Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

• John 1:1-5

Then Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the Lord has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills—to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic crafts.

• Exodus 35:30-33

So Bezalel, Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the Lord has given skill and ability to know how to carry out all the work of constructing the sanctuary are to do the work just as the Lord has commanded.”

• Exodus 36:1

Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm.

• Revelation 11:19

“ ’Creation’ as applied to human authorship seems to me to be an entirely misleading term. We rearrange elements He has provided. There is not a vestige of real creativity de novo in us. Try to imagine a new primary colour, a third sex, a fourth dimension, or even a monster which does not consist of bits of existing animals stuck together. Nothing happens. And that surely is why our works (as you said) never mean to others quite what we intended: because we are recombining elements made by Him and already containing His meanings.”

• C.S. Lewis, Letters: C.S. Lewis, 20 February 1943

I saw this C.S. Lewis quote, and I found profound wisdom there.  We as broken people who are trapped by the Laws of Physics, Thermodynamics, and such sciences know we cannot create something from nothing.

We can propose a Big Bang Theory, but where did the Bang come from unless it was God.  And no one has shown how Physics and Thermodynamics has never ever been wrong when you cannot get something from nothing.  Matter cannot be created nor can it be destroyed.  It simply changes forms.  Yet, the Big Bang Theory postulates that everything came from nothing.

No one has ever created life.  The test that everyone touts is that an amino acid was created, but the experiment has never been duplicated.  Is it possible the test apparatus had not been properly cleaned?  Or is the experiment like Piltdown man, a hoax that people continue to claim as being true?

But then, what of our creativity?  Is it not like C.S. Lewis says, a recombination of odd bits to make something different?

Think of Bezalel and Oholiab who fashioned the ark of the covenant and the tabernacle, and all that other stuff.  Yet, God already had those things.  What was attributed to these two men?  Yes, they were skilled, but they could and would obey.  They would do as the Lord commanded (Ex. 36:1).  God opened their eyes to heaven, and they copied what was there.  Skilled? Absolutely, but they can only be credited with creating those wonderful things because no one on earth had seen them before.  But those two craftsmen had seen them, sitting before the throne of God.  God might have said, “Here, you two, this is what it must look like, and you are skilled enough to make an exact copy.”  Like the old sculptor would say, “I studied the piece of wood, and I cut away everything that was not a horse.”  That is, if he was carving a horse.

I write short stories that I enjoy writing, but over the course of the last few years, the characters in the story have been showing their true light, their inner motivations.  Have I created a world of the big city of Tracy, or has God revealed, through a bit of fiction, a community that has their troubles, but they live to worship God?  When I started, I was just having fun with it, to put a smile on people’s faces.  But as I developed the characters more fully, it developed into something that I felt needed to be developed.  So, did I create anything, or was God guiding me the entire time?  I think the latter.

These “A Thought On…” bits of writing are designed to ask more questions than to provide answers.  I hope this causes you to think about what the world says, and what the Bible says.  Truth is out there, and God created all of it.  For God is Truth.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.