Letters From Grandpa #490

• LETTERS FROM GRANDPA
• 490

Dearest grandchild,

Today’s letter about the Biblical truth that man is created in the image of God. The Scriptures are clear: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, both male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27). Paul Ackerman is a Christian psychologist who offers great insight into the creation of man into God’s image. He spoke in our church many years ago. Dr. Ackerman began his professional career as a “philosophical determinist”. This means that he did not believe in creation or free will. B.F. Skinner represents the radical edge of this view by comparing a poet and a mother to machines. Skinner believed that neither a baby nor a poem come from creative thought. Both are considered the result of natural processes, and neither involves free will.

Ackerman’s conversion to Christ came in the wake of a personal tragedy. In August 1972 his five year old son, Bryan, was run over by a car and instantly killed. None of his psychological training offered him any comfort or hope. It was hard for him to understand how a machine could be so miserable. His inconsolable grief awakened in him the realization that man is much more than a machine. After great soul searching and study he turned to Christ. His new faith not only brought him great consolation, it enabled him to see the facts of science in a new and totally different light. In 1986 he published a book on creation titled It’s A Young World After All. In this book he concluded that God is alive, the Bible is His word, and abundant scientific evidence is falling into place around both of these two great truths.

His book In God’s Image After All is a sequel and demonstrates how the facts of psychology support Biblical Creationism. This fascinating book was published by Baker Book House in 1990. It is interesting reading and hard to put down. One typical illustration is regarding the psychological research done by T. G. R. Bower on newborn infants. Bower devised an ingenious way of “talking” with infants. He set up a system that enabled the infant to play a peek-a- boo game by turning its head. Some infants as young as two weeks could learn to play this game. Once the communication link was established, Bower discovered other fascinating things about infants. For example, they have depth perception. They can recognize the same block at different distances. Up close the block seems big, at a distance it seems small, but the baby still knows the difference. Additional experiments involved solving puzzles. The researcher could program a light to come on when the baby turned its head to the right. As the baby solved that puzzle, the solution was made more complex. For example, the baby might have to turn its head two times to the right, and then two times to the left in order to turn on the light. Once the puzzle was solved, the baby smiled and seemed to lose interest in turning on the light.

Bower wrote: “In the process of detecting a contingency the baby smiles vigorously. These smiles seem to be caused by discovery of the contingency and to manifest the pleasure that the baby feels at having successfully detected what to do to make a particular event happen. The smiling, in other words, indicates an intellectual pleasure, a pleasure at having discovered something about the casual structure of the world, and pleasure at being in control of some part of the world . . .” (p. 53).

Those who believe the Bible are not surprised by these discoveries, for the Scriptures teach that man was created in the image of God. The heavens declare the “glory” of God, but only man is made in his “image.” Further, God intended man to have dominion over all the earth. While the facts of science do not change, Ackerman discovered that these facts become more lucid and understandable by recognizing that man is created in the image of God.

There is almost no limit to what man created in the image of God can accomplish. A famous case in point is the story of Nigel Hunt who was born mentally retarded. At two weeks the family was warned that their son would never be able to learn or function normally. Nigel’s mother refused to

accept this diagnosis. She made a game out of learning for her infant son and by the time he started school he could read better than most of the children in his class. At age seventeen he became the first person with Down’s syndrome to write a book. The book, his autobiography, is called The World of Nigel Hunt. New information leads the scientific mind to challenge the outdated precepts of the past, and helps us to understand the significance of being created in the image of God.

Paul Ackerman is not unique. Every Christian ultimately has to make that same pilgrimage from unbelief to faith and commitment. This exciting journey involves following the facts. A logical first step is to conclude with Dr. Ackerman, that man is truly unique and is created in the image of God.

Timothy is a Biblical example of a child that was trained from infancy. His grandmother Lois, and his mother Eunice shared with Timothy their sincere faith when he was an infant (2 Timothy 1:5). Timothy served with Paul as a son with his father in spite of the fact that he was raised in the vicinity of Lystra and Derbe which were bastions of paganism (Acts 14:8-18; Philippians 2:19-24). Please prayerfully consider these inspired words of Paul to Timothy: “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:14-17)

If God blesses you with children, please train them from “infancy” to know the Holy Scriptures. Remember! “Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.” (Psalm 127:3-5)

I love you,

Grandpa Boyce