Purpose and Progress

Genesis 1.1-4 (ESV)
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. And God saw that the light was good.

Pastor Henry G. Brinton, as quoted by Al Mohler on his blog, "sees no contradiction in accepting that humans are the product of evolution and believing that God decided evolution would be the method by which humans would be created." This sounds perfectly reasonable in many ways, and is a common way that Christians (including me) have reconciled the creation story of Genesis and evolutionary theory. Dr. Mohler brings up a very important point, though. He writes, "the mainstream doctrine of evolution denies that evolution can have any fixed goal at all. Nothing had to happen... We can eliminate the conflict between evolution and Christianity if we redefine God to be something far less than the Creator he reveals himself to be in Genesis."

Many Christians (again, including myself) have said that the Bible reveals why all things were created, and that science has discovered that evolution is how this was accomplished. But the issue of purpose that Dr. Mohler brings up points at a problem with that dichotomy. Is the universe a blind assortment of collisions whose "purpose" only appears when certain patterns of collisions become imperfectly self-perpetuating? The point is that if we say that naturalistic evolution explains the "how" of our existence, is there any point in looking to any religion for a "why"? Naturalistic evolution tells us that we are here by random chance or, worse, by an exceptionally complex but unyielding mechanical process. Scientific observation, models, theories, and predictions can be very useful and are a way that God has enabled us to "fill the earth and subdue it," (Genesis 1.28) making it a better place to live in many ways. But how can we speak of any purpose, any right or wrong, if we are just lucky to be here in the form we are in? There is a conflict between two "truths," so one of them must not be true.

G.K Chesterton speaks of the necessity of a fixed ideal or goal to guide progress in the chapter "The Eternal Revolution" in Orthodoxy. He says that naturally evolving systems have no goal in mind, but only immediate perpetuation or aimless drift in current conditions. (Keep reading in Genesis to find out about the perfection Chesterton speaks of Adam seeing.)

"At any instant you may strike a blow for the perfection which no man has seen since Adam. No unchanging custom, no changing evolution can make the original good any thing but good. Man may have had concubines as long as cows have had horns: still they are not a part of him if they are sinful. Men may have been under oppression ever since fish were under water;still they ought not to be, if oppression is sinful. The chain may seem as natural to the slave, or the paint to the harlot, as does the plume to the bird or the burrow to the fox; still they are not, if they are sinful."

How can we "strike a blow," how can we take a stand that something must change because it is wrong, if our only measure of right and wrong is the consensus of most people this moment? Even worse is the view that some people are somehow more "ethically advanced" and that their ethics should guide the rest of us. How do you evaluate advancement if there is no standard for comparison? And if there is a standard, why would I want to conform to a more or less advanced example of the standard when I should strive to bring myself to the ideal standard itself?

I have no grand summary statement about evolution as a result of this thinking. All I know for sure is that ultimately, nature (God's general revelation about himself, as described in Romans 1.19-20) and the Bible (God's specific and progressive revelation about himself through history) must agree. If one thing is clear in the Bible, it is that God has a purpose for this universe he created. We are here to show how great, loving, powerful, holy, forgiving, etc., he is. We are here to respond to God because of who he is. Clearly random chance is eliminated as a method of our creation, but so is mechanical predetermination, because no response would then be genuine but only preprogrammed. How will this truth be ultimately shown by science in its study of nature? I don't know. There have been attempts recently, but there is more study to be done before the two can be fully reconciled.

God, open the eyes of the human race to see how nature points us to your eternal power and divine nature. Please don't let us be distracted by our study of your vast creation to think that the physical world is the ultimate reality. Thank you that as vast as the universe is, your love and holiness are so amazing that an eternity will be required to explore them. Thank you, Jesus, for taking the form of a finite man to usher me in to your loving purpose for me!

Good to be judged?

Luke 22.67-69 (ESV)
"If you are the Christ, tell us." But he said to them, "If I tell you, you will not believe, and if I ask you, you will not answer. But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God."

Psalm 110.1 (ESV)
The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool."


This Sunday, my senior pastor taught from the story of Jesus' trial and condemnation to death from the Gospel of Luke (spanning parts of chapters 22 and 23). It is heavy material, as we consider how the guiltless perfect God-man approached his death which was to pay the penalty for our individual and corporate wrongdoing. The joy of the Gospel, even in this somber remembrance, is that I am now able to enjoy restored relationship with God because of Jesus' perfect obedience.

But that happy ending was not on display in the passage we read Sunday. Instead, I saw again the ways in which Jesus was unjustly judged. As the rulers of the people questioned and judged Jesus, his response was simply, "from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God." He called their attention to the words of Psalm 110, in which the Lord executes judgement on the whole world for failing in innumerable ways to live up to his holy standard. Jesus had asserted that he would be the one with final judgement of them, not the other way around. His assertion did not quell their anger, however. It only fueled their determination to see him dead.

The concluding remarks of the message so impacted me that I have listened to them many times (via my church's sermon blog) since then.

Was there any justice in Jerusalem the day Christ was tried? Was there any justice? Is there any justice in America, where wealth can acquit and the color of your skin can condemn? Is there any justice? This chapter reveals a horrific corruption of justice. The most serious. For the innocent one, the Son of God, Christ, God's King was not convicted but sent to death; declared innocent yet given the worst possible execution. Sometimes human courts work. Never perfectly. We need Christ. We need the King. We should be saying, "Jesus, come. Come, Lord Jesus. Come to us. Come bring your judgements."

Up until this point, I thought I was right with him. We do not have perfect justice on the earth, but Jesus can bring it. I was enthusiastic to see the innocent go free and to see those evildoers get what they deserve. But his next statement stopped my vague self-righteous reverie...

See, we need his judgements. Because when he tries you, he finds out what's right and true. He sees it all. He never gets the evidence wrong. He establishes a perfect law. He it applies it flawlessly. And so, we need to submit to this judge.

Wait! No! I want Jesus to come and release me, not judge me! I want him to bring low those I see as haughty so that I, his humble disciple, can live joyously with him! The last question he asked only made me squirm more...

Do you put Jesus on trial? Do you judge him? ... Or do you let him judge you and out of worship submit to him as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords?

Again, my heart dropped. Do I invite God, the perfect holy one, to judge me? Do I look stupid to you? But he is right to call us to let Jesus judge us.

I do wrong and I sin in small and large ways. There are sins in my past of which I am and in some ways should be ashamed. I cannot expect to enjoy God's good gifts while I carry and continue to sin that earns his wrath. But I and my sins have already been judged and punished, and I must continue to invite Christ's judgement on me. Jesus Christ was deemed innocent by human courts and by God the Father, but he accepted the humanly incomprehensible sentence for my guilt. Only when I accept what God says about my sin in the Bible (that all my wrongdoing, even the most "trivial" rebellion against his desire for me, adds up to a mountain of evidence demanding my condemnation to eternal punishment) can I also receive the good things he promises to those who live rightly.

So, I pray that God will give me the courage to invite his judgement of me, so that I will be able to stand with joy that only increases the more I see how much of me he has judged and how much wrath Jesus prepared to take from me as he dragged himself up the hill where his cross stood waiting.