Last week, I pointed out the fact that Biblical Christianity stands or falls with the truthfulness of the Genesis creation account, and I’d like to build on that a bit more and show you that acceptance of the Genesis creation account is also crucial to the maintenance of society and the establishment of moral values and norms.
The fact is that our nation’s laws, as well as those of most Western nations, are based largely on the moral values taught in the Bible, going back to the God who created all things, including the first man and woman, and who gave us the Ten Commandments, as well as a variety of applications of those commandments in the form of civil statutes set up for the people of Israel, and who one day will be our judge.
What I am saying is that a society loses the basis for its moral values and laws when it rejects Biblical truths like “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1); and “God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth’” (Gen. 1:26). Add to that the foundation of the Ten Commandments: “And God spoke all these words, saying: ‘I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage …’” (Exo. 20:1-2).
As a child in grade school, there were those occasional playground scrapes. But one thing we all remembered in those unsanctioned wrestling matches, whether we ended up on the top or the bottom in the scramble, were the words God spoke after the flood, giving civil rulers the power to execute those who committed murder: “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man” (Gen. 9:6). We might have wrestled and fought, but we were careful not to cause serious injury or death because we didn’t want to face the punishment.
I feel for the public school teachers today who face termination if they make mention of God and His Word. In science classes, they are mandated to teach chance existence, evolution, and the survival of the fittest, but on school grounds, they tell students not to bully the less fit. They teach students that the world and life on it is no more than a freak product of chance, but then try to tell students that each person is special and important and has a role to play.
Do we think that our young people don’t see through the inconsistency of such teaching? Should we be surprised that drug and alcohol abuse is rampant and that suicide rates continue to rise? If there is no God and there are no legitimate moral laws and values commanded by God, if we are nothing but a product of chance and there is no judgment following this life, who is to say what is right and wrong? And, what is the point of life, anyway? Why not take hallucinogenic drugs? Why not have free sex? Or why not even rape and kill?
Ever since the fall of Genesis 3, there has been much evil in this world. Genesis 4 records the first murder. There will be no utopia in this world. Things will not be fixed until Jesus returns and the final judgment occurs. But taking God and His Word out of the picture opens the floodgates for evil to reign.
We’ve certainly seen it in history. Take away God’s creation of man in His own image, and you take away man’s value and worth as a created being of God. This thinking led to the murder of millions of Jews by the Nazis and to the killing of even more millions of children through abortion. Now again, we are beginning to see the sexual abuse of children covered up and defended by people in high places who see children as a commodity to be used for their own corrupt pleasures.
If God does not exist, if His commandments are not binding and there will be no final judgment, if we are a product of chance and only the fittest survive, who is to say what is right and what is wrong? Those with the most power will determine the moral standards, but only until someone with more power and influence comes along.
And isn’t this the reason for our current political power struggles? Some wish to hold on to traditional values based on the Bible, including a lifetime marriage commitment between a man and a woman, counting children a blessing of God and not a curse, valuing and preserving human life, as well as the rest of God’s creation, and not counting it as something which can be used and abused, or even terminated.
Others see life as a chance existence and draw their meaning for life from fulfilling their own dreams and ambitions, even when that means using and abusing others or destroying the lives of others who happen to get in their way. And, when anyone speaks out against such godless views, they are silenced in one way or another.
To reject the Genesis account of creation essentially puts society into the “Might is Right” alternative. Instead of being guided by the absolute morals and values taught in the Bible, we are left to establish our own morals and values and fight for the power to make them “right,” at least for a time.
It’s no wonder modern society is in a state of turmoil and confusion!