The General MB Conference Board of Faith and Life has been in the process of revising the Mennonite Brethren Confession of Faith since 1993. BFL has completed a draft and is now in the process of gathering feedback. BFL invites your participation in this important process. This is the second in a series of reports that will focus on several of the new or most significantly revised articles. The full draft has been sent to every North American MB congregation. Additional copies are available through the Internet.

CREATION AND HUMANITY

God and Creation

We believe God created all things. All of creation expresses God's sovereign will and design, but it remains distinct from the Creator. The universe is good and belongs to God who cares for and delights in it. Creation points to the wisdom and power of God and calls all to worship God the Creator.

Humanity represents the crowning achievement of creation. God created them male and female in the image of God. They were created with special dignity, to live in relationship with God, able to choose between good and evil. God calls people to rule the earth, care for it, and manage its resources wisely.

Sin entered the world through willful disobedience, distorted human nature, and alienated humans from God and creation. Sin, guilt, and death, however, will not prevail. God will create a new heaven and a new earth in which evil, suffering, and death will be forever banished. The first signs of this new creation are already present in those who accept God's forgiveness through Christ, the fulfillment of creation and of all history. In Christ all things shall be reconciled and created anew.

Gen 1:1, 26-30; Ps 8:6; 24:1-2; 89:11; 95:5; 104; Is 44:24; Jn 1:1-4, 10; 17:5; Rom 1:19-20; 4:17; 5:17, 21; 6:4; 8:19-23; 1 Cor 8:6; 15:20-27; 2 Cor 3:18; 4:6; 5:16-19; Gal 3:28; 6:15; Eph 1:4, 9-10; 2:11-22; 4:24; Col 1:15-17; Heb 11:3; 1 Pet 1:20; 1 Jn 2:8-9; Rev 4:8-11; 21:1-5; 22:13

The Bible begins with the statement that God created the universe--heaven and earth. This statement determines what we believe about many things: God's sovereignty, humanity, our purpose as people, the environment, stewardship, sin and death.

The draft Confession reaffirms the basic statements of Scripture: God the Creator is deeply connected to creation but absolutely separate from the created order. God created man and woman to enjoy creation and care for it. When humans sinned, death resulted. God's will was not thwarted, however, and God's new creation was begun in Jesus.

Why are these issues so important to us? First, the popular New Age movement teaches pantheism, that God is part of nature, the sum total of the vital forces of the universe. Pantheism rejects human responsibility before the loving sovereign God. Article 3 refutes this New Age nonsense.

Second, evolutionism teaches that the universe is the result of chance and that life, the outcome of blind fate, continues only by survival of the fittest. If human life is the result of an undirected process, life loses meaning. By eliminating God, this world view also eliminates humanity.

Third, God cares about both humans and the rest of the creation. Subsequent articles deal with God's redemptive plan (Article 5 on Salvation) and human responsibility for the environment (Article 15 on Stewardship). Because God cares so deeply, we must resist the evil forces which dehumanize people; we must become sensitive to the need for good management of the earth; and we must become partners in God's purpose--reconciling all things to Christ.

Questions to consider:

1. Does the article clearly express a high view of creation? Is the role of creation in pointing to God's wisdom and power stated clearly? Are these teachings consistent with Scripture?

2. Does the article accurately describe the role of humans in God's design? Is the relationship between humans and God expressed well? Does the article provide an adequate base for refuting evolutionism? pantheism? the New Age movement?

3. Does the Christian hope for a new creation provide encouragement for those facing suffering and death? Does the article clearly state that alienation and death are the result of sin's activity?