but to follow Him in a life of obedience. Isaiah 43 offers these reminders:
11 I, even I, am the Lord, And besides Me there is no savior.
12 I have declared and saved, I have proclaimed, And there was no foreign god among you; Therefore you are My witnesses," Says the Lord, "that I am God.
13 Indeed before the day was, I am He; And there is no one who can deliver out of My hand; I work, and who will reverse it?"
14 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel: "For your sake I will send to Babylon, And bring them all down as fugitives-- The Chaldeans, who rejoice in their ships.
15 I am the Lord, your Holy One, The Creator of Israel, your King."
God is our Redeemer, who sent His son to earth in order to reconcile fallen humanity to Himself. We are told that He created the heavens and the earth, and placed a man and a woman in a beautiful garden and called them into fellowship with Himself. That fellowship was broken by sin, but even with that separation, God continued to be faithful to His people. When the right time came, He sent His Son to pay the penalty for sin and to restore that broken relationship. We now have a glorious way to have a relationship with our magnificent Creator God.
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Paul stood before the men of Athens, in a place called the Aeropagus, according to Acts 17, and
proclaimed the truth about the Creator, our Almighty God:
24 God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.
25 Nor is He worshiped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.
26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,
27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;
28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring.'
A new LifeWay Research poll indicates that more people who do not consider themselves religious
accept the concept of a Creator than those who don't. Believe it or not, according to a summary of the survey, 46 percent of nonreligious people agree with the statement: “Since the universe has organization, I think there is a creator who designed it.” 40 percent disagree with the statement. Overall, 72 percent of Americans agree with that statement.
Ed Stetzer, Executive Director of LifeWay Research and co-host of Breakpoint This Week, heard Saturdays at 11:30am on Faith Radio, said, “People who seek to set out reasons to believe, often called apologetics, have historically framed their argument in similar ways,” adding, “The large number of nonreligious people agreeing with some of these arguments points us to a surprising openness to classic apologetic arguments. Or, put another way, even nonreligious people are open to the idea there is a creator.”
In this survey of 1,000 Americans, LifeWay Research found that 79 percent believe the existence of human life means someone created it, and a smaller majority, 66 percent, says people’s moral values attest to a creator who determines morality. Among the nonreligious, 43 percent believe that the existence of human life points to a creator and 33 percent believe in a creator who defines morality.
Mary Jo Sharp, assistant professor of apologetics at Houston Baptist University, is quoted as saying, “The infinitesimal odds that life arose by blind chance is a formidable argument.” She also said, regarding the existence of a creator defining right and wrong: "The existence of good and evil is difficult to explain from an atheistic worldview, because in that view, there is no stable external grounding outside of humans for a standard of goodness."
And as the survey summary states: "Although most American adults of all ages believe in a creator, a sharp uptick emerges at midlife. On every measure, Americans 45 and older are more likely to see evidence of a creator than those 18-44."
So, on this Survey Thursday, the takeaways are fairly simple:
First of all, we can acknowledge that in light of the simple evidence - the organization in the universe and the existence of human life - people can be challenged to consider that there is a creator. And, the survey indicates that there is an openness, even among non believers, to consider the possibilities of a creator, or designer.
And, we can be challenged to engage people regarding the Creator about whom we read in Scripture. Stetzer is quoted as saying: "In an increasingly secular age, where the Christian faith has perhaps lost its home-field advantage, Christians will need to make their case for the creator and ultimately for the gospel," adding, "It appears people—even nonreligious people—are indeed open to apologetics arguments, if Christians will actually make them."
Finally, believing in a Creator is not enough, and while it's nice to see that people are open to considering the idea, once you embrace the concept and personality of God Almighty, the Creator of the universe, of heaven and earth, then we recognize that He wants a relationship with us. He calls us to more than merely belief, but to obedience.
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