CrossTalk: Creator of Heaven and Earth

It is much more than mere Christian opinion that God created the heavens and the earth. It is simple reality. For whatever is the cause and creator of everything is by definition god. Every single person has such a god. Atheists, no less than the religious, firmly believe that something brought about the cosmos. Of this there is no doubt. The only real questions are: what? and why?

Stephen Hawking, a prominent atheist of our day, recently published yet another book denying the existence of God. In it he argues that there is no need for God to create heaven and earth because everything that exists could be brought about by the laws of gravity acting upon matter (The Grand Design, Random House, 2010). He never seems to notice that he is merely asserting that gravity itself is god. In his world, you need not obey the laws of the God who created gravity. But, by god, you had better obey the law of gravity!

Such was always the folly of the pagan mind: "[they] worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator" (Romans 1:25). Christians know better. By obeying the law of gravity, everything already is submitting to the God who created it. There are other divine laws as well. To disobey any of these laws will cause death and destruction just as surely as stepping off a cliff.

Thinking men throughout history have seen this to be the case in physical as well as moral laws. Hatred leads to death just as surely as cancer. A culture where stealing is permissible by law is a culture where everyone is poor. Cultures that kill the innocent undo themselves. Witness Carthage, the Incas and the Soviet Union.

We could go on with more examples, but we need not. For God, in His grace and mercy, has revealed to us these very laws which He built into the universe. They were boiled down to ten simple commandments and etched on stone at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 20; Deuteronomy 5). You can defy them if you like just as you can defy the law of gravity--with similar results.

Christians know that, unlike Hawking's god, He who stands behind gravity and created it is a God of purpose and His purpose is to give life. God's first act toward gravity was to bring it about. God's first act toward the world was to bring it into existence. God's first act toward you was to bring you from the state of nothingness to the state of life. Life is not the result of gravity or anything whatsoever. Therefore, your creator is not a "what" but a "Who."

All of this leads to one inescapable conclusion: everything that exists, exists because God wants it to exist. More to the point. You are here because God wants you to be. Here is the answer to both questions: Who? and why? God, the Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, is who created you, the source of your very being; and His desire for you to exist is the reason why you exist.

Think on that the next time you feel worthless--the next time you are told that they way you live doesn't matter. Think on that whenever you are tempted to believe that your life has no meaning. You have meaning to God, the Creator of heaven and earth. In a universe of His own making, He created you to exist, not to deny His existence. He created you to receive the life that He gives, not to hate that life and wish it away.

Moreover, His purpose for you is still that you might "have life, and have it abundantly" (John 10:10). When you take to heart His purpose for you, you will be overwhelmed by how often you live contrary to that purpose. Do not give up hope. Come into His Church to be forgiven and restored by the life and death and resurrection of His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ. For in this, the Creator of heaven and earth is still giving life and fulfilling His deepest desire for you.