Positive versus Negative Beginnings

In my last post, I exposed the choice that the beginning of the Bible presents to us. That is, “either God is the Creator of all, or God is not.” Of course, if one does not believe in the truth of the Bible at all, then a myriad of other possibilities present themselves, no matter how ludicrous they might seem. For the moment, however, I am simply endeavoring to interpret the Bible in an accurate manner in order that others might realize the relevance of the Bible for our lives and culture. At some other point in the near future I will take up the question of whether or not the Bible is to be trusted.
At the beginning of the Bible, Genesis 1:1, it is stated, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” That is an extremely positive statement. It means that at the beginning of all things, there existed a Being who moved according to His will to exercise His power and create from nothing the entire content of the universe! A Being of that kind of unimaginable power and intelligence would not embark on such a project without a grand purpose. If all creation was made with a grand purpose, then the various parts of creation also have purpose. This means that human beings have a purpose in life that somehow relates to the purpose of the Creator. If this is true, as I contend, then we as human beings are living a life that is meant to have purpose. A purposeful life can give us a positive life.
The other side of the coin would be to ask the question, “What are the consequences of denying that “God created the heavens and earth”? The first thing we should acknowledge is that what I call “creation,” cannot be labeled as such. It must simply be called “the universe.” If the universe was not created, how did it get here? There are two possibilities. ONE, the universe has always been here, that is, the universe is eternal. TWO, the universe came into being through some naturalistic process on its own. We can dispense with possibility number one, for the simple reason that the only evidence which exists argues against an eternal universe. That leaves possibility number two, which is what the majority of scientists believe today. I will save the refutation of that position for a later time (sorry, I can't post everything in a day!). For now, I want to examine the consequences of believing that the universe came into being through some naturalistic process.
Perhaps the most pertinent consequence is that the universe simply exists without any purpose whatsoever. As a part of the matter in the universe, it also means that human beings simply exist without any purpose. That is an extremely negative statement. Without any purpose, life is absurd at best. Self-preservation can perhaps serve as a purpose of sorts, but what a joyless concept that is. As I mentioned in my footnote to the last post, one could object that one could believe in something or someone other than God as Creator and still live a positive life. That may very well be true, but it would mean that you are living a fairy-tale existence as well. It would be an attitude without any foundation upon which to sustain it. It would be akin to believing that one could walk upon a wisp of fog. So, you could live without purpose and know it, and thus without real hope, or you could live without purpose and not know it, and thus live in delusion. The embracing of a negative beginning without purpose will produce a life with a negative or a falsely positive attitude.
The upshot of all of this is that you must choose which alternative you will embrace and live by. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” is not just a biblical statement, it is a challenge to live with or without a greater purpose for life.
Your Joyfully Loquacious Believer,LEE