The Meaning of Man | The Institute for Creation Research

The Meaning of Man



“When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” (Psalm 8:3-4)

This question has been posed as a rhetorical question by many generations of skeptics, especially in our present generation when the tremendous size of the universe is often used to argue that God, if He exists, could not possibly be interested in such a small speck of dust as our own planet.

But essentially the same argument was used against Job by one of his three “miserable comforters” (Job 16:2) over 3,500 years ago. “How then can man be justified with God?...that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?” (Job 25:4, 6).This dismal type of reasoning, however, is utterly fallacious. Significance is not a function of size but of purposeful complexity, and the human brain is surely the most complex physical system in the entire universe, as acknowledged even by such an eminent atheistic scientist as Isaac Asimov. Rather than being insignificant nonentities, men and women have been created in the very image of God and are the objects of His redeeming love.

The most wonderful measure of man’s importance is the fact that God Himself became a man! “Christ Jesus...being in the form of God...took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:5-7) to be able to take our death penalty upon Himself. Furthermore, God’s love for man is measured not only by His substitutionary death for our sins but also by His eternal creative purpose for us. He has redeemed us so that “in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:7). HMM

Days of Praise Podcast Days of Praise Podcast is a podcast based on the Institute for Creation Research quarterly print devotional, Days of Praise. Start your day with devotional readings written by Dr. Henry Morris, Dr. Henry Morris III, Dr. John Morris, and others to strengthen and encourage you in your Christian faith.
 
     

 

The Latest
NEWS
Seastar Skeletal Evolution?
The beautiful sea stars (“starfish”), classified as echinoderms, are one of the most easily identifiable marine invertebrates, with their...

NEWS
Nitrogen Networks Negate Naturalism
The element nitrogen is critical in the living world. It is a basic building block of structural and regulatory proteins, nucleic acids, and chlorophyll...

NEWS
March 2025 ICR Wallpaper
"Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life." (Proverbs 4:23 NKJV) ICR's March 2025 wallpaper is...

CREATION.LIVE PODCAST
Moonwalker: The Incredible True Story of General Charlie Duke...
What would it be like to walk on the moon? General Charlie Duke is one of the privileged few who can claim to have enjoyed such an awe-inspiring...

ACTS & FACTS
Creation Kids: Lightning!
by Michael Stamp and Susan Windsor* You're never too young to be a creation scientist and explore our Creator's world. Kids, discover...

APOLOGETICS
When Is Dry Desert a Navigable River?
Should a desert’s dryland arroyo that goes a year or more without any rainfall be called a “wetland” or a “navigable river”?1 Consider...

ACTS & FACTS
Sequoia National Park: Giant Trees Exhibit Expert Engineering
Question: What are the biggest trees on planet Earth? Answer: Giant sequoias (Sequoiadendron giganteum).1 They grow on west-facing slopes...

ACTS & FACTS
Jesus—There’s Just Something About That Name
A nurse who worked with me would pleasantly call in patients by saying, “Mr._____, it’s checkup time!” Periodic checkups are good....

ACTS & FACTS
What Is Truth?
Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born,...

ACTS & FACTS
The 3-D Genome: A Marvel of Adaptive Engineering
In eukaryotes, which are organisms with nucleated cells, the vast majority of hereditary and coded information is stored, copied, and replicated...