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In The Beginning


 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) 

          In the beginning…. This is more than just a “once up a time” adverbial clause. The Word was not only present, the Word was active, involved. Neither is “with God” merely a statement of location. It is also a statement of agreement. That the Word was (and is) God is also not romantic fluff. Our words are how we cause, the expression of our selves. To the extent that our words match who we are, we have integrity. To the extent that they don’t, we are liars. God has integrity. He and His Word are one.
          Through the Word, all things were made. Remember? In Genesis it says, “and God said, ‘Let there be…’” And there was. There is a story of a teacher who told his class that God does not exist. A student asks the teach whether cold exists. When the teacher answers that it does, the student corrects him by pointing out that cold is nothing more than the absence of heat. The student asks if darkness exists. Again, the teacher answers that it does, and the student points out that darkness is nothing more than the absence of light. He asks a third question: Does evil exist? The teacher answers a third time: yes. The student says that evil does not exist of itself, but it is the absence of God.[1]
          I’m not sure about the final claim. Adam, Eve, and the world in which they lived weren’t evil prior to their sin, but they certainly held the potential for evil. The other claims are true. Cold and darkness are mere the absence of heat and light, just as death is the absence of life. The absence of something never produces the something. Darkness does not produce light. Cold does not produce heat. Death, or even non-life does not create life. 
          Jurassic Park made popular (or more popular) the statement that “Life finds a way.” Somehow, given enough time, life (that doesn’t exist) finds a way to do what it cannot do. That’s what evolutionary scientists say. It’s all by accident. What Scripture says is that light came from Light, and life from Life via that which is natural to a person…an expression of will called the Word.


[1] In this story, the student is sometimes incorrectly identified as Albert Einstein. There is nothing in his writings or in any biographical information about him to suggest that he ever made such an argument.

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