Do you consider yourself "a random collection of molecules...the end process of a mindless process"? If so, nothing that you do really matters. No wonder morality and civility is under attack in our culture. This kind of teaching is ultimately destructive of personal relationships, marriage, family and civil society. It is nothing new. Those who think that recent scientific discoveries have created a new intellectual environment are ignorant of history.

Genesis addresses the question of the creation of the universe because there were numerous explanations competing in the marketplace of ideas in the ancient world. Modern scientific cosmological theories are merely the latest ideas to be put forward. The earliest Christian understanding of Genesis is found in the writings of the second century bishop of Antioch, Theophilus. He was countering such ideas that "the universe's existence is simply a matter of chance and that human beings can therefore find no meaning in this life. Or - the apparent opposite - that what happens in the world is not at all a matter of chance but is ruled by an iron necessity, fate, which some Christians liked to think derived from the word for a chain, suggesting that humans were inexorably bound to their fate. The second century, too, was the period of what scholars have called Gnosticism, with its ideas that the universe was the product of a god either incompetent or malevolent, and thus flawed or actually evil, with salvation being seen as escape from the evil meshes of the world and the clutches of an ill-disposed god." (Andrew Louth, in Wilkinson ed., Reading Genesis After Darwin, 41)

These ideas are still very much alive in the 21st century. Many people live every day in the belief that there is no purpose in life, no meaning in the cosmos, and that they are here just by chance, by accident. Many teachers of evolution go beyond the bounds of science and draw the conclusion that life is full of happenstance and randomness. They proclaim a philosophy that the cosmos is unfathomable, essentially pointless, impersonal, and senseless. The modern intellectual establishment is dominated by the belief that the universe is governed by impersonal physical laws. It breeds cosmic pessimists who claim that the universe is fundamentally indifferent to human life. This leads to a fatalism that can result either in despair and depression, or a hedonistic attitude that we must take what pleasure we can, for life is short. Because there is no belief in the personal Creator, who has a purpose and plan for their lives, modern secular men and women make gods of success, and personal fulfillment in order to create their sense of self-importance (cf. numerous television series such as Mad Men). Without a belief in God the Creator we have to manufacture a belief in ourselves as our own creator. This is a burden too great for the human psyche. To be god one must be perfect, and yet we are fallible, sinful human beings in need of love and forgiveness. We expect too much of ourselves and others.

We cannot create ourselves. We are not self-invented. We do not exist for ourselves but for the One who created us. The sooner we learn this the sooner we can find our fulfillment. The sooner we discover who is the true God and Creator, the sooner we learn to distinguish between the gods who masquerade as our saviors. "We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven and on earth (as indeed there are many 'gods' and many 'lords'), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live. But not everyone knows this." (1 Cor.8:4-6)

We need to learn this anew in our culture. We need to recover this understanding of creation and salvation. We are brought into this amazing universe by a loving God who is our purpose for living ('for whom we live'). We are here to grow in the love of God. We came into being through the agency of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we find life in all its fullness by living through him.

What a different picture this is of life, of the universe, from the secular philosophers. Your life is not a matter of chance - it was planned. You are not here by accident but by design. Your life is not ruled by fate to which you are bound. Life is neither inexorably determined nor random. God is not indifferent to you. 'God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) If the cosmos is unfathomable and essentially pointless, why bother to study and explore it? God has given it to us to enjoy and to discover. Life is a great adventure, not a senseless exercise.

Our existence, and the existence of the universe, is a gift to be gratefully received, to be opened up and used. There should be a sense of thanksgiving about life. We give thanks for gravity, and the processes of nature. We give thanks for freedom to choose, and deliverance from a fatalistic view of life. Those who do not know their Creator and Savior cannot enjoy their blessings in the same way. To dismiss God as unnecessary to life is to diminish your life. It is dangerous, arrogant, and senseless. Instead of thinking that God is not required I would say that God is essential for our existence and wellbeing. There is no substitute. You cannot reduce life to a random collection of molecules. Jesus said, "I have come that you might have life in all its fullness." (John 10:10)

How necessary is God to you? The more necessary God is to you, the more real he becomes. Six hundred years before Christ, the Greek poet Epimenides wrote, "In him we live and move and have our being." (Acts 17:28) God is absolutely necessary to us because "he himself gives all men life, and breath and everything else." (Acts 17:25) As you breathe every breath, breathe in the Spirit of God. As you look at the world around you and above you, ask for the Light of the World to illumine your sight. As you touch, taste and hear, be touched by the healing hand of Christ, taste of his goodness, and hear his voice speaking to you. Do you find it hard to believe? Then pray: "Open my eyes, that I may see glimpses of truth you have for me. Open my ears, that I may hear voices of truth you send me clear. Open my eyes, ears, heart, illumine me, Spirit divine."

Follow my blog on www.ameliachapel.com/blog