Wednesday, March 4, 2020

The Riddle of Chicken and Egg


Wednesday, March 4, 2020
Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers.  But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night.  They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season.  Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.  Psalm 1:1-3[1]
I’m inclined to believe what Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote[2] about how things evolve in the human motivation towards good and evil:
At first, art imitates life. Then life will imitate art.  Then life will find its very existence from the arts.  
Of course, there’s a lot of debate about the arts and how such may influence culture.  Does a movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone shooting everything in sight cause young minds to turn towards shooting up their schools?  Does Johnson & Johnson’s 82 billion dollar[3] a year opioid sourcing (or any of the other, perhaps less successful or less known drug cartels) cause young people to get hooked on the death of brain cells?  Is it life imitating art, or the other way around? 
My short answer is that life comes first.  But, for this fallen world, the seed of the egg is inherent of the chicken.  We inherited our sin nature, and just like apple seeds produce apple trees, so whatever is done produces like kind.
In Genesis we learn of God’s creative ways.  In the beginning there was nothing, and God began to speak things into existence.  He created vegetation, animals, fish, reptiles, and birds, as well as the human race.  In each of these is the capacity (seed) for reproduction. 
Then God said, “Let the land sprout with vegetation—every sort of seed-bearing plant, and trees that grow seed-bearing fruit.  These seeds will then produce the kinds of plants and trees from which they came.”  And that is what happened.  Genesis 1:11
“From which they came.”  Seed comes from the plant; chicken first, egg follows!  Frankly, art only happens because there is cognitive intelligence to create.  That demands there be intelligent chicken to produce an egg.  To be otherwise, an egg first, there would have to be an eternal god of plants, or eggs, birds, fish, reptiles, and humans (not to forget the eternal universe itself), each creating the first egg of each.  Elsewise the whole notion of an eternal and sovereign God is nonsense. 
So, why the confusion?  Creation first; egg follows, each producing its own kind. 
One other thought here about the confusion:  the confusion, or even invention of an egg-first theory is our excuse for bad behavior. 
Huh?  What?  Explanation, please.  OK, I’ll try.
Since we are created beings with free will, when our behavior is less than what Sovereign God approves, we always look for someone or some thing to blame.  Adam blamed Eve; Eve pointed to the serpent, and Cain just didn’t want to talk about it. 
In the case of violent films, drug pushers, and a whole host of other influences in modern (and ancient) cultures (including my mother dropped me on my head when I was a baby), these become handy excuses for our unacceptable choices. 
Sometimes the simplest explanation is just too painful…but so is admitting our sins.
For You Today
It’s Lent…a time for confessing our sins, not excusing how we got them.
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!
Title Image:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

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[1] For more posts on Psalm 1 see The Struggle Between Good and Evil

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