The Days of Creation and Modern Day Chaos:-
Part 3 of the Origin of Life. We look at Creation vs Chaos; how the acceptance of the Darwinian theory impacts moral decisions; and how a God-based viewpoint finds hope in chaos.
In the Beginning God Created
In this series we are considering how behaviour is engendered by a baseline belief, with an overview of the creation and evolution contrasts.
We are not at the moment exploring the time frame of creation, but in my time as an interviewer I met with some remarkable scientists who have published works on this subject.
They investigate the physical process of creation, down to the very nature of time itself.
More on that at a later date. 1
Modern Day Chaos
We can look at the world around us and recognise decay. The erosion of values can be ascribed to the deluge of online material, to increasingly stark films, to violent interactive video games.
But every moment of visual anger, every explicit scene of carnage, each boundary-pushing presentation of deprivation, is created by someone, somewhere.
Their creation is based on their moral values. Where did those moral values have their birth?
Behaviour Flows from Beliefs
What we are considering is more than the contention that life evolved by random chance from some primeval soup. We must consider the consequences of such belief.
IF
IF there is no overall designer-creator,
IF there is no one who cares,
IF life is handed to us by that random chance,
– then behaviour is open to being driven by self-interest.
If man is a survivor due to being the fittest, then whatever it takes to survive is ‘right’. If there is money to be made, or personal power to be attained, then human casualties, both physical and emotional, are immaterial.
Morals become elastic, relative to the situation and the person.
‘It makes me feel good,’ ‘I deserve it’, ‘Everyone else does it’, become acceptable measures.
The Value of Life
Conversely, if there is a Designer Creator who cares, when life was created with reason and purpose, then behaviour is shaped by the knowledge of that Creator.
Gen 1:27 God created man in His own image . . . male and female created He them.
God’s version of the origin of life is the baseline for everything that follows. With it we have a blueprint. Without it, we have a moral vacuum.
With man made in the image of God, the plumbline for all decisions and actions is in the Word.
If every man is not made in the image of God, where is the reference point to decide the value of one particular human life?
For Example
God said simply: Love the Lord your God . . . love your neighbour as yourself, and You shall not kill.
We will look in later posts at the recurring debates over the Crusades, the Catholic church, self-defence, war and so on.
In the light of a Darwinian induced self-interest code, you shall not kill . .
– unless the person happens to be a baby who will inconvenience you.
– unless the person belongs to a race you consider inferior.
– unless the person has something you want, be it a car, a cellphone, a wallet, a wife.
Hope in Chaos
If man is a result of chance, grown and placed in an environment of fate, then in times of crisis there is ample scope for chaos.
Without God and His Word, man redefines right and wrong. He refuses to accept authority, especially a divine and unseen authority. Each man does what is right in his own eyes.
º Responsibility is watered down with circumstantial blame-shifting.
º Repentance is replaced with politically correct apologies.
º Sin is dismissed.
º Each man defines his own righteousness.
We serve a Creator who gave instruction and conscience, who supplied a complete guidebook to life and everything that can confront us. In times of crisis He gives us order and direction. He gives us hope, He will not give up on us.
The Beginning Continues
John 1:1-5
1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2. He was in the beginning with God.
3. All things were made through him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
4. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men,
5. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
The light is that in the beginning, God created.
The darkness that does not comprehend is the mindset of random chance. A mindset that refuses to admit to God. A mindset that allows for evasion.
Yet the framework for this mindset is cracking. As a science it has widening fissures, as a philosophy it has brought destruction.
Empirical and exoteric evidence of an Intelligent Creation continue to increase. And inseparable from this is the Creator we find in every word of the Bible, a personal, loving individual who crafted each one of us as an individual.
He gives us light in the darkness, He gives us freedom of choice, and He gives us the opportunity to know Him.
1A snippet of recent interest:
Scientists say conditions on Earth for the first 500 million years after it formed may have been surprisingly similar to the present day, complete with oceans and even continents. Researchers at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee say that the young Earth might not have been inhospitable to life.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2757618/Was-early-Earth-like-Eden-Hell-Planet-cooler-hospitable-thought-4-billion-years-ago.html#ixzz3DUXHYZRI