This is my personal summary of the preaching of Rev.Dr.Stephen Tong on his apologetics series on The Honor of Humanity Part 5 on 3rd September 2006
When God made man in His own image, He is the Creator. Man is the creature. So we have creativity. In this manner, we are like God. Our creativity is a created creativity. So there is qualitative difference between God's creativity and our creativity. We are like God but we are not God.
The existence of creativity enables us to achieve our goals. With creativity, there is progress in science and culture. We can have arts. Art is the field that needs most creativity. Many artists are remembered when they die but people do not remember rich men. The mystery lies in the creativity of those artists (like Van Gough) that have broken through their times. They have really expressed the image of God in themselves when they express their creativity.
When there is great expression of creativity, a new era would come. Before a creative person, an old era would go away and a new direction would start. A person born in between an old and new era is a very lonely person. The old generation will look at him as a destructive and rebellious person while the new generation will look at him as a great and inspiring person. Often times it is only after the person die that people begin to understand his great work and catch up with him.
Because of the existence of such geniuses, the culture of humanity progresses forward. But in the absence of such creative people, civilization can remain very backward. For example, Africa has thousand of years of stagnation because the continent lacks creative minds that would inspire humanity.
Why does God give us creativity? Is it for us to create our own little world and become our own god?
Those who are especially creative will impact history and they will either influence it positively or negatively. So they will be judged by the way they use their creativity.
If a creative person does not use it in the right way, he will be used by the devil to do a lot of destructive things. We need to search ourselves solemnly or we will be destroyed by our own creativity. How much have we thought of and how much have we helped others? Like all other attributes we have as beings made in God's image, our creativity is our privilege but is also our crisis. By the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, we need to reorganize our lives and submit ourselves to God.
No matter how creative we are, we are still created beings. If we use our creativity to blaspheme God, we are committing serious offence. The first commandment says we shall have no other god before Him. The second one says we shall not make god in the image of other created things. So we will incur the wrath of the Creator when we create false gods.
Real God create men, false god is created by men. Real men are like God, false god is like men. Real God seek men and false god is sought by men. In the fall of religion, we do not understand the position of man with reference to God.
The original Creator is the true God. The created god is not created by God, but by the creature using the created material and with his creativity. This created god has never created anything. So we have situation where the created god is a tripled created creation. Ironically, one hand we create this idol, and on the other hand we kneel down and worship this idol as though it is our creator. When we create a false god, it is the greatest challenge and blasphemy as created beings towards the Creator.
Mao Zedong is a very creative person. He used his creativity to imagine that he could fight against heaven and win over it. He had joy in fighting against heaven. He wanted equality in wealth but his country ended up in equality in poverty. He did not believe in God and hence made himself the god for the people. The fall of religion and society starts from here. The Bible says if we use other gods in place of the Jehovah God we will suffer greatly. And it is attested throughout history that humanity suffers when they do not worship God.
We should pray to God to guide us in the use of our creativity so that we might glorify Him. Let our creativity be subjected under the true Creator. Only in this way we will become like our Creator and live honorably as we should as beings made in His image.
When God made man in His own image, He is the Creator. Man is the creature. So we have creativity. In this manner, we are like God. Our creativity is a created creativity. So there is qualitative difference between God's creativity and our creativity. We are like God but we are not God.
The existence of creativity enables us to achieve our goals. With creativity, there is progress in science and culture. We can have arts. Art is the field that needs most creativity. Many artists are remembered when they die but people do not remember rich men. The mystery lies in the creativity of those artists (like Van Gough) that have broken through their times. They have really expressed the image of God in themselves when they express their creativity.
When there is great expression of creativity, a new era would come. Before a creative person, an old era would go away and a new direction would start. A person born in between an old and new era is a very lonely person. The old generation will look at him as a destructive and rebellious person while the new generation will look at him as a great and inspiring person. Often times it is only after the person die that people begin to understand his great work and catch up with him.
Because of the existence of such geniuses, the culture of humanity progresses forward. But in the absence of such creative people, civilization can remain very backward. For example, Africa has thousand of years of stagnation because the continent lacks creative minds that would inspire humanity.
Why does God give us creativity? Is it for us to create our own little world and become our own god?
Those who are especially creative will impact history and they will either influence it positively or negatively. So they will be judged by the way they use their creativity.
If a creative person does not use it in the right way, he will be used by the devil to do a lot of destructive things. We need to search ourselves solemnly or we will be destroyed by our own creativity. How much have we thought of and how much have we helped others? Like all other attributes we have as beings made in God's image, our creativity is our privilege but is also our crisis. By the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, we need to reorganize our lives and submit ourselves to God.
No matter how creative we are, we are still created beings. If we use our creativity to blaspheme God, we are committing serious offence. The first commandment says we shall have no other god before Him. The second one says we shall not make god in the image of other created things. So we will incur the wrath of the Creator when we create false gods.
Real God create men, false god is created by men. Real men are like God, false god is like men. Real God seek men and false god is sought by men. In the fall of religion, we do not understand the position of man with reference to God.
The original Creator is the true God. The created god is not created by God, but by the creature using the created material and with his creativity. This created god has never created anything. So we have situation where the created god is a tripled created creation. Ironically, one hand we create this idol, and on the other hand we kneel down and worship this idol as though it is our creator. When we create a false god, it is the greatest challenge and blasphemy as created beings towards the Creator.
Mao Zedong is a very creative person. He used his creativity to imagine that he could fight against heaven and win over it. He had joy in fighting against heaven. He wanted equality in wealth but his country ended up in equality in poverty. He did not believe in God and hence made himself the god for the people. The fall of religion and society starts from here. The Bible says if we use other gods in place of the Jehovah God we will suffer greatly. And it is attested throughout history that humanity suffers when they do not worship God.
We should pray to God to guide us in the use of our creativity so that we might glorify Him. Let our creativity be subjected under the true Creator. Only in this way we will become like our Creator and live honorably as we should as beings made in His image.
