I believe that anyone who honestly faces the incredible evidence found in the human body would come to the same conclusion as Sir Isaac Newton did when he said, “In the absence of any other proof, my thumb alone would convince me of God’s existence.

I hope your response is the same as David’s in Psalm 139,”We are fearfully and wonderfully made.”

In this post I want to keep our attention on the human body, but refocus our attention from design to value. It has been said that the physical substance that makes up a human body can be bought for about $20. But we all know instinctively that human life is worth more than $20. In fact, we don’t put a price tag on human life, but we do on virtually every other form of life!

For instance, you can purchase a nice quarter horse for $7,500, a golden retriever puppy for $500, a parrot for about $1,000, a hamster for $7, a golf fish for about .25 cents and find cats for free! Animals can be bought for a price and we all have bought animals. But humans are not for sale, at least not legally and certainly not from the perspective of the Christian faith. And the reason is simple: because human life is created in the image of God.

Genesis 1:24-27 says, “And God said, ‘Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. Then (and this is a very important ‘then’. It marks a divide in the creative design of God) God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, (the first hint of the Trinity) and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

There is a ‘firewall’ between the animal kingdom and human life! From the Biblical perspective, we are not a part of the animal kingdom and we never were. Even if God used millions and millions of years to design the universe and life (and maybe he did), the process did not begin with us as apes, baboons, monkeys or any other kind of animal. We never were animals. We always have been humans; complete with the image of God stamped in our design.

And because of “the image”, nothing in all of creation is more like God than humans. Our emotional, relational, intellectual, and even physical properties are qualitatively superior to animals and in some distinct way reflect the characteristics of God better than any other creature in the universe. Admittedly, because of sin, sometimes nothing in all creation is more ‘unlike’ God than humanity. That still does not change the basic fact that humans are more like God than anything in the universe.

When God decided to come to this planet in a visible way, he came as a human. When Jesus died on the cross, he died for humans! It is because we bear “the image” that humans and only humans have an eternal soul. I am sorry to tell you that there is no evidence that your pets will go to heaven and live forever. They won’t. If you have trusted Jesus as your Savior, you will. Because we bear the “mark of the image of God” we are not only distinct from animals, we are inherently priceless!

But this leads to another question: When do humans begin to bear the image of God? Now that question strikes at the white hot center of a moral/ethical/scientific debate today!

Remove the conviction that a person or group of people do not bear God’s image and are on an equal plane with animals, are not human, are less than human or pre-human and what we do with them and how we treat them changes dramatically!

An extreme example would be Hitler’s ghastly 3^rd Reich. As Adolf Hitler once said, “I do not look upon Jews as animals; they are further removed from animals than we are. Therefore it is not a crime to exterminate them, since they do not belong to humanity at all.”

Another on would be our own nation’s history is the slave trade. Slave trading and ownership thrived legally and openly in America for centuries in large part because the African people were not considered human!  Africans were sold in America alongside other commodities like sugar and cotton - because they were not considered human!

Today the debate has moved to the womb. When does a fetus become an ‘image bearer’? Christianity is united in the belief that it happens in the womb:

Jeremiah 1:4-5 “The word of the LORD came to me, saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.’”

Isaiah 49:1 “Before I was born the LORD called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name.”

The Bible clearly points to personhood before birth…but when before birth? Some say at the point of viability. According to the American Medical Association, “A fetus is viable when it reaches an “anatomical threshold” when critical organs, such as the lungs and kidneys, can sustain independent life; sometime after 23 weeks. - In the United States, that is when a baby in the womb receives legal protection. (Roe v Wade, 1973)

Some point to around 8 or 9 weeks. The logic goes like this: Around this time the fetus has a nervous system, a brain and is capable of receiving prenatal social-psychological-spiritual influences from the mother that has the potential of humanizing the unborn child.

Historically, the Church has pinpointed at the time of conception. And since the exact point of when God infuses the fetus with ‘his image’, will never be observed in a test tube, and since we really are dealing with human life that is intrinsically valuable, I believe we should play this one conservatively and stick to conception as the moment when God’s makes us bearers of his image. Now, everyone knows what that answer implies; that since 1973, our Supreme Court has legalized the destruction of unborn human life and I believe they made a tragic mistake.

According to the pro-abortion web sites of Guttmacher Institute and Planned Parenthood:

• In the United States, the number of abortions each year is 1.3 million (3,700 per day) and since abortion was made legal in 1973, 48 million abortions have taken place in America.
• In the world, the number of abortions skyrockets to 42 million each year (115,000 per day.)
• Why abortions are performed:

1% because of rape or incest

6.5% because of potential health problems with either the mother or the baby

93% for social reasons (the baby is not wanted or inconvenient)

But rather than just complaining or pointing fingers, let’s just commit ourselves to being followers of God who believe that every human being is made in the image of God, whether born or unborn and find ways to protect and promote life!

That may be by supporting our local pro-life agency, RETA (Reason Enough to Act) with either your money or your time. I am happy to report that RETA was one of the agencies in our Christmas Project and last week we dropped off a check for $6,700!

Secondly, consider adopting a child. And many couples have. Many more want to but have to wait. I read this week these stats from the National Council for Adoption web site that there is a waiting list of couple who would like to adopt infants with Down syndrome or Spina Bifida. One agency has over 100 approved families waiting to adopt children with Down Syndrome.  There are also a large number of couples who would like to adopt terminally ill babies, including babies with AIDS. ABC-TV’s “20-20″ reported that they had received over 25,000 self-addressed stamped envelopes from people wanting to adopt Romanian orphans. Over 10,000 people responded after an article ran in Parade Magazine’s cover story on trans-racial adoption.

It’s not just interest in adoption, but many would be happy to support couples adopt. Just this past week I was listening to Bill O’Riley on the radio and he was on this subject because of the President’s decision to fund world agencies who perform abortions and Bill made a really good point when he said, “Our tax dollars go to fund abortions, so why can’t they go to fund adoptions too?” I love the idea! I would much rather have my tax dollars spent on helping someone adopt an unwanted baby than have my tax dollars go to end his life!

Beyond life in the womb or at birth…we can support the value and dignity of life by helping ‘the least of these’. It surely is also ‘pro-life’ to help the poor, the mentally disabled, the physically disabled and the elderly.

Wayne Grudem wrote in Systematic Theology, “Every single human being, no matter how much the image of God is marred by sin, or illness, or weakness or age, or any other disability, still has the status of being in God’s image and therefore must be treated with the dignity and respect that is due to God’s image-bearer. This has profound implications for our conduct toward others. It means that people of every race deserve equal dignity and rights. It means that elderly people, those seriously ill, the mentally retarded, and children yet unborn, deserve full protection and honor as human beings. If we ever deny our unique status in creation as god’s only image-bearers, we will soon begin to depreciate the value of human life, will tent to see humans as merely a higher form of animal, and will begin to treat others as such. We will also lose much off our sense of meaning in life.”

Be pro-life in some way! But do it in a grace-filled way, because that is the Christian way! I end with the words of Paul from Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world god’s invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”

The entire universe, this planet, all of life gives evidence of a design. Someday we will all stand before him without any basis to say, “I didn’t know.”  So my strong encouragement is to get to know him and follow him in this life because you want the chance to live with him in the next.

Genesis 2:7, “The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”

After Adam was created, God created a woman, Eve.

Genesis 2:15-23, “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”

The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.

But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”

Unlike Adam and Eve who were created as mature adults from the dust of the earth and rib bones, we are created by God through the miracle of life in our mother’s womb.

King David, in Psalm 139:13-14, offers a beautiful statement concerning the creation of the human body.

“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.”

The following information regarding the development of a human fetus comes from The Virginia Society for Human Life.

The third month:

• At this stage of development, the baby weighs roughly 1 ounce and is about 3 inches long.
• The heartbeat is detectable.
• Its tongue, teeth and eyelids start to form.
• The essential organs all are under construction and major body parts are in place (legs, arms, head and torso).
• Other developmental milestones for this period include thumb-sucking, head-nodding and balling fingers into fists.

The fifth month:

• And by month’s end, the fetus measures 8 to 10 inches long and tips the scales at 1 pound.
• All its major organs are complete.
• Its bones are growing stronger and its muscles longer.
• Its reflexes also are sharpening up-it can now swallow, kick and execute an occasional somersault.
• New in this month: hair, eyelashes and eyebrows.

The seventh month:

• A 7-month-old baby stretches 16 to 18 inches long and weighs between 4 and 6 pounds.
• The baby can blink, and its eyes may even remain open for short period of time.
• The baby’s fingernails now reach beyond its fingertips and its skin is starting to smooth.
• Hearing is fully developed.
• This month, the brain develops rapidly, and all of its organs except the lungs are mature.
• And as the baby grows larger, space in the womb becomes scarce. Expectant mothers should still count on catching a few elbows every day, but the elaborate somersault sequences should stop.

In the eighth month:

• By now, the baby’s lungs are mature, its skin pink and smooth, and its toenails fully grown.
• The baby can also execute an array of reflexes, such as head turning, blinking and grasping.
• It now stretches between 20 to 22 inches long, and weighs about 7½ pounds.

And sometime in the 9^th month, a human being enters the world!

Personally, I choose to believe, and I don’t find it hard to believe, that this didn’t happen because of star dust marinating in a hospitable environment over a period of several billion years; it happened through the creative design of the Creator God!

Now, I want to focus on the first part of the phrase from Psalm 139:14, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

When was the last time you consciously and specifically praised God for the body he gave you or at least parts of it? When was the last time you said, “God, thank you for my eyes that I can see with?” Or, “God, thank you for my legs that I can walk with?”

Personally, I can’t recall the last time I paused and thanked God for my heart or my skin or my stomach!

We tend to focus our prayers on asking God to fix what doesn’t work with our bodies or to change what we don’t like about our bodies; or we give thanks when something that was wrong, got fixed.

Tuesdays with Morrie, is a wonderful book about the final months of a man by the name of Morrie who suffered with Lou Gehrig’s disease, a brutal, unforgiving illness of the neurological system. Morrie was a college professor and the book is based on 14 Tuesday visits by a former student by the name of Mitch. On the 13^th Tuesday, Mitch asks Morrie to tell him what he would do for twenty-four hours if he had his body back. By this time, Morrie was in his last days and his body was barley functioning in any way. This is the exchange:

What if you had one day perfectly healthy, I asked? What would you do?

“Twenty-four hours?”

Twenty-four hours.

“Let’s see…I’d get up in the morning, do my exercises, have a lovely breakfast of sweet rolls and tea, go for a swim, then have my friends come over for a nice lunch. I’d have them come one or two at a time so we could talk about their families, their issues, talk about how much we mean to each other. Then I’d like to go for a walk, in a garden with some trees, watch their colors, watch the birds, take in the nature that I haven’t seen in so long now. In the evening, we’d all to together to a restaurant with some great pasta, maybe some duck - I love duck - and then we’d dance the rest of the night. I’d dance with all the wonderful dance partners out there, until I was exhausted. And then I’d go home and have a deep, wonderful sleep.”

That’s it?

“That’s it.”

It was so simple. So average. I was actually a little disappointed. I figured he’d fly to Italy or have lunch with the President or romp on the seashore or try every exotic thing he could think of. After all these months, lying there, unable to move a leg or a foot - how could he find perfection in such an average day? And then I realized this was the whole point.

I want to challenge you to be very conscious and specific this week in praising God for our body! I want to encourage you to begin each day this week with these statements as part of your morning prayer:

Monday: “I thank God for my sight.” Imagine going through just 1 hour today without your sight!

Tuesday: “I thank God for my hearing.” Imagine what you would miss if you could not hear!

Wednesday: “I thank God for my legs, feet, arms and hands.” Imagine what your life would be like if you were confined to a wheelchair for just 1 week without the use of your limbs!

Thursday: “I thank God for my sense of smell & taste.” And tonight enjoy your favorite meal!

Friday: “I thank God for my sense of touch.” Without touch we would not know to remove our hand from a hot stove top or cover our hands when they are freezing in the cold.

Saturday: “I thank God for my vital organs.” You and I can’t see these organs, but we would die without them. That is why they are called, ‘vital’.

And one more thing: I want to challenge you to memorize 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.”

1 Kings 4:29-34 says, “God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the men of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt…He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. He described plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also taught about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.”

Solomon was a…

• Botanist, he studied plants.
• Zoologist, he studied animals.
• Ornithologist, he studied birds.
• Herpetologist, he studied reptiles.
• Ichthyologist, he studied fish.

What we know today that Solomon probably didn’t know was there are:

• 270,000 different species of plants
• 1.3 million different species of animals
• 9,700 different species of birds
• 6,800 different species of reptiles
• 32,000 different species of fish

Some ‘fun facts’ that Solomon may or may not have known:

• The largest animal in the world is the Blue whale. Blue whales can reach up to 110 feet in length and weigh 190 tons. Its tongue weighs as much as an elephant and it eats 8,000 pounds of food every day.
• The smallest animal in the world is the, Hog-nosed Bat. This little guy is only a little over an inch long and weighs half an ounce.
• The fastest animal in the world is the cheetah; it can reach speeds of up to 60 miles per hour.
• The slowest mammal on earth is the tree sloth. It only moves at a speed of 6 feet per minute.
• The strongest animal in the world, relative to its size, is the rhinoceros beetle. It is only a couple of inches long and weighs less than an ounce, but it can lift 850 times its own weight. That would be equivalent to a 200 pound man carrying 85 tons!

Some other interesting facts from the animal world:

• Beavers can hold their breath for 45 minutes under water.
• Elephants are the only animal that can’t jump.
• Polar bears are left handed.
• A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.
• A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
• A woodpecker can peck 20 times per second and they don’t get headaches from all that pecking because their skulls have air pockets to cushion the brain.
• Butterflies have taste sensors are in their feet. They taste their food by standing on it

Is God creative or what?

Psalm 104:24 says, “How many are your works, O LORD! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.” How true!

And here is my encouragement to you: Enjoy God’s creation!

You and I don’t have to take it as seriously as Solomon. We don’t have to become botanists, zoologists, ornithologists, herpetologists or ichthyologists

And none of us have to enjoy it in the same way! There are hundreds of ways to enjoy the beauty and wonder of the natural world:

• For me, our land in Michigan has been a great way to learn about and enjoy creation. I have learned a lot about trees and the way a woods ‘works’.
• Gloria, my wife, has a beautiful herb garden in our back yard that she loves.
• Maybe it’s through the enjoyment of a pet dog, cat, bird, or a bird feeder or aquarium.
• Maybe you enjoy visiting the zoo.
• Maybe some of your vacations are to national parks, like The Grand Canyon, or the Great Smokey Mountains.
• Maybe it’s by enjoying the night sky through a telescope or going to the Hubble website to view the pictures taken from the space telescope.

Whatever your ways are, I want to encourage you to enjoy God’s creation! It is truly magnificent.

Next, I want to encourage you to do things to care for God’s creation.

Genesis 2:15 says, “The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and care for it.”

Caring for His creation was an original mandate to humanity. Evidently God wanted us to take care of what he had made. Now I know this can get ‘political’ real fast and I don’t want it to. I am not going to get into ‘global warming’ debate. I am not going to tell you what you should or should not be driving. I have one little car and one big SUV, so I can’t. But as followers of the Creator, we should all do our part or some part to care for his creation. We will not all do the same things, but we all should be doing some things.

Here is a sampling of things that people are doing to help the environment. Maybe something on the list will appeal to you:

Bike Instead Of Ride.
Riding your bike instead of riding in a car saves energy and reduces pollution, of course.  But it is also fun!  That makes it a double benefit.

Buy Products Made Of Recycled Paper.
How can you tell if a package is recycled?  Look right on the package.  Many have specific claims, such as “made of 100 percent recycled material.”  However, some recycled packages don’t advertise this fact, although there are ways you can find out for yourself.  For example, when shopping for cereal, cookies, crackers, and other groceries packaged in cardboard boxes, make sure boxes are made from recycled paper.  If the underside is gray or dark brown, the cardboard is made of recycled material.  If it’s white, it is made of un-recycled material.

Change A Light Bulb.
By replacing a standard bulb with a compact fluorescent one you will get more light for less money and save a lot of energy.

Clean Up A Stream Or Park.
Get a group of people together and find a stream or park that needs some tender loving care.  Arrange for everyone to meet at a specific time to pick up the trash, weed, perhaps even plant some flowers.  Ask local business to donate money, tools, or other supplies you’ll need for the task.  You also should invite a newspaper reporter or TV news team to come along and report on the event.  Make sure to check with the proper local authority in charge of the stream or park to get permission so you are sure not to break any laws.

Collect Aluminum Cans.
You might raise a lot of money in the process.  The best thing is to combine this with your stream or park cleanup (see above).  Sell the cans you collect to a local aluminum recycler and use the money for something fun!  Or donate the money to a worthy environmental organization (see below).

Create A Compost Pile.
It’s easy to do.  Find a corner of the yard that’s out of the way.  Carefully throw food wastes (leftovers, eggshells, coffee grounds, spoiled vegetables, etc.) into a pile and mix with dirt.  Every week or so, turn the pile over with a shovel to give it more air.  In a few weeks, it will turn into a rich, nutrition soil that will help plants grow.  Just think:  What used to be “garbage” is now a valuable substance!

Cut Down On Packaging.
We’ve already given you several ways to do this.  Keep in mind that about half of what we throw away is packaging.  By buying products that have as little packaging as possible, you can help to reduce those mountains of trash.

Donate Your Toys To A Worthy Cause.
When you get tired of or grow out of your games and toys and other things, don’t throw them away.  Even if they are broken, they may be fixed and used by other kids less fortunate than you.  You’ll also be keeping these things out of the trash.

Don’t Buy Aerosols.
There are environmentally better packages for most products.  Aerosols can’t be recycled–which means that they are guaranteed to end up in landfills–and some of their ingredients contribute to air pollution.  Instead of aerosols, look for spray bottles, liquids, powders, and roll-ons.

Eat Organic Produce.
Organic produce contains far fewer chemicals than other produce.  That’s probably better for your health, and it is definitely better for the environment.  All those chemicals get washed off of farmers’ fields into rivers and streams, where they pollute our water.  In addition, many of the chemicals are made from petroleum and other nonrenewable resources.  So, don’t eat chemicals–eat real food!

Feed The Birds.
Birds need water to drink and foot to eat.  Feeding birds not only brings a bit of nature to your backyard, it also helps rid the yard of many kinds of bugs.  You can hang a birdfeeder from a tree or place it outside your window, or build a birdbath in your yard from which the birds can drink water.

Find Out How To Dispose of Hazardous Waste.

Nearly every household has some kind of hazardous waste: old paint cans, used motor oil, unused pesticides and weed killers.  If you dump these things down the drain, you’ll end up polluting the water supply.  They should be disposed of in a site specially designed for hazardous or toxic wastes.  Some cities and counties have monthly or annual pickups.  Other areas have special drop-off sites.  Call your city or county government to find out the proper way to dispose of such trash in your area.  Try organizing a hazardous-waste-collection day in your neighborhood or at your school, encouraging others to dispose of materials properly.

Grow A Garden.
A garden provides flowers, vegetables, and environmental benefits.  It can help to reduce soil erosion and may help to reduce some kinds of air pollution.  Try to grow your garden using as few pesticides and chemical fertilizers as possible.

Have A “Green” Picnic.
Plan an outing that doesn’t create a lot of waste or pollution.  For example, if you’re having a barbecue, avoid using lighter fluid–it contains naphthalene, an air pollutant which is suspected of causing cancer.  Instead, use an electric starter or, better yet, a device that lets you start coals using newspapers instead of fluid.  Use real plates and utensils instead of paper or plastic, and reusable tin or heavy plastic cups instead of disposable paper or plastic ones.  Wash the cups and use them over and over.  And set out separate trash bags for paper, glass, and aluminum.  Just because you’re outdoors doesn’t mean you can’t recycle.

Insulate Your Home.
You may find a lot of energy being wasted right in your own home.  After you’ve finished your energy audit, make a list of the things you believe should be done.  Your local hardware-store sales person can help you determine how much the improvements will cost, how much energy they will save, and how much money your family will save in reduced energy bills.

Look At Labels.
Reading labels can tell you a lot of things.  First, you can find out about a product’s ingredients–whether it contains anything that might be hazardous to your health or the environment.  A label will also tell you how to contact the product’s manufacturer with your questions and comments.  Feel free to let them know what’s on your mind.  Do you think their product is good?  Let them know!  Could it be better?  Let them know that, too.  In particular, let them know if you’ve decided to buy–or not buy–their product for environmental reasons.  Companies listen very carefully to what their customers have to say.  It doesn’t take very many letters and calls for a company to think seriously about making changes.

Make Scratch Pads.
Here’s a good way to recycle paper.  When you use a piece of paper on only one side, don’t throw it away when you are done with it.  Instead, put it in a pile with all of the blank sides surfacing up.  When you get a big pile, you can turn the paper into scratch pads.  First, get someone to cut the pile of paper in half.  Then, staple small batches of paper together into “pads.”

Plant A Tree.
How would you like to plant your very own tree and watch it grow?  There are organizations in most communities that have set up tree-planting campaigns.  But you don’t even need one of these.  Visit a local nursery to find out what kinds of trees will grow best in your area.  The nursery people might also help you find a good place to plant a tree.  You can watch the tree’s progress every year, and have the pleasure of know that you put it there for everyone to enjoy!

Quit Throwing Away Batteries.
Americans go through more than two billion batteries a year to power such things as radios, calculators, watches, flashlights, and computers.  Unfortunately, batteries contain many hazardous materials, which leak into landfills when batteries are thrown away.  Many of these dangerous chemicals get into our water supply.  There are two ways you can avoid throwing away batteries.  One is by using batteries that can be recharged over and over.  You should also find out if there are companies in your area that recycle batteries.  If you must throw batteries away, do so at a hazardous-waste collection site, if there is one in your area.  Still another idea is to send the batteries back to the manufacturers, signifying that you consider used batteries a potential danger.  This may encourage companies to begin recycling.  In the end, ask yourself whether you really need to use products that require batteries.

Recycle Everything.
Well, not everything, but just about.  As we described earlier, there is little you can’t recycle one way or another.  One exception is plastic, most of which is not easily recyclable.  Set up recycling boxes in your home–one for collecting newspapers, another for collecting other types of paper, another for glass, and another for aluminum.  Try composting, which is a way of recycling food and other organic matter.  You can even try recycling plastic, if you can find a place that accepts plastic for recycling.  If you can’t recycle something, see if there is some way you can reuse it.

Reuse A Bag.
Some people believe that bags made of trees–paper bags–are less harmful to the earth than bags made of chemicals–plastic bags.  The fact is, making both types of bags creates a lot of pollution, and both paper and plastic bags use a lot of resources.  So neither is much better than the other.  The best solution is not to use any bag at all, or to bring your own bag.  Some people carry a canvas or mesh bag they can use over and over.  If you must use a paper or plastic bag, don’t throw it away.  Try to use the bag over and over–as many times as you can.

Stop A Leak.
Organize a Stop-the-Leak Day on which everyone in your family tightens, insulates, replaces, caulks, and does whatever else is necessary to make your home as “tight” as possible. Your local water, gas, or electric utility company may be able to provide help, or even instructions and supplies.

Take A Hike.
Or go fishing or bird-watching.  Whatever you do, go outdoors to a place where there are as few people, cars, and building as possible.  Take a look around.  Isn’t it beautiful?  What would happen if all that beauty disappeared because people littered and polluted and harmed the plants and animals?  It’s important to keep our natural areas in good shape, so that you can enjoy them and your children–and their children’s children–can enjoy them, too! So enjoy the great outdoors whenever you can.  And if you see some litter there, pick it up and carry it so someplace where it can be safely thrown away or recycled.

Talk To Your Parents/Children.
There’s a good chance that you know more about the environment than they do.  That’s okay, there’s still time for them to learn, and you can be the one to teach them.  Don’t be afraid to share with them the information you’ve learned through this site and at school.  Help them learn about ways they can be Green Consumers and spend their money in ways that will help the environment.  Although it doesn’t always seem that way, grown-ups do listen to kids.  If you share your concerns with them, they will become concerned, too.  Together, you can help.

Turn Off The Lights.
This is such a simple thing to do, but sometimes it’s so hard to remember!  Ask your parents if you can put little stickers near the light switches you leave on the most often, reminding everyone to turn them off when they leave the room.  Consider starting a Lights-Off Fund, to which each person must donate a nickel or dime every time he or she forgets to turn off the lights.  As those nickels or dimes add up, you might donate them to an environmental organization.

Use Recycled Paper.
There’s just no reason why you shouldn’t buy recycled paper whenever it is available.  In most cases, it is just as good as “virgin” paper–even better, in fact, because it helps save trees!  You can buy toilet paper, paper towels, napkins, writing paper, books, newspapers, and many other things made of recycled paper.  If you or your parents can’t find recycled paper products in your local grocery store, ask the manager to stock them.

Visit A Recycling Center.

If there’s a center nearby, stop and take a look around.  Look at all the different things being recycled–lots of different colors of glass, paper, cardboard, cans, maybe even tires and household appliances.  Ask the people who run the recycling center what happens to all this stuff after it leaves the center.  Think about how wasteful it would be if all that garbage wasn’t being recycled, but being thrown away instead.

Whatever you do, remember that God is the Creator and he gave us the privilege of enjoying his creation and the responsibility for taking care of it.

One of the world’s most prominent astronomers, Sir Fredrick Hoyle once said, “A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a super-intellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as with chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature.”

To believe the universe and life on this planet just happened would be similar to believing that the grandfather clock in my living room ‘just happened’. Would you believe it if I told you that when we bought our house 20 years ago we noticed a small pile of dust and metal shavings in the corner and over the years it grew and developed into a beautiful six foot grandfather clock that keeps perfect time and chimes every 15 minutes?

Would it help if rather than 20 years, it took 20 million years to evolve into a clock?

The truth is I know who built the clock. I did. I took rough walnut boards and made the case and I bought a German clock movement and put it inside the case. I am the designer and builder of the clock.

The study of the universe, the earth and life strongly suggests that it was designed. But who did it? The Bible says that God did and the New Testament refines our understanding a bit and identifies the 2^nd Person of the Triune Godhead, Jesus Christ, as the primary agent of creation.

Here are some of the statements from Scripture, from both the Old Testament and the New:

Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

Exodus 20:8-11, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.’

Psalm 148:1-5, “Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD from the heavens, praise him in the heights above. Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his heavenly hosts. Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars. Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies. Let them praise the name of the LORD, for he commanded and they were created.”

Isaiah 40:25-26, “To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.

Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.” (When I read that in the context that there may be as many as 250 billion galaxies in the universe with as many as 200 billion stars in each, that is a lot of names to keep track of!)

John 1:1-3, “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.

Colossians 1:16, “He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God…for by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible…all things were created by him and for him.”

Hebrews 1:1-2, “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.”

Revelation 4:11, “You (Jesus) are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”

The Biblical teaching on creation is that God the Father, through Christ, the 2^nd Person of the Godhead, created the universe and life. The ‘hot debate’ among Christians who embrace this teaching is whether he did it in six 24-hour days, or he did it over a long period of time. It is often framed in the debate between “the young-earth position” vs. “the old-earth position”. If God did it in literal 24-hour days, as the Bible seems to teach, then it is possible creation happened as recently as 10,000-20,000 years ago; if God did it over time, the earth may be 4.5 billion years old and the universe 15 billion years old.

To be honest, there is convincing evidence to both positions. Obviously both can’t be right and it is possible that both are wrong. I appreciate the comment that Wayne Grudem makes in his Systematic Theology book, after about 40 pages of information from both the Biblical and the scientific side of the issue, he writes, “Scripture seems to be more easily understood to suggest (but not require) a young earth view, while the observable facts of creation seem increasingly to favor an old earth view. Both views are possible, but neither one is certain. It would seem best, first, to admit that God may not allow us to find a clear solution to this question before Christ returns and secondly, to encourage evangelical scientists and theologians who fall in both the young earth and old earth camps to begin to work together with much less arrogance, much more humility, and a much greater sense of cooperation in a common purpose.”

I like that answer. What all followers of Christ can agree on is that he did it and how long he took, is not worth getting steamed over or divide over.

You may find it very interesting and informative to read the entire chapter called “Creation” from Grudem’s Systematic Theology.

Now, can I prove that the Creator of the universe was Jesus? Not everybody who believes in ‘intelligent design’ would say that the Designer was Jesus! The other faiths of the world would point to a different Designer. Muslims would say it was Allah did; Hindus would say it was Brahma and others think that maybe it was an alien of some sort. How do we know it was Jesus? We don’t. But the evidence that Jesus was the Creator is convincing. But that evidence isn’t found in science; it is found in history, and specifically in two areas:

First: verifiable fulfilled prophecies about Jesus given hundreds of years before his birth which provide convincing evidence that he was who he said he was. According to Baron Payne’s Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy, there are 191 predictions in the Old Testament about the coming of Christ, including his ancestry, the city in which he would be born, that he would be born of a virgin, precisely the time in history when he would die, and how he would die.

Someone once calculated the chances of just 8 of the prophecies coming true in the life of one person are 100 million billion! That is equal to the statistical probability of the entire state of Texas being covered with silver dollars 2 feet deep and a blindfolded person is told to wade out into the sea of silver dollars and pick out the one that has the red dot on it…and he picks that one up.”

And second, the strong historical evidence of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. I am not going to go into the details, but the evidence that Jesus really did die and that he really came back to life again is very convincing. In his book, Case for Christ, Lee Strobel goes through an examination of medical evidence, the historical evidence of a missing body and the evidence of his bodily appearance following the resurrection. And from that perspective alone, it happened!

So if the evidence from fulfilled prophecy and the reality of the resurrection points to Jesus being who he said he was: The Son of God! And if he is that, then it is a small leap of faith to accept that he is also: The Creator of the universe, as the Bible says he is. But more importantly, he then also most assuredly is: The Savior of the World!

And if I’m right, then the question that naturally follows is: What are you doing with Jesus?

First, have you asked him to be the Savior of your life? He came to this world to absorb the penalty for your sins and mine on the cross and then he turned around and offered to give you eternal life as an absolutely free gift simply by believing in him.

John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life.”

Have you? If you have not, this is a moment you can. It begins by acknowledging that your sin has offended a holy God; that you believe that Jesus came to this earth and took the punishment for your sins on the cross; and that by acknowledging him as your Savior, you will be given a relationship with God in this life and in the next.

Second, those of you who have, are you allowing him to be the Lord of your life?

Lordship means things like:

Obeying what he taught;

Submitting to his will;

Following in his steps.

Following Christ means we really should be different from the world where it matters!

We really should have better marriages, less divorce, fewer affairs than the world.

We really should be more generous, and less materialistic than the world.

We really should be kinder, less angry, more compassionate and loving than the world.

Let me just throw out the challenge to examine your life, your attitudes, your behavior…is Jesus more than your Savior…is he your Lord? Where do some changes need to happen? Because I believe with all my heart that Jesus is the Creator of the Universe, Savior of the world and he deserves to be the Lord of our lives.

But before we do too much exploring of the universe, let’s take a look at the planet we live on, planet earth. It is a beautiful and unique speck in the universe with color, variety, weather and life.

So how did planet earth end up the way it did? How did it become so unique…so full of life of every type imaginable? And speaking of life, how did it get here in the first place?

Did it all ‘just happen to happen’; was it all by chance? Or was there a plan; a design; a Creator? To help with the answer, I want to offer some information about our planet that is really quite impressive. It is information that shows how unique and special our planet our planet is among, not just the other planets in our solar system, but as far as we can tell, unique and special in the universe.

And the most unique things about our planet have to do with its location and its abundant and critical resources that allow it to sustain life. This uniqueness is known as “The Anthropic Principle“. Simply stated, it means that the physical structure of the universe is exactly what it must be in order to sustain life. Put another way, the universe is fine tuned for life to exist. But where that life can exist is unique to our planet alone!

Consider these realities about the earth:

• If the earth were only a little closer to the sun, surface temperatures would be far higher than the boiling point of water and unable to support life.

• If the earth were only a little farther away from the sun, everything would freeze leaving the landscape a barren frozen wasteland and the concentration of carbon dioxide would become so high that the air would not be breathable.

• And speaking of the sun; we all know it is a star and it is burning inferno. The surface temperatures are approximately 11,000 degrees. It is a yellow star. If it were a red star, which the vast majority of stars are, the surface temperature would only be around 3,500 degrees, far too cool to support life on the earth. If it were a blue star, the surface temperature would be as much as 30,000 degrees, far too hot to support life on earth.

• But the orbit of the earth is just the right distance from the sun and the sun is just the right kind of star and the right size of star to allow life-sustaining temperatures and atmosphere. Some scientists call this ‘The Goldilocks Effect’ and it goes something like this: “Earth supports life alone among the planets because it is not too hot and not too cold, but just right.”

• Jupiter is positioned in such a way relative to the earth that it protects us from the impact of life-threatening comets, which are attracted to it rather than earth, due to its tremendous gravitational pull because of its enormous size.

• Earth is located away from the asteroid belt and so avoids being bombarded by asteroids.

• Earth is large enough to have a gravitational pull to retain our atmosphere, yet small enough to not retain many harmful gases.

• Earth has a magnetic field that if it were weaker, it would be devastated by cosmic radiation. If it were stronger, it would be devastated by severe electromagnetic storms.

• Earth has oxygen, and plenty of it.

• Earth has water and plenty of it.

• Earth is a unique place in the universe where life can exist…and we all know that earth is a place where life does exist! How did that happen? Some say, by chance. According to the World Encyclopedia, ‘organic evolution’ is, “The idea that living things evolved from non-living matter and changed through the ages.”

And maybe that is how it happened, but let me offer just one piece of ‘food for thought’; DNA.

DNA is the ‘language’ in the heart of the cell, a set of instructions telling the cell how to construct proteins - much like the software needed to run a computer. This microscopic part of a human cell contains as much information as 3 sets of the Encyclopedia Britannica - all 36 volumes and the information is in the precise order that it needs to be to make sense.

According to The National Human Genome Research Institute web site:

• DNA is why elephants only give birth to little elephants, giraffes to giraffes, dogs to dogs and so on.

• DNA is made up of chemical building blocks called nucleotides: a phosphate group, a sugar group and one of 4 nitrogen bases.

• The 4 nitrogen bases determine the instructions in the DNA. The sequence of the nitrogen bases determine, for example, if the eyes will be brown or blue.

• DNA instructions are used to make the ‘language’ of amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins, which do most of the work in our bodies.

Now if you didn’t understand everything about DNA, you are not alone, neither do I. Understanding DNA is not my point, being amazed by it is!

I recently watched “Universe”, a documentary put out by the History Channel. It has one entire DVD on how the earth came to be and how life began on this planet. A star exploded and over billions of years small parts began to collect together forming this planet. It was very violent and very fiery. But eventually it settled down and all of the necessary ingredients for life landed here and eventually in a body of water some chemicals began to interact with one another and in time, life began on our planet! One of the scientists interviewed summed up the origin of life with these words, “We owe our heritage to the scum of the earth.” Maybe we do. Maybe it was just chance. But maybe not. The odds of our earth being perfectly positioned and capable of sustaining life and that life actually exists and that it all happened by chance has been calculated to be by chance 1 chance in 100 million trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion.

Dr. George Wald, a scientist and winner of the 1967 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine once said, “There are only two possible explanations as to how life arose: Spontaneous generation arising to evolution or a supernatural creative act of God…There is no other possibility. Spontaneous generation (a now discarded theory that living organisms can arise from non-life matter) was scientifically disproved 120 years ago by Louis Pasteur and others, but that just leaves us with only one other possibility…that life came as a supernatural act of creation by God, but I can’t accept that philosophy because I do not want to believe in God. Therefore I choose to believe in that which I know is scientifically impossible, spontaneous generation leading to evolution.”

I will admit that belief in creation takes faith. Hebrews 11:3 says, “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”

Both evolution and creation take faith to believe, simply because no one was there to verify it. Take your pick. I choose to believe that a Supernatural being created all of this. I choose to believe the first statement of the Bible, Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

What do you think?