The sub-category for this blog is “heart issues” My plan is to write a few different blogs in this category where I will dive into some of the worldview labels, perceptions, and roles that we simply accept as Christians. Turning a magnifying glass onto some of these issues can help give us a new perspective on ideas and words that the world has re-defined to match their worldview. In a previous blog I talked about how we reflect God's glory but sin tries to claim that glory for itself. I see these blogs as an extension of that idea. This first blog is about the term "creator".
An issue of the Heart
In our day and age, we are doing everything we can to rid ourselves of a need for God. From self-help gurus to "feelings rule" religions, we want to be in control of our own destiny. Part of this wave is the desire to bring order out of chaos and to then take credit for the whole process. It is out of this mindset (conscious or not) that the term "creator" has been affixed to people.
Never in history has it been so easy to formulate and hone the imagination skills. Powerful, easily accessible computers, cameras, and software combined with the internet allow us to quickly formulate, record and share our ideas with billions of other people. While there is nothing wrong with all of this on the surface, the heart issue is what matters, and that is intent. There is always intent behind a label or phrase or action. In this case, the question is, why do we label ourselves or others as “creators”? It may seem like a trivial question, but the implications can send ripples into every thought we have.
What is a creator?
The iPhone, the Tesla car, Nuclear power, Nike shoes…. if we look at any new invention in the last 50, 100 or even 1000 years, what can we consider a true creation and what is not?
Think about it, everything in our day and age is more an amalgamation of decades of previous work then what we should call a "new creation". New technologies are always getting better, and while science can do a lot, these advances still boil down to manipulating what has always existed.
The most basic meaning of the word create is: to bring (something) into existence.
In one sense this is easy to understand, I can "create" a picture by drawing on a page. First, there is a blank page and then there is a stick figure which I “created”.
But even to create something this simple still required a pen and paper, as well as an idea of what a "stick figure" looks like. From something as simple as a sketch it's easy to see that the word "create" must have multiple meanings. In one sense it is purely our imagination, like creating a story or a drawing, or a new design for a phone. We are using our imagination to build something from lessons and stories we have heard or seen. This sounds more like copying than creating, doesn’t it? Based on this thought, it's another thing altogether to create something out of nothing*.
Think of the Wright Brothers. They are credited with inventing the first airplane. While I want to take nothing away from their achievement, birds have been flying since the beginning of time. In fact, the observation of a bird’s wing was a key part in how they came up with their design. (Wright Brothers story)
I would argue that ideas are not truly "creations" in the purest sense of the word. Instead, they are the combination of using our imagination and millennia of previous ideas to copy from. For example, there are many authors who have created alternate universes that we all know. Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Star Trek even Harry Potter. Every one of these stories is built from existing blocks in our world, the biggest of which is humans. If we wanted to call these authors true creators, we need to explain why so much of these "created universes" resemble earth and why nearly every creature or alien in these worlds look like a human. From elves to aliens, orcs to wizards, how is it that every one of these creations is basically just a human with some upgraded or changed body part? Is that true "creation" or is that imagination building on and copying what was already "created"?
Why should we care?
This is a tricky question to answer. Many of the people we label as "creators" are very talented and worthy of praise. I would even agree that in many ways these creatives are superior to others in their work ethic and their understanding of how things work. But even this wisdom is not something that we can claim for ourselves. Think of Exodus 31:1-6
Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills— 4 to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver, and bronze, 5 to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts. 6 Moreover, I have appointed Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan, to help him. Also I have given ability to all the skilled workers to make everything I have commanded you.
I love these verses for a couple reasons. First, they remind us that God is the one in control, even of something as vague as wisdom. Secondly, it encourages us to pray. If we are doing anything that requires skill or creativity we can turn to God and ask him to guide our hand knowing that he can grant understanding and skill!
God has made it clear that he will not give his glory to anyone else (Isaiah 42:8). This should cause us to pause whenever we are tempted to affix labels that are attributed to God to others around us. It should also cause us to think carefully about how we accept praise when we are the one being given these labels. Receiving praise is an exhilarating thing, but being caught up in our own praise means that we will miss the opportunities to point others back to God.
The term "creator" may be a harmless generalization given to deserving people. But if our main purpose is to point others to God then something as insignificant as this word choice becomes important if it causes us to miss an opportunity to point others to God. And if we miss the small opportunities because we don't think they really matter, how many other, larger opportunities do we miss with our family or church or job to do the same? In the end, it comes down to a heart issue (as so much in life does). Are we seeking our own glory, or are we here to glorify the one who created everything? How we answer that question will determine the outlook of everything in life.
* Not only is this impossible for us as humans (we are limited to working with what we have at our disposal), but it's hard to even fathom how this would look. Take the term "nothing", to make any sense of this word we have to first know that something exists and what that something is. (Apparently this idea of what "nothing" is, is a hotly debated topic... check here and here.)
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