The Big Difference 12-20-09
I was watching Sci-Fi Science, a show featuring theoretical physicist and author Michio Kaku, and I had a startling insight into the big difference between those who place their faith in God and those who place their faith in “science”. The episode was about the science behind teleportation devices in science fiction; a hypothetical device which could scan, transmit, and fabricate a person was visualized. The scenario was that a person could step into a machine in New York, be scanned and analyzed at the atomic level, and then the data would be sent to Tokyo where an exact copy would be produced.
Now the obvious problem comes up: what to do with the original! Does the person then step back out of the device and continue on his way? Or does that person then need to be destroyed so that only one version of the person exists? At the end of the show they had some interviews with people in the crowd at the convention where this was discussed. One person cheerfully said that he hoped he would be able to talk to his copy before he (the original) was killed. REALLY?!? But this is the “Aha!” moment that I had: the sanctity of individual human life is bound together with the belief that God created man in his image. Those who reject that truth find themselves contemplating (or even rationalizing) horrendous things.
If man is not made in the image of God, but rather evolved from a common ancestor with the Apes, then morality is merely a delusion and a product of our cooperative instinct. Those who hold to this belief have in the past justified:
Eugenics programs – controlling who breeds with whom in order to improve the species (who lives and who dies is the end result of these initiatives)Abortion – disposal of unwanted or unhealthy fetuses (not called babies, of course)Right-to-die – assisted suicideEuthanasia – disposal of unwanted or unhealthy individualsAnimal Liberation – the granting of coequal status between humans and animals (some proponents even go into areas of human/animal intimacy)
Of course most who reject Christianity in favor of this new religion of naturalism do not realize that it is a religion (complete with holy texts and ordained priesthood) and they certainly do not understand the end result of their beliefs. But it is easier than getting up on Sunday, going to church, and hearing about the changes that God requires in their lives.Not surprisingly God has a different viewpoint:
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (Genesis 1:26-28 NIV)
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” (Matthew 6:25-27 NIV)
God said he made man in his image, in his likeness, and that he was given dominion over the other creatures and the all the earth before he was even made! God wanted man to fill the earth and to subdue it. And Jesus said that God did not create the world and then just walk away, but rather takes care even of feeding the birds of the air, and because of this we know God will take care of us because we are more important!
Men continue to reject God and instead they make up notions and cling to worthless beliefs. In the past, parents sacrificed their children to stone and wood idols; today parents are sacrificing their children on the altars of convenience and ideology. But we who believe in Christ Jesus know that the God in whose image we were made will one day put an end to those notions and beliefs. The big difference is that our God is real.