We learn immutable biological, electronic and even construction principles from the very first chapter of Genesis, speaking of us: “He made them male and female.” The principle is illustrated in electronics and even in something as simple as putting a jigsaw puzzle together. Nothing is designed to function–or can function properly–with two innies or two outies.

If you want to build anything you have to start with the right foundation. We learn that principle from the Bible, confirmed by physics and architecture. If your foundation is off, everything will be off.

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What is the right foundation for a life, for a society, for a government? I submit that GOD is that foundation.

He is the foundation on which the universe is built: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

He is the foundation on which we are built: “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

The Bible (Romans 1, verses 18-32) says we all know there is a God, at least some kind of living divinity which is immensely powerful: “–since what may be known about God is plain to [people], because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.” As The Passion Translation puts it, “In reality, the truth of God is known instinctively, for God has embedded this knowledge inside every human heart.”

That means every one of us has the signature of our Maker in our DNA, our very cells. We look at stars, redwoods, roses, a newborn baby. opposable thumbs–the “things that are made”–and from these we infer a Maker. Paradoxically God’s “invisible (unseen) qualities have been clearly seen” in these things, being inferred by what we can see.

We may not know anything else about Him but we know this much for sure: Something made everything and that Something has to be way stronger than we are.

This foundational truth is recorded in the Bible–our Owners Manual–the book God “breathed” into men which is unchanging truth and will last forever. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.”

The basic and sole premise on which we must construct our understanding of all that exists in the universe is God. He alone is uncreated. He has no equal, He has no rival, and there is no other. God exists–eternally–and is all-powerful. He does not exist in things. We–everything–exist in Him. “In Him we live and move and have our being.” We exist for Him, to fulfill His design and ultimately bring glory to Him. “For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever.”

The premise on which we must construct our understanding of ourselves–humanity–is that we are created in the image of that God. We are created to be like Him, with mind, emotions and will, a sense of justice and mercy, ability to love and to reason, purpose, creativity, and sense of humor. We are created to know and have a relationship with Him.

The Bible says the foundation of all other truth depends on our having a healthy fear of and respect for Him: “The fear of God is the beginning of knowledge” and “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom”

We need to start with that, the fear of the LORD. He exists, He is powerful, He controls atoms, cells, time, eternity, and the affairs of men. He controls hurricanes and earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, and asteroids. He is fearful and fear can evoke awe and worship. (We cannot draw from natural law and its effects that He is also just and loving, that He can and wants to be known, to have a relationship with us–these things He reveals when we build our knowledge and wisdom on reverent fear: “He is not a tame Lion.” )

To build on any other foundation will be disastrous. Our internal knowledge of His existence and power strips away any ground for atheism or for any god other than the One He declares Himself to be in His word.

If we deny the cornerstone of all knowledge and wisdom–God–and build on materialism, a denial of the things we can’t see or sense, we will build on an illusion and nothing we build on it will last or have value. If we build on humanism, the assertion that “man is the measure of all things,” it will be like putting Earth instead of the sun in the center of our solar system and nothing we build on that premise can stand.

Yet from the beginning some of us turned away from God. (The following quotes are from Romans 1:18-32. I have personalized the pronouns): “Although we knew God, we neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but our thinking became futile and our foolish hearts were darkened…”

The surrounding context of this passage gives us the big picture: “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness. For the wickedness of humanity deliberately smothers the truth and keeps people from acknowledging the truth about God. Opposition to truth cannot be excused on the basis of ignorance, because from the creation of the world, the invisible qualities of God’s nature have been made visible, such as his eternal power and transcendence. He has made his wonderful attributes easily perceived, for seeing the visible makes us understand the invisible. So then, this leaves everyone without excuse. For although we knew God, we neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but our thinking became futile and our foolish hearts were darkened. Although we claimed to be wise, we became fools.”

We were created with an innate knowledge of God. Yet we suppressed the truth and rejected Him: 1) We refused to honor him as God. 2) We were ungrateful for His kindness. In so doing, we started a death spiral that plunged us progressively down into darkness. He kept appealing to us, reaching out to us with His love and light but we shut out His voice and rebelled all the more. Each time He “gave us over” to deeper delusion:

We exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave us over in the sinful desires of our hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of our bodies with one another. We exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

Because of this, God gave us over to shameful lusts. Even our women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

Furthermore, just as we did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave us over to a depraved mind, so that we do what ought not to be done. We have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. We are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. We are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; we invent ways of doing evil; we disobey our parents;  we have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although we know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, we not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”

At the depth of the spiral, among those things that are depraved, wicked, evil and deserving of death are perverted sexual practices. They are twisted caricatures of God’s design. God calls them “an abomination.”

Truth is simple. We make it complicated. We learn immutable biological, electronic and even construction principles from the very first chapter of Genesis, speaking of us: “He made them male and female.” The principle is illustrated in electronics and even in something as simple as putting a jigsaw puzzle together. Nothing is designed to function–or can function properly–with two innies or two outies.

We learn immutable mathematical principles from that same verse, “He made them male and female.” God made one kind, male, and another kind, female. One plus one equals two. Not 3, 4, 5, 6, dozens, hundreds or infinity.

As deep as we have gone, He is still calling us home to Himself. His voice may be faint, drowned out by hisses and smooth seductions of the devil, but if you are disgusted with where you are and how you got there, if His voice penetrates your consciousness at all, He is offering you mercy, forgiveness and restoration. At your cry for help, He has the power to draw you out of the pit, cleanse you, set your feet on a rock and put a song in your mouth, a song of gratitude and salvation. Come back to Him. Come home. He is your good daddy and He keeps His promises.

(Used with permission. By Jessica Renshaw and originally posted at Hidden in Jesus. Photo by Calvin Craig on Unsplash.)