Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
Yesterday, we briefly considered the inadequacy of any worldview that cannot adequately explain the origins of matter. Christianity presents Jesus, God the Son, as the Creator and Sustainer of all things (John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:16-17). Thus, He can logically make His absolute claim of John 14:6: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me.” Opponents of Christianity simply do not have plausible reasons to reject this claim. They are unable to explain not only the origins of matter but also the existence of organic material. How does the existing inorganic matter (whose existence they cannot explain!) become organic? In other words, how does the non-living become living? A popular view is something called “biochemical predestination.” As with “infinite density,” we should beware the bombastic byword. The use of “predestination,” a religious term, informs us that proponents of this idea have a religious fervency in their beliefs, “a zeal…but not according to knowledge” (Romans 10:2). Basically, they are saying that certain proteins have an inclination to group in certain ways. The origins of this perceived propensity are not detailed but simply assumed. When I was in college, this new teaching of “biochemical predestination” was presented as the definitive theory disproving God as Creator, and it is still widely (and uncritically) taught. However, one of its original proponents, Dean Kenyon, has repudiated his own theory, pointing out that even if proteins do combine in certain ways that there still is no mechanism that creates life. Electricity in primordial soup (yes, I know, it sounds like Frankenstein!) is still a popular but bizarre part of this speculative idea. Christianity is logical: the One Who is “the Life” gives life, now and, through faith in His salvific provisions, forever.