Alpine Water Troughs & the Evidence of Personality

One deeply memorable impression of my visit to L’Abri in Huemoz Switzerland in 1972 was of the water troughs in that picturesque little Swiss village. Water flowed freely and continually into those troughs from some higher alpine meadow or snow pack. Then the overflow would run down to a trough on a street below, then on down the steep slopes to another trough below, and so on.

In his book The God Who Is There, L’Abri’s founder, Dr. Francis A. Schaeffer, describes how lakes in the Swiss Alps only ever form from water running down from higher lakes or sources. In other words, water never flows uphill. Then Schaeffer writes this: “Personality is like that; no one has ever thought of a way of deriving personality from nonpersonal sources.”

No scientist, naturalistic evolutionist, or non-Christian religious leader has ever offered a credible postulate for how human personality might have developed, or even could ever develop, from mere chemicals and inanimate matter, plus time and chance.

In contrast, the Christian worldview does just that. It includes the fundamental claim that an infinite yet personal God created men and women in His own image as distinct conscious reasoning beings. 

How is it plausible for human personality to be sourced in an impersonal “Cosmic Force,” “ultimate underlying reality,” “pervasive principle” — e.g. Brahman — as is proposed by Hinduism and other Eastern or New Age belief systems?

The existence of human personality therefore becomes a powerful apologetic for the existence of the God of the Bible — the God who became incarnate in a real human, Jesus Christ, who invites us all to know Him personally and truly — though not exhaustively — by faith today, right now, in this life.

“God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:27 NASB)

“And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3 ESV)

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