or not?" The
DataPad reacted to the verbal question and began search the Bible program for
the appropriate verses. Rod read them aloud:
| Genesis 1:26-27 *
God said, "Now we will make humans, and they will
be like us. We will let them rule the fish, the birds, and all other
living creatures." So God created humans to be like himself; he
made men and women. God gave them his blessing and said: Have a lot of
children! Fill the earth with people and bring it under your control.
Rule over the fish in the ocean, the birds in the sky, and every animal
on the earth. |
Rod became frustrated,
"Of course, you'd say that. But I want to know the truth. What
really happened?! Where did people come from? How did everything get
here?" Half in
anger, Rod slammed his DataPad onto the bed beside him. In so doing,
he accidentally activated the TST (Time-Space Transference) virus
program Archie had given him. As usual it projected a holographic 3D
bubble -- but this time, something strange happened. Instead
of simply popping as it always had, it began to grow and grow. Rod
glanced down and saw what was happening and panicked. He picked up
the DataPad and tried to turn it off, but the virus program wouldn't let
him. Suddenly, Rod caught a glimpse of something that made him freeze. For
the first time he saw that the regulator control was missing from the
plasma power unit he made. Didn't the TST virus say something about
needing more power, before? What would happen if it could have all
the power it wanted -- and more!? Rod didn't have to wait long for
an answer... Amazingly
fast, a vortex bubble formed around the DataPad and Rod Lightning! In
split seconds the bubble turned in on itself, and looked like a giant
donut being devoured from within! In a brilliant flash of light it
was gone, and with it -- Rod.  When
Rod opened his eyes, he could hardly believe what he saw. All around
him was the most perfect garden, jungle and wild-life preserve - all
rolled into one! He had never seen such a beautiful green colors in
trees and grass, even in historical videos. And while many animals in the
year 3016 were now extinct, he saw animals here he never knew
existed!
Rod heard some stirring over his shoulder and he turned to
see what was happening. His jaw dropped and his entire body began to
shake when he realized immediately where he was...
| Genesis 2:7 *
The LORD God took a handful of soil and made a
man. God breathed life into the man, and the man started breathing.
|
Click to view entire image
It
was true, Rod was seeing it actually happen! It was all true. Dr. Gant's theories of evolution all disappeared
as Rod looked around and read in the Bible to help explain what he was
seeing.
| Genesis 2:8-24 *
The LORD made a garden in a place called Eden, which
was in the east, and he put the man there. The LORD God placed all kinds
of beautiful trees and fruit trees in the garden. Two other trees were
in the middle of the garden. One of the trees gave life the other gave
the power to know the difference between right and wrong. From Eden a
river flowed out to water the garden, then it divided into four rivers.
The first one is the Pishon River that flows through the land of Havilah,
where pure gold, rare perfumes, and precious stones are found. The
second is the Gihon River that winds through Ethiopia. The Tigris River
that flows east of Assyria is the third, and the fourth is the Euphrates
River.
The LORD God put the man in the Garden of Eden to take
care of it and to look after it. But the LORD told him, "You may
eat fruit from any tree in the garden, except the one that has the power
to let you know the difference between right and wrong. If you eat any
fruit from that tree, you will die before the day is over!" The
LORD God said, "It isn't good for the man to live alone. I need to
make a suitable partner for him."
So the LORD took some soil and made animals and birds.
He brought them to the man to see what names he would give each of them.
Then the man named the tame animals and the birds and the wild animals.
That's how they got their names. None of these was the right kind of
partner for the man. So the LORD God made him fall into a deep sleep,
and he took out one of the man's ribs. Then after closing the man's
side, the LORD made a woman out of the rib. The LORD God brought her to
the man, and the man exclaimed, "Here is someone like me! She is
part of my body, my own flesh and bones. She came from me, a man. So I
will name her Woman!" That's why a man will leave his own father
and mother. He marries a woman, and the two of them become like one
person. |
Rod found himself
surrounded by a flash of light and back in his bedroom in the year
3016. He knew he would never forget what he saw. And he also knew
that he would have to rethink everything he had heard about the
Bible... If creation was true, then wouldn't everything in it be
true? Rod decided he had a lot more reading to do! |
