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 Even skeptics
appeal to our moral responsibility regarding the environment.
How can this be? If all being is, in Bertrand Russell's words,
"accidental collocations of atoms," there is no spirit,
much less spiritual responsibility. The reality of morality disproves
mere materialism and reminds us that the Bible is right - humans
are different!
All nature is slave to structure, to gene and to instinct. Humans are free to reason, to moralize and to decide. That is why Joshua could challenge his people, "Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve" (Joshua 24:15). Such a challenge makes no sense spoken to an insect or a rock. It does make sense for beings that are spiritual and accountable. Every day we make hundreds of free choices, and so affirm that there is far more to our nature than just nature. That is why we have a strong sense of "ought-ness." We ought to have worth. Our lives ought to have meaning that lasts beyond death. The beauty and splendor that we glimpse here ought to continue. Surely life ought not to be wasted by the futility of death.
THE BRIGHT SIDE Certainly there is a dark side to human nature. The Bible is supreme in its description - and condemnation - of that dark side. But Scripture does not remain there. Like the revolving earth, revelation soon turns to the sunny side. It reflects hope from the highest and brightest Source. From the first to the final page the theme of Scripture is that darkness gives way to light!
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light (Genesis 1:1-3). The primeval world was dark and empty. But darkness soon yielded to light. Formlessness surrendered to order. Teaming life filled the void. At that point all of creation was "very good." Then night descended again. Rebellion against the Creator brought its own kind of darkness. Most inky and impenetrable of all was death, which the Bible marks as the consequence of sin. Whatever people think of the origin of death, we all feel much the same way about it. Job's friends called death "the king of terrors" (Job 18:14). King David wrote, "the terrors of death assail me.... horror has overwhelmed me" (Psalm 55:4-5). Shakespeare's Hamlet recoiled at "the dread of something after death." The French philosopher Sartre said, "Death is absurd; we ought not even to think about it." Why? Because death is the ultimate black hole. It inexorably drains away all that we envision and build in life. Death is the source of our sense of senselessness, our darkest fear of futility. American poet Walt Whitman called Night the sister of Death. To many those two sisters are queens that reign supreme. But the Bible is more realistic. The earth does not stand still for darkness. It keeps on revolving and passes into day. In the same way, the ancient Scriptures promised a spiritual revolution, a dawn destined to dispel death. Darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and His glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn (Isaiah 60:2-3). The sun rises in the east, but where does a spiritual dawn rise? Where would the Lord Himself rise up to shine on people? The same prophet, Isaiah, knew exactly where the new day would begin. In the past He humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future He will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan -The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned (Isaiah 9:1-2). About seven hundred years later that prophecy was fulfilled in Galilee (Mathew 4:13-16). John spoke of the coming of Jesus in this way:
Remember the Bible's theme: Darkness gives way to light! JESUS AS LIGHT Jesus advanced the theme of light over darkness further than anyone else had dared. He boldly announced, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life (John 8:12). Anyone,
of course, can make such claims. The test is stark reality. What
happens when one is sucked into the black hole of death? Jesus,
as flesh and blood, took His turn, and was swallowed up like
everyone else. Friends and enemies alike confirmed His death.
Then they watched the black hole. Three days later He emerged,
just as He had promised (Matthew 12:40; John 2:19).
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