While I was walking my dog in a nearby field and looking for inspiration for the upcoming church blog, a crow caught my eye as it finished building its nest. Despite the noise of man-made distractions, I was surrounded by nature, and inspiration came to me.

As someone who takes great interest in the natural world, our planet and the universe, the thought struck me: How can some folk believe that the universe just happened?

For many scientists and non-Christians, the idea that the universe started from nothing doesn’t present a problem. In their atheistic worldview, the universe started 6 billion years ago and there was no intelligent mind behind it.

The biggest advocate of this thinking is Dr Richard Dawkins and even the great scientist who sadly passed away recently, Stephen Hawking.

For Christians and followers of other Abrahamic faiths like Judaism and Islam, the book of Genesis tells us how God created our planet and everything on it, including our species. Many scientists who are Christians have advocated intelligent design as an antidote to the theory of Darwinian evolution. Others see no clash between evolution and creation advocating a theory called Theistic evolution.

For me as a Christian, the complexity of everything in our universe – whether it be the plethora of stars in the night sky or the complexity of life on our planet – God is the driving force and sustainer of it all.

Nick Bishop, member of Victoria Community Church.