Hi Friend,
Does a nation benefit by recognizing the existence of the God of the Bible? How would it change our view of man if we did not believe in God?
That is the question staring us in the face as we move to a post-Christian and post-biblical world.
The Bible is the only religious book that teaches that man is made in the image of God. The consequence of abandoning that belief is far more severe than we may see on the face of it. If man is not made in God’s image, he has no unique standing in our world. If man is not made in God’s image, he has no intrinsic right to have dominion over any other part of the world, whether animals or trees or plants.
If man is just another part of the universe, then plants have as much right to have dominion over man as man does over the plants. In fact, man would be, as some intellectuals suggest, just a speck in the universe with no more significance than a grain of sand. It is God that gives man his value. If He doesn’t exist man has no meaningful place in the world. Man would be creating a carbon footprint that is inordinately large and should be eliminated.
The fact is the world was made for man! Without man the earth has no purpose to exist. Nor do the animals or plants. The simple fact is that by making man in His image, God gave man the most significant place in the universe.
When Noah got off the Ark, he sacrificed “clean” animals as a thanksgiving offering to God. It demonstrated that man is superior to animals. It was God who created this distinction. Animals have NO right to sacrifice humans to a pagan god. Humans sacrifice animals to the Creator God.
Noah didn’t sacrifice one of his children. In fact, God considers child sacrifice to be one of the most heinous sins that ever occurred.
Since animals were not made in the image of God they lack the mental capacity to understand that there is a God to worship. The spirit given to man by the Creator is the basis for the mind that enables man to rule.
If God doesn’t exist, then the mind of man is no better than the mind of a dog or a pig. Then pigs should establish a court and bring man to trial for unjust treatment.
We rightly recognize that any animal that endangers a human should be killed. Yet man has the right to slaughter cows or chickens for food to sustain human life. We do that because humans are superior to animals. Man has this lofty position because man is made in the image of God. If there is no God then humans have no such place in the world.
President Calvin Coolidge recognized that Americans have the right to vote because no one has the right to rule over one made in the image of God without his consent. God is free! And His children are free because they are made in His image. Atheistic nations rule citizens without consent because they don’t recognize God.
Does a culture benefit by recognizing the existence of the God of the Bible? Without this belief the culture in question will fail to continue. When that concept is gone there will be no more civilization.
May America never lose its belief in God. May God bless America.
Until next time,
Jim O’Brien