Most of us probably have, at times, been told not to ask hypothetical questions -- you know, those "what if" scenarios that are not the actual case. And, we may have been especially discouraged from asking such hypothetical questions in regard to religious beliefs and religious truth. After all, who would dare question the validity of a Biblical teaching or religious truth! But, sometimes, hypothetical questions can be used for good, to point out the result of a mistaken belief.
Even St. Paul used such a hypothetical question in regard to the resurrection of the dead. Consider 1 Corinthians 15:12-19: "Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable."
The apostle puts forward a false thesis: "there is no resurrection of the dead." Then he shows the results of that thesis if it were true. If there is no resurrection of the dead, Christ did not rise. And, if Christ did not rise, all Christian preaching is empty and useless, our faith is unfounded, we are still dead in our sins, and all who have died in the faith are lost forever. If Christ did not rise and the only benefit of being a Christian is for this life, those who follow Christ and sacrifice the goods and pleasures of this world to serve Him are "of all men most miserable."
How thankful we can be that the apostle asserts in verse 20: "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept." And earlier in the chapter he tells of all the eyewitnesses to Christ's resurrection, including more than 500 brethren at once, most of whom were still alive at the time of Paul's writing and could be questioned to learn the truthfulness of testimony regarding Jesus' bodily resurrection.
I now ask another hypothetical question -- not because I believe it's true, but because it's important to see the logical ends of such an assertion: "What if the Bible is not true? What if God did not actually create the heavens and the earth in six days and create man and give him life? What if the creation account, the fall into sin, the flood account and much in the Bible is just religious myth and not really and actually true? What if Jesus Christ was not really God in the flesh and did not make atonement for the sins of the entire world when He suffered and died on that Roman cross? What if He didn't actually rise from the dead, ascend into heaven and send the Holy Spirit? What if He is not really coming again to judge the world and condemn the wicked and unbelieving and give the eternal joys of heaven to all who were brought to repentance and placed their faith in Him for pardon and forgiveness?
I ask this question because it reflects the current worldview, taught in our schools and colleges and proclaimed every day through the media. The world as we know it came about by chance -- a big bang and cooling gases. Life, including human life, is the result of a chance spark of life and chance evolution involving the survival of the fittest over millions and billions of years and is still an ongoing process.
What if the modern worldview is true and the Bible false? What is the logical end and conclusion?
First of all, what would be the point of life itself? There could be no real reason for it. All that we do in life would be pointless and it would matter little if we lived our lives as rogues or upstanding citizens. We would only be disintegrating rungs in an evolutionary ladder leading to nowhere.
Secondly, there could be no hope of anything beyond this life. If we are only the chance product of time and matter, when our life's over, it's over! There is no life for us after death! There would be no real purpose in cemetery plots or grave markers. It would be more fitting to be placed in mass incinerators with the ashes spread in a farmer's field as fertilizer or to be hauled away, along with the poultry parts, in semitrailers to the dog food plants.
There could also be no basis for any kind of morality or values because there would be no supreme law giver and no final judge. And who would have any legitimate right to say that murder, rape, theft, child abuse, terrorism, etc., are wrong? After all, it's survival of the fittest, and if one can do anything he pleases and get away with it, what's the big deal? In fact, according to the evolutionary view, it would be perfectly legitimate to exterminate undesirable races and groups of people and to prevent the so-called "weaker" examples of humanity from reproducing.
People may not wish to hear it, but it's true. It's not the teaching of the Bible but the evolutionary view still being taught in our public schools today which was and still can be logically used to justify slavery, racism, murder and even genocide.
And, if you stop and think about it, modern society is already on this path. We kill millions of unborn babies for the convenience of their mothers and fathers. We offer end-of-life "medical solutions" for those who have debilitating or terminal conditions. And how do you think so many of our nation's youth can justify shooting and killing each other for no good reason? If life is a chance event with no purpose and there is no divine prohibition against killing, what does it really matter if someone else -- even a young child -- happens to be in the path of a bullet fired from your gun?
And, of course, it is the modern, so-called "scientific" view which doesn't correspond to the facts. It has no answer to the source of matter and energy which make up the universe, to the spark of life, to the complexity of even the simplest of organisms, to the human anatomy of male and female, to the degradation of the earth and life, to death, to the evil in this world and in our own hearts and lives, to man's conscience and feelings of guilt when he lives contrary to the Ten Commandments, to the universally felt need to atone for sins and misdeeds, to the belief in life after death, etc.
The hypothetical "what if?" reveals the foolishness of those who hold to the currently espoused worldview. The current worldview has no answers and makes no sense. It leads to complete nonsense and chaos. It ends in meaninglessness and despair. And, to be honest, why would anyone holding to the worldview of our time even wish to continue to live? If life is without purpose and just ends in death, why not get it over with and avoid the despair and the pain?
But, as I said, my thesis is only hypothetical. It isn't true. It only shows the emptiness and fallacy of the modern worldview. How thankful we can be that the Bible is true and does have the answers!
God created the heavens and the earth and gave life to man, man disobeyed God and his heart was infected with evil and sin, creation was cursed, death was brought into the world, man was instructed to offer sacrifices pointing to the atonement to be made when God's Son became man, God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, Christ died for our sins and rose again, atonement was made, pardon and forgiveness through faith in Christ is proclaimed, the Holy Spirit works faith in believers' hearts and keeps them in that faith, the world continues to become more and more evil, the day of judgment finally comes, those who reject God and His salvation are condemned forever, but those brought to repentance and faith in Christ Jesus are spared and will reign with Him forever and ever in the new heavens and earth which God will create!
Randy Moll is the managing editor of the Westside Eagle Observer and pastor of Good Shepherd Evangelical Lutheran Church in Rogers. He may be contacted by email at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 06/07/2017