Self-Awareness

It was in late 2005 or early 2016, when my wife and I received an invitation to a dinner hosted by Coral Ridge Ministry with Dr. D. James Kennedy speaking that evening. That evening, I had the pleasure of meeting Tom DeRosa, Executive Director of the Creation Sciences Institute (CSI), a national creation ministry whose mission is to reach the church community with the truths of Creation, its Creator and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In this month’s newsletter Mr. DeRosa writes about how every man and woman who lives on this earth has a name. It gives them their identity. It is estimated by UNICEF that an average of 350,000 babies are born each day, each in need of a name. This is a distinctly human process, demonstrating man’s self-awareness apart from other creatures on earth.

Genesis 2:19-20 “Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field.”

Animals have ways of recognizing each other through their God-given senses, but bestowing names on one another is purely a human practice. Dogs, cats, and other domestic animals often possess names from a solely human need to give them their own identity. DeRosa states that an ability to name other creatures is a measure of self-awareness. Evolutionists have attempted to explain this phenomenon using the theory that self-awareness had its origins when hominids began to work together, but they have failed miserably to produce the objective data needed to advance this hypothesis.

Where does the ability originate? Scientist define consciousness as being aware of one’s body and environment, while self-awareness is so much different. It is complete recognition of your “self” as in your own existence. You need to be aware that you are thinking and realize your own thoughts. It is obvious by doing this that you have gone into a much higher level of awareness. At this level, you can ask fundamental questions dealing with identity, purpose, and value. This is a unique quality that human beings possess, and it is so different that it should make us ponder the origin of this remarkable human ability.

Genesis 2:4 “This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.”

Naming your loved ones and even your pets has its origins in Genesis, the first book of the Bible. It gives us an historical profile of everything we observe. In Genesis 2, the focus is on the history of “they”, meaning Adam and Eve. They were the first man and woman on earth and the first parents of the entire human race. In Genesis 1:27, it establishes that they were created in the “image of God’ on the sixth day of creation. Man would be given a unique position in all of creation. He would have a loving relationship with the magnificent, Almighty Creator of the Cosmos.

Romans 3:21-24 “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

Man’s self-awareness originates on being created in the image of the One who loves him and desires to have fellowship with him for eternity. The gospel of Jesus Christ is truly good news for those who are sinners by nature. God sent His only begotten Son to die for us. A holy Creator would Himself accomplish our redemption and bestow upon those who place their faith in Him eternal life. This same gospel uses our self-awareness and the fact that we are sinners to show us our need for a Savior.  By the grace of God, we are given the gift of repentance where we can acknowledge our sins and cry out to God of deliverance from the bondage and death sin causes. And by this same grace, we are given the gift of “saving faith”, whereby we can trust in God and receive His forgiveness and everlasting life in Christ.

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

DeRosa concludes that man has been put in a special place in all of creation. Man’s identity is based on the ability to have fellowship with God. He has created mankind “to have dominion over the works of His hands” – Psalm 8:6. He has given man a special ability with intellectual awareness to become a good steward of His creation. Man has been gifted with the capacity to take ownership over the creatures that roam the earth. And this includes the honor of giving names to all of the animals.

Blessings in Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Brian