A Mindful Love

"What is man that You are mindful of him, 
And the son of man that You visit him?" (Psalm 8:4 NKJV; emphasis added).

"Jesus said to him, 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind'. This is the first and greatest commandment" (Matthew 22:37-38 NKJV; emphasis added).

Why is sound doctrine important? What difference do theology and apologetics make to Christian living? The apostle Paul certainly placed a lot of emphasis on the importance of these things. The fifteenth chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians is devoted to the importance of believing in the literal, bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And in his letters to Timothy and Titus he also urged them to teach sound doctrine (1 Timothy 1:9-10, 2 Timothy 4:2-4, Titus 2:1).

There are at least a few reasons why sound doctrine is important. For one thing, if the Church strays from teaching the truth, we will no longer be presenting the gospel that is able to save souls. The distortion of the gospel makes it ineffective. It loses its, shall we say, structural integrity. Then if anyone does believe what is taught, they will not believe the truth that leads to eternal life. But they will be less likely to believe in Christ, or God, or the Scriptures at all.

And as Paul often showed in his letters to all the churches, there is a correlation between what we believe and what we do. His letter to the Colossians is a good example. In that letter, Paul stresses the importance of sound teachings about Christ. Then, in the third chapter he says, in effect, "Now because of these truths concerning Jesus, set your mind on Him, and live this way instead of that way".

The bottom line is that love is a mindful thing. God is mindful of us because He loves us. He doesn't sit on His throne and say to Himself, "Oh, I don't believe in the literal human being. I don't interpret prayers as literal petitions and supplications. Humanity is just a metaphor for stuff that I like. So as long as I'm feeling good that's all that matters." 

You know, God doesn't construct stupid, careless, false ideas about who and what we are. It is true that He does all things for His own glory. But His glory is in His love and goodness toward us as well as in His power, His wisdom, His knowledge, and His eternal, holy nature.

And if we love our heavenly Father, we will be mindful of Him. We will think honestly about Him as He has revealed Himself to us through the Old Testament prophets, the apostles, and His Son - Jesus Christ. We will recognize who and what He is - The Creator and Owner of the universe, and of our lives. And so we will honor Him and seek His glory in our lives. And a part of what that means is using the mind He has given us, to the best of the ability He has given us.

God is love. So why not love the One who is love? He has made us in His image to love and be loved by Him.

Galileo vs. Darwin - the Psalms vs. Genesis

Introduction

Often times, supporters of evolutionism will call to our remembrance the trial of Galileo. To the evolutionist this is an illustration of the more contemporary debate between creation and evolutionism. But there are two key differences between these two controversies.

Galileo vs. Darwin

One key difference is that Galileo made use of observational science to show that the solar system is heliocentric instead of geocentric. His finding was not interpretive, it was based on observable facts.

In contrast, Charles Darwin's work was interpretive. His view of origins is based on deductive reasoning, not science. 

Darwin wrote: "No other work of mine was begun in so deductive a spirit as this; for the whole theory was thought out on the west coast of South America, before I had seen a true coral reef." 

Operational science is characterized by inductive observation, not deductive reasoning.

Darwin also wrote "In fact, the a priori reasoning is so entirely satisfactory to me that if the facts won't fit, why so much the worse for the facts, in my feeling."

Darwin never observed humans evolving from molecules. He imagined that scenario before hand. And than he, and others since him, interpreted the data within that preconceived framework.

The evolutionary worldview is not science. It is not an observed fact. It involves the use of patently naturalistic, atheistic assumptions about the past to interpret scientific data in the present.

The Psalms vs. Genesis

Another key difference is that those who controverted Galileo relied on a verse from the book of Psalms to argue their case.

Psalm 104:5 reads: "You who laid the foundations of the earth, so that it should not be moved forever."

However, the book of Psalms is admittedly a collection of poetic literature. And the cited verse is not meant to describe the earth as being fixed in space. It is meant to describe the earth as being a generally stable place for its inhabitants to live.

In contrast, we who controvert Darwin point to scientific data, interpreted within the framework of the book of Genesis.

Genesis is very clearly written to be understood as a literal historical narrative. It belongs to a completely different class of literature from the Psalms. 

The genealogical passages in Genesis clearly place the named persons and related events in the context of human history. And the genealogies of Jesus, recorded in Matthew and Luke, further connect the history of Genesis to New Testament history.

So not only do we consider Genesis by itself, but also its relation to the rest of Scripture. This includes the gospel of salvation by grace, through faith in the death, and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah.

To interpret the narrative of Genesis as non-literal is to completely disregard the context of the Scriptures as a whole. If Genesis were not a literal historical narrative, then the literal life, death, and resurrection Jesus the Messiah would have been completely unnecessary.