The Role of Cosmology in Apologetics

The Role of Cosmology in Apologetics

Jay Wegter

I. What is Biblical Cosmology?

Biblical Cosmology is that branch of philosophy which deals with the origin and structure of the universe. Biblical cosmology includes man as the image of God, with the sub-themes of male and female and the dominion mandate (Ps 8). At the heart of biblical cosmology is the Creator-creature distinction. Biblical cosmology states that God is ‘Definer’ of what He has made—as Creator He has structured reality by giving us designations, definitions, categories and relations of what He has made.ⁱ God’s defining role over His creation has established the creation structures of male and female and marriage and family.

These creation structures are foundational and ontologically real, which is why social contract theory (a construct) and sexual perversion constitute a radical overturning of biblical cosmology.ⁱⁱ Biblical cosmology is essential in correctly interpreting the universe.ⁱⁱⁱ God’s relation to the creation is the ordering principle of the universe and of reality (Acts 17). Because God is the Sustainer and Definer of all that He has made, there is no such thing as a reality greater than God—in which God is but a component.

1. Biblical cosmology features God’s relationship to what He has made: He is Maker, Upholder, Ruler, Definer, and Owner of the universe and its contents. Thus, biblical cosmology is inseparable from God’s purposes for His creation. Cosmology touches teleology (from telos)—God’s created design and goal for all that He has created. God intends a specific function and purpose for all the things He has made. It will only take a single butterfly, rose, or honeybee to condemn the unbeliever on Judgment Day. When the biblical cosmology taught in Scripture is ably wielded, it is able to dismantle paganism’s lie that we live in a self-made, divine universe that made you.

2. Biblical cosmology is a totally unified ordering principle; the foundation of Worldview, and the gospel. For the gospel only makes sense if God is Creator, Owner, Upholder, Lawmaker, Redeemer, and Judge. The gospel has no interface in a world in which pagan cosmology has replaced biblical cosmology. That is why there is a vital need to define categories as God does—for, He is Ruler, Sustainer, Owner and Definer of His creation. The designations God has made concerning creation establish a ‘blueprint’, or fixed point of reference which provides our understanding of the nature of reality. Only by what God has said in His infallible Word do we know beyond a shadow of a doubt what is true, real, right, and wrong.ⁱᵛ EX. of questions: what is a human being, a woman?

3. Biblical cosmology is expressed in the distinctions which God has made. We could say that God creates by ‘separating things’; making them distinct—heaven and earth; dry land and sea; animal and plant; day and night; good and evil; man and woman (Genesis chapters one and two). The creation structures formed by God are: male distinct from female, parent distinct from child, human distinct from animal, animal distinct from plant; etc. These ‘binaries of two-ness’ constitute boundaries or divisions established by the Creator. In biblical cosmology we define the creation as God does. Just as in Acts 17 in Paul’s sermon to the Athenian philosophers, we cannot know the creation as it truly is, nor our place in it apart from knowing God’s relation to the creation (see Acts 24-28). The entire cosmos is a theater of God’s glory, revealing His attributes according to Romans 1:18-23. It is a sacred teaching device infallibly revealing God’s divine nature.

II. What is the evidence that the West has changed cosmologies?

1. Our universities are teaching that human flourishing is found in pagan cosmology. Education is inescapably religious, one’s conception of the world and of human existence is of necessity religious in nature. Public schools today in the Western world teach a pagan cosmology (that our universe is self-originating and consequently possesses divine properties; abiogenesis). The secular academy is determined to replace biblical worldview with a pagan one. But, denial of the Creator-creature distinction constitutes a plunge into absurdity—for it is impossible for the creature to set up an alternative rationality in defiance of his Creator who is the source of all rationality (‘everything came from nothing’; they can’t live it).ᵛ The secularists have used the philosophy of materialism to attack the divine ‘blueprint’ by which we are to interpret the world, and order our lives. This new level of human rebellion is reminiscent of the Lord’s words through Jeremiah addressed to apostate Judah, “Do you not fear Me? Declares the Lord. Do you not tremble in My presence? For I have placed the sand as a boundary for the sea, an eternal decree, so it cannot cross over it. Though the waves toss, yet they cannot prevail; though they roar, yet they cannot cross over it. But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and departed” (Jer 5:22-23).

These two mutually exclusive worldviews of biblical cosmology and pagan cosmology are driving the culture war. Consider that the two moral-social issues which presently divide our nation politically are: 1) abortion on demand, and 2) LGBTQ + ‘rights’.ᵛⁱ By enshrining choice for both abortion, and erotic ‘freedom’, it is clear that the political left is now advocating a pagan worldview or cosmology in which man is not the image of God. By exalting choice as the liberation of self, and the source of self-identification, it is clear that just beneath this idolatrous autonomy is a pagan cosmology (which gives tacit permission to worship the self). To rail against the distinctions which God has established is to oppose Almighty God who formed them for His glory—war on God’s created distinctions is war against God, who is the ‘distinction Maker’.

2. As Christian worldview recedes, the culture of death (abortion, sexual perversion, euthanasia, etc.) will claim the cultural territory abandoned by biblical theism. This eagerness to ‘liberate’ our culture from the remnants of its ‘Christian harness’ flows from the wholehearted rejection that our identity and dignity rest upon our being made in God’s image. The rejection of our creational identity as the image of God is primary in the ploy to justify the moral revolution. Consider how the following terms are utilized in a frontal attack on religious freedom while being placed in the service of defending erotic freedom: diversity, peace, tolerance, inclusion, justice, equality, self-affirmation, civil rights, equal protection, compassion, non-discrimination, personal empowerment, unity, and human flourishing.ᵛⁱⁱ The vast majority of these terms, in their original meaning are derived from Christian values. Their origin cannot be traced to Darwinian sources. Yet, the left has no issue with its ‘theft’ of Christian values—which they then label as values inherent in erotic freedom! Millennials need to be able to see through this ruse—which poses as human flourishing (note the redefinition of the terms listed above).ᵛⁱⁱⁱ

3. Pagan cosmology is a reconfiguration of the way we think about sexuality. People are imagining that they can create their own reality and ultimate identity, as if law emanates from them. The deconstruction of gender and sexuality is welcomed as pure self-expression without restraint.ⁱˣ This deception is flowing from a demonic cosmology. Erasing every God-ordained distinction is now considered the foundation of liberty. Christian millennials are far too easily silenced by the arguments from the left. Actually one reason why so many Christian young people are mute in the face of progressivism’s assault is that they have never been taught biblical cosmology.

4. The breaking down of the gender binary (male-female) is central to the new vision for society with its new moral order with new laws and ethics. The deconstruction of the fixity of male and female lays the groundwork for a new morality with laws made to ‘prevent discrimination against alternative lifestyles.’ This pagan cosmology rejects the divinely created order. The outcome is a new set of ethics which enforces homosexual politics and laws about transgender pronouns.ˣ In pagan spirituality, the male-female distinction is erased, making homosexuality appear ‘natural’ within that worldview. As this pagan cosmology is applied, Christianity will increasingly be regarded as the adversary of progress and liberty. And, because of the male-female binary is foundational to biblical cosmology, Christianity is regarded as the single greatest threat to public acceptance of homosexuality.ˣⁱ (Binary ‘having two parts’, as in two genders.)

5. Today’s ‘scientific paganism’ proposes a non-teleological man—a human who is not designed by God. This lie has become the state-sponsored creation myth and cosmology. Corporate technologies are playing their part in cancel culture—openly disapproving of the gender binaries in biblical cosmology. The progressive left has virtually pronounced itself the victor in this culture war. The divinely ordained structure of the universe spelled out in biblical cosmology, has been written off as myth, relegated to the realm of hate. Those who hold fast to God’s created binaries are labeled bigots.

III. Why has the West changed its cosmologies?

1. Pagan cosmology has appeal because it ‘justifies’ progressive ideas about behavior that they can be adopted in ‘good conscience’.ˣⁱⁱ What exasperates the ardent materialist (secularist) is that all the permanent things that God has ordered are not up for discussion. Thus, the secularist is waging open war on the fixed structures/sacred order in biblical cosmology. For, the secularist attempts to usurp God’s role for himself as absolute definer (replacing what God has given a fixed nature). This means that the infinite personal God of the universe willed your gender before He created a single atom. There is nothing that can be done to undo it. You can vandalize it, deface it, surgically mutilate it, cross dress it, but you cannot erase the image of God as male and female. The infinite gulf between the Creator and the creature is a truth that is inseparable from the fixity of the created order. We sometimes refer to this order as the furniture of the universe. The lying pagan cosmology being fed to our young people is communicated by the latest memes, marketing techniques, fake news, and identity politics. This ‘Gentile cosmology’ and its effects are described by Paul in (Eph 4:17-19).

2. Pagan cosmology asserts both human and cosmic autonomy. God’s creation is desacralized (profaned) in the process by suggesting that the cosmos is self-originating, self-sustaining, and self-defining. This is the scoffer’s premise that the creation; God’s book of works is unreadable, having no clear message or Author. By contrast, the truthfulness of biblical cosmology asserts that our Creator has an absolute claim upon us, His creatures (Gen 1:26-27). And, central to His claim is that He requires holiness from us which means honoring the creation structures and distinctions which He formed and hallowed. Psalm 39 pictures us as ‘tenants’ on the planet and tenants in our own bodies. In verses 4-6 the psalmist is reflecting upon his creaturehood. ‘Lord, make me know how brief my life is, and that the resources I accumulate will not extend my life.’ ‘Lord grant that I would understand how temporary and transient I am.’

3. The narrative of erotic freedom casts the defenders of biblical worldview as guilty of homo-phobia, trans-phobia, etc. But, there is an underlying cruel agenda beneath the surface when these insults are flying about (classist, racist, xenophobic, sexist, hetero-sexist, etc.). For, the goal of pagan cosmology is the ushering in of a monolithic worldview of egalitarianism. This is an all-embracing cosmology of homo-cosmological sameness. Everything must be deconstructed; any notion of sexual morality must go. All sex and genders found within the ‘rainbow of options’ are permissible. This comprehensive ‘leveling’ is all done in the name of equality so that the culture is fully ‘rinsed’ of all of the distinctions that God has made. But, this is the fast track to a spiritual holocaust; the carnage will be immeasurable (Rev 9:15-21). Christian young people need to hear that it is impossible to buy into this omni-gendered (no limit on genders), pansexual (no limit in sexual choice with regard to biological sex, gender, or gender identity) view of the world apart from a deeply pagan notion of the world (which completely redefines human existence).ˣⁱⁱⁱ A world without the recognition of divine distinctions will be a dystopia, not a utopia.

IV. What are the consequences of choosing the devil’s cosmology?

The natural man, because of his sin and sin nature is separated from God. He is created for communion with his Maker, but is estranged from Him. Nevertheless, he ‘normalizes’ the abnormality of this separation even while bringing his needs to created things (which is an act of worship). This is why he selects a cosmology which normalizes a broken rebellious world. He chooses this ‘Gentile cosmology’ (Eph 4:;17-19) in order to placate his conscience. Philosophically speaking, the natural man needs a worldview which frees up his lusts. The apostle Paul vividly summarizes this connection between futile thinking and immoral license in Ephesians 4:17-19 (bet. one’s cosmology and crudeness). Here are four descriptions of those with ungodly cosmologies. 1) the futility of their mind. 2) alienated from the life of God. 3) being past feeling (callous, hardness of heart). 4) the practice of lewdness, impurity, sensuality, uncleanness with greediness.

1. ‘Callousness and hardness of heart’ has become a very accurate description of the dominant cosmology of the present age (Eph 4:18-19). This is why Bible-believing Christians need to hear on a regular basis, not simply that they are right and correct in exposing a culture of deceit, but that because our Savior is God very God and is the truth incarnate, we are going to win. We are going to win because we have the truth. Stupidity cannot win. Imagine an engineering department that says from now on, everything will be assembled of nuts with nuts, and bolts with bolts—that stupidity will guarantee failure.ˣⁱᵛ (Then requires belief in the lie.)

2. “The present rising generation is the first one in Western history to be presented with a comprehensive pagan worldview” (Peter Jones). ˣᵛ What the progressive left demands, erotic freedom by means of an underlying worldview of pagan cosmology, is tantamount to open war on the knowledge of God. For, when the ordained boundaries, creation structures, and distinctions which God has formed are regarded as obstacles to ‘freedom’—then open war has been declared on who God is (2 Cor 10:3-5).
3. Proponents of erotic freedom would have us believe that in the West we are gaining new freedoms as time passes. This is the myth of endless democratization—as if someday we will arrive at ultimate freedom in which there will be absolutely unhindered self-expression. This myth underlies the lie that is being fed to parents: your little boys may become girls, and your little girls may become boys. Nancy Pearcey reminds us in her book, Love thy Body that today’s secular morality blows apart the connection between scientific and moral knowledge.ˣᵛⁱ The secular worldview functions as a state-sponsored ideology or ‘political religion’. Secular university students are taught that the Christian perspective in the public arena violates the idea of neutrality and objectivity. But, this fragmented view treats the body as extrinsic to the person. That is the opposite of a holistic view in which the body has intrinsic value and worth.ˣᵛⁱⁱ

4. Corporations having taken up the mantle of pagan cosmology as a marketing scheme; they are using their media visibility to participate in the left’s ‘moral signaling’. Their hope is that by showing that they are full participants in the moral revolution, the buying habits of the populace will be sure to follow. Our young adults are being torn in two: either they go with the flow of popular culture, or face the consequences of being ostracized. Consider what is lost in terms of the knowledge of God when the LGBTQ + agenda is unopposed and unexposed. There is the loss of: the hatred of sin, the fear of God, the fight for purity and virtue, the education of the conscience by God’s commands, the purpose of the cross of Christ, the exaltation of God’s moral government, and the ability to train up the rising generation. These transforming truths disappear into the background when sin is normalized by a culture’s cosmology.

V. How do we use Biblical Cosmology to confront today’s apostasy?

1. Christians must boldly stress that cosmology in general revelation (God’s creation) is as R.C. Sproul has said, “Infallible and inerrant.” Creation is God’s general revelation, it is the ‘book of God’s works’: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse” (Rom 1:18-20).

2. To reject God’s testimony in the physical order of creation (Rom 1:18-23) is a ploy to conceal one’s rejection God’s testimony in the moral order (Rom 1:24-32; 2:14-16). The noetic effects of sin on human reasoning have so tainted the intellect of man, that he uses what light he does have to pursue futile thinking with greater abandon. Why? Because He is a ‘studious’ truth-suppressor, living intellectually with his back to God. He uses his faculty of reason to explain away the God who created that faculty. “Who has put wisdom in the innermost being or given understanding to the mind?”(Job 38:36). In Job 39:26-30, God’s testimony of His ‘teleology’ in creation is clear, our Creator designed this hawk to soar, to build a lofty nest, to be able to see its prey from afar.

3. Therefore, critical to biblical cosmology is the fact that to know God is to know that the chief end of all things (telos) is the revelation of His glory and perfections. This truth extends to touch all things. For, the uniting force that makes all knowledge a whole, is the glory of God. Knowledge and truth exist for the glory of God. That means that every planet, twinkling star, chirping bird, or flowering plant has a particular goal or intended function; we call this purpose, teleology—the goal of making God’s perfections known (see Col 1:15-17). But, the darkness of the Edenic lie is alive and well—we see it in the rejection of teleology. Consider that university students are daily schooled in this lie that freedom is freedom from design (freedom from teleology). ‘Nothing outside of you defines you.’ That is the devil’s definition of liberty. As a consequence, today’s moral revolution is descending ever deeper into the madness of moral lunacy. How absurd to think that through hormone treatments, or through political activism, or through sexual anarchy that it is possible to deconstruct the gender binaries that God has created.

4. Biblical cosmology asserts that God’s government is inseparable from the binaries He has established within the cosmic order: male-female, parent-child, man-animal, good-evil, etc.—these binaries are inseparably tied to His glory. Genesis 1:31 is a kind of benediction or doxology where God blesses the cosmological order He has established with its beautifully ordered binaries. Thus, to know God truly, is to know the ‘cosmic furniture’ or binaries He has ordered which point to His wisdom and goodness. This inescapable truth sheds light on the human rebellion of our age. When a person rejects the distinctions and the binaries God has created, Satan gains not only a follower, but a proselyte to advance his lying worldview and cosmology.

5. In 1948, author Richard Weaver saw the nihilistic consequences of pagan cosmology which reduced man to a cosmic accident, a soul-less creature born of chance, a biological robot made in the image of an animal. ˣᵛⁱⁱⁱ We look at the moral madness of our current age and often fail to see the perverse logic that Weaver foresaw. For as Paul states, a ‘Gentile cosmology’ underlies the current moral revolution (Eph 4:17-19). Our nation has changed cosmologies. True believers need to know that the progressive left cannot win a debate when their moral idiocy attempts to take on God’s infallible truth. As an example of the absurdity of pagan cosmology, consider a cosmological quote from Stephen Hawking. “The human race is just a chemical scum on a moderate size planet.” Let that nihilistic statement sink in. How might a reductionistic sentiment like Hawking’s have ramifications on politics? We are already seeing the impact of this worldview politically everywhere we look. If humanity is but ‘chemical scum’ then killing a baby is without moral implications or consequences.

6. The world’s cosmology rejects the foundation of all reality: the Creator-creature distinction. In godless worldviews, the fabric of reality lacks created distinctions because the Creator-creature distinction is absent, thus all is connected and all is evolving, and all is in one circle of reality. Anything can morph into something else. For, all phenomena is the result of time and chance acting upon matter. The implication of that is that there are no fixed categories, anything can become something else. Therefore, opines the modern pagan, “What’s your quarrel with a sex-change operation? After all, if a bird and a harbor seal are related through the same ancestors, what’s the big deal?” But, biblical cosmology teaches that the distinctions God has created are fixed. The primary distinction could be expressed as: “Let there be things that are not God, and behold it was very good.” The eternal Creator creates what is utterly dependent upon Him. He forms a created order that is separate from Him by an infinite distance.ˣⁱˣ God the ‘Definer’ gives us the correct categories to understand our world and to engage our world. Professor James Herrick of Hope College highlights the role of biblical cosmology in our Christian apologetic, “We must revive Christian cosmology in all its comprehensiveness.”ˣˣ That ‘comprehensiveness’ includes the Christo-centric elements of our biblical worldview—namely that Christ is epistemic Lord, that He, as Logos, is the source of rationality in the universe, that He unifies all knowledge, that He is the embodiment of God’s wisdom, that He alone bridges the gap between Creator and creature, and that as ‘Lord of all,’ His rule is both personal and cosmic—He governs the individual and the universe (Col 1:15-19). The disastrous consequences of pagan worldview are catalogued by Paul in Romans chapter one. Those who subscribe to pagan worldview are judged by God. They experience three areas of being given over—they are: given over in their minds; in their spirits; in their bodies.ˣˣⁱ By contrast, Christ as Lord of the cosmos and Lord of the Church is truth and life incarnate. “. . . [He] abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Tim 1:10b). He is sovereign over all knowledge—in His ‘epistemic lordship,’ Christ answers, and delivers from, by His own Person, every version of ‘the lie’ (Rom 1:25; Col 2:8). Thus, at the center of Christian worldview is Christ the ‘Savior of the World.”ˣˣⁱⁱ

7. What is frequently missing in today’s gospel apologetic is God’s absolute holiness and justice, that the Savior is Lord of the cosmos—Christ, the Logos, is the source of the beautiful order in our cosmos (Col 1:16-17). Therefore, those who appeal to Him for a cleansed conscience also bow the knee to Him as their Creator and Lord, and from then on, find their life in being ruled by His infallible Word, the Holy Scriptures. How can the rising generation resist the ploy foisted upon them by the progressive left, namely that the social values they enshrine (that were actually birthed by Christianity), must be protected from Christianity. Think of it! Students are being told in order to protect social values, they must reject Christianity in order to safeguard and champion those ideals.ˣˣⁱⁱⁱ It is common for university students today to regard personal liberty as resting upon the idea that nothing outside of man defines him (no teleology). Therefore, there is no obligation to adhere to God’s design. Thus, in the loss of biblical cosmology, religion is completely severed from education—and, as the new, materialistic atheism goes mainstream, it is viewed as a proud achievement of modernism.

8. How can we bring biblical cosmology into our proclamation of the gospel? We should take our cue from the apostle Paul who began his sermons to Gentile hearers with a brief theology (see Acts 14:14-17; and 17:16-34). For, the gospel only makes sense in a world in which God is Owner, Ruler, Redeemer, and Judge. That most basic beginning is not the least bit redundant. In fact, few Westerners even consider the ramifications which flow from the fact that God created out of nothing, every atom and molecule (Heb 11:3-6). That fact alone establishes that God is Owner of all, and everything we have is ‘on loan’—we are but temporal stewards of what belongs to Him. At death, the human spirit will report back to God and our bodies will return to dust. Our pride will literally be placed in the dust as our bodies decompose (Gen 3:19). The Edenic lie of human autonomy will be dismantled in a moment of time. Then, the impenitent sinner will realize too late what he owed God (worship, service, and reverence). Judgment Day will reveal whether or not our bodies, thoughts, speech, and actions were used in accordance with God’s purpose and design set forth in biblical cosmology.

How little we think of a day in which cosmic holiness will fill the universe. In the new heavens and the new earth (2 Pet 3:11-13), every single thing will be in its proper place. Every created thing will fulfill the purpose for which it is made and thus honor and glorify God. Every vestige of decay and perversion will be gone. The glory of God will cover the earth as the ocean covers the sea floor (Hab 2:14; Is 11:9). Cosmic holiness, as it fulfills God’s telos, will be stunning and beautiful. The child of God must be controlled and animated by this hope of glory expressed in biblical cosmology. What is the moral state of the new heavens and earth described in 2 Peter 3:13? A new earth where righteousness dwells.

Conclusion and review:

The progressives exalt ‘choice’ above truth, and then claim that choice in matters of sex, orientation, and gender is the only way to preserve freedom and compassion. Do you know why this constitutes ‘war’ against God. God is the distinction-Maker, thus to seek to eliminate His distinctions is war against Him.

‘New definitions’ destroy true meaning. Note how the following terms have been coopted and redefined: diversity, peace, tolerance, inclusion, justice, equality, civil rights, equal protection, compassion, non-discrimination, unity, and human flourishing.

What is the connection between the push for ‘erotic freedom’ and holding to a false cosmology? The progressive left demands erotic freedom by means of an underlying worldview of pagan cosmology; this is tantamount to open war on the knowledge of God.

Christ is epistemic Lord, He is Logos, the source of rationality in the universe, He unifies all knowledge, He is the embodiment of God’s wisdom, He alone bridges the gap between Creator and creature, and He is ‘Lord of all,’ His rule is both personal and cosmic —He governs the individual and the universe.

End Notes:

i Dave Doveton, “Paganism in the Church” (Escondido, CA: Christian Witness to a Pagan Planet, think-tank, 2007).
ii Jay Wegter, “Worldview, Apologetics, and Evangelism, BCW363A” (Newhall: The Master’s College, 2007).
iii Dave Doveton.
iv Jay Wegter, “Christian Worldview.”
v Michael Vlach, “Presuppostional Apologetics” (Sun Valley, CA: The Master’s Seminary, 2006).
vi Albert Mohler, The Briefing, January 7, 2020
vii Peter Jones, “Paganism in Today’s Culture,” Ligonier Conference, February 25, 2015
viii Peter Jones, “Paganism in Today’s . . .”
ix Ibid.
x Dave Doveton, “Paganism in the Church.”
xi Ibid.
xii Peter Jones, One or Two, p. 48
xiii Ibid.
xiv Douglas Wilson, “Sanity as Insurrection”
xv Peter Jones, “Mission in the 21st Century; the Witness of Holiness,” Christ Church, Moscow, ID
xvi Nancy Pearcey, Love thy Body, p. 12
xvii Ibid, pp. 63-64
xviii Ibid, p. 169
xix Ibid.
xx James Herrick, “New Myths for a New Pagan Age” (Escondido, CA: Christian Witness to a Pagan Planet, think-tank, 2007).
xxi Ibid.
xxii Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield, The Saviour of the World (Cherry Hill: Mack Publishing Co., r.p. 1972).
xxiii Richard Weaver, Ideas have Consequences, p. 34