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In Awesome Wonder:
Extra Credit for Dr. Arands Creation Lecture

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Alarik Morris

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Biblical Theology
Professor Hopkins
October 31, 2015

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Summary
Dr. Charles Arands lecture can be summarized fairly completely and easily in one
sentence, We are creatures of God and we should embrace our lives on earth among all Gods
creatures by loving and being stewards of Gods good and wondrous creation. This is the thesis
which he used for the basis of this lecture and how he eventually ended it, by charging us to see
ourselves in this light and to embrace our duty as Gods coworkers. Dr. Arand opened the
lecture by stating that despite the current issues of the world (famine, drought, floods, pollution,
etc.), the world is still wondrous and belongs strictly to God and no one else. He discussed what
he called two great wonders of God which he asserted to be the creation of the universe and
the restoration of the human race.
His first major point was the fact that the creation of the world is itself a wonder, and the
feeling of wonder at the world we live in elicits various meanings to us as human people. It
captures our reverence, gratitude, attention, and it gives us feelings of smallness and empathy not
only for other humans, but also for the many other living things that God created to inhabit the
earth with us. Our faith in God only increases the wonder we have for this magnificent
accomplishment of God, especially when we acknowledge that God created the world out of love
for us, and all that is natural in His creation. Dr. Arand believes that Gods creation is a work of
art that should be cherished and valued, thus as a part of His creation we should find our core
identity in God as one of His beautiful creatures and in nothing else. As one of His creatures,
God charges us specially and above the rest as His coworkers here on earth. This means that we
can join joyfully in His masterpiece that is creation in methods of culture, technology, music, and
most importantly it means that we must guard and protect what has not been completely

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devoured by the scourge of sin. Thus one of our tasks according to Dr. Arand is to rule so that
everything good and that is derived from God, flourishes and grows here on his work of art that
is creation.
This flows into the second wonder that Dr. Arand examines which is that God has worked
to complete the restoration of the human race through Jesus Christ. He asserted that in-spite of
the very many troubles of this world (war, poverty, disease, extinction, etc.), God has never let go
of His creation to sin or wiped the slate clean. This is perfectly exemplified in Jesus, God
himself, coming down from heaven and becoming one of His creatures and allowing himself to
die in sin so that He would never have to let go of us. Along with this point, Dr. Arand states that
realizing what He has done means that we are new and treasured creatures of God. As such we
must continue the reclaiming of creation that Jesus himself began with us. God has answered the
groans of us His creatures, now we must continue to advance this answer for the rest of creation
by attempting to hold it together in the amounts of Gods goodness that are still left here on
earth.
However we are challenged to do so by many ideas that plague our society today. One of
which is the idea that the earth is our simply our shopping mall as Dr. Arand put it. The idea
that we can simply take what we need and use whatever we like to better our own selfish
interests regardless of the impacts that might be experienced in the future. This is simply wrong
because we know that God created this world out of His infinite love of us and the rest of
creation. If God wanted us to abuse the world for our own comfort then we must ask the
question, why do we feel empathy or remorse when we see an animal dead on the side of the
road, or acres of forests and habitats that have been cleared away for lumber. God would not

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instill in us this remorse if he had simply wanted the world to be our playground or shopping
center, he initially wanted it to be our home.
Additionally, we believe that the earth here is our home and we will never have another
one, which would have been true if not for the entrance of sin into this world. God initially
wanted this to be our home, but we ruined what he had given us when we opened the door for
sin. Thus this beautiful creation, this earth that is the definition of creative, is now diseased and
in constant decay and it is our calling to try to heal this art that is being slowly eaten away. It is
no longer suitable as a home for us, so God came and took away the sin from us so that we may
enter His kingdom and escape from the outside constant infection of sin. The earth should have
been our home, but we ruined it completely with our sin so God will make a home for us instead
in the place where sin is unable to touch, Gods kingdom of heaven.
Analysis
Dr. Arands thesis is one that I have a difficult time disagreeing with. I do believe that we
are here to take care of Gods earth by caring for those around us and for the living earth itself.
God put us in control over all the earth from the beginning in Genesis 1:26 then God said, Let
us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the
sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth1. God made
us separate from the rest of the creatures on the earth, He made us in His image so that we could
be his representatives or stewards over creation. As Dr. Arand said we can be his coworkers or
partners here on earth and thus take part in the great creation that God has formed ex nihilo.

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Engelbrecht, Edward A., ed. The Lutheran Study Bible. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House

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As Dr. Arand explained we view the world today as our shopping mall or playground
and I believe that we take our power too far and we try to reach out too far and end up falling.
For instance we create nuclear power plants that are highly dangerous and unstable in the event
of natural disasters. We use this energy that we could harness from other sources and it results in
damaging the environment and the creatures around it. In some instances it would be better for
us to go without what we have created than to go with it and experience its consequences. This
is echoed by Ted Peters in his article from Christian Century Creation ex amore, Modern
creatures do not like the idea of total dependence on a single all-powerful God, so they are
buying stock in assertions of creaturely efficacy,2.
Although, despite the problems we have caused in Gods creation, God still loves us and
does not let go of His creation as Dr. Arand described it. God still works actively in His
creation, if He didnt then sin would have taken control of the world almost as soon as God took
His hand away from the wheel so to speak. God does not allow us and His creation to be taken
over by sin because He created His creatures and earth out of love for them. He affirmed this
love in sending His one son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for us so that we might not endure
the suffering, pain, and separation that we would under the yoke of sin. He adopted us as His
children, and because of this we must embrace our lives on earth among all of Gods creatures.
Bibliography
Engelbrecht, Edward A., ed. The Lutheran Study Bible. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House,
2009.

Peters, Ted. 2014. "From nothing: a theology of creation." The Christian Century 131, no. 20:
36-37. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed November 1, 2015).
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Peters, Ted. 2014. "From nothing: a theology of creation." The Christian Century 131, no. 20:
36-37. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed November 1,
2015).