To sit alone with one’s thoughts and contemplate everything that is, was, and will
be is a beautiful part of being human. d This creative imagination is an aspect of
what it means to be made in the image of God. d To be a living human being
means to be a representation of God Himself and it is “the most important reality
about what it means to be a human being.”[1] Although this image is “marred in
fallen human beings”[2] it can not be erased because it simply is. d The dignity
that comes with this creative state of being comes from a place of love and His
attributes that come from an unmarrable character that includes holiness,
faithfulness, goodness, mercy, grace, love, and even wrath.[3] d These are the
attributes that make humanity flourish because they were what our genes were
made to inhabit and reflect to each other in the day-to-day. d These things are the
beliefs that satisfy a human soul, but why? d Without knowing it, every human
benefits from these qualities of the Lord and they are ultimately what we strive to
achieve. d Evolutionary ethics do not explain the reason why these attributes and
personality traits are good and right. They provide no reason to grasp onto
besides the immediate gratification of choosing to act. The most compelling
reason for which to reject evolutionary ethics is because it fails to explain why
“value came from value.”[4] The dignity in which human beings desire to be
treated with and reflect comes from the one who is perfect. d “Be perfect,
therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt 5:48, NIV).[5] d To reflect these
qualities in the world, they have to start from somewhere that is solidly and
unchangingly good and secure. d God’s moral purity means that He Himself if
completely free from “anything wicked or evil”[6] and He is the instigator or the
“engineer”[7] of everything that reflects purity. d He is the “pioneer and perfector”
with the selfless character to endure the cross that humanity could stand before
Him cleansed from sin and shame (Heb 12:2, NIV). d If one were able to simply do
what was good and right without “strong moral impulse”[8] the law would have
been enough to cleanse humanity from sin. d Instead, God set in motion from the
very beginning a way to live that flowed from love for Him and one that was
meant to be multiplied into others (Gen 1:28, NIV). d
WORD COUNT: 484
[1] Heath Lambert, A Theology of Biblical Counseling (Grand Rapids, MI:
Zondervan, 2016), 189.
[2] Ibid., 188.
[3] Ibid., 123-131.
[4] Robert McQuilkin and Paul Copan, An Introduction to Biblical Ethics: Walking in
the Way of Wisdom (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press Academic, 2013), 181.
[5] Unless otherwise noted, all biblical references are in the New International
Version.
[6] Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology 3rd Edition, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker
Academic, 2013), 256.
[7] Robert McQuilkin and Paul Copan, An Introduction to Biblical Ethics., 180
[8] Ibid., 180.
Bibliography
Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology 3rd ed Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic,
2013.
Lambert, Heath. A Theology of Biblical Counseling. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan,
2016.
McQuilkin, Robert and Paul Copan. An Introduction to Biblical Ethics: Walking in the
Way of Wisdom. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press Academic, 2013.
Jessica Klootwyk
