A Little Girl's Nonsensical Sign

I saw a picture online of a little girl holding up a sign.  She had a great big smile on her face, yet she was clearly too young to understand what the sign meant.  But the sign said something about how religion says that people are broken, imperfect, sinful, etc., and how science (a world without God) says that people are intelligent, beautiful, capable of great things, etc.  And then it asks us to decide which one is more harmful, obviously implying that religion is negative and damaging, while science is positive and affirming.

This sign that the little girl was holding bothered me.  Because it’s nonsense.  Because it doesn’t give an accurate picture of Christianity.  And so, in response, I want to make my own list, which I think more accurately represents Christianity and science.

Of course, there are some damaging religions out there and there have been bad representatives of Christianity throughout the course of history.  And those bad representatives will be held accountable someday for not accurately handling the Word and living the faith.  But the people who reject Jesus based on someone else’s bad example will be held accountable for their choice.  They won’t be excused when they say, “But I didn’t want to know Jesus because I didn’t like the Christians I knew.”

And to be clear, I do value science.  I think that God has created the scientific ways that the world/universe works.  And I think science points back to a Creator.  (Scientists who deny a Creator generally have a predetermined bias against Him and will not let anything convince them that He is real.  They do their research from the basis of “There is no God, so how else can I explain and understand this?”  Not very scientific!)

But for this section, I am talking about a science that excludes God, that takes the place of God, because that is how this little girl’s sign meant it.  

My List:

Science (a world without God) says that we . . .

            - are broken, imperfect, and sinful.  Despite the little girl’s sign, science cannot deny that we are broken, imperfect, and sinful.  Just look at history and today’s newspaper.  Look at what we are capable to doing to each other and to ourselves.  Consider those who “have it all” but who are miserable anyway or who kill themselves to escape the hopelessness of this life.  Can science dare claim that we are “whole, perfect, and sinless”?  No!  It has to still admit that we are broken, imperfect, and sinful, but then it leaves it up to us to dig ourselves out of our messes because it says that there is no God out there to help us.

            - are cosmic accidents, created by and at the mercy of environmental conditions.

            - should be weeded out if we have flaws.  Survival of the fittest!  That’s how nature works.  Only what’s best for the continuation of the species as a whole matters.  The weak, injured, and poorly-developed are weeded out so that the stronger ones may live and pass on their genes.

            - are valuable based on our accomplishments and contributions to the species.  If there is no God to give us value and meaning, then our value and meaning is determined by other people and by what we can contribute to society.  Other people get to decide if we really matter or not.  And “drains on society” are liabilities and should be weeded out.

            - are ultimately alone.  If there is no Creator – just environmental forces – then we are truly on our own and have no one but ourselves to lean on.

            - are headed to nothingness.  If we were not deliberately created – if we are accidentally alive, just walking bags of molecules tethered together by dirt - then we have no soul, no great purpose, no meaning, no hope of things ever being made right again.  And we will simply vanish after we die. 

But Christianity – God, Jesus – says that we . . .

            - are broken, imperfect, and sinful.  But that’s okay.  God knows we are this way and He loves us anyway and wants a relationship with us.  And He made a way to heal us, to bring us wholeness, to pay for our sins.  He is our hope and strength and help and salvation.

1 John 4:9-10:  “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

Luke 19:10:  “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

2 Corinthians 5:17:  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

Psalm 34:17-18: “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.  The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

Psalm 40:1-2:  “I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.  He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.”

Proverbs 3:5-6:  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and he will make your paths straight.”

            - are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Genesis 1:27, 31:  “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female, he created them. . . . God saw all that he had made and it was very good.”

Psalm 139:13-14:  “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. . .”

            - are extremely valuable simply because He created us, He wants us, and He loves us.  No one is worthless or disposable, no matter how broken or flawed they are or how little they contribute to society.

John 3:16:  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (Emphasis added.)

2 Peter 3:9:  “[The Lord] is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

Matthew 10:29-31:  “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?  Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.  And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

Romans 3:38-39:  “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

            - are worth dying for, even in our broken, imperfect condition.

Mark 2:17:  “Jesus said to them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Romans 5:8:  “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

John 3:16:  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (Emphasis added.)

            - are not alone because He is watching over us and will help us through this life.

1 Peter 5:6-7:  “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.  Cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.”

Psalm 23:1-4:  “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.  He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me besides quiet waters, he restores my soul.  He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

Deuteronomy 31:6:  “Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid or terrified . . . for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” 

            - have a future.  We will live on after we die, which can be comforting or terrifying, depending on where you are headed.

John 10:10:  “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

John 3:36:  “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.”

Matthew 25:31-34:  “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory.  All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.  Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.’. . . Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’”

            (Hell was never made for us, but for the devil and his angels.  We, however, choose to follow the devil to hell if we reject Jesus as Lord and Savior, if we choose to pay the penalty for our sins ourselves.  A penalty that has already been paid by Jesus, if only we will accept it on our behalf.)

John 3:16:  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (Emphasis added.)

            And so I ask, “Which one is more hope-full?” 

            Which one has real answers, real hope, and a real future?

            We all put our faith in something.  Which one are you putting your faith in?

            We all stake our futures on something.  Which one are you staking your future, your soul, your eternity on?

(repost)