In the beginning… | Why is there something instead of nothing?

What are you building your life on?

IN THE BEGINNING | WHY IS THERE SOMETHING RATHER THAN NOTHING?

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1

• God is the CENTER of it ALL.

Biblical Foundation: In the beginning GOD.

God is ETERNAL and SELF-EXISTENT.

Cultural Foundation: In the beginning YOU.

The Age of Autonomy:
1. The highest good is individual freedom, happiness, self-definition, and self-expression.
2. The only authority is the individual—there is no sacred order, no God, no higher truth.
3. Any structure or authority that restricts personal autonomy must be removed.

Practical Atheism: Not the disbelief of God but the enthroning of self as the greatest authority.

Life makes sense when GOD is at the CENTER.

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,  and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Colossians 1:15-20

• God is the ARCHITECT of the UNIVERSE.

Biblical Foundation: God CREATED the heavens and the earth.

You are not a COSMIC ACCIDENT.

Cultural Foundation: You create your own MEANING.

The Pale Blue Dot: Voyager 1 captured an image of Earth, taken February 14, 1990, 4 billion miles

Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives… every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam…

The significance of our lives and our fragile planet is then determined only by our own wisdom and courage. We are the custodians of life's meaning. We long for a Parent to care for us, to forgive us our errors, to save us from our childish mistakes. But knowledge is preferable to ignorance. Better by far to embrace the hard truth than a reassuring fable. If we crave some cosmic purpose, then let us find ourselves a worthy goal.

- Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot

Why is there something rather than nothing?

Life works best according to GOD’S DESIGN.

"The modern self is exhausted. We were never meant to bear the weight of self-definition. Our lives are best lived in surrender to the One who made us."

- Dallas Willard