Creation and Preservation are the themes of the 1st Article of the Apostle’s Creed. It simply states, I believe in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
With these words we hit a slew of articles of faith. That means these are truths that the Bible states about our God. Our God says them; we believe them. It’s that simple! But let’s look at some of these truths. In our Bible study we spend some time on creation and preservation, but what about taking a life?
God is the one who created life. That means that only he and his representatives have the right to take a life. The rest of us need to uphold life any and every where we can. The two most obvious areas are the beginning and end of life. These two ends of the life spectrum are under attack through abortion and euthanasia.
Let’s take a moment to look at the death penalty. No where does our God mandate that modern nations take a life, but a quick look at Paul’s letter to the Romans will show that God does give that right to governments of all time. Paul writes, For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. 4 For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. (Romans 13:3-4) That doesn’t mean that governments must execute wrongdoers, of course, but it is their right to do so. The methods can vary. I think that our justice system is not perfect, but our God does not have a problem with capital punishment.
Want to hear more – including a discussion of the church year? Watch this week’s lesson – Creation and Preservation from our study, Worship Windows.
Please click HERE for the Bible class slides.
Please click HERE for the other lessons from our series Worship Windows.