A
Psychological Perspective on Creation
Philip G. Ney, MD, MA, FRCPC, FRANZCP,
RPsych
August 2001
| I have always considered the
ultimate question of science is why, not how. Thus the
most important question regarding creation is; why did God
create the universe and we humans? Why did God create
me? There is overwhelming scientific evidence to indicate
the universe was not an accident, it was designed.(1) (2)
Humans are not accidents they are designed. I am not
an accident. I am uniquely designed with a unique purpose
in a unique time and place. But why? |
|
No amount of careful scrutiny and
analysis of the universe can answer the question why God created
everything seen and unseen. The best way to determine the
motivation of a human is to ask him or her,"Why did you do
it?" Thus we can find out God's motivation by asking
Him, reading what He has dictated to us and by inferring how He
thinks from how we think. Christians believe humans were
created in the image of God. If we are like God, then God
is like us. Obviously, He is immensely bigger and better
than any human. However, I believe there is sufficient similarity
to allow us to at least begin to understand why God created all
we know and ever could know. There are many times in the
Bible when God is reported to think and feel like a human.
There are many pitfalls to this
argument. However, we could learn something by asking ourselves,
"If I was God, why would I wish to create the universe in
general and humans in particular?" There is considerable
evidence to suggest that the universe was created for humans,
not humans by the universe. Surely this is the most important
distinction between creation and evolution. God had humans
in mind before the creation of the universe. Everything
is so exactly tuned for human existence and development.
If I was God, I would:
No. 1 Want Friends.
Though I was surrounded by millions of beautiful, dutiful angels,
I would have to believe they loved and served me out of respect.
I would like a huge variety of friends to converse and commune
with who had chosen to be my friends without being overawed by
my size, wisdom and power. I would want them to be my friends
without being compelled by fear or devotion.
No. 2 Create
Complicated, Somewhat Unpredictable Creatures. Of all the creatures
I created there would be one that was sufficiently like me that
it could think like me and communicate with me. The design
of this creature would be incredibly challenging. Finally,
I would give this creature the ability to commune with me that
transcended time and space. [For the sake of simplicity
let's call them humans].
No. 3 Create and Protect
Human Choice. I would create an environment which made it
impossible for humans to observe me directly. I would give
humans the desire and the capability of deducing who I am from
observing their environment and analyzing themselves. I
would send them messengers and careful messages. Yet I would
make sure that the conclusions where never so obvious that anybody
and everybody would find and love me.
No. 4 Create
the Possibility for Humans to Develop All of the Potential I Built
into Them. For that reason I would create a mind-boggling
universe, incredibly complex problems and persistently difficult
decisions. I would give them the desire and the capacity
to know me, their environment and themselves. I would want
them to be knowledgeable, therefore I would create in them the
capacity to retain information. I would want them to be
wise, therefore I would not give them many explicit directions
but the ability to find their path from experience and from my
subtle promptings. I would want humans to be mature, therefore
I would give them agonizing decisions regarding themselves and
those they are responsible for. I would want them to be
widely experienced, therefore I would provide many opportunities.
I would want them to be happy, therefore I would create a beautiful,
tasteful immensely varied universe and the capacity to appreciate
it all. I would want them to feel fulfilled, therefore I
would provide them meaningful work. I would want them to
be caring of others, therefore I would create other humans that
could benefit from their service.
No. 5 Create Humanity's
Environment to be Robust And Stable. Humans would need to
have built-in surviving and recuperative capabilities. To
protect their choices, I would not always intervene when they
made bad choices and when they taught others to follow their stupidity.
Since I could not trust their philosophy, religion or science,
I would build their survival into their biology. I would
make their ailments easily treatable, but challenge their therapists
with a need to discover how I do it.
No. 6 Build in a Certain
Degree of Unpredictability. Otherwise, I would be awfully
bored. Within my framework, a certain amount would be left
to choice and chance. There would be certain rules that
humans could bend only with dire consequences. There would
be certain laws that they could not bend at all. [Since
God gave Adam and Eve a free choice to know him quietly walking
about in the garden or to be like him, knowing everything, God
was for interested to see what would happen. God also gave
Jesus a choice to obey him or not, when faced with an incredibly
difficult task. God was interested to know whether humans
would individually or collectively choose to know him.]
No. 7 Always Have a Backup
Plan. Since real choices may result in chaos and confusion,
and since I am committed to protecting humans, there would always
be an alternative route. [Inevitably God's will is done.]
The alternative plan would be more difficult. So that human
choices are real choices, I would not often suspend or delay the
consequences of those choices.
No. 8 Share the Job
with My Son. Since I would be all-knowing and all-powerful,
creation would be too easy for me. I would want to see how
my Son went about it. I would always be available for consultation.
No. 9 Be Experimental.
I would not be embarrassed by failed experiments, so I could leave
evidence of change in direction and design.
No. 10 Enjoy the Process.
I would be like a painter who relished every stroke, or a musician
who liked to hear each new phrase played back, or a photographer
who couldn't wait to see the film developed. Even if I could
make it all happen by clicking my fingers, I wouldn't do it.
Where would the enjoyment be? And I do enjoy being and creating.
No. 11 Take My Time.
Time, after all, is relatively meaningless to me and relevant
only as a progression of events. Besides, I am thoroughly
enjoying myself; why should I rush? What's a few billion
years here and there?
No. 12 Take a Rest. After
all the hard work I would admire the unfolding panorama and enjoy
a break. It was work. It required a lot of thought
and effort.
If I was God, I would not:
No. 1 Mislead Humans.
I would not leave evidence sitting about that might give humans
the wrong idea of who I am and what I did. If it was evidence
showing I took time to do a particular part of the process, I
would let it show and not pretend it happened overnight.
No. 2 Make It Sound Simple
And Look Effortless, When It Was Not. Since it was work,
I would call it work and describe my effort.
No. 3 Give It All a Push
Then Let It Rundown. Since the whole system has built-in
entropy, I would carefully keep an eye on everything and give
it additional energy and course correction whenever needed.
No. 4 Be Oblivious To Human
Hurts And Failings. Whenever it was not interfering with
my primary motivation of having friends who chose to be such,
I would stop misery and heal hurts.
No. 5 If It Needed to Be
Destroyed, I Would Destroy it Myself. It belongs to me and
to me alone. No one else can be the final arbiter of what
happens.
No. 6 Let Humans Individually
Or Collectively Take Forever To Make up Their Minds. I would eventually
accept the decision of some humans to ignore me, and I would draw
human history to a close.
No. 7 Tell Anyone When
I Would Act. The most important military secret I would
keep only to myself. After all, I did give everybody a choice
and I was not entirely sure how they might choose, not even my
Son.
To many, this exercise in attempting
to understand why God created the universe is an exercise in futility.
I believe it can be helpful. Try it yourself.
References
1. Hugh Ross, The Creator and the
Cosmos, 2nd Ed. (Colorado Spring: NavPress, 1995).
2. Gerald L. Schroeder, The Science
of God: The Convergence of Scientific and Biblical Wisdom.
(New York: Free Press, 1977).
