In our scripture readings for Creation Sunday, we hear an orderly, 7-day description of the process God used to establish the physical universe. As God speaks, chaos retreats, and separations are made that provide structure and regularity. And then, to this framework, God adds the complexity of life – a unique creation that is capable of propagating itself. Finally, God creates life in his own image, with the ability to co-create, and he gives it licence to be fruitful and multiply. And in one of the first episodes after the great flood, this form of life shows off its signature ability – the ability to rebel against God.....
The sculptor who chips a magnificent statue from a block of marble...the quilter who sews a beautiful wall hanging from scraps of fabric...the scientist who synthesizes a new chemical capable of improving human health. These are examples of human creativity at work, making something new that had never been before. Parents begetting and raising children...and now, programmers developing artificial intelligence. These are reflections of the divine creativity, making something new that can then create new things themselves as well. And as seen in the attitude of surly teenagers, and as prophesied in the Matrix and Terminator movies, OUR creations of this type are also prone to rebel against us....
But before we got to robotic soldiers, the foundations of the physical universe were laid in the first four days of creation. The separation of light and darkness – also known as the laws of physics regarding energy. The separation of sea and sky – also known as atmospheric physics and meteorology. The separation of sea and land – including plate tectonics and watersheds. The separation of stars and planets – also known as the laws of physics regarding gravity. Illustrated by these four separations, God gave us a universe stable enough and predictable enough for humanity to deduce patterns, and develop the methods of science. God spoke, and it was so, and it was good.
And on days 3, 5, and 6, God spoke life into existence, starting with plants, and continuing with sea creatures, birds, and land creatures. For life to replicate the way it does, it requires enormous complexity in its chemical structure. Those who doubt God's role in the creation of life, who think life appeared at random, have likely never contemplated that complexity.
And in God's final act of creation before he rested, God created a different kind of life, life in his own image – a kind of life that also has the capacity to create – create objects, create relationships, create systems of ideas, and of course, procreate. Humanity, BECAUSE it is in God's image, is the pinnacle of creation, and as such, human life always deserves respect, always deserves to be treated as an end in itself, and never as a means to an end. And because God saw humanity as very good, as his greatest creation, God gave humanity the command to “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.”
Now the early chapters of Genesis also describe examples of humanity's rebellion against God, including Adam and Eve, Cain, and the generation of Noah. But God never rejected humanity, and the command to fill the earth and subdue it, as God's greatest creation, stands. So when a group of like-minded settlers in our fourth reading today, planned to centralize humanity around one city and one landmark tower, God intervened and removed their ability to be like-minded by confusing their language. Their failed city, Babel, would later become the nemesis of God's people, Babylon, who at the very end of the story in Revelation, is destroyed as a harlot.
“They have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do,” declares the Lord. Is it just me, or does this quote immediately take your mind to artificial intelligence? “They have all one neural network; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.” So far, God's potential intervention has not been obvious, but humanity's hubris certainly has been.
And yet, there are also forces in our society trying to downplay humanity's importance to God – we're just one species among many on this planet, and certainly not God's favourite creation. The value we attach to human life should be minimized. And we have no right to subdue the earth for our purposes, much less a command from God to do so. We need to remove our effect on the earth as much as possible, regardless of the human misery that follows.
And what REALLY slaps God in the face, is when our society tries to present a MORAL case AGAINST God's commandment to be fruitful and multiply. “No!” say influencers among us, “to be a good person, you must be UNFRUITFUL. You cannot in good conscience create more humans to live on this planet.” It's one thing to say being fruitful is economically expensive – fair enough, we walk by faith; it's another thing – a rebellious thing – to say being fruitful is evil....