An Assessment of Man Psalms 8

What Are Human Beings? 1.Animal 2.Physico-chemical 3.Creature occupying space & time 4.Diverse life-form 5.Highest life-form 6.Highest animal 7.Minute body in solar system

To rule out Gods activity because it cannot be a part of the scientific explanation as to what humans are is to draw a philosophical conclusion which is not part of the scientific hypothesis. Science can no more establish the absence of God from the universe than it can certify His presence in the biology laboratory. (Dr. Carl Schultz)

Basic Questions For Assessment 1.Who am I? 2.To whom do I belong? 3.By what shall I live? 4.How can I protect myself? (Martin Marty) 1.Is there a God? 2.What is my relationship to Him? 3.Will He protect me?

Anthropology In Doxology There is no revelation of God except it also throws at the same time a special light on the nature of man; and conversely, a true understanding of man cannot be achieved if God is disregarded. (Weiser) 1.God-made 2.Measured 3.Magnified 4.God-mandated

#1God-made Not concerned with HOW Metaphors –Gen. 2:7 –Job 10:11 –Eccl. 11:5 –Job 10:8 Thine hands have made me.

#2Measured Mortal – Lit., weaklings Psm. 8 shatters humanism philosophy By space the universe encompasses and swallows me up like an atom; by thought I comprehend the world. (Pascal) Rom. 8:18-26 Gal. 6:3 1 Cor. 3:18 2 Cor. 12:11 Acts 5:36

#3Magnified 1.Crowned us 2.Human greatness is God-conferred Based on two poles, human lowliness and human height Gen. 2:7 Rom. 8:16

…face to face with God man becomes aware of the total insignificance of his existence. When man gazes up at the illimitable expanse of the heavens studded with stars, the difference between God and man is revealed in all its magnitude, and the wholly contradictory quality of that difference is made manifest. The finite is confronted with the infinite, the transient with the eternal, the perpetual sorrows and anxieties of man, who constantly goes astray, with the peace, steadiness and order manifested by the heavenly bodies which run their prescribed course… (cont.)

…It is only if man stands in awe of the greatness of God, which strikes terror into his heart and makes him aware of his total insignificance, that, taking that awe as a starting- point and as the basis of his thoughts, he learns to gain a full understanding of the divine miracle which is made manifest in the relationship between Creator and creature, the miracle namely that it did not seem too small a matter for this Almighty God to be mindful of man and lovingly to care for him. As soon as man comes to realize his total insignificance in the sight of God from whom he cannot demand anything, he clearly recognizes that the innermost nature of his relationship with God is that of an incomprehensible grace.

#4 Dominion Over Animals 1.Psm. 8:6-8 2.Gen. 1:16 Sun – plants & vegetation Moon – seasons, orbit, tides, etc. Man – animals 3.Rule or Govern = Dominion

The conqueror of the forces of nature has not been capable of overcoming evil within himself. Created in the image of God, man is sufficiently like God to believe that he is a god and thus becomes an idolater of himself. He no longer asks in wonder and humility, What is man that thou art mindful of him? He does not even acknowledge any more that his dominion over nature is a responsibility entrusted to him by the lord of nature. He courts self- destruction by indulging in self-congratulations. (Terrien)

The concept of mans dominion over nature is revolutionary when measured against ancient religions which declared that the gods were natural powers and that mans life was embraced within the mysterious depth of nature, with its rhythmic cycles of fertility. The God of Israel is not a natural power: he transcends the realm of nature, for He is its Creator. And in a lesser sense man, though related to the animals, stands over against nature as the creature who is commissioned to have dominion over the works of Gods creation, as one who is the representative or vice-regent of Gods sovereignty (kingdom) on earth. This emptying nature of divinity has made possible a scientific approach to nature as a realm which man can study, explore, and use in the service of God. (Galusha Anderson)

Mans Two-Fold Position