Doug Velting
In secular humanism, evolution is the explanation they give for how life began. According to their theory, humanity is nothing more than an evolved animal with no more importance than an antelope or a crow.
By pushing God out of the picture, they bring in animal-like thinking where there are no God-driven morals and no biblical concept of what is right or wrong. People are free to make up what they think is best for society. This type of belief has led to communism and many other evil regimes.
The belief that people are just another evolved animal justifies slavery, abortion, and human trafficking as its logical conclusion. After all, animals work for us and are purchased for a price, so why not people? And if there is no Creator God, why not kill a baby in the womb?
The Bible paints a different picture of how we came to be and thus of human worth.
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Genesis 1:27)
The word image means “in likeness of” and refers to capacities that God created us as reflections of Himself. As God’s image-bearers, we have a spirit and are able to understand concepts like truth, beauty, logic, and reasoning. Of God’s physical creatures, only we can have an eternal relationship with the almighty, holy God.
God loves us and we have the capacity and desire to love Him. We can explore, discover, philosophize, create, communicate, and love. Like God, we know the difference between good and evil. Like God, we have feelings and emotions and we can respond to other people’s feelings and emotions.
- God comforts us and because we are made in His image we have the capacity to comfort others. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)
- God gets angry and because we are made in His image we have the capacity to get angry. (Exodus 4:14)
- God loves us and He has given us the capacity to love others. (1 John 4:7-11)
- God is compassionate and He has given us the ability to be compassionate. (Psalm 86:15)
- God forgives us and has given us the capacity to forgive others. (Ephesians 5:1)
- God uses His creativity to create and because we are made in His image we can invision what has never existed. build bridges, buildings, and washing machines. We can arrange flowers into a beautiful bouquet, or paint a stunning scenic picture.
- God is Trinity and he has given us the capacity to work together to better our society.
Taking the intellect that God gave us, one generation invented the car. Each generation since then has improved upon car design. You can now buy a new car that has computers that tell us how to get to any destination you wish to go, or that your oil needs to be changed.
Animals can interacte with their environment: spiders build intricate webs, termites build complicated nests with air vents to regulate temperature, the weaver bird knows how to weave grass to make its nest, and beavers build dams to alter their environment. But all of these animals do not use their own creativity; God gives them these abilities by providing them with what we call instincts.
God loves us and wants a relationship with us. Animals were not created to know God, only people were. And God gives us a choice on whether we will love Him or not. Because God made us in His image, we are different from the rest of creation. Remember that God sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins, not the sins of animals.
Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. (Revelation 21:4)
