Creation Questions

Tag: jesus

  • Jesus Is The Logos

    Jesus Is The Logos

    Based on a cross-sectional analysis of Revelation, John, Hebrews, Colossians, and 1 Timothy, the conclusion that the Logos is a pre-existent, divine person, Jesus Christ, is not merely suggested, but is textually inescapable.

    Let me explain:

    The argument begins with the most direct statement of identity and nature:

    “In the beginning was the WORD, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” — John 1:1

    This verse establishes two critical facts: The Word is eternal and the Word is distinct in personhood but shares divinity.

    This divine person is definitively named at the climactic moment of Christ’s return:

    “He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.” — Revelation 19:13

    Jesus is explicitly named the “Word of God.” Jesus is linked to the Word across multiple apostolic authors. John introduces the concept immediately:

    “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” — John 1:3

    The Apostle Paul and the author of Hebrews use the identical theological framework to describe Jesus:

    Colossians 1:16: “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth… All things were created through Him and for Him.”

    1 Corinthians 8:6: “…one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.”

    Hebrews 1:2: “…spoken to us by His Son, through whom also He made the worlds.”

    Jesus is the sole, ultimate agent “through whom all things consist and were created.” Jesus of Nazareth must, therefore, be the Logos of John 1:1-3. This divine Creator is also the perfect revelation of the Father, known through the Incarnation.

    “The WORD became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father…” — John 1:14

    The mystery of godliness, that God appeared in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16), is explained by the Logos taking on humanity. Furthermore, He is defined by His relationship to the invisible God:

    “He is the image of the invisible God…” — Colossians 1:15

    “[He is] the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power…” — Hebrews 1:3

    The Greek word for “express image” in Hebrews 1:3 is charaktēr, meaning an exact replica or the imprint left by a stamp or engraving tool. This confirms that the person of Jesus (the Word) is the precise, perfect, and essential representation of the invisible Father.

    The evidence forms an irrefutable loop: The one who is called the Word of God (Revelation) is the one who is God (John 1:1). This same figure is the one through whom all things were created (John 1:3, Colossians 1:16, 1 Corinthians 8:6). Finally, this divine Creator became flesh (John 1:14) to reveal the exact image of God (Hebrews 1:3). The biblical testimony is unified, establishing the inescapable truth that Jesus Christ is the eternal, divine WORD (Logos).

  • J. Budziszewski’s Natural Theology of Sex: A Pathway to Biblical Understanding

    J. Budziszewski’s Natural Theology of Sex: A Pathway to Biblical Understanding

    J. Budziszewski, in his insightful work On the Meaning of Sex, presents a compelling natural theological framework that grounds sexual ethics in the inherent design and purpose of human beings. This approach, by meticulously analyzing the given structure of human nature, offers a robust pathway that can successfully lead to a Biblical understanding of sexuality and gender. Budziszewski argues that meaning is not arbitrarily assigned but is discovered through the inherent design of creation, and it is this foundational concept that shapes his comprehensive view of sexual morality.

    A) The Foundational Idea: Inherent Design and Purpose

    The bedrock of Budziszewski’s philosophy, especially concerning the questions of sexuality and gender, is the conviction that meaning is intrinsic to reality, particularly to human nature itself. He firmly asserts, “Meaning isn’t arbitrary. Yes, we can associate sex in our minds with anything we choose—with pain, pleasure, tedium, amusement, alienation, reconciliation, fertility, sterility, misery, joy, life, death, or what have you. This is true of all things, not just sex. We can associate anything with anything” (7). However, he immediately clarifies that subjective association does not alter objective meaning. For Budziszewski, human nature is not an external master but “the deep structure of what we really are” (8). True freedom, then, is not the ability to transcend this nature, but rather the ability to align our wills with it, to allow “the meanings and purposes that lie fallow in sexuality [to] unfold” (8). He explains that the human will is not separate from nature but an integral part of it, asserting that the will’s nobility lies in its capacity to discern and direct itself according to the inherent wisdom embedded in our being.

    Budziszewski confronts common objections to this idea, particularly the notion that one cannot derive an “ought” from an “is.” He dismantles this dogma by using simple, yet powerful, examples. When discussing the lungs, he posits, “When we say that their purpose is to oxygenate the blood, are we just making that up? Of course not. The purpose of oxygenation isn’t in the eye of the beholder; it’s in the design of the lungs themselves” (22). This emphasis on “the design of the lungs” is crucial; it implies that purpose is empirically discoverable. Furthermore, he contends that to violate this inherent design, such as by “sniffing glue,” does not change the lung’s purpose but only “violates it” (22). Similarly, regarding eyes, he argues, “If the purpose of eyes is to see, then eyes that see well are good eyes, and eyes that see poorly are poor ones. Given their purpose, this is what it means for eyes to be good. Moreover, good is to be pursued; the appropriateness of pursuing it is what it means for anything to be good. Therefore, the appropriate thing to do with poor eyes is try to turn them into good ones” (22). This demonstrates that understanding a thing’s inherent purpose necessarily implies an “ought”—an imperative to act in accordance with that purpose. He further distinguishes “purpose” from mere “function,” stating that purpose signifies something “ordered or directed to an end,” whereas function merely “signifies the mode in which purpose is present in things rather than in minds” (23). This foundational idea underpins his entire argument: that human beings, as integrated wholes of “mind and flesh united,” must respect the inherent design of their bodies, including their sexuality (23). While he acknowledges that some might dismiss his work as “religious” due to references to “God,” he insists that divine grace, if real, is “inescapably relevant to human life” and can be understood even through natural reasoning (11).

    B) Application to Gender and Sexuality

    Applying this foundational idea, Budziszewski posits that human sexuality possesses “embedded principles and the inbuilt meaning of the human sexual design” (21). He laments that “errors about sex cause such terrible suffering, in our day more than most” (12), and attributes this suffering to the flouting of these inherent meanings. He identifies two fundamental “natural meanings” of sex that are “so tightly stitched that we can start with either one and follow the threads to the other” (24): procreation and union.

    First, regarding procreation, Budziszewski asserts that it is the “bring about and nurture of new life, the formation of families in which children have moms and dads” (24). He outlines two conditions for establishing something’s purpose: it must actually bring about the effect, and the causal connection must explain its existence. Sexuality undeniably meets both: “the sexual powers do bring about procreation,” and “apart from the link between the sexual powers and new life, any explanation of why we have sexual powers at all would be woefully incomplete” (25). This procreative meaning, in turn, necessitates the concept of union. He argues, “For us, procreation requires an enduring partnership between two beings, the man and the woman, who are different, but in ways that enable them to complete and balance each other. Union, then, characterizes the distinctly human mode of procreation” (25). This enduring partnership between a man and a woman is essential not only for conception but also for the raising of children, as “the male is better suited to protection, the female to nurture” (26). Children also need models of both sexes and the relationship between them to thrive and eventually form their own families. He even cites sociologists Sara S. McLanahan and Gary Sandefur, who suggest that “If we were asked to design a system for making sure that children’s basic needs were met, we would probably come up with something quite similar to the two-parent ideal” (26).

    Conversely, Budziszewski demonstrates how starting with the unitive meaning also leads back to procreation. He states, “We join ourselves by doing what? By an act which is intrinsically open to the possibility of new life. In other words, whenever I give myself sexually, I am doing something that cannot help but mean that happy chance” (27). This implies that a true, total self-giving in union de facto means a bodily giving, which inherently carries the possibility of new life. He powerfully illustrates this with the concept of the body’s objective “speech”: “What you intend subjectively can’t change what your act means objectively…When the speech of the mouth contradicts the speech of the body, the body’s speech repeals the mouth’s. To crush your windpipe with my thumbs is to say to you, ‘Now die,’ even if I tell you with my mouth, ‘Be alive’” (27). Sexual union, therefore, objectively “speaks” of total, self-giving, life-affirming communion, regardless of subjective intent. By the end of this analysis, Budziszewski concludes that these are “the natural laws of sex” (33).

    C) Evaluation and Connection to Biblical Understanding

    Budziszewski’s position is remarkably helpful and coherent in discussing gender and sexuality, particularly as it provides a clear pathway to understanding these concepts from a Biblical perspective. His natural law approach, by grounding sexual ethics in discernible human design and purpose, offers a rational basis for moral norms that is not solely reliant on religious dogma, even as it ultimately aligns with it. He addresses the widespread confusion of our age, where “everything is topsy-turvy and confused,” by reminding us that “It is harder to write about what is obvious but unrecognized than about what is really obscure” (15). His method makes the “obvious” — the inherent meaning of sex — recognizable again.

    The direct alignment between Budziszewski’s “natural laws of sex” and Biblical principles is striking. The procreative meaning he identifies, “the bring about and nurture of new life, the formation of families in which children have moms and dads,” finds a direct echo in the Genesis mandate, “Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28). This divine command is not an arbitrary rule but an affirmation of the inherent design for flourishing that God embedded within creation, particularly in human sexual powers. The natural purpose of bringing forth new life and fostering it within the structure of a family led by a mother and a father is, for Budziszewski, a self-evident truth discoverable through observation, much like the purpose of lungs or eyes.

    Similarly, his unitive meaning of sex—the “mutual and total self-giving and accepting of two polar, complementary selves in their entirety, soul and body”—is perfectly mirrored in the Biblical concept of “one flesh” (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:5-6). This Biblical phrase signifies not merely physical intimacy but a profound, holistic union of two distinct yet complementary individuals (male and female) into a new relational entity. Budziszewski’s argument that sexual union is “intrinsically open to the possibility of new life” and that subjective intent cannot override the objective “speech” of the body powerfully reinforces the sanctity and seriousness of the one-flesh union as depicted in scripture. The Bible’s understanding of marriage as the exclusive context for sexual intimacy, and the procreative blessing associated with it, finds a rational foundation in Budziszewski’s natural law deductions. His framework thus serves as a potent apologetic, demonstrating that the Biblical understanding of sexuality is not a set of arbitrary prohibitions but rather a reflection of the deepest truths embedded in human nature by its Creator.

    In conclusion, J. Budziszewski’s approach to natural theology in On the Meaning of Sex provides an exceptionally valuable framework for understanding sexuality and gender. By firmly grounding his arguments in the inherent design and purpose of human nature, he navigates complex ethical terrain with clarity and precision. His articulation of sex’s natural meanings—procreation and union—is not only philosophically robust but also demonstrably converges with the ethical insights found in Biblical teachings. In a world often characterized by confusion and suffering regarding sexual identity and behavior, Budziszewski’s work offers a compelling and coherent pathway to rediscovering meaning, leading ultimately to a fuller appreciation of sexuality and gender as they are divinely designed and revealed.

    Works Cited

    Budziszewski, J. On the Meaning of Sex. InterVarsity Press, 2012.The New American Standard Bible, 1995.

  • The Creation, the Fall, and the Problem of Suffering

    The Creation, the Fall, and the Problem of Suffering

    The problem of evil, death, and suffering has plagued humanity for millennia. How can a loving, all-powerful God allow such things? Many Christians have proposed scenarios suggesting that suffering helps us truly value goodness, or that our need for redemption demonstrates God’s great love. However, these explanations often fall short. Wouldn’t it be better to never experience sickness at all? And what about animal suffering, like a doe trapped in a forest fire?

    These challenging questions have a clear biblical explanation that is often overlooked when Christians disregard the evidence for a young creation perspective. From a biblical creationist viewpoint, the answers to suffering and death lie in three key areas:

    • The original perfect creation
    • The exercise of human free will
    • God’s righteous judgment following sin

    Genesis 1:31 states that God declared His creation “very good.” This description implies a state of perfection—a world without the decay and suffering we see today. This perfect state is fundamentally incompatible with the presence of death, disease, and suffering as original features of creation.

    The pivotal moment occurs in Genesis 2:17, where God warns Adam: “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

    The Hebrew text provides important insights:

    • Young’s Literal Translation renders “you shall surely die” as “dying thou dost die,” capturing the Hebrew infinitive absolute that emphasizes both the certainty and the process of death
    • The Hebrew word “בְּי֛וֹם” (be-yohm, “in the day”) with its prefix typically refers to an age or time period, indicating the consequences would begin in the age they ate the fruit, not necessarily instantaneously

    When Adam and Eve disobeyed, God’s judgment was pronounced in Genesis 3:19: “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” This confirmed that physical death entered the world, alongside the spiritual death that had already occurred at the moment of disobedience.

    The Bible clearly states that both humans and animals were originally vegetarian:

    “And God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.’ And it was so.” (Genesis 1:29-30)

    This passage reveals a world initially free from predation and animal suffering before the Fall.

    An important distinction exists between plant life and animal life. After the Flood, God permitted humans to eat animal flesh: “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood” (Genesis 9:3-4).

    The Hebrew term “nephesh chayyah” (living soul) applies to animals and humans, but not to plants, indicating a significant difference in the biblical concept of “life.” This distinction explains why the consumption of plants does not constitute death in the same sense as animal or human death.

    The ability to choose between good and evil is fundamental to human nature and dignity. Adam and Eve’s decision to disobey God was a deliberate exercise of free will with profound consequences. This choice introduced sin, death, and suffering into the world, demonstrating the reality and weight of moral responsibility.

    God valued human freedom enough to allow the possibility of wrong choices, even knowing the devastating consequences that would follow. This perspective highlights both God’s respect for human agency and the seriousness with which He views our moral decisions.

    The biblical creation account directly contradicts the evolutionary narrative, which posits death and competition as essential drivers of biological change. The biblical view presents:

    • A “very good” original creation
    • The introduction of death after the Fall
    • A fundamentally different understanding of Earth’s history

    If death existed before Adam’s sin, this would undermine the biblical connection between sin and death, and by extension, the necessity of Christ’s sacrificial death to overcome sin.

    The biblical account clearly states that death entered the world through Adam’s sin. 1 Corinthians 15:21-22, “For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.”  

    Conclusion

    The creation account, coupled with the concepts of free will and God’s judgment, provides a comprehensive explanation for the presence of evil, death, and suffering in our world. While these issues remain complex and deeply personal, the biblical narrative offers a framework for understanding them within the context of:

    • God’s original perfect creation
    • Humanity’s fall into sin
    • God’s redemptive plan

    By embracing the creationist perspective, we gain a deeper appreciation for the profound implications of the Fall and the hope offered through God’s promise of restoration. Rather than attempting to reconcile death and suffering as part of God’s original “very good” creation, we recognize them as intruders in a once-perfect world—intruders that will ultimately be defeated through Christ’s redemptive work.

  • The Paradox of Free Will

    The Paradox of Free Will

    The question of free will has perplexed theologians and philosophers for centuries. For one concerned with a proper exegesis of the Bible, the concept of free will is crucial for understanding human responsibility, divine justice, and the nature of God’s relationship with humanity.

    The Bible consistently presents humans as moral agents capable of making choices. Several passages highlight this:  

    • Deuteronomy 30:19: “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live.”
    • Joshua 24:15: “And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
    • Revelation 3:20: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”
    • 2 Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

    These verses establish that God has instilled in his image-bearing creation an ability to make moral choices. God has made these choices available to us and we are culpable for our sin in disobedience. This is, at the very least, a strong indication that mankind is accountable to God. Therefore, ruling out any form of determinism that denies human accountability.

    Theological Considerations

    The tension between God’s sovereignty and human free will is a central theological challenge. There is not a simple yes or no that we can give to the question of free will, because it exists in the particular. While God is omniscient and omnipotent, the Bible also affirms human accountability. Further, God can intercede in human activity, even moral activity.

    A common example of this is God’s hardening of the Pharaoh’s heart in Exodus. God foreknew Pharaoh’s hardened heart, but Pharaoh’s initial choices were what led to divine hardening. God’s foreknowledge does not negate Pharaoh’s agency. This is what’s called prescience. God knowing the future, but did not cause the future.

    God is in total control of how he behaves and interacts with his creation. That does not mean he has to necessarily micromanage every aspect such that this world then becomes, “the greatest of all possible worlds.” If you take the view that God plays a direct role in every particular, you will run into a few problems.

    Take the popular analogy of God as an author and humans as characters. This is often used to argue against free will. It goes like this: imagine all of humankind and the universe, itself, are figures of the imagination of God. Sure, in the narrative a certain character may act in this or that way based on their motivations and choices, yet these motivations and choices were all designed by the author. The author can write the characters in whatever way is pleasing.

    However, this analogy breaks down when considering God’s desire for genuine relationship. This view results in the rather absurd conclusion that God must have created us solely for the entertainment value. If humans are merely puppets, their love for God is not authentic. True love requires reciprocal choice which requires free will. Therefore, a world without free will results in a parasitic phantasy in the mind of God.

    There are two counters to this perspective that I encounter often. They have to do with the power of God and the will of God. I will address, first, the will of God.

    It is indeed the case that nothing can happen apart from God’s will. So when this criticism gets brought up the framing is such that it appears, therefore, God wills for all the choices which you have made in your life to have happened and in the manner in which they happened. However, there is a hidden assumption. Does God actually will that, or is what God values a more nuances proposition. I argue that God’s will can be to permit free agency. This is suggested heavily in scripture any time that God calls for a response from his creation. When God says “sin no more,” he is calling man to action. Why is it necessary for God to say this, if God is the only active agent in the process of who sins and who does not? Does it make sense for me to say to my bicycle, “stop pedaling.” According to some, it is not the bike doing the pedaling and, likewise, it is not the man doing the sinning (although the bike is moving and the man is acting they are not casually powerful).

    So does man having free will to choose actions that move away from God’s set path make God less powerful? This claim is often made against those who endorse a free-will-agency view. It is suggested that, if man can act apart from God’s purpose for their life (even if it’s not against God’s will) there still arises a problem in which God could plausibly create a world where every freewill agent he created would freely choose him. God can rig the game in his favor, so to speak. Apart from the fact that if this counterexample is true, it has graver consequence on the validity of a reformed view, there is a logical error in this understanding of the nature of free will.

    If God were to guarantee a specific outcome, such as every human freely choosing him, then the choice would no longer be truly free. It would be a predetermined response, a mere illusion of choice. True free will necessitates the genuine possibility of choosing otherwise, including the potential for rejection. To remove this possibility is to remove the essence of free will itself, rendering it meaningless. Therefore, to argue that God’s power is diminished by allowing genuine free will is to misunderstand that genuine free will requires the possibility of choosing against God.

    Three Main Arguments For Free Will:

    1. If God ordains every human action, including evil ones, then God becomes the author of evil. For the young earth creationist there is a clear perspective which attributes evil to the misuse of free will, consistent with the Genesis narrative of the Fall. God allows evil, but he does not create it.
    2. As Dr. Michael S. Heiser argues, humans are created in God’s image, which includes attributes like intelligence, emotion, and creativity. It is consistent that free will is also a component of this image. To deny free will is to diminish human dignity and responsibility. It is also rather arbitrary to leave out a significant part of man’s God-image for no apparent reason. 
    3. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ is presented as sufficient for all humanity. If salvation is not universally applied, it is due to individual rejection, not divine limitation. God’s desire that none shall perish, is a strong argument for free will.

    Conclusion

    In conclusion, the biblical narrative, particularly the passages emphasizing human choice and accountability, strongly supports the concept of free will. While the tension between divine sovereignty and human agency presents a complex theological challenge, the young-Earth creationist perspective offers a coherent framework for understanding this relationship. By recognizing God’s permissive will, acknowledging the importance of genuine relationship, and affirming the image of God in humanity, we can reconcile these seemingly contradictory truths. The rejection of a deterministic worldview, which reduces humans to mere puppets, underscores the significance of free will in the context of divine justice and love. Potentially, the concept of created heterozygosity and information theory can provide a scientific framework and biological basis for understanding the inherent capacity for diverse moral choices within the created order (although this is speculation). Ultimately, the existence of free will, while a mystery in some respects, is essential for understanding human responsibility, the nature of God’s relationship with humanity, and the very essence of love itself.