ENDANGERED MAN AND THE REPLY OF THE CHRISTIAN FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF THEOLOGY*

In the story o f creation (Gen. 1:26-2:3 and Gen. 2:4-25) the full empha­ sis falls firstly on the fact that man is the high point of Creation and then emphasis shifts to the fact that man represents the point of departure for history. On the one hand man is related to the lower orders of reality as he has been created out of the “dust of the ea rth” . On the other hand he should be distinguished on the grounds of principle as it emerges that he was created as the result o f a deliberate mutual deliberation of the Trinity; God initiated his life by giving him breath; and it is of the greatest import that man was created in the image of God. As would appear from Genesis 5:3 where these same words are used in a reversed order, this double expression indicates that man was a likeness of God. This image has determined his hum anity and has meant that he has a claim on com munion with God through faith. In particular this likeness to God has implied the dominion of man over all of creation. Also as regards his physique man is creatcd in the image of God and is thus a totality . At creation this world found its point of concentration in Adam who had the covenant o f the word of God, to whom God gave his communion through the only Logos and who has to reply to God in love and so keep the covenant. Through a lack of faith and disobedience, however, Adam negated the covenant wilfully. The most im portant traits of the image of God were lost, and only distant sparks remained in the extent to which man remained man (albeit dishonoured) and did not become either beast or devil. The image in a narrower sense, viz. the true knowledge of God, justice and holiness, can only be restored through regeneration (Ephesians 4 :24; Colosians 3:10). Through rin man has become endangered. Sin is a negative, destructive

In the story o f creation (Gen.1:26-2:3 and Gen. 2:4-25) the full em pha sis falls firstly on the fact th at man is the high point of Creation and then emphasis shifts to the fact th at man represents the point of departure for history.On the one hand man is related to the lower orders of reality as he has been created out of the "dust of the e a rth " .On the other hand he should be distinguished on the grounds of principle as it emerges th at he was created as the result o f a deliberate m utual deliberation of the T rinity; God initiated his life by giving him breath; and it is of the greatest im port that man was created in the image of God.As would appear from Genesis 5:3 w here these same words are used in a reversed order, this double expression indicates that man was a likeness of God.This image has determ ined his hum anity and has m eant that he has a claim on com m union with God through faith.
In particular this likeness to G od has implied the dom inion of man over all of creation.Also as regards his physique man is creatcd in the image of G od and is thus a totality .
At creation this world found its po int of concentration in Adam who had the covenant o f the word of G od, to whom God gave his com m union through the only Logos and who has to reply to God in love and so keep the covenant.
Through a lack o f faith and disobedience, however, Adam negated the covenant wilfully.The m ost im p ortant traits of the image of God were lost, and only distant sparks rem ained in the exten t to which man rem ained man (albeit dishonoured) and did not becom e either beast or devil.The image in a narrow er sense, viz. the true knowledge of G od, justice and holiness, can only be restored through regeneration (Ephesians 4 :2 4 ; Colosians 3:10).
Through rin man has becom e endangered.Sin is a negative, destructive * Translation from the original Afrikaans lecture.
force.It is a lack of vvhat should be there.That negative Ibrcc gnaws like a cancer.Sin extends itself continually.It can thus be described as an active privation of the good (Latin: privatio actuosa boni).Holy Scripturcs intend to indicate this in speaking o f missing an aim, of transgressing the law (1 Jo h n 3:4) and so forth.The doctrine of sin in A dam , in our fathers, in c o n trast to wilful transgression, is based inter alia on the following Scriptural text: Jo b 14:4, Romans 5 :1 2 , Psalm 51:7 and S t.J o h n 3:3-6.In general, the punishm ent for sin is death.This implies the breaking up of the com m union of the covenant.G od is w rathful about the rejection of his love and avenges this through death.A distinction should be made betw een the tem porary ("physical") death as a breaking of com m union with the visible w orld, spiritual death as a breaking of com m union with God and eternal death as eternal curse and rejection of God.The Heidelberg Cathechism distinguishes betw een tem poral and eternal judgem ent (Question 10).There arc judgem ents em anating as by themselves from sin and judgm ents imposed by God " from o u tsid e" .Eternal judgm ent is indicated as being am ongst others, as the outer darkness, the rejection by G od, eternal fire and the w rath of God.
In order to typify the effect of sin on man one could use the imagery of a worm and a p y thon.Man is devoured fro m the inside as by a worm and suffocated fro m outside as by a p yth o n which squeezes its prey preparatory to swallowing it.
Although he lacks Scriptural foundation to a large ex ten t, Jurgen Moltm a n n 's view holds th a t endangered man is caught in a vicious circle.The main lines emerging in this respect would seem to indicate adequately that m an is indeed gravely endangered:

The vicious circle from an econom ic viewpoint
In Revelations 17 to 19 the city of Babylon is typified as the anti-divine secular pow er, the source, the core of th e pow er of godlessness.The secular rootedness, the idolization of the m aterial w orld, emerges from the fact th at next to the nations o f the earth, th e kings o f the earth, m ention can also be made of the traders o f th e earth.The entire world w ith its national life, its politics and diplom acy b u t especially its trade, moves away from God and is held in the thrall of Babylon in rebellion to G od.It appears th a t the kings of industry, factory bosses and large traders will be the giants o f the earth (18: 23).When Babylon comes to a fall, we read o f three groups standing and lam enting, viz.th e kings (representing world politics), traders (representing econom ic forces) and the pilots and sailors (representing com m unication).
Antichrist will apply the pow er of state, he will, through the offices of the false prophet (his Minister of Propaganda), e.g. through the press, radio and television disseminate his poison into our hom es and through econom ic pressure he will enforce his will.Cf. in this respect Rev. 13, where it deals with the mark on the right hand and the forehead so th a t nobody w ithout the mark can engage in trade.Men will thus have to do as the d ictato r, the A ntichrist, dem ands and will have to think as he does.In Rev. 18:12 and 13 a whole series of trade articles on the Babylonian m arket is summ arized.M ention is made first of gold and silver and ultim ately of the souls of men.Man, created in the likeness of G od, is thus degraded to an article of m er chandise -and above all one of the least im portance.
In a divine word of w rath over Babylon we read in Isaiah 13:12: " And I will make man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of O phir" .This trade centre lay on the river Euphrates in antiquity.Babylon in all its wealth arose as the queen of the earth.Its nam e, however, means confusion.Human existence will be threatened and men will becom e few in num ber.This means th a t the individual will be swallowed in the negated mass.Pulverizing socialism already has this process in train today.One can justly speak of the deterioration of personality.General J.C .Smuts regarded this as m an 's greatest threat (" The disappearance of the sturdy, independent-m inded, freedom-loving individual and his replacem ent by a servile standardised mass m entality is the greatest hum an menace of our tim e" -in his book F reedom ).This is the ro t of the m echanization and technical misshapen quality of life.H um anity increasingly consists o f pressers of b u tto n s (" An increasing dependence on the machine has equalised, and is equalising m ore, the natural inequalities of m ankind" -R.M urray, The good pagan's failure).In an overpopulated world of teeming m ultitides, man increasingly finds himself being dehum anized.Strong personalities will becom e scarcer, as we have observed, even am ong leaders of men.Personali ty is bleached to confirm ity.Man becom es a mere cipher.He develops a sla vish, standardized mass m entality.Q uantity and uniform ity are reigning fac tors.So develops the m yth of a new messiah, viz, the proletariat.Man is endangered by com m unism with its collectivization of man and com munizing o f property.
In this century of idolization of violence and contem pt of m an, of in creasing dehum anization and crude bestiality, m an, as explicitly prophesied in Isaiah, is w orth less than gold, and is of in fin ittly less im portance than oilfields, the gold m arket and wool prices.In a cold metallic w orld of the thu n d er of factories and the thu n der of bom bers man atrophies and dies.

The vicious circle seen from the political view point
In Rev. 6:3 and 4 we read of the second seal being opened.J o h n is spe cially com m anded to come and witness as it is a m atter of utm ost signifi cance tor earth-dwellers.The announcem ent from the throne room of God implies that peace has been taken away from the earth and th a t men will " slaughter" each oth er -it is said literally.Here approaches a horse -fiery red.A horse is a m artial animal.The colour is of blood.The rider receives a great sw ord.In this respect we have to rem em ber w hat Christ has said in M atthew 24:6 and 7 of "wars and rum ors o f w ars" .There will be wars on an unim agined scale as we have already com e to know them in this century.Satan has been a m urderer o f men since the beginning (St.Jo h n 8:44) and moves about like a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8).He seeks one to devour.He d e lights in death and slaughter.As the tim e of the second com ing approaches, ana S atan 's tim e becomes m ore brief, the fiery red dragon will be increasing ly w rathful and seek to devour the faithful (Rev.12:12.17), but also m an kind in general.Not only a few nations at a tim e will be involved in warsthese will be world wars.The one will involve the other.U ltim ately the whole world will be divided into two camps and will clash in a battle where the armies will num ber two hundred million (Rev.9 :16).A spirit of war will be all-pervasive, and m ankind will becom e like an individual seeking release in suicide.The lust for killing will increase shockingly -cf.Isaiah 19:2.So man will always feel himself threatened in his earthly existence.The world will become dem oniac.The god of this world will blind the senses (2 C orin thians 4:4).T he A ntichrist will act on the ruins of hum an existence as the m ighty Napoleon rose as a ruler from the ruins of the I-'rcnch Revolution in 1 789.In the dem onic condition at international level the stam p of hell will be impressed.M ankind will be driven so far by the ro t (in Hebrew: Abáddon and in G reek: Apóllion -Rev.9:11) as to seek o ut death and n ot to find it.Mankind will long to die and death will evade them (Rev.9:6).Man, exhausted beyond m easure, will in a sin-induced spiritual nausea fear th a t he will n o t be able to die.Evil spirits rising from the abyss of darkness will fo m ent revolution (Rev.9:2, 3) and will induce destruction through world wars.Driven by evil spirits, hum an ingenuity and science will increasingly be directed at the m anufacture of destructive arms.Nations will be incensed to participate in the battle of A rm ageddon ) and to fall upon the Saints and the beloved city (Rev.20:9).One third of the people will be destroyed (Rev.9 :1 5 , 18).This would entail many m illions, seeing the size of the present world populatio n.Evil spirits will aid men in killing.At Naga saki and H iroshima respectively 250 000 and 300 000 inhabitants have al ready been destroyed.Aeroplanes play an enorm ous role here (cf.Isaiah 60: 8).In form ation they release terrible bom bs which rain fire, smoke and sul phu r on men and cities.The clouds of the atom bom bs reached to a height of 40 000 feet and pushed aside natural clouds.Research is being done at present to create even greater fear and destruction by em ploying cosmic rays.Millions o f dem onic spirits ride their " steeds" of fire, smoke and sul phur, sowing havoc on earth.Gravely endangered man is indeed suspended over a thousand abysses.

The vicious circle of the annihilation of personal identity
In Rev. 9:1-12 a vision reveals to Jo h n th a t the well of the abyss is being unlocked.From this had welled smoke as from a great oven, and sun and sky were darkened by this sm oke.From the smoke emerged locusts.The re markable fact about these locusts is th a t they do n ot destroy any greenness belonging to grass or tree, b u t th at they torture men.It is typical of locusts th a t in the realm of plants th ey devour all the rich com plexity and diversity leaving behind them only bare stalks.In this way these locusts envisioned by Jo h n will consum e the characteristic identities of men and nations so that ultim ately only stalks will be left on the great acres of the w orld.This is to be attrib u ted to dem onic spirits from hell.Their aim will be to dissolve the organic links in families and nations which im part variation and com plexity, so th a t in the process of disintegration only collections of anchorless, d e hum anizing grey masses will be left behind.

The vicious circle of the pollution of nature
In creating m an, G od created him landlord in dom inion over nature when He said: " Be faithful, and m ultiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it and have dom inion over the fish of th e sea and over the fowl o f the air, and over every living thing th a t creepeth upon the ea rth " (Genesis 1:28).Man was appointed guardian over nature.Because of the fall this relationship w ithin which man was supposed to realize his full hum anity has been distorted.Harm ony has becom e jangled sounds.Man has becom e an enemy of nature and nature has becom e a threat to man.The exploitation of nature now threatens to destroy life on earth.Man does not revere the p o tential of nature -instead he abuses it recklessly.Industrialization disturbs the balance in nature, so that intercom m unication between culture and na ture has been disrupted.Nature is subdued so callously and unthinkingly th a t man is in the process of destroying his habitat.This is evidenced for exam ple in the gaping w ounds created by erosion.Man is forever taking out and n o t replacing anything.He destroys, pollutes, annihilates birds and game and is ever driven by an inner discontent, tension and anxiety th at can n o t be dissipated in eating and drinking.An ecological death will u lti m ately grimace at him.N ature will becom e like an abandoned house.The b ook of G o d 's general self-revelation in the works of His hands is co n tam inated m ore and m ore in the exploitative hands of men.
This flagrant abuse is not regarded in the first place as being a crim e against the high m ajesty of G od as O w ner of all.Concern is widely expres sed ab o u t m an 's continued existence.Mr T.N.H. Ja n so n , erstwhile D eputy M inister of Planning and th e Environm ent and o f Statistics, po in ted o u t the lim itations of natural resources (Virginia, Die Volksblad, 11 November 1978).He also declared th a t the th reat to the environm ent and to man has becom e a com m unity problem .His further words: When a laissez-faire developm ent is allow ed, there is a m al-exploitation o f resources and m an pow er and so develops an im balance betw een man and his environm ent.He poin ted out the danger of stripping of resources.The energy crisis is al so assuming graver proportions.
Holy Scriptures warn that man as the m andated guardian of nature in the name of G od will lose his grip.N ature will rear up like an enraged beast and devour m an.N ature will attack man like a baited lion, breaking the links binding him , and initiate terrible catastrophes.There will be earthquakes, floods, broken harvests and epidemics -and th roug h o u t all these the signs of disintegration of hum an society.Revelations 6:12-14 " And 1 beheld w hen he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun becam e black as sackcloth of hair, and the m oon became as blood ; and the stars of heaven fell u n to the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untim ely figs, when she is shaken of a m ighty wind.And the heaven de parted as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every m ountain and island were moved o u t of their places" .
Man has achieved stunning heights through his science, determ ination and ability to work.He has pen etrated the deepest secrets o f the universe, he has invaded the treasuries of creation and has taken possession of the untam eable powers of nature.Now ultim ately he is confro n ted according to prophecy with the proofs of his radical helplessness and powerlessness, llis sluices and dam s, his irrigation projects are destroyed and his lab o rato ries are ruined.Revelations 16:21 speaks of great hailstones, weighing as much as a talen t, falling on man from heaven.Man is the m ost vulnerable being.Shelter in the cities disappears.Chunks of ice of plus-minus 60 kg, as those transported by ice trucks, fall from a tem pest-torn heaven while the earth reels like a drunkard (Isaiah 24:20).
In Revelations 16:8 m ention is made of the sun which for centuries has blessed creation with its beneficent rays.Now, when the fourth angel is pouring "his vial upon the sun; ... pow er was given unto him to scorch men w ith fire" .
The heat is consuming.There is no relief because dam s, rivers and oceans have become polluted.There is no cooling because w ater has changed to blood.The plagues have a cumulative effect on the brains and spirits of m en, bringing incalculable spiritual suffering.Suffering desperately, men chew their tongues in pain, gnashing their teeth in rage and frustration.It is no w onder then th a t in Revelations 6:15 and 16 we read of a massive head long flight from skyscrapers and apartm ent buildings, from teem ing cities, farms and holiday hom es, hotels, cinemas and concert halls, the palaces and governm ent buildings -to caves and rocks and m ountains to find shelter against the horror surrounding them on all sides; and to escape from co n science and G od. From the cold inhospitality of caves and holes rises the heart-breaking song of mourning, inviting rocks and m ountains to " fall on us, and hide us from the face of him th a t sitteth on the th ro n e, and from the w rath o f the Lord; for the great day of his w rath is come: and who shall be able to stand ?" (Rev.6:1 6, 17).

The all-encompassing vicious circle is the radical self-destruction of man resulting from his malfunctioning relationship with God
Here is to be found the m ost fundam ental reason why life disintegrates.Man has come far.He is proud of his breathtaking discoveries especially in the natural sciences; he analyses the secrets of the universe.And yet -this is a disabled and confused world.Man, so-called "of age" , is inextricably caught in a totally material life and a com plete nihilism.Man knows all about atom ic energy, radar and so on, b u t knows nothing of m orality, h u mility before G od, forgiveness of sins and the glad expectation of even being with th e Lord (1 Thess. 4 :17 ).This inculcates an ineffably impoverishing quality in m an, as he is adrift from G od, his fellowmen and the world (nature).In a vacuum he grabs frantically for fastness, to achieve lasting peace and tranquillity for the hum an heart containing the divine seed of eternity.The " Rock of Ages" is overshadowed by the "age of the ro ck " .Man is radically depreciated in the dehum anizing process of technology, mechanizing and materializing.
General J.C .Smuts expressed his deep concern for man menaced by fear o f death and destruction.(After Woríd War II he declared: "The feeling of grief, bitterness, disillusion, despair goes very deep...We have the paralysing sense of having failed.The fair prom ise o f nineteenth-century progress has ended in defeat and frustration and disillusion" .)Man has com e into pos session o f unhears-of destructive forces, and he is threatened by the danger of a cosmic catastrophe.(In F reedom , General Smuts declares th at "Science, the proudest p ro d u ct of hum an reason, the greatest instrum ent of hum an progress, the voice o f G od to our day and generation, has at the same time becom e the m ost dangerous w eapon for our self-destruction" .)M annheim has found th a t the " Entw icklung der technischen N aturbeherrschung meilenweit der Entw icklung der m oralischen Kráfte und des menschlichen Wissens um die O rdnung und Lenkung der Gesellschaft vorausgee'ilt ist" .Bishop Pike says th at " Science, technology, affluence and secular ism have eased G od out of the cosm os... obliterated the supernatural dim en sion of lif:... an om niscient, o m nip o ten t C reator is n o t em pirically justified by the d a ta " . O.
Cohausz does speak the tru th when he says th a t faith in God ennobles man but a denial of God confuses and bewilders man (" Des Gottesglaube veredelt die M enschheit, die G ottesleugnung lásst sie verw ilderen" ).Our times then are characterized by bestial cruelty tow ards man, for Homo homini lupus (one man is a w olf to n oth er).It is a refined bestiality, a "civil ized " barbarism .It is indeed a world idolizing violence and filled w ith co n tem pt of man (cf.II Principe by M arhiavelli).Revelations 13 leads us to view this brutishness m ost clearly.It is the elem ent of the jungle, the d e hum anizing bestiality sprouting luxuriantly all over.
Gradually it is becoming clear th at this idiot game of hum an arrogance is doom ed.Satan unravels m en 's lives and pulverizes them until only dust and degradation rem ain.According to Revelations 8 and 9 G od will invade the structures o f m an's arrogance, llnregenerated man with his spiritual suffoca tion will initiate the last rebellion.Satan will grasp the o p p o rtu n ity to induce the last vestiges of hatred in man.A tem pest of fury will shake to r tured m ankind.With eyes full of ho rror and fear man will witness the grimacing threats from all over.Passionate curses will be directed at God. Man, arrogant in the grandeur of his split atom , penicillin, m ilitary aircraft and television, will be forcibly rem inded of the fact th a t he is in reality an enfeebled and disposable rag.U nder these conditions the num ber of suicides will increase, as is already experienced in our tim e. L uther rightfully ty p i fies suicide as " tristitia vanissima" -vain and pitiful in a very real sense.
6.The vicious circles with a suffocating grip of dehum anization and death on fallen man have been broken by our Saviour, Jesus Christ In Revelations 1:18 Christ declares the following as he appears in glory to Jo h n on Patmos: " 1... have the keys of hell and of d ea th " .He unlocks, and He leads into the spaces of peace w ith G od.The liberation does not come through the way of revolution; evolutionism has made a beast of man.N either does it come through revolution -revolution devours its own child ren.It has come through C hrist's suffering and death, resurrection and ascension, the miracle of the coming of the Holy Ghost (Pentecost) and a clear vision of C hrist's impending reappearance.In this sense W olfhart Pannenberg rightly says that because man in contrast to the beasts has an open w orld, the urgent need of God lives in his heart.Harvey Cox states th at "the resurrection points to the radically open character of hum an h isto ry " .
O ur Lord Jesus Christ is n ot only the creative m ediator, b u t also the re creative m ediator, as is revealed in Romans 8:19-21: " For the earnest expectation of the creature w aiteth for the m anifestation of the sons of G od.For the creature was made subject to vanity, n ot willingly, b ut by reason of him w ho hath subjected the same in hope.Because the creature i t self also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of G o d " .
This implies the com plete re-establishm ent of man in his original and fun dam ental relationship tow ards G od, his fellowmen and nature.Adam was created to live in close contact with nature.G od created man in his image, to be good, ju st and holy and able to accede to the will of God in all things (Belgic Confession, article 14).He created the world and man and He m ain tains and governs creation according to his eternal vision and through his limitless pow er so th a t creation can serve m an, in order th at man can serve G od. Christ did n o t only redeem fallen m an, b u t He is also the Redeemer of the whole creation, which was im plicated in A dam 's fall.He has opened the way to the advent of a new heaven and a new earth when the tabernacle of God will be with men and He will dwell with them and they shall be his peo ple.G od will be w ith them as their God.There will be no th reat anym ore for man in the safe p rotectio n within the walls of th e new Jerusalem .And G od shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more d eath , neither sorrow , nor crying, neither shall there be any m ore pain: for the form er things are passed away (Revelations 21:4).**