Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Quote of the Day: "Only as men are God's creatures do they have personal significance"

The Creation of Adam                            Image via Wikipedia
What then is the theological significance of biblical creationism? Not only does it address and satisfy the screaming intellectual need that we all have as thinking persons for a rational explanation of the universe and ourselves that will preserve significance for us at the same time, but it also defines who we are as men and leaves us, so defined, with great worth and dignity. It also provides the theistic context for necessary for moral absolutes. Without the biblical doctrine of creation we are left with non-answers in these areas.
The church has traditionally understood Genesis as teaching a divine creation ex nihilo, and more particularly, the creation of man in his own image by a direct act of God. The church cannot afford to abandon these absolutely fundamental articles of faith, and it will do so only at great cost to itself and to the people it seeks to win to faith and to a home in heaven, because only as men are God’s creatures do they have personal significance and only as they are his creatures are they responsible moral beings answerable finally, of course, to him. -- Robert L. Reymond, Contending for the Faith, quoted by Albert Mohler, here.
You can be a materialist, or you can be a human being. That's the choice we face.
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17 comments:

Anonymous said...

SDC said:

Lying to yourself that you're the special product of an imaginary invisible man in the sky doesn't actually give you any "personal significance", it only allows you to delude yourself that such is the case. Are humans only "worth something" if your imaginary sky being exists?

BallBounces said...

"imaginary invisible man", "imaginary sky being" -- The above post shows earmarks of being produced by an atheists-R-us-automessagegenerator.

Joe said...

I hope you are right Richard. I would hate to think that an otherwise intelligent being could spend so little time understanding Something to which he is virulently opposed.

Anonymous said...

It's too bad you can't be honest enough with yourself to actually answer the question; do you REALLY think that humans wouldn't have any personal significance if your imaginary "god" was proven to be no more real than any of the hundreds of thousands of OTHER "gods" that people like you have dreamt up to try to "explain" things?

BallBounces said...

"if your imaginary "god"

was proven to be no more real than

OTHER "gods" that people have dreamt up"

You really need to listen to yourself. Perhaps then you will be able to articulate an actual question.

Joe said...

Do you REALLY think that humans wouldn't have any personal significance if Yahweh did not imbue them with significance?

Short answer: YES!

Anonymous said...

So, no, you CAN'T be honest enough with yourself to offer a straight answer to a straight question; par for the course.

BallBounces said...

You haven't asked a straight question yet.

Anonymous said...

The question was "do you REALLY think that humans wouldn't have any personal significance if your imaginary "god" was proven to be no more real than any of the hundreds of thousands of OTHER "gods" that people like you have dreamt up to try to "explain" things?"
Well?

Anonymous said...

And in that case, Joe, then you agree with me that humans have significance completely aside from your imaginary "god", and that pretending that we were put here by an imaginary being serves no useful purpose.

BallBounces said...

Nope. Still too frothy.

BallBounces said...

It wasn't a straight question when you asked it the first time; repeating it doesn't improve it. That's the way reality works.

Joe said...

I feel pity for poor old Annony. Not only is his thinking twisted his communication skills are lacking.

I will try typing real slow here so maybe Annony can catch up.

1: I do not serve an imaginary god. I serve the Great I Am. In Jewish and Christian circles Hi name is Yahweh. If you notice that is the name I used in my reply.

2: Yahweh is the One who imbues us with significance. Why you ask. Because apart from Yahweh we don't exist.

3: Go back to grammar school and learn the significance of a double negative.

philosoraptor said...

If this site is representative of the modern theistic argument, mindset, or positions, then I rest assured that we have nothing to worry about. There is nothing intellectually compelling or challenging here. Just bald assertions coupled to superstition. As reasoning goes it's woefully pathetic.

BallBounces said...

In a godless universe, there is no reason why anything should be either intellectually challenging or compelling. Indeed, or why intelligent conscious creatures should even exist.

It is impossible for an atheist to argue without using presuppositions which are comprehensible only under theism.

So, give God the glory.

Joe said...

You are right there lover of flying dinosaurs (philosoraptor) the atheists on this thread are really intellectually deficient and seemingly incapable of logical thought. For some strange reason they keep trotting out that old superstition of causeless causation. It doesn't do their side any favours but then who am I to complain I'm on the side of intellectual honesty and inquisition.

BallBounces said...

" I rest assured that we have nothing to worry about."

On the contrary, if I am wrong you have nothing to hope for.

"... nothing intellectually compelling or challenging.. bald assertions coupled to superstition... woefully pathetic"