It’s a Problem

By John Pawlitz

If you made a car, a phone, or a computer program, and it turned around and said “I exist for my own purposes,” would you be a little surprised? Much of philosophy has developed down this line of thinking, a thought process that attaches morality to existence. Believing such a thing is probably more dangerous to the doctrine of creation than evolution itself.

Back to your car. If you could get over the shock of conversing with an object, would you agree with its reasoning? You would probably argue that the object only existed to provide you with the service you created it or brought it to provide. Or you might suggest that only you, as the creator, have the right to make it act, now that it had come into existence, in any way other than what you originally intended.

Now suppose the car said to you, “I will only exist in whatever way is most useful” even though it didn’t know you or want to serve you. What uses would the car have in mind for you? Or what if the phone said, “My existence serves no purpose” and refused to cooperate? Then you would no longer be able to talk or text to your friends.

Or let’s suppose that a computer program no longer responded to your logic and instead tried to enjoy its existence, obeying commands or disobeying them, how it pleased. This would torment you! All of these examples show some of the problems with philosophy denying the importance of a creator (even though God did not create us to be cars, phones, or computers).

When you view creations in light of a creator, then it is not their existence that matters so much as their creator. A good example of this lies in marriage. Without a creator, you should be able to exist and live however you feel like. But with a creator—especially one who intends for a man and a woman to be married—you exist (and remain) in that unity rather than in any number of other conceivable existences.

This point carries in less life-changing examples. You should not talk down to others simply because of too apparent differences. However great you may be is all a related to the fact that you were created by God. After all, how would you be so wonderful if God had not first created you and provided for that possibility? And this is true, most of all, even while fulfilling necessary tasks. There is no reason to go about your duties gloating in a superior position and contemptuous of others.

The acknowledgement of a creator does away with the question of why we exist. It changes the measure of human life. Existence is a foregone conclusion based on an understanding of the will of the creator. A theory that explains existence, such as evolution, makes far less of an impression. Why would we exist simply to exist however we feel like? You do not look for a theory that explains why you exist, unless you are motivated to justify what you want. This is why a factual contradiction of evolution has little force. When people want an explanation that allows for and agrees with philosophical idols, this urges more than facts or contradictions. As soon as the narrative of evolution is refuted, a new narrative arises until someone can remove the motivation for finding such an explanation. We find this not in our scientific superiority but in faith and in trust in our God.

John Pawlitz graduated from Concordia University Chicago and now resides in St. Louis, Missouri. He can be reached at jpawlitz@yahoo.com.