Dennis L. Finnan Commentator
"The World, the Word & You! Broadcast"

DESIGNED FOR GOD

“What is man? THIS QUERY IS without doubt the most basic of philosophical, theological, and practical questionS EVER POSED, YET ONE THAT FEW HAVE ANSWERED.” 

I’m Dennis Finnan, host and speaker on the World, the Word & You! Broadcast and in a moment we’ll talk about the wonderful and marvelous creation and purpose of the creature called man …

…Life is a mysterious something which scientists have never yet been able to define or fathom. And, the very existence of life on our planet is an enigma which apart from the design a Creator God, is totally unexplainable except for the absurd posturing which we call – evolution!  Yes, the creation-evolution question of man’s origin is certainly the most important area of conflict between the Bible and science. As a result, it is a great mistake for Christians to compromise on this issue or, perhaps worse, to ignore it. Therefore, we shall make every attempt today to explore and answer the great question, “What is man?” Now, after another pause for a musical moment, I’ll return with some important biblical answers for your help and hope for today and tomorrow…

…Looking back into the 20^th century, a popular TV series emerged called the SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN, starring Lee Majors. It ran for about eight years back in the 70’s. The story was of an injured astronaut flyer whose only hope to live, was to have new bionic human technology implanted into his broken body, at the cost of six million dollars. Once done and he was healed and “rebuilt,” his physiology was greatly enhanced. Thus by Hollywood ’s creation, the first bionic man was created. Of course that was science fiction, because no creature can better engineer or recreate mankind, than God in His original creation. Yet because of sin, the Bible tells us man is not today what he was meant to be, but still he is an “image” of God. The Psalmist once asked,

Psa 8:4 (NIV)  what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?

Apart from God telling us “what is man,” we can really never know. Just the other day a young man, aged 20, a product of our anti-god humanistic schooling, communicated from Phoenix Arizona . Here’s what he pitifully said,

“I believe the true meaning of life is nothing; everything we are now is from a coincidental chemical reaction. Any meaning that one would try to assign could only be artificial, with no factual basis. Thus everyone assigns their own meaning that is most convenient for them.”

How sad! But indeed, he is right about one thing. Man’s physical existence is a composition of chemicals and their reactions. Amazingly, some years ago in response to the biogenic six million dollar man proposed by Hollywood , Harold, J. Morowitz, a leading chemist received a birthday card from his daughter. It read, “According to biochemists the materials of your body are worth only 98 cents!” Intrigued by that statement sent from his daughter, Morowitz took out his chemical supply catalog and began looking up the prices of all the chemicals that composed the human body. Well, it turned out that the human body of an average size is actually worth more than SIX MILLION DOLLARS, chemically speaking. Here’s the breakdown Morowitz found: 

(1) Hemoglobin - $ 285 a gram; 
(2) Insulin - $ 47.50 a gram; 
(3) Trypsin - $ 36 a gram; 
(4) Bilrubin, the bile pigment, $ 12 a gram; 
(5) Human DNA, $ 76 a gram; 
(6) Collagen, $ 15 a gram; 
(7) Human albumin, $ 3.00 a gram. Even more, less common constituents like 
(8) Acetate Kinase, $ 8,860 a gram; 
(9) Alkaline Phosphatase, $ 225 a gram; 
(10)Amino acids such as Bradykinin cost upwards of $ 12 a gram. Now the real shocker came, when he got to the 
(11) follicle-stimulating hormone at $ 8 million a gram and then 
(12) Prolactin the hormone that stimulates milk production for mothers, this costs 
$ 17.5 million a gram.

Well taking all these costs into account from a common chemical supply catalog and calculating the percentages of each chemical in the composition of the human body, Morowitz arrived at the cost of $ 245.54, as the average value, per gram, of any human being. Then, taking the average weight of himself at 168 pounds or 79,364 grams, but subtracting for the fact that man’s body is 68 % water, his dry weight would then be 24,436 grams. Finally, multiplying that by $ 254.54, Dr. Morowitz found his body alone was worth $ 6,000,015.44! Imagine that! 

What is man? At least chemically, he is a wonder of great value. Now, Morowitz later stated in the Journal of Hospital Practice, that this was an enormous upgrade of his ego after being told he was worth only 98 cents. 

However, one must not stop there, for the SIX MILLION DOLLAR figure of the average human being’s body is inaccurate. That figure applies only, to the human atoms priced at their sophisticated, informational state. The supply companies, to offer these chemicals in their existing state within the human body, brings an even greater picture as the value of man’s basic body. If the supply companies had to synthesize these elements from raw materials, the desired chemicals would increase in value per person to SIX BILLION dollars. But then, once having these chemicals in the needed forms, is still not enough. You see, now someone would have to assemble these synthetic molecules into cellular structures, and then make them into larger cell components. Again, Dr. Morowitz then estimated the cost per human body, would jump much higher to $ 600 BILLION! Would we then have man? The answer is still no.

Still, another crucial step would be necessary. The cell components now produced at over say $ 600 BILLION dollars, must now be turned into human cells. How much more will this cost, chemically speaking? The answer Dr, Morowitz reported is a figure of $ 6000 trillion dollars!

But what would we have now? We would just have a blob of combined simple cells. Obviously more is necessary, for cells must become tissues, tissues must become organs, and organs must be set up to function as the human being is found today. How much is man worth? Well, Dr. Morowitz at this point, in dollars and cents said: “Our ability to calculate this now disappears!”

What is man? How sad for that 20 year-old secularized humanist. For him he was worthless and amounted to a cosmic nothing. But, for those who understand who they are according to the Bible, we are priceless and of inestimable value. Sadly, our world today lives for the “body.” But God created us to live for and please Him in our body, soul and spirit. Are you aware of this? Listen to God’s Word that states,

Psa 8:1-6 (NNAS)  O LORD, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth, Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!... 3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; 4 What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him? 5 Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty! 6 You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet,”

Rev 4:11 (NNAS)  “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”

Yes, “what is man” is answered by God Himself. He tells us we are a special creation, formed by His very own hand and each human being is a unique creation, like no one else. In fact, we are so valuable to God that when mankind sinned and fell from God’s place of blessing and care, God cared enough to save the human race and every soul that wanted to be restored to His grace, His mercy and love. Of course, this is the story of Jesus Christ, from the cradle to the cross. The Bible tells us the amazing fact that the Creator God Himself, chose to become a man, so that He could offer Himself up to pay for the sin penalty of the human race, He created thus fulfilling His own standard of justice, that every souls that sins shall die. This is the greatest love story ever told. We read of it in,

John 3:16-17 (NNAS)  “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

Rom 5:8 (NNAS)  [And]  God demonstrated His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Oh friends, no one ever needs to feel worthless, because we were all designed by God for His glory and pleasure. The question is have you found this love in Him who loves you so? Or, are you aimlessly traversing this planet, without His love upon you? Until men and women reach the state of knowing who they really are, they will be like that pitiful 20 year-old from Phoenix , Arizona , going on in life, hopelessly thinking they are of no value, and when they die they’ll return to a meaningless cosmos of random chemicals. Today my friend, why not make your life meaningful? Why not enter into the reason for your existence? Simply look up to the heavens and call out to the God who created you. He is not far from those who seek Him. The Bible encourages us.

Deu 4:29 (NNAS)  "But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.

 But for the others who choose not to seek their Creator God and in fact labor to deny His very existence and creation – well, the only thing left for them is a life of nonsensical existence and hopelessness in eternity. The Bible warns about such attitudes,

Psa 10:4 (NNAS)  The wicked, in the haughtiness of his countenance, does not seek Him. All his thoughts are, “There is no God.” BUT…

Psa 119:2 (NNAS)  How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, Who seek Him with all their heart.

Say listening friend, where do you fit in? The truth is everyone is created, the bible says, for the express purpose of God’s own pleasure and His own personal joy and satisfaction. We find the same thing when we seek the Lord Jesus Christ and crown Him the Lord and Savior of our lives. From there, God calls us to fulfill what we were ultimately created for – to love and worship God. You see, “worship” is for what we were basically created. This is why the heathen in the jungle to the stockbroker on Wall street – all search for something to love, honor, worship and adore. The heathen worships idols in place of the one true God. The stockbroker on wall street worships money and what it can buy. These are all forms of worship although outwardly they differ. However, God wants to remind you of your need to worship Him, only. Do you? Have you? Will you? Moses was given the Law of God which included the command to worship the one true God alone.

Deu 6:13 (NASB)  “You shall fear only the LORD your God; and you shall worship Him, and swear by His name.

The Psalmist declared that worship was to be a joy and delight for mankind…

Psa 95:6-7 (NASB)  Come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. 7 For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.

Yes, it all begins with the human body God fashioned for us who are spirit beings. The human body is therefore a wondrous collection of priceless materials, but the soul and spirit of man that resides within the body, that one day will die, the Bible says shall live on forever and ever. This is what God has sought to preserve and save from the sin penalty judgment to come. Jesus constantly warned the people of His day,

Luke 12:4-5 (NIV)  “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. 5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.

Ezek 18:4 (NIV)  For every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son—both alike belong to me. The soul who sins is the one who will die.

John 10:10 (NIV)  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

John 6:47 (NIV)  I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.

John 3:18 (NIV)  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

Well my friend, today as you look into a mirror to see how you physically look, realize there stands before you, the very image of God fashioned in a human body. Yes, outwardly it is a collection of raw materials intricately fashioned by God, worth in human value over six million dollars, but in God’s value book, you are priceless to Him. I hope and pray, you as a listener will own up to this and call out to God through Jesus Christ and crown Him your God and Savior. Why? Well my friend that the next and final step required of your existence. To fail to crown Christ Lord is the greatest sin in the universe for which there is no forgiveness. No one goes to Hell for smoking, gambling, failing to attend church, even murdering, robbing and adultery. There is only one sin for which all mankind shall be judged. God will ask you when you die, “What have you done with my Son Jesus Christ?” “Did you take Him as your Savior and Lord while alive in the body, or did you reject Him and pass by My offer of forgiveness and grace?” For this latter, there is no escape, no other means of forgiveness or grace, for which there remains only  to be cast forever into the eternal Lake of Fire to be separated from God and His love for all eternity. Oh friends, listener, reader – Come to Christ today, and allow that priceless body, soul and spirit to enter into its greatest hour and place here and now and receive God’s unending love. That my friend, is the only and true message of Christianity and the final answer to “What is man?”

…The late Carl Sagan the atheist astronomer once said, “There is a little star stuff in all of us.” Although he wasn’t acknowledging God’s existence or man’s creation in His image, he was perhaps right. The human body is a wondrous collection of the priceless materials and workmanship of the Creator Himself. Yet in the vast wonders of human existence, isn’t it amazing mankind is still dissatisfied? We long for more. But the promise of God and His Word is, you will find that “more” more than you can ever think or imagine when you receive Jesus Christ into your life and become whole and fulfilled in your humanity. May God bless this to your heart today for Jesus sake, Amen.

·         Radio talk #0402

·         Broadcast date: January 27, 2002

·         Speaker: Dennis L. Finnan, Commentator

·         Program: The World, the Word & You! Radio Broadcast

·         Address: P.O. Box 40133 Grand Junction, CO 81504