1. You are a Creature



The Creation of Adam, by Michaealangelo
 

This could be the subject of reflection for a long, long time:
You were created.
Not just born, but created.

Science puts forth several theories on the origins of man. The most well-known relate to the Big Bang theory, which states that a violent explosion of a small point of matter billions of years ago set into motion the processes which generated our Universe and all that is in it. And it was through random genetic mutations within organisms that species evolved from one another and also into human beings.

But then, where did that small point of matter come from? And what set it into motion?

St. Thomas Aquinas takes up these questions in his 5 proofs for the existence of God.

He argues that:

1. Nothing in the material world is the cause of itself, but everything in a chain of events has a first efficient cause. If it did not, there would be no subsequent causes. Therefore, if we observe the series of “causes” in the universe, we can ultimately trace this back to a First Cause, and we call that cause God.

2. Some things in the material world are in motion, and objects in motion must be set in motion by another object in motion. This chain cannot be traced backward indefinitely, but there must be an “Unmoved Mover” and we call that God.

(For an easy explanation of the other 3 arguments, see http://web.mnstate.edu/gracyk/courses/web%20publishing/aquinasfiveways_argumentanalysis.htm )

Ponder this.
God created you.
He didn’t combine some craft supplies, graft together some left-over skin patches and glue on a mask He had lying around.
There was a time when you did not exist, and He imagined you and brought you into being.
Out of nothing.
He carved out your very fingerprints.

As the Scripture says,
You knit me in my mother’s womb; you formed my inmost being.” – Psalm 139: 13

Man's Identity Crisis

This has been on my heart for some time now.

It is not just teenagers searching for a way to fit in. It is not just college students seeking to answer the questions of what they believe and what they want and where they are going with their lives. It is not just middle aged people suffering from "empty nest" syndrome, or the newly retired or the elderly seeking answers to the question of what they can contribute to society....

Across the board, man (and by "man", I mean man and woman) struggles with his identity. We all ask ourselves, "What does it mean to be me?" Who am I? What are my gifts? My talents? My desires? And what good are they? What makes me unique? Why on earth am I here?

Questions of identity are so important. When they are adequately resolved, we gain a clearer sense of purpose, of mission.

This is my desire, to take some time and explore this topic of identity, with the hope that God will speak through me to touch others who are asking these same questions and bring us, together, to a deeper understanding of who we are and who we are meant to be, and how to live it with conviction.