Is There Something More to Man?
What makes us more than just physical beings, and why must we look beyond human knowledge to understand our true purpose and spiritual nature?
Biologically, we begin with man as a living organism. Our composition is chemical. We have a skeletal framework, various kinds of tissue, a nervous system, internal organs, outer layers of skin—all making us human in a physical and material sense.
But is there more to man than meets the eye? Is there something unique about our makeup and nature? Is there something that transcends the purely physical and material realm, something that suggests a great purpose and dignity are integral to our existence?
What makes us behave like we do? Why do we experience moral sufferings and craving for the unknown? Why do we push on to greater and greater heights of discovery in just about every field and discipline? Why do we seek knowledge for its own sake? Why do we have this human intellect that drives us on to more and more accomplishment in the material world?
Academic studies of the origins of humanity have proved to be among the most difficult of all sciences. Significantly, in his 1996 book Darwin’s Black Box, biochemist Michael Behe convincingly demonstrated from scientific evidence the utter impossibility of life having evolved from inert matter.
The commonly accepted theory of evolution cannot explain why we pursue intangibles like beauty and higher spiritual yearnings. Our minds are far too complex to have arisen passively or accidentally. The Bible unequivocally tells us that God created man. (To learn more, be sure to download or request your copy of our free study guide Life’s Ultimate Question: Does God Exist?)
What does it really mean to be human? Do we just exist? Or were we created for a special purpose? What makes us different from any of the other living creatures?
We are in serious need of much better knowledge of ourselves. Our self-ignorance is staggering, particularly in the arena of moral and spiritual purpose and responsibility. We seem to know so much more about the inanimate, about the earth’s flora and fauna and even the nature of heavenly bodies. Yet immense regions of our humanity remain a dark mystery.
World conditions are frightening and all too often reel out of control. Man himself stands at fault. We urgently need to seek the root causes of our moral and intellectual shortcomings. If only we would turn our natural curiosity from its present path to instead pursuing the much more profitable right spiritual direction missing from the world at large, our future would cease to be so uncertain.
Man desperately needs knowledge from a source outside himself—not only regarding the physical and material, but in the mental and especially in the spiritual sphere.
