THE NECESSITY OF GOD IN CREATION – PART 2
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)
Our last discussion concluded that God is necessary in creation, because without Him, man has lost freedom and responsibility. In the simplest of terms, if man is nothing more than the evolutionary process worked out over several millennia, then he is not free to choose any decision. Why? Because every condition from which his decisions are made are nothing more than the result of the process….Lest you think that this is not where our society is headed, the new adage might be said as: “Man acts like an animal because he is an animal.” In this condition, man is not free to make decisions, for when he is making “decisions,” he does so on the basis of the animal nature he has inherited. Therefore, mankind is a slave to his animal nature and not free to make his own decisions.
Today’s discussion is not as technical, but just as profound. It is a partner with this previous truth. If God is eliminated in the creation process, objective truth dies with Him. Indeed, this is where the culture would like to take us, over a proverbial cliff into the abyss of skepticism and irrationality. It is preferable (they would claim) for man not to be spiritual, however, if man must be spiritual he should choose between perrenialism and pluralism. Perrenialism, though this is a very simple definition, means that all religions are the same. They look for commonalities between the world religions and suggest that they are all teaching the same truth. Therefore, true religion would be finding the common link. It is worth noting that every major world religion makes exclusive claims, claims that they are the singular authority on spiritual matters (most of the time Christianity alone is blamed for this bigotry). Pluralism speaks of every religion being equal. Perrenialism denies that any religion is different from another. Pluralism recognizes the differences, but concludes that it doesn’t matter. But with all of these religions claiming to be the sole possessor of truth – and making contradicting claims against one another – who is right? And if we could settle on the right religion, does it make it any more possible to know what truth is?
To begin, we should probably back up. Over the history of time, mankind has accepted the premise that the supernatural is necessary in order to know truth. This is why Christianity has played an important role in the advances of science (we will address next week). In the 17th and 18th centuries, God was a necessity for the scientific world. In fact, atheism (in the form we know it today) is a relatively new invention. In Biblical times, atheism is not addressed – because the supernatural was a given. Now people had deceived themselves and chased after other gods, there were polytheists, pantheists, monotheists who rejected Christ, and more. But to argue from the perspective of the absence of the supernatural was laughable. Part of this was a reflection of their attitude towards truth. It was always a given that there were things in life that were true – unchangeable – regardless of one’s ethnicity, religion, location, etc. In other words, “truth transcended earthly conditions.” The only way this is possible is if there is One who “transcends” all earthly conditions. However, in the world of the 21st century, truth is conditional on the basis of one’s upbringing, ethnicity, religion, communal influences, etc…(you might substitute the word “evolution” here). Therefore, “nothing” transcends these bearers, there is no absolute truth.
What do we mean by truth? Traditionally truth has been defined through the correspondence theory. In simple terms, a statement is regarded as true or false based on its correspondence of reality – does it adequately describe reality. For example, “It is raining outside my office right now.” Is the statement true or false? Reality, not belief, decide the truthfulness of the claim. But the modern man is in revolt. Therefore, he says “reality is whatever you make it.” However, when it is raining outside…even he grabs the umbrella.
If we accept this definition of truth, it brings us back to our need for God in creation. In order for something to “transcend earthly conditions” and bear out a corresponding claim to reality, there must be “someone” who transcends the earth and defines that reality. For this reason, Jesus told his disciples, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Even Pilate wanted to know what truth was, but then he would not stay around long enough for Jesus to answer. If “nothing” created the world we now see, then it is not stable…it could self-implode at any moment. On that basis, there is no “reality.” In order for there to be a “reality” there must be a definer of the conditions…if there is a reality, there is truth. No God-No Reality-No Truth. On the other hand: GOD-REALITY-TRUTH.
Now ask yourself, “Do you really want to live in a world with no truth?” Do you want to lay your head on your pillow tonight and assume with reasonableness that the world will continue to function? When injustice occurs to a family member, do you want something to “transcend earthly considerations?” When someone tells a story about you, do you want truth to exist?
This should be an important lesson to believers…because if we care about Christ, we care about truth! For these reasons and more, God hates lies, deception, and gossip. (But that’s another lesson for another day!) TRUTH MATTERS, but without God, it cannot exist.