Creation Is the Cure for Social Injustice

Some people clamoring for social justice are going about it the wrong way. Don’t look sideways. Look up. Look down.

Many are quoting Jefferson’s immortal words that “all men are created equal” without understanding the source. The source is Genesis 1:27: “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” A rhyme quoted by medieval peasants seeking reform went like this: “When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?”* This was a creative way of stating that people started out equal at the beginning; there was no class system of nobles and peasants. From that foundation, Jefferson argued in the Declaration of Independence,

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed….

And so we have America—and other governmental systems—whose legitimacy must be graded by that original value of each individual having been created in God’s image. All the individual differences between people that we observe today do not erase the foundational worth of each human being. The implications from this fundamental declaration of human value are explored in a new short film released today by Illustra Media, “In the Image of God” —

Building on the Right Foundation

As Dr Jerry Bergman has repeatedly shown, Darwinism is a terrible foundation on which to make an argument for social justice (in the original meaning of that phrase). The worst abusers among governmental systems have been founded on evolutionary theory, which presupposes that variations among humans (or pre-humans) led to a hierarchy based on survival of the fittest.

• Evolution is the Fuel Behind Racism (9 June 2020)
• Evolutionist Admits Darwin’s Connection to Racism (26 Feb 2020)
• Is Secular Science Re-Opening the Door to Eugenics? (19 June 2019)
• See also “Time to Cancel Darwin” by Michael Brown at The Stream

Given that communist and socialist governments have an undeniable track record of over 100 million murders of their own citizens, how can today’s rebel movements, some of which are avowedly Marxist, hope for a different outcome this time? How can they hope for any justice at all? Darwinian systems lead to tyranny, because they deny the created nature of mankind.

America, with all its faults, began on the foundation that all men (people) are created in the image of God. This at least offers the best hope for a society that guarantees God-given rights to life, liberty, and eudaimonia (a fulfilled life). Dr Martin Luther King Jr did not seek to destroy the American system of government, but to partake of the freedom dividend that had been promised to “all men” by the founders.

If the foundation expressed in the Bible’s book of beginnings got it right, it makes sense that people should look to the rest of the Bible for insight on how to ensure a just government, now that there are billions of people needing to maintain order and security. A government for 1776, or for 2020, will be best suited to ensure justice and liberty for all if it follows God’s word starting from Genesis 1:27. Such a government, with its primary responsibility for securing the rights of its citizens, will strive to be limited to laws protecting life, liberty and property from dangers within and without.

A government and its legal system need not be burdensome. One could hardly improve on the guidelines in the Good Book itself: The Ten Commandments, and the “Greatest Commandment” that summarizes them (Love the Lord your God with all your heart), along with the ancillary commandment that Jesus said is like unto it, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

With all the radical protesting going on and accusations of racism flying like stray bullets everywhere, we encourage our readers to share this film on social media wherever you can. It’s easy to do; click the paper-airplane icon and select the share options. Let’s love our neighbors and do good to them by taking them “back to the beginning” while showing love and respect to every human being.

Extra Credit: Two other Genesis principles are: (1) individual responsibility and (2) marriage and family. Listen to black activist Bob Woodson on Life Liberty and Levin (Sunday July 5) discuss two approaches to solving the problems of racism and poverty. Which approach more closely matches the principles of Genesis? Which one appears to promise better success?

Historical note: John Ball, the priest who incited the peasants’ revolt in the 14th century, used the “Adam delved and Eve span” rhyme to inflame peasants’ sense of social justice to tear down and destroy the property of their oppressors. Their sentiments were based on creation, but their methods were contrary to God’s expressed will in other parts of Scripture, e.g. Romans 13. Based as it was on emotion without wisdom, the peasants’ revolt (and later ones like it) led to a bloodbath. Nevertheless, they recognized from Genesis that serfdom, under which they suffered without “consent of the governed,” ran contrary to God’s plan. America’s founders, once they had gained independence from the British monarchy, went through many months of intense deliberations to craft a system devised to protect individual rights based on the principles of the Bible. The execution has not been perfect (what human project is among sinners?) but it remains that best hope for man in the world today, as is evident by the numbers of people flocking into America compared with those trying to leave.