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There is no higher and nobler view of man than that found in the Bible. In the Sacred Text he is presented as the special creation of a loving, all-powerful Supreme Being—God (Gen. 1:26–27). Man is accurately described as the most exalted and advanced of all life forms whose Creator gave him dominion over all other forms of physical creatures (Gen. 1:28–30). Man’s origin and development were not accidental, but purposed by his Creator. Man’s exaltation and dominion were the result of design and appointment of God (Gen. 1:28). In the Bible man is pictured as more than a mere animal operating at the instinct level. He is made after the likeness of God, who is Spirit (Gen. 1:27; John 4:24). Man is therefore a spiritual creature as well as a physical one (Mat. 10:28). Since man is the crowning act of a loving God’s creation, he is responsible to his Creator and His righteous Will. The purpose of the creature called “man” is to honor, glorify, and serve the Creator (Ecc. 12:13; Mat. 22:37–38).
God has revealed His righteous pattern of life for man in the Bible, particularly through Jesus Christ (Tit 2:11–12). God alone knows the right way of life for men, just as an automobile manufacturer alone knows the right way all the parts of his car operate. Man will eventually be judged according to His revealed Will (Ecc. 12:14; 2 Cor. 5:10; John 12:48). Despite this, God has made man a creature of choice, allowing him complete freedom to obey or disobey Him (Rev. 22:17). The Word of God, when accepted and obeyed, lifts man above the unconscionable, shameless, uncivilized behavior patterns of even the most advanced other forms of life. Men were made by God to walk upright both physically and behaviorally. What an honorable and superior concept of man the Bible presents!
Any concept of man that cuts him loose from his origin by and accountability to God can do nothing but degrade, dehumanize, and decivilize him. The widespread acceptance of the chance theories of evolution to explain man’s origin have accomplished both sorry purposes to an alarming degree. Let it be understood clearly that the Genesis account of creation and the evolutionary concept of man’s origin are totally incompatible. The evolutionist, Thomas Huxley, has drawn the line plainly: “The doctrine of evolution, if consistently accepted, makes it impossible to believe the Bible.” Evolution has no room for even the existence of God, much less for His power to create. According to evolution, what is now mankind began quite by accident several billion years ago as a one-celled animal in a pool of primeval slime.
If man is the mere product of accidental processes, it follows that he is answerable to none but himself. The aim of life must therefore be, “If it feels good, do it.” It is no mere coincidence that with the increased acceptance of evolution by the scientific community and its general propagation through all strata of schools has come a marked increase in atheism, agnosticism, and rejection of the Bible as the Word of’ God. With the ascendency of evolution has come a corresponding increase in shameless sexual promiscuity, perversion, and pornography. With man cut loose from God and His Word, our crime rates are soaring, dependence on alcohol and other narcotics is burgeoning, honor and decency are rapidly becoming relics of an age gone by. With the ever looser moral climate, the home and family unit, the bastion of honorable civilization, is being destroyed before our very eyes. Man seems bent on lowering himself to no more than a jungle existence, living by jungle morals in which the sole determinant of “right” and “wrong” is raw power. If evolution’s view of man is correct, then he should live only for the moment and for his own maximum animal pleasure, because there is nothing beyond the grave.
The wonder of this issue is that evolution is totally unproved ad totally unprovable. It is theory and philosophy from beginning to end. One of the more honest evolutionists, Dr. T.N. Tahmisian, a nuclear physicist employed by AEC, admits:
Scientists who go about teaching that evolution is a fact of life are great con men, and the story they are telling may be the greatest hoax ever. In explaining evolution, we do not have one iota of fact. . . It is a tangled mishmash of guessing games and figure joggling . . . .
The bitter fruit of man’s gullible acceptance of evolution may be seen on every hand. However, where God is honored and the Bible is obeyed, the sweet fruits of self-control, honor, self-less service, and moral uprightness are found in abundance (Gal. 5:19–24). If there were no other grounds upon which to judge the proper view of man, surely the loftiness of the Biblical view would appeal to right-thinking people every time. Personally, I have a higher view of myself than evolution allows. How about you?
[Note: I wrote this article for an it was published in the April 22, 1980, edition of Light of Life, of which I was editor. This monthly paper was published and mailed to every address county-wide by Granbury Church of Christ, Granbury, TX.]
Attribution: From thescripturecache.com; Dub McClish, owner and administrator.
