Dethroning God

So I've been a bit absent from this blog lately.  I apologize.  Please accept my apology by considering my most recent thoughts, which are sure to be more controversial than my last.

Let's begin with a few verses to consider:

Isaiah 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts

Psalm 135:6 Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps

Isaiah 46:10 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.  I say, "my purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please."

I was probably 17 years old.  I was watching a documentary on Biblical miracles.  I'll never forget it.  On the show, there were experts explaining how a seasonal wind in the region causes water movement in the Red Sea.  And they were pointing to this normal weather pattern as the factor that took God out of the equation, and instead made the Israelites' escape from the Egyptians just dumb luck.

I was absolutely astounded.  They wanted to use science to downplay God?  God INVENTED science, ya morons!  Do they not know he is the author of it all?  Do they not understand that if science is the means, God is the engineer that knew how to set the whole thing into motion?

The Bible was written in a time of ignorance and superstition in the history of mankind.  People didn't want to know the details, they just wanted the assurance that it was in God's hands.  God spoke the world into existence?  Good enough for us.

We live in a different world today.  People are curious.  They prod into the inner workings of things.  Mankind has made some AMAZING discoveries, that I could not even begin to comprehend.  And, as a result of the advances we've made, people get a little big-headed.  Look what we have done.  Look how advanced a civilization we've become.  People get the idea that we no longer need God, because he is precluded by science.

Well, if God set the gears to motion that we today call "science", we can hardly toss him aside just because we know how a few things work.  Science can't disprove God.  It can't throw a coup and remove him from his throne.  Science cannot challenge God, because it is under the control of God.  It is a creation of God, and we all know the created cannot be greater than the creation.  If anything, discovery of how the world works should only bolster our faith and drive us to a new level of awe at how great God really is.  This is all the work of his hand.

What an inspiring message, right?  High-five, we showed those guys!  ...well, I'm not done yet.

Here's where we get into the whole "cultural Christianity" thing.  We are all about talking about God's sovereignty, as long as it benefits us and our collective creed.  Outside of that, things get a little bit sticky.  And I don't want my ego to put blinders on my eyes that potentially make me miss the larger picture.

So, here we are back to the relevance of the culture that was at the time the books of the Bible were penned.  People didn't need to know all the details, because God was a spiritual being beyond their understanding.  But we've got science now, so it's not that way anymore, right?  Or is it?  Can we really profess to understand God?  Do we know his ways?  Are we on the same level as him?

Even if you aren't a believer, or even a Theist at all, you have to admit that we couldn't hope to compare to the idea of an omniscient God.  So why are we so quick to dismiss him?

"Whatever do you mean?"  I know that's what you're asking me.  To which I can only reply that I have thoughts, but I can't claim to know it all.  I want to make it clear that the point of this post is not to enlighten you and show you the error of your ways.  I simply want it to open your mind to all the possibilities of who God could be, and what he could have done, because outside of that which is clearly defined in the Bible, we couldn't possibly know for sure.  Not in this life, anyway.

Let me test the waters very quickly.

EVOLUTION.

What sort of response does that spark in you?  Disgust?  Interest?  Indifference?

Well, the point of today's blog is to, without questioning God or who he is, discover what exactly it is about this idea that polarizes our society.

There are two scriptures I'd like to consider relating to this topic.  First, Genesis 3:19

From the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return

Second, Genesis 1:27

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

So God created man from dust?  Is that figuratively speaking, or literal?  Did he just speak and create man by the power of his voice?  Did he have to wave his hand?  Did he swirl literal dust into the form of a man?  The truth is, we don't really know the HOW.  Science, no matter its motive, has tried to explain the formation of our world and how the human race came to be.  Science is not greater than God, God is in control.  And no matter how much we want it to be one way or the other, WE are also not greater than God, God is in control.  Ultimately whether God spoke us into existence, or if we are the product of a Godly magic trick, or even if we are the product of a God-designed evolution process, it really makes no difference.  God is in control.

I know the standard argument:  But we are created in God's image.  We are special.  We are different.

Yes, we are created in God's image.  There are different camps for what exactly that means.  Personally, I'm of the persuasion that we are eternal beings, with a "soul", as you might call it.  You may not agree.  That's fine.  Like I said, I am not declaring rights and wrongs here, I just want an honest evaluation.

Most who oppose the very thought of evolution typically recite the "made in God's image" scripture.  And I understand why.  But I'd like to stop for a moment and make a few considerations on that.

The passage I want to look at next is a bit too long for me to copy and paste here, so here's a link to Exodus 33:

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+33&version=NIV

It's generally accepted as fact, and Jesus even states it himself in John 1:18 that no man has physically seen God.  Moses was the closest there was to actually seeing God, but he didn't see him.  It's been explained in a lot of different ways - that he saw God's back, that he saw God's glory or shadow as he passed by, etc.  So how do we know what God looks like?  Do we really think we look physically just like him, and that it's beneath us to have any other origin?  Read Revelation.  Tell me that John's vision of heaven is of God and his creations making up a sea of White Anglo-Saxon Protestants.  Yes, there's a lot of imagery in this book of the Bible, and we would do well not to take every detail of it literally - God is making a lot of representations and abstract ideas rather than pinning down details.  But to tell the truth, we can't know whether we look just like God.  And I would argue that there is no way we COULD, and to think we are a carbon copy of such splendor and glory is just plain ARROGANT.

So what business of ours is it?  Who are WE to declare what we are better than?  Are we to play God?  Are we to limit him by saying he is not allowed to use such a process?  And if we can do that, is he still omniscient?  Would he still be God?

Look, I'm not telling you to get over it because you might share a common ancestor with monkeys.  (Note the phrasing - a lot of folks don't get the whole evolution idea exactly right)  I can't say that with 100% certainty.  I wasn't there, maybe it happened, and maybe it didn't.  If it did, then it's just a piece of knowledge that exists, but cannot exist outside of God.  But I must make my peace with it, no matter what, because it is not my place but God's to decide that.

Either way, WHO CARES?  Galatians 6:14 says, May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Christ Jesus, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.  WHAT A BOLD STATEMENT!  Our identity lies in our God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ!  We have nothing we can claim for ourselves, only that which was given to us freely through Jesus.  And note the second part: that the world has no meaning to us outside of him.  So what does our physical composition or origin matter?

The point here is, no matter our origin, we were created by God, FOR God, and we have no say in the matter.  The world-engineering we call science was created by God, FOR God, and it has no say in the matter either.  We are all subject to his will - which, remember, is his own, and is not known to us.

So, does evolution explain our origin?  WHO CARES?  It is neither here nor there, we are who we are because of Jesus' sacrifice.  (Let me stop here and mention if you don't know about Jesus and what he did, or do not already KNOW that his sacrifice covers you, PLEASE ask me about him)  Even if current scientific research is right, and we are products of evolution, it does not preclude God because he is above it all.  I would recommend we move past dwelling on it.  We are in no position to dwell on it, in any case.  If the schools teach it to our children, so be it.  The concept does not and CANNOT challenge God because it is ultimately under his control.  Like any other matter, it is our responsibility as parents (if you have children) to teach our children how it all relates to God.  The rest is just details.  God-ordained, God-planned details.