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CWV-101 Lecture 2

Origins

Introduction

Now that you have a grasp of the worldview families, this lecture's topic of origins deals with two more worldview components:

          What is the nature of the universe?

          What is human nature?

You will begin at the beginning (how life came to be), for it is there that you find the major differences in worldviews. For the atheist or naturalist whose ultimate reality is the universe (consisting of all matter and energy), all of nature has existed in some form or another for eternity. For the pantheist, the universe and God are one and the same, an impersonal force that just is. For theists whose ultimate reality is an eternal Spirit who exists apart from the universe, God is responsible for creating all there is, and the universe is far more complex than scientists know, for there is a spiritual dimension that, so far, is beyond the scrutiny of scientific inquiry.  

Our focus will be on the Christian view of the origin of all there is: creation. You will be looking deeply into the Bible and in the textbook. Creation is the first of four biblical "acts," the others being the fall, redemption, and restoration.

As Proverbs 9:10 states, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding" (NIV). For the Christian, this verse accents that God is not only ultimate reality, but is the very essence of wisdom and understanding. Paul was compelled to write, "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!" (Rom. 11:33). So the origin of all there is began with God–and began with great wisdom.

The Nature of God: Sovereign Creator

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1). God the creator existed before his creation and is therefore sovereign, having supreme authority and absolute power over all things. So God is the ultimate reality for Christians. As the sovereign creator he spoke the word and by his will all things were created.

God has many characteristics or attributes. Some of God's attributes are reflected to some extent in humanity, his highest creation, though perfected in him. These would include love, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, compassion, justice, and holiness. Some of these are also referred to as fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. Other attributes reveal God's transcendence, that he is eternal, infinite, omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, immutable, and incomprehensible.

God's person is best described as the Trinity, or Godhead: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ who is fully God and fully man), and God the Holy Spirit. Three persons, same substance, one God. As is pointed out in the textbook, all three persons were involved in the creation (Gen. 1:2; John 1:3; Col. 1:16-17; Heb. 1:2).

The Nature of Creation: God's Good Work

Genesis 1 gives a broad overview of the story of creation, then chapter 2 zooms in on the end of day six and the creation of humanity to reveal more detail. It is clear from the creation account of Genesis 1-2 that God was orderly in his creation as he spoke everything into existence. And the result was that everything was "very good" (Gen. 1:31). The only "not good" came when God pronounced that "it is not good for man to be alone" (Gen. 2:18), and so Adam and Eve were created.

Christians hold different opinions on how God accomplished his work of creation. They agree that God created the world and everything that exists in the universe (Gen. 1-2) by an act of his will and command (Ps. 33:6), from nothing (Heb. 11:3), for his glory (Rev. 4:11), with great wisdom (Ps. 104:24) through Christ and for Christ (Col. 1:16). Christians agree that God's creation clearly shows his design and reveals his character (Rom. 1:20). And Christians agree that God's days of creation and rest were given as a pattern for your own days of work and rest (Gen. 2:2-3; Exod. 20:9-11).

So although there is much agreement about the creation story, Christians disagree on exactly how God may have brought it about. There are three major views, and many subviews within these three, but for the purposes here, you will only look at the three major views.

The Young Earth View

The Young Earth View holds that the universe, including all of life, was created by God in six 24-hour days. A prominent advocate is Ken Ham and his ministry, Answers in Genesis (www.answersingenesis.org).

The Old Earth View

The Old Earth View holds that the biblical account of creation was an extended historical event, the creation days being long periods of time. They agree with the findings of mainstream science that the universe and earth are billions of years old, but believe life appeared in stages as God gave the commands. This Day-Age view, as it is also called, is advocated by Hugh Ross and his ministry, Reasons to Believe (www.reasons.org).

The Theistic Evolution View

The Theistic Evolution View is the belief that life evolved as mainstream scientists say, but was empowered and directed by God. This view's prominent spokesperson is Francis Collins and his ministry, BioLogos (http://biologos.org).

Topic 2 includes required readings from the websites of each of the ministries supporting the three views.

The Nature of Humanity: Divine Image Bearers

One of the most powerful concepts of the Christian worldview is the truth revealed in Genesis 1:26-27 that humanity was created in the image of God–spirit beings like him. But you were created with both a spirit and a body, indicating that this is your natural state. This becomes even clearer as you learn in the New Testament that one day you will be resurrected to new glorified bodies (1 Cor. 15:42-53).

The image of God indicates that you also have remnants of his character within you, and may include: the capability to love (even those who seem unlovable), the capability to create for purpose or simply for beauty, the ability to reason on a very high level, the ability to explore the universe, the capability to communicate with our Creator and to consciously worship him, the ability to sacrifice for others, the ability to be fair (a sense of justice), and an inate ability to sense right and wrong (a sense morality).

This is true for all people, regardless of one's worldview or religion or whether one believes in God or not. But Christians have been called to an even higher purpose–to be conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29)–that is, restored to the perfect image of God; a process sometimes called sanctification that takes a lifetime. The body of a Christian is referred to in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 as the temple of the Holy Spirit, and as such, you are to purify yourself, being transformed by the renewing of your mind (Rom. 12:2).

Conclusion

So you may say that humanity was created to love as God loves, to worship and commune with him as he does with us, and to work as he works. Adam and Eve were commanded to be fruitful and multiply, and they were given dominion over all the earth (Gen. 1:28), which is a high order. They were placed in a beautiful garden to care for it and "work and keep it" (Gen. 2:15). Adam was even given the task of naming all the animals, thus becoming the first biologist, doing a work that continues to this day as new species are still being discovered.

Thus, humanity from the beginning was engaged in good work and given responsibility and authority over other creatures, to care for them, and to expand God's kingdom under his sovereign rule.