To sit alone with one’s thoughts and contemplate everything that is, was,
and will be is a beautiful part of being human. This creative imagination is
an aspect of what it means to be made in the image of God. 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. 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] 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. These
things are the beliefs that satisfy a human soul, but why? Without
knowing it, every human benefits from these qualities of the Lord and
they are ultimately what we strive to achieve. 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. “Be perfect,
therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt 5:48, NIV).[5] To
reflect these qualities in the world, they have to start from somewhere
that is solidly and unchangingly good and secure. 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. 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). 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. 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).
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 3rdEdition,(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 3rdedGrand 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
