Four Questions
It’s been shown that a person’s worldview answers four questions: Why is there something and not nothing? What has happened and is broken in the world? Is there any hope, and if so, what is it? And, where is history headed?
In Part-I I’ve shown that science can’t answer the question, why is there something and not nothing? nor should it be expected to. You can’t test it; you can’t put something into a test tube or beaker or even a cyclotron and turn something into nothing or the reverse. Even turning energy into matter, as remarkable as that is, can’t be manipulated into making something from nothing. It’s beyond science.
Two Philosophies Dominate
We discussed what has happened and broken in the world and noted two philosophies dominate. First, evolution suggests nothing is broken. Instead, we are happily traveling down the survival-of-the-fittest highway of life, competing with each other for limited resources and having “fun” doing it. The competition between individuals, countries, and races is merely how we improve the gnome.
The other philosophy is Biblical. What went wrong first happened in heaven, not earth. Our broken world is just collateral damage from a war gone wrong in the cosmos, and it was over God’s character. He was accused of lying, lying about sin causing death, of being arbitrary, exacting, unforgiving, and severe by His second-in-command—Lucifer—and one-third of the heavenly beings believed his lies. The only way to settle the conflict was to create a new planet with beings that didn’t know the past. But sadly, earth sided with God’s enemy; we rebelled thinking God couldn’t be trusted to keep his word, that He lied to us, and we ate the fruit. Now we are living and dying from the consequences.
Hope
Today’s focus is on hope: Is there any? When I’m asked open-ended questions like that, I want to ask back quickly, “What kind of hope, or hope in what, or hope to do what?” It’s the same when someone says, “Trust me.” I want to ask, “Trust you to do what, to tell the truth, always be there for you and never let you down, or just trust you enough to make a tasty breakfast and nothing more? It varies a lot!
I think the “hope” all people crave is—immortality—both the evolutionary scientist and those of faith. Both have a deep-seated longing for something more than what we see, feel, taste, and are. If science continues its advances in medicine, men and women will live hundreds of years with the benefit of new knees, hips, and hearts. We’ll have new livers, new corneas, new kidneys, and we’ll know how to keep cancer at bay. We will learn to use genetics to overcome hereditary diseases like physical deformities, ugliness, shortness, weakness, and stupidity. We’ll have bionic eyes and ears and be able to jump tall buildings with a single bound, but I’m not sure about our characters.
Science’s Endgame
Have you seen the movies 1984 or A Brave New World? In 1984, Big Brother uses technology to enslave mankind; and in A Brave New World, technology is used to genetically create whatever type of worker is needed for the all-powerful Ford Motor Company. Mankind is prone to dominance, and domination in genetic science necessitates the creation of super beings. We are enthralled with them. We have Superman and Wonder Woman, Batman, Neo, Thor, Hulk, Spock, Yoda, Luke Skywalker, and a score of superheroes with superpowers. They do not have super characters, however, and we become what we most highly prize and admire. What we behold we become, and society loves the rich and powerful. Science’s endgame is the immortality of superhumans—a self-perpetuated eternal life.
A Different Immortality
Those of faith have hope too in future immortality, but their path is different. It’s not through science, technology, and evolution; it’s through a man—the God-man—Jesus Christ. It seems ironic that a person today can embrace immortality only through someone who died himself. I remember trying to make sense of it when I was young. I knew there had to be more to the story.
The short story is: we have all rebelled against God (sinned) and must die. But God so loved the world (us) that He sent His Son to die in our place, and those who have come back to Him and ceased their rebellion will be forgiven. They will live forever—they will be given immortality.
Was it a Swap?
This short statement is true if you make the correct assumptions. But worldwide, the way it’s generally presented puts God the Father in a poor light. Should doing one thing wrong, one time, no matter how trivial it is, be punished with death; why not have a graduated punishment scale instead? And, can one person’s death atone for every wrong ever committed? Would any court accept an innocent person’s punishment in lieu of another person’s crimes? Is that a just swap? Not normally.
The longer version is laid out in several thousand pages of the Bible. We are used to, here a little and there a little, like the paragraph above, but what about the rest? Only after knowing the whole story does it make sense. How does the nation of Israel fit into the narrative, and the sanctuary, the 10-Commandments, Elijah killing 450 or more prophets, and God killing 180,000 Assyrians? Try reading the whole book through yourself and don’t just take other people’s opinions as being true without checking it out yourself. You will be glad you did!
Better than a Walt Disney Fairy Tale
The Bible paints a picture more beautiful and more hopeful than any Walt Disney fairy tale. The hope of all Christians is being resurrected at Jesus’s second coming and living in God’s presence, having eternity to get to know Him and be like Him, living in a place where there are no tears, no death, no sorrow, and only joy; traveling from planet to planet as God’s ambassadors, sharing the good news of His love, mercy, and truthfulness with other creations, having bodies that don’t decay and brake and grow old. The hope of Christians includes all that of evolutionists but is greater. It’s more than immortality—it adds the perfection of character and living with God, angels, and others who love us and can be trusted. Note below a couple of hopeful verses taken from the Bible.
In the earth made new:
6The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
(Isaiah 11: 6-9, NIV)
Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.
(I Corinthians 2:9, NKJV)
There is Hope!