WHAT IS MAN? Let's begin with man first. The Bible and pagan culture radically disagree on what

man is. To see just how radical the disagreement is, I will begin with a look at the biblical narratives

of man's creation. Then I will show how man's design utterly sets him apart from all the universe.

Finally, I will introduce the concept of "divine institutions"–the fundamental features of human social

existence according to God's Word. God's Description of Man's Creation The "close-up" picture of

man's creation is given in Genesis 2:7,15-25. God says He miraculously formed man from the earth.

The term "dust" in this context is sometimes interpreted by those following an accommodationist

strategy as metaphorical for man's upward development from primates. They think by so doing they

can accommodate the Genesis narrative to the evolutionary worldview. Unfortunately for this

approach, the term "dust" in Lesson 10 Page 34

_______________________________________________________________ Part II Bible Framework Ministries

www.bibleframework.org this context is used for literal earth particles of bodily decay after death

(Gen. 3:19). Clearly, at death man does not revert back to his supposedly previous primate existence!

The narrative, therefore, speaks of a literal, instantaneous creation of man. If the narrative's literal

meaning weren't clear enough from 2:7, it certainly is from 2:21-22. Unlike any other species, the

human female is derived from the one original body. This is not an incidental detail; it relates to the

entire plan of salvation as I note later. There is simply no room in this narrative for evolution of man

from primate. This literal interpretation of Genesis 2 is given in the New Testament (I Cor. 11:6-9; I

Tim.2:13-14). Also note that man is assigned to a task that involves labor and moral responsibility

(2:15-17). Such a task requires social intercourse with other human beings (2:18). Accomplishment

of the task involves study of nature and linguistic description (2:19-20). The other narrative of man's

creation (Gen. 1:26-30) reports that mankind as male and female is made in God's image. In the

ancient world kings would set up images of themselves down among the people for them to worship

(see Dan. 3). The images were their glory. Here God sets up an image of himself down at the

creature level of existence, not to be worshipped, but to be respected for His glory (Jas. 3:9). This

image of God is to rule God's earth by subduing it and filling it by procreation. God put into these

narratives observational data that have immense significance. We are uniquely designed for a

glorious role in the history of the universe. Let's look at some key features in man's design

WHAT IS NATURE? I have shown the human side of the man-nature distinction; now I turn to the

nature side. By "nature" I include all of creation that is not man–rocks, water, plants, animals, angels,

and stars. The first lesson taught to the first man was that nothing in nature fits his need for a

personal relationship (Gen. 2:18-20). In his present mortal state man is temporarily lower than the

angels and is confined in some way to the local part of nature which we now call planet earth (Psa.

8:3-8). It is with this local part of nature that I will devote most of our attention. I will begin with a

look at the overall design of nature in distinction from the design of man. Then I will deal with man's

relationship with nature through the exercise of his dominion. I will show you four very significant

universal limitations on this dominion that doom all carnal dreams of rebellion against God. Design

of Nature Old writers of centuries ago used to refer to nature as "dumb" and "brute" to distinguish its

essential character from that of man. These writers did not use the word "dumb" like we do today, as

a synonym for "stupid". "Dumb" used to refer to the inability to speak thoughts through language, i.e.,

speechlessness. "Brute" meant without ability to know. These writers, we shall see, were nearer to

the truth than they knew. Whereas Adam could not find a speech-laden, personal relationship with

any part of nature, he could and did receive revelation about God from nature. Natural (or general)

revelation is spoken of everywhere in the Bible (e.g., Job 38-41; Psa. 19:1-6; Acts 14:17; Rom. 1:18-

20). The creation is said to "glorify" its Creator. But if nature doesn't personally speak to us, if it is

"dumb", then how can we learn about God from it? How, without language, Part II

__________________________________________________________________ Page 43 Bible Framework

Ministries www.bibleframework.org can information be transferred from nature to our minds? How

does nature "glorify" God? Nature contains patterns and forms that we recognize as products of a

thinking, speaking, spirit-mind, similar to our own. It is precisely the meaning of these patterns and

forms that modern paganism (in its evolutionary form) denies by ascribing them to chance. Pilkey

notes: "The whole point of the Creationist-Darwinian debate is whether the leonine form, for

example, originated as a perfect idea in the mind of God or as a casual exercise in feline

development. . . .The evolutionary philosophy begins to lose its appeal the instant that a mind begins

to suspect that certain visible forms have eternal value.[8] The form and behavior of a lamb, for

example, instead of being the accidental outcome of chance-driven mutations and natural selection,

was purposefully designed to communicate redemptive knowledge to man (note its appearance on

the Throne of God in Rev. 5). Nature, while not originating its own thoughts in speech to us as

another person would, is loaded with information from God's thoughts. You can see and recognize

this information not only in heavenly patterns (Psa. 19:1-6) and in large-scale animal forms (Job 38-

41), but in what has been recently learned about the biological cell and its genetic codes. Note here

that I am claiming not merely that forms exist, but that we also recognize that the forms carry a

message. To show the difference between merely saying a pattern is observed and saying the

pattern carries meaningful information to our minds, I adapt an illustration from A. E. Wilder-Smith.

Imagine looking at a series of apparently random dots and dashes arranged in a sequence. As your

eye looks along the sequence, you notice a pattern (. . . _ _ _ . . .). If you are knowledgeable of Morse

Code, you immediately see the pattern as containing a message, "S.O.S.", the international sign for

help. If you are not knowledgeable of the Morse Code "language", you merely notice an interesting

pattern but do not see any message in it. To "get the message" or for the pattern to be meaningful,

you and the originator of the pattern must share a common language.[9] In much the same way

nature is filled with forms and patterns noticed by all men everywhere. The Bible insists that such

patterns actually are carrying meaningful messages about the Creator. They contain information

about His character, that He plans and purposes. They "glorify Him" and "show His handiwork". We

"get the message" because the patterns resemble objects we make and think about with our

personal spirits acting through our bodies. Our spirits recognize the Presence of Another Spirit Who

thinks informationfilled thoughts. Page 44

_______________________________________________________________ Part II Bible Framework Ministries

www.bibleframework.org Notice I said, natural patterns "resemble" patterns of man-made objects,

not that they are identical. Unbelievers often try to oppose the so-called teleological argument for

God (argument from design) by citing instances of chaos or apparently useless features. But the

Bible doesn't teach that every part of nature can be "read" correctly. Much of nature has been

irreversibly damaged by the fall (see Chapter Four). Even some of the parts that weren't ruined by the

fall in original Eden, had to be explained directly to Adam using spoken words (Gen 1:28-30; 2:16-17).

So nature doesn't always carry a clearly understandable message, but it does carry significant

amounts of information about its Maker from His Spirit to our spirits.[10] Just because the design of

nature does glorify God, the carnal mind must somehow falsify it. The information that natural

designs convey about their Creator must be shut off. The easiest way to bury this information can be

inferred from Wilder-Smith's Morse Code illustration above. By denying (or suppressing or

forgetting) the Morse Code language rules, the "S-O-S" pattern loses all meaning. In like fashion, by

suppressing the human spirit's sense of eternity (Eccl. 3:11) and the personal God of eternity,

paganism shuts off reception of the information coming to it from nature (Rom. 1:21). However,

paganism can never leave matters alone. The suppressed yearning of the human spirit for God can't

stand total meaninglessness. Thus it redirects itself and fabricates meaning for all the natural

design it observes (Rom. 1:22). It exchanges the information about God attached to natural design

for pseudo-information that man's mind makes up and imposes on the forms and patterns (Rom.

1:23). The design of nature, therefore, is a two-edged sword. On one hand, it is general revelation to

all men everywhere of the character of God as Creator and Sustainer. On the other hand, its

brightness causes the rebellious to shut their eyes and drives them to idolatry. Man's response to

nature's design shapes the quality of his dominion to which I now turn.

EVIL IN NATURE Evil permeates both sides of the man-nature distinction. When Adam fell, God

cursed the ground because of his sin, a fact crucial to Paul's exposition of the resurrection hope in

Romans 8:18-23. Evil damaged nature as it did man. Sin-Damage to Nature's Design While it is still

true after the fall that nature reveals its Creator, it is also true that much chaos has come into the

message. Nature has become abnormal. There is now natural evil: storms, earthquakes, plagues,

and famine. Nature even pollutes itself! Gases and vapors from natural decay pollute the

atmosphere. A classic example is the Los Angeles basin. Long before the automobile and white

man's industrialization, native American Indians referred to the area as "the place of the burning

eyes". It seems that trees growing in the basin area secreted a volatile organic compound that

strongly irritated human tissue. Paganism interprets such natural evil as a normal occurrence. The

pagan mind cannot imagine nature without evil in it. Evil has always been and will always be. Thus

evolutionary theory relies on natural evil (struggle for survival) to bring forth life. That, says the

pagan, is the message of nature. Once this "revelation" is accepted, a counterfeit moral code quickly

arises. For example, Sir Arthur Keith, a British anthropologist who had just survived Hitler's bombing

of Britain could write these amazing words in 1947: "To see evolutionary. . .morality being applied to

the affairs of a great nation we must turn to Germany of 1942. We see Hitler devoutly convinced that

evolution produces the only real basis for a national policy."[13] American business tycoon John D.

Rockefeller made the same inference: "The growth of large business is merely survival of the fittest.

. . .This is not an evil tendency in business. It is merely the working out of a law of nature."[14] Sin-

damage to nature confuses the creation message in many of its parts. Chaos and apparently

useless features appear in enough places that Christians' argument-from-design (teleological

argument for existence of God) is difficult to state precisely. Nature is not normal, and therefore

does not perfectly reveal God's original workmanship. [15] Sin-Damage to Man's Rule over Nature

You saw above that sin damaged man's first divine institution of responsible dominion both in its

extent and in its quality. Let's look further at this damage. Strangely, the cursing of nature has had

some beneficial results for man in his falleness. We are forced to work together to produce whether

Lesson 17 Part II __________________________________________________________________ Page 63 Bible

Framework Ministries www.bibleframework.org we like it or not. A number of other effects also

follow. North makes very insightful observations: "There are no free lunches in a cursed, scarce

world. . . .Given the perverse nature of man, a less productive world is a necessity. Having to work is.

. .a way of draining energy that might have been put to perverse ends. Men have less free time to

scheme and pillage. They have less strength. . . .An expenditure of time, capital, and energy in

increasing the productivity of the land could not be used simultaneously in order to commit murder

and mayhem. . . .The curse of the ground is also a blessing for the ground. Men in a scarce world

must treat the creation with care if they wish to retain the productivity of the ground.[16] Again the

pagan mind can't interpret the situation correctly. Thinking evil has always been part of existence;

the carnal mentality sees labor as inherently toilsome with no higher calling. From ancient Greece to

many in America's present labor force, work (especially "blue collar" work) is treated with derision

and avoidance where possible. The biblical Christian, on the other hand, knows that labor was the

first occupation of God and of man. A creative person cannot help but labor over nature to produce

worthwhile fruit. He knows that the thorns and thistles in every job are not what labor is all about.

They are merely abnormalities added because of sin. Later in this series I will show how the spiritual

life closely parallels physical labor. We struggle with that part of nature closest to us–our flesh–to

bring it into subjection under Christ that His fruit, and not thorns and thistles, might be produced.

Sadly, Christians often drift into pagan modes of thought, looking for some "secret" that will subdue

the flesh without labor (note God's words to Cain in Gen. 4:7).

Our website has a team of professional writers who can help you write any of your homework. They will write your papers from scratch. We also have a team of editors just to make sure all papers are of HIGH QUALITY & PLAGIARISM FREE. To make an Order you only need to click Ask A Question and we will direct you to our Order Page at WriteDemy. Then fill Our Order Form with all your assignment instructions. Select your deadline and pay for your paper. You will get it few hours before your set deadline.