In the Beginning was Information

would be known about his Person and his Nature. The Bible thushas the purpose of making God known to us. It is obvious that allpolytheistic representations are false: “I am the LORD, and thereis no other; apart from me there is no God” (Isaiah 45:5). Godis Love (1 John 4:16), Life (1 John 5:20), and Light (1 John 1:5);He is holy (Isaiah 6:3) and hates sin so much that it carries thedeath penalty (Romans 6:23). We are abundantly informed aboutGod’s Son and his function as Saviour, and also about the HolySpirit who leads us in all truth. Jesus is the only Way to God. Inthe words of Martin Luther: “If you do not find God throughChrist, you will never find Him, even if you search everywhereelse.”b) Perception: Creation was purposeful. When we read the firsttwo chapters of the Bible, it becomes clear that creation was systematicallyplanned and made purposefully. Man is the crowningglory at the pinnacle of creation. Seen in the light of the Bible,Nietzsche’s anti-apobetics is empty and not based on reality: “Manis a thread tied between animal and superman, a thread stretchingabove an abyss” (Zarathustra). According to the New Testamenthowever, everything was created by and for Christ (Colossians1:16).c) Perception: Who is man? Alexis Carrel, a Nobel laureate, wrotea book with the title “Man the unknown”. Apart from the Bible wecannot fathom who we really are; our true nature would remain amystery. The well-known German author Manfred Hausmann(1898 – 1986) testified as follows: “Every time I open the Bible, Iam astounded anew by its depth and many-sidedness. The picturedrawn of man is found nowhere else. Man is encompassed in hisentirety, his greatness and his pitiableness, his tenderness and brutality,his glory and his darkness. No other book reveals suchappalling and such splendid things about human nature than doesthe Bible. The background meanings of the stories told in it areinexhaustible.” We learn from the Bible that we were separatedfrom God through sin and are now on our way to hell. Everybodyneeds to be saved, and the religions encourage us to pull ourselvesup by our own bootstraps – self-salvation. On the way to judgment,we are met by the One Who is the “antidote” to sin: Jesus! If weunderstand ourselves in this light, then we know who we are.148