Worldviews Matter
“God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him” (Genesis 1:27).
Michael Medved tells of a Jewish rabbi who made a trip to Israel with his teenage grandson. On the plane, these two deeply religious people happened to be seated next to a prominent Israeli socialist leader who was an outspoken atheist. Medved writes:
On the flight, the cynical atheist traveler couldn’t help noticing the way the teenage boy attended to the needs of his aged, bearded grandfather. He got up to get the old man a glass of water, helped him remove his shoes and put on some slippers, and otherwise demonstrated that the rabbi’s comfort repre-sented his primary concern.
At one point, as the boy got up for yet another errand on behalf of the old man, the atheist could contain himself no longer. “Tell me something,” he asked the rabbi. “Why does your grandson treat you like some kind of a king? I have a grandson, too, but he wouldn’t give me the time of day.”
“It’s very simple,” the old man replied. “My grandson and I both believe in a God who rules the universe and created all things, including the first man. That means that in the boy’s eyes, I’m two generations closer to the hand of God Himself. But in the eyes of your grandson, you’re just two generations closer to a monkey.”
That humorous story illustrates something vital: What we believe about God and about our own origins will affect everything else — including the way we treat one another. As Doy Moyer likes to put it, “Worldviews matter.” If we believe that we are specially made in God’s image, we will have a different view of human nature, human rights, and human conduct than if we believe that we’re simply the product of eons of evolutionary processes.
That said, I note that many atheists, who subscribe to the idea that we’re really no different from bacteria or baboons, don’t actually live that way. Instead, they act as if they believe that human beings have a special, objective value that should be respected, and that some kinds of behavior are simply wrong. It’s as though people can’t help but adopt a moral order that itself points to God. It’s enough to make one wonder about their atheism.
On the flip side, though, too many believers in God spend a lot of time living as if He didn’t exist. That includes many who identify themselves as Christians. They say they believe, but much of their behavior — whether in language, honesty, sexuality, treatment of others, etc. — instead declares, “The Lord does not see, nor does the God of Jacob pay heed” (Psalm 94:7). It’s enough to make one wonder about their faith.
For the atheist who tends to live like a believer, and for the believer who tends to live like an atheist, the need is the same: repentance and recognition that God is our Creator, our Redeemer, and our Judge.
“Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31).
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