God Creates People

September 16, 2018 Background Scripture: Genesis 1:26 – 2:7 Lesson Passage: Genesis 1:26 – 31; 2:4 – 7 Where did people come from? Why are we here? Why am I here? What’s expected of me in this life? These are some of the questions that many of us have pondered in our quiet time. Much of the field of science is devoted to the discovery of unbiased answers to these and other questions about reality. The scientific process begins with a hypothesis, or guess, and then proceeds to test the hypothesis to either disprove the hypothesis or use experimental data to convert the hypothesis to a theory that can be verified by other scientists. The process is well-proven in small controlled-environment laboratories and has proven its usefulness in man’s creative process of innovation. The process is utterly useless on a grand scale such as the universe. You cannot create a universe in a laboratory and test your hypothesis. Science is not the answer to the previous questions. Philosophers have pushed their imaginations beyond their life experiences and developed “schools of thought” that challenge us to look beyond our own reality and contemplate previously unrevealed methods of thinking about the meaning of reality. These “schools of thought” are not meant to be proven or disproven, but only enjoyed during moments of contemplation. Through philosophy, we can develop answers to the previous questions that have no basis in reality, and we can be okay with that. Whether through science or philosophy, the previous questions will go unanswered in the absolute sense of the answers being correct. However, what if the one who created everything could tell us that he did it and even tell us what he did? This is what Genesis 1 is all about. After God finished creating the heavens and the earth, He then created the most unique of all of His creation, mankind. Man’s uniqueness lies in that he was created as a physical being with the substance of the earth and then animated, or enlivened, with the indwelling Spirit of God. Mankind was created in God’s image and after God’s likeness. Even the details of his creation are different. Rather than speaking man into existence as He had the entire universe, God took counsel with Himself about man’s creation. Then, God took some of the dust of the earth and fashioned a physical body for man to live in. God clearly went to great lengths to make man. After He formed the body, then God breathed His Spirit into the earthen body and the image and likeness of God became a living physical being unlike anything else God had created. I believe it is always worth noting that God created the entire universe, which includes the earth, before He created man. The responsibility that God gave to man was to have dominion over all of the living creatures that inhabited the earth. Man was given the fruit and grain of the trees and plants as food. The dominion of the earth was not intended to be the work of one man, but man was to multiply upon the face of the earth and grow into dominion. Adam’s first assignment was to be a caretaker of the garden that God planted toward the east in Eden. All large assignments should begin with small tasks. It is through small tasks that we learn stewardship, prove our faithfulness, and earn the privilege of larger responsibilities. It is a biblical principle that if a person cannot be faithful over small things, they should not be trusted with greater things. That answers all of the previous questions. Robert C. Hudson September 5, 2018