Episode Details

Remsen Bible Fellowship; 10/01/2023

Introduction

Why do you exist? Let me clarify that question slightly: I’m not asking “how did a particular human with your genetic makeup come to exist”; rather, what I’m getting at is: why do you exist at all? Why do I exist? Why is there such a thing as existence? 

This is one of the most important questions which a human being can ponder - and we’re the only earthly creatures who are pondering it. So we had best get the answer correct. Getting the answer to this question nailed down will help us as we start to ponder what we might think of as more “relevant” or “modern” questions: the nature of human personhood and sexuality, humanity’s role in relationship to the creation, does work matter, why does the world seem to be coming apart at the seams - all of these questions are downstream from this fundamental question of existence.

The world has no coherent answer for the question. We can see that existence is. It is an observable reality, regardless of what some philosophers will postulate. You are here, I am here, this pulpit is here, and so are those chairs. You came here in a car, you drove on a road, you’re inhaling air with just the right mixture of nitrogen, oxygen, and other gasses to keep you going. But where did it all come from? The American Museum of Natural History gives us the best answer modern science has to offer: “The Big Bang was the moment 13.8 billion years ago when the universe began as a tiny, dense, fireball that exploded. Most astronomers use the Big Bang theory to explain how the universe began. But what caused this explosion in the first place is still a mystery.” In other words, a tiny ball of hydrogen (we don’t know where it came from) exploded (we don’t know why) 13.8 billion years ago. How do we know that? Well, that’s essentially the result of giant guesswork: take the rate of known universe expansion as measurable by current telescope technology, and run that rate backwards to zero, and this is what you get. So, even the number which is postulated as absolutely “true” is itself a guess.

One way around this problem is to say there was no beginning, that everything which exists has always existed. The matter present has always been here, it just shifts shapes. But that problem runs into another issue: “Newton's First Law of Motion states that a body at rest will remain at rest unless an outside force acts on it...” Well, the postulation of evolution requires constant change. But if everything has always existed, and there is no force outside the universe to act upon it, how - why?! - is the universe in a constant state of change? 

The secular, godless answer to the problem of existence is to say “let’s just not speculate.” Because they have no answer. But the Bible does. This morning we’ll look at the opening two verses of the Bible, which lay an irreplaceable framework for all sixty-six books which follow.

Text

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. (Genesis 1:1-2)

I should pause here and address a hot topic inside of Christian circles: is this passage (and the chapter to follow) to be read as literally true? Or is it more poetic and song-like?

Here is how I take this passage: at face value. I think that makes the most sense of the text: it certainly is poetic and highly structured. But that should communicate to us the great intentionality with which God acted, and cause us to stand in awe. Not question if it’s true.

I want to point out that many believers over the years have taken a view that says Genesis chapter 1 is not literal, or that it is somehow limited in its geographical reference