In this essay we wish to consider three questions. First, what is the ultimate design evidence that supports the scriptural revelation that the Creator is a person Being, not merely a force or substance that moves or composes all things? Second, is it reasonable to believe that the creator has something to say to man whom He has created? And, third, is it reasonable to believe that the Bible is, indeed the Word of God to man?

In answer to our first question, is not personal human nature the design feature that provides the most powerful evidence for the existence of a personal God? Let us analyze the essential attributes of man, those elements of his nature that make him man, profoundly different from all other creatures. These essential attributes are: intellect--the capacity to know, reason, remember, and use symbols; affectional nature--the capacity to have feelings such as love, fear, compassion, anger and hate; moral capacity or conscience--the sense of personal responsibility to exercise moral judgment, to do what is right and eschew doing wrong; and will--the power to decide and act in accord with the leading of intellect, affections and conscience. What could be the origin of this personal nature of man? Evolutionists believe that human nature evolved by means of chemical reactions beginning in some primordial slime. This would mean that the elementary atoms of matter, because of their qualities and the laws of physics were able to produce personal human nature. But is there scientific evidence that atoms posses intellect, affections, moral capacity, or will? There is no such evidence. Nor is their scientific evidence to prove that chemical reactions of atoms produced these attributes of personal human nature.

Therefore, since there is no evidence for the origin of personal nature from atoms or the reactions of atoms that make up matter, the source of human personality must be found in a higher personal source. This Source is revealed in the bible to be the infinite-personal spirit, God the Creator, who created man in His own image. This image of god in man is man's personal nature composed of intellect, affections, moral capacity and will. This is the ultimate design in the world, for its pattern is the image, the pattern of the personal Creator-God Himself. And the facts of science, as we have shown, provide no other explanation than that which the bible offers, namely, that God created human nature after His own personal image. Thus the fact of human personal nature is the most powerful evidence for the real existence of the personal God revealed in the pages of the Bible.

Our second question is, Is it reasonable to believe that the Creator has something to say to man whom He has created? The answer flows naturally from the answer to our first question. One of the principal characteristics of man the personal being is his continual communication with his friends and neighbors. This communication with symbols called "words" is one of the factors which makes human culture and society so infinitely more meaningful than life in an anthill, for example. Well, if God created man in His own image, a personal being who continually desires to communicate with other people, is it not reasonable to believe that the Creator should desire to communicate His truth and love to man? Is the Creator dumb? Does not puny, ignorant, limited man need to receive the wisdom and knowledge of god? and would the Creator withhold from man the truth that he needs for life, happiness, and fellowship with the Creator? The only reasonable response to these questions is to affirm that the Creator must have something to say to man and that He must have spoken--sometime, somewhere.

Our third question is, Is it reasonable to believe that the Bible is, indeed, the Word of God to man? This may be rephrased as follows: Is it reasonable to believe that God has spoken to man by means of prophecies and revelations written down by chosen men and collected in a book? the typical complaint against believing the Bible to be the Word of God is that since it was written by fallible men, it must be full of human errors and cannot, therefore, be the Word of God. Let us respond to this complaint by means of an imaginary dialogue between this author(A) and an unbeliever(U) with the above complaint.

A. Did you ever write a letter?

U. Sure.

A. What did you write it with?

U. With a pencil.

A. Then you didn't write it. The pencil did.

U. Oh, no, I made the pencil write.

A. Then you are able to make a dumb pencil put your thoughts, your words on paper?

U. Of course.

A. Is not the God who created the prophets and apostles even more able to use them as His divinely appointed and controlled writers to put His truth for man in words collected in a book? After all, He not only created the prophets, but He also arranged their family history and their life experiences so that they were prepared to be living pens, through whom the divine revelation flowed. Thus the Bible is at once a divine and a human book, yet infallibly preserved from error, for God is absolutely sovereign in the control of all His creatures.

"For the prophecy never came by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." 2 Peter 1:21

Thus, to summarize our discussion, the facts of science and good logic powerfully support the biblical revelation of the infinite-personal Spirit, god the Creator, who created man in His own personal image. Furthermore, it is reasonable to believe that this personal Creator-God has something to say to Adam's race, and that He has spoken. And, finally, it is reasonable to believe that the Word of God to man is permanently written down in a book, and that this book is the Bible. This is because the Bible is the only great ancient book of religion which claims to be the Word of God and which reveals a God and man in relation that God in a manner that agrees with the scientific facts of the world in which we live.

The Bible goes even farther, revealing the spiritual history of the human race to show why men and women and boys and girls are so far from being faithful image bearers of God who is holy. Everywhere that we observe humans, including our own selves, we see failure and sin. This sinful condition of man is universal, and a universal symptom points to some universal malady and cause. If we visited a strange city and observed that every citizen bore pock marks on his or her face, we would be justified in concluding that the entire population was subject to a universal disease. And so it is with sin in the human race. The Bible also provides the cure for the malady of sin. It is through the Creator Himself coming into the world to take upon Himself human nature to become the god-Man. and this One, the Son of God, was the only one who could live the perfect human life to gain perfect human merit before God the Father, fulfilling the divine moral law completely. Then, for His fallen people whom He loved, the Lord Jesus identified Himself with their sin--our sin--upon the cruel cross, and paid the penalty of the guilty ones by the shedding of His blood, by His death. Thus, the One without guilt and with perfect merit paid the penalty for the guilty ones having no merit of their own. And by His death, burial and resurrection from the dead He provides forgiveness to all those who trust in Him. What glorious design!