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Creator versus creator

In the beginning, God made heaven and earth. This God is the Creator, yet many in our modern times believe in a different creator known as time, chance, and nature.

Time, Chance, and Nature

Time, chance, and nature may be called "creator", but only if spelled with a lower case 'c' and referenced with impersonal pronouns (e.g. "it"), because this creator does not have personality. For brevity I will call this creator "evolution", though its repertoire also includes some changes of large increment (e.g. the creation of the first living organism). For brevity, I will call the work of this creator "creation."

From the evolutionary perspective, everything we know about evolution comes from historical and observational science, except for two things which we "know" though they are unverifiable:

  • Creation has been a strictly unintelligent, impersonal process. Although it yielded intelligent personalities, the process itself is unintelligent and impersonal.
  • The universe is the only thing that exists. No outside influences (e.g. supernatural means) have intervened in creation (with exception of a possible multiverse; see The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking).

Some people claim that intelligence and personality are an illusion. From this perspective we are mere machines and there is no moral right or wrong. Our world is merely a pale blue dot in the backwaters of one of a billion galaxies. In cosmological terms, mankind is here today and gone tomorrow. Life has no meaning or purpose. But we are unable to live as if we have no meaning. It is a belief impossible to put into practice.

Other people hold a more mystical view that intelligence and personality transcend their evolutionary beginnings. This leaves us in a sad state. Evolution somehow stumbled upon something exceedingly beautiful and meaningful only to ineptly destroy it, first with personal death and later with humanity's extinction. Evolution gave us an ability that cries out for fulfillment but then deprives us of fulfillment. We are worse off than unintelligent life that possesses no desire for greater meaning.

The Creator God

Three things about the Creator God may be known and verified by reason and observation:

  • The Creator God has intelligence and personality. We may know this by observing mankind, who was made in God's image. Only an intelligent, personal God could endow us with intelligence and personality.
  • The Creator God is distinct from creation. By God all things were created and there is nothing created which was not created by Him. God created the laws of nature and is thus not governed or limited by the laws of nature.
  • God has glory. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork. Everything we behold in nature declares excellence beyond our wildest imaginations. The size of God's creation demonstrates the size and might of God. The beauty of creation demonstrates the skills of a master artist. The complexity of creation demonstrates engineering skill that is unsearchable in extent.

We rightly praise men and women for their great accomplishments. Much more so, we ought to praise God for His works. He deserves so much praise that it is called "worship." Worship is beyond appreciation and admiration. Worship means to serve with our whole heart. God created us to worship Him. God is a jealous God and desires that we worship Him alone. Praising the works of evolution is worshiping the creation more than the Creator. This is offensive to the Creator God, to Whom alone worship is due.

As image bearers of God, we have some likeness to God, such as personality and intelligence, though we are not fully like God in all aspects (e.g. we are not almighty). However, some aspects of mankind are antithetical to God-likeness (aka "godliness"). We do a lot of unloving, hurtful things, toward our fellow man and toward God. This is called "sin.” Sin is disobedience to God. Sin harms our relationship with God and tarnishes the image of God. God created personalities, not machines, which means we alone bear the guilt for our sin.

Yet we cannot defeat God by our sin. The plans and purposes of the almighty God are always fulfilled. Those who reject Him experience God's purpose in demonstrating God's justice towards sin. God's punishment for sin is death, first in the form of the grave and subsequently in the form of a place called "hell" where sinners experience eternal punishment commensurate with God's greatness and man's rebellion against God.

The Creator Rescues the Creation

However, in God's great mercy, God provides a way to be saved from sin and to enjoy an eternal and good relationship with God. Those who receive God's gift of salvation experience God's purpose in demonstrating His great mercy and grace.

God is a trinity: one God in three persons, the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit. God sent His beloved Son Jesus to die on the cross to bear the punishment for sin on our behalf. The infinite value of Jesus’s life paid an infinite price for sin. Then because Jesus finished the work, satisfying the penalty for sin, God the Father raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus's resurrection demonstrates God's power to overcome sin and death and to bring newness of life. We too can partake of that power by repenting (changing our mind about) our sin and asking God to forgive us by the work of Jesus on the cross. God promises that those who call upon Him for salvation will be saved and will not be disappointed.

At the moment you trust in Jesus for salvation from sin, the Bible says that you are born again. God changes your heart so that you truly love Him. You who were dead in sins are immediately made alive to God. You are then called a "child of God." The change is so radical it is called "rebirth." We still suffer the grave, but when we do, we leave our body behind and enjoy the presence of Jesus in paradise. Then there will come a day when our physical bodies will be resurrected just as Jesus' body was resurrected.

When we are saved from sin, a new and wonderful relationship with God begins. God created us as relational beings: we think, we talk, we love. Our communion was not meant to be merely between people, but more importantly between people and God. The relationship we experience with God is our highest joy and the fulfillment of the meaning of life.

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Thursday 06-02-2025 16:23:58 EST