Come Holy Spirit. Let us stand in awe before the wonders you have made. NIV Genesis 1:20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day. 24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” 29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. Again Im drawn to the C.S. Lewis account in the Chronicles of Narnia, where the ground begins to bubble and boil, and fully formed animals come up out of the soil and begin to wander off to their business. The bees get busy on the flowers as if there is no tomorrow. Aslan wanders among the bleating, braying, lowing, roaring creatures and touches noses with some here and there, calling them into a circle around him, and then breathes on them with such a breath that it sways them like the trees, and those animals become conscious and begin to talk. Lewis is imagining Christ, the Word of God, in an alternate form and an alternate universe, but leaning heavily on the Biblical account of creation, so as to illustrate what God did through his Word (Jesus) to create the world. In this scene, God creates the animals and birds and fish and sets them about their business. We are talking about abundant life here. If you have ever been to a heavily stocked pond or waterway and thrown feed to the fish, this is the image: fish so abundant that the water boils with them, fish being lifted out of the water by other fish. The earth is so fertile at the sound of Gods voice that it boils with new life. youtube/watch?v=ZkK9GUcGhcE With the animals and birds created, God forms Adam, and breathes life into him. Atheists like to point to all the contradictions in the Bible, but what if they arent contradictions? What if it is just a case of the atheists not reading the Bible carefully, nor putting any effort into understanding it? Right here, it says that God created male and female. That does not negate Adam and Eve, but it sets them apart and makes them a special case to be discussed later. There is no who did Adams sons marry? problem. It simply says they were a special case, set apart by God. And science has the same problem. If animals evolved, did multiple cases evolve identically at the same time? Or were the evolved animals able to breed with those who had not evolved? And the biggest problem of all for evolution is to produce a point at which animals actually became a different species, and didnt just change within their species. Stop for just a moment that when God creates man, he says we will create them in OUR image. What does that mean? Is he one God or not? Right here, in the very first chapter of the Bible, we see the first instance of the Trinity, or Godhead, which ever language you prefer. God is one God, but he is one God in three parts: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. St. Patrick used the three lobed leaf of a shamrock to explain this to the polytheistic pagans of Ireland: one being in three parts, of the same substance, but distinct from one another. Able to communicate and love one another, but one being. This is difficult for a finite human being to understand. I know, science says that is a cop out. The truth is, there are many things science is not capable of understanding, and simply is not designed to even contemplate, that is: anything that is not measurable or testable, which encompasses most of the truly important things in life. So, what is the image of God? Is he the bearded, white haired grandfather in the sky of the Sistine Chapel ceiling? Is that what Christians and Jews believe? No, of course not. That is simply Michaelangelos attempt to visualize God for a painting. How else would he represent God breathing life into Adam for a painting? Nevertheless, its still pretty arrogant for atheism to mock Michaelangelo for the way he represented God on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, as if they could do better. What if image isnt actually a picture? How do you visualize God? Truthfully, no human brain can encompass all of what God is. If we could, he wouldnt be much of a God. He would look a lot like us, God in our image, rather than us in his image. He would probably look a lot like the petty, selfish, impulsive gods of Greek and Roman mythology. God is too big for us, or he wouldnt be a God. God is righteousness and justice. He is the definition of what those things are. Without him, there is no definition of either concept. So into the human image of what God is, there is righteousness and justice. Do animals have a concept of righteousness or justice? Absolutely not. They live by might makes right. The strongest survives, and the weak die. God is love. Without him, there is no concept of love. Do animals love? There might be an argument there. They do take care of their young. They do mate. Are those things love? God gave us the ultimate example of love: he took human form and loved us unto death, even death on a cross, that we might be bought from the slavery of sin, and reconciled to him. Can an animal even conceive of that definition of love, let alone carry it out? Of course not. They dont even understand what sin is. God is a creator. Do animals create? Well, they use sticks for tools. They might even break a stick to make a better tool. If you dab their hands, paws, hooves, trunks etc. in paint, they will dab it on paper to make paintings. Are they capable of creating the functional order and beauty of the creator, even as a dim reflection? Of course not. Are we? Ever look at a car engine? Yes, animals that were called into existence by the creator bear a dim reflection of him. Are they capable of interacting with him in any meaningful way? No, they dont even have the language to do so. Yes, the highest functioning, most intelligent animals can use sign language. Yes, animals do have a means of communicating with their own kind. Can it ever rise to the level of contemplating God? Of course not. Can they seek truth through philosophy, science and religion? Of course not. We are set apart unto God. Is that anything to brag about? Of course not. We didnt set ourselves apart, we arent capable. God created us for himself. He created us in his image, not a photographic image, but an image of his character. We are capable of interacting with him, only because he made us capable of interacting with him. It is cause for deep humility, not pride. We are what we are because he made us. One last point, the words rule over are often a sticking point to faith in this image. Many animals lovers and nature lovers dont like the idea of human beings ruling over creation. They point to stinking cesspits of chemical dumps, and acid rain as a reason why humans shouldnt rule over the earth. Well, lets look at that. First of all, when they say humans shouldnt rule over what they really mean is that government should rule over, and government is made up of what? Humans. Their point is moot. It is not possible to remove human rule over the earth. Secondly, what is the image of ruling over that God gave us? Jesus, on the cross. Clearly this image of dominion is not one of using up, polluting, destroying, subjugating. Polluting, destroying and subjugating are good images of sin, not of ruling over following the example that God gave us. In fact, I would posit that it would be very difficult to prove that you were following God if you were polluting, destroying and subjugating. Even if a Christian is using the earth in a way that produces something toxic, it would be incumbent on that Christian to destroy the toxin and render it safe before he or she left it. That would not necessarily mean to restore the earth exactly as it had been, but trees and vegetation will eventually grow on slag dumps and tailings, strip mines and industrial sites. The Christian should, however, make sure that they leave a site compatible with life. The image given us in the Bible is husbandry: protection and care. Nevertheless, in all of this, remember that Christianity is about Christ, not about Christians. Even when we fail and fall into sin, which everyone does, that does not change who Christ is, or what he did. Thirdly, what the animal and nature lovers are actually doing is often neo-paganism. They are not loving, enjoying and protecting nature so much as they are worshiping it. Too many are talking about the spirits of trees, the spirit of the earth and the spirits of animals. They are mixing Native American paganism into their science and coming up with something dangerous and arrogant, that doesnt mind harming or destroying human beings in their quest to restore the earth into its virgin character. Forget that restoring virginity is not possible by definition. They dont even consider the unintended consequences of their actions. Weve been plagued by vast forest fires in recent years, many of which are allowed to reach such Biblical proportions simply because of misguided efforts to prevent all forest fires over the last century. This tree worship has allowed our forests to become tinder boxes of dead wood, choking out live trees and providing fuel for epic disasters. God intended that there be regular fires to clear out this underbrush and dead wood, and allowing things to happen as he intended prevents disasters. These are merely examples, and there are many more. Im sure some will take exception to them, but on substance, or simply an emotional reaction. The bottom line in this is that it is not possible to remove human rule. The mere act of trying to remove it is human rule. Abdicating human rule leads to unintended and intended consequences, some worse than those that currently exist. Our only hope lies in ruling over creation the way God rules over us: with compassion, mercy, love, righteousness and justice. This requires that we remain in constant contact with God, through prayer and study of his Word, that we might understand who and what he is, and emulate him as closely as possible. When we do thusly, the earth will thrive and teem with life. When we do not, it will fall into war, disease, death, famine, pollution and sin.
Posted on: Sun, 17 Nov 2013 17:41:10 +0000
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