According to one writer, the aim of the opening ceremony of the Paralympics was “to celebrate the human spirit, the possibilities that lie within us all.” And who could deny that it did that superbly? And when one reads the stories of the athletes and the terrible injuries they have overcome, and then to see their astonishing achievements in their chosen sports, it is truly marvellous. The human spirit is capable of remarkable things.
There is, however, an unspoken yet glaring inconsistency in all of this. On the one hand we gladly celebrate the possibilities of the human spirit. On the other, our society happily embraces the ideas of evolution. But if we have merely evolved from other species, and are still evolving into other as yet unknown species, what is so special about being human? What is there really to celebrate beyond a happy accident?
There is also a sad irony in leaving God out of the picture, as if we have achieved all this on our own. It fails to explain why we are capable of so much that is so good and admirable. And it also leaves us looking smaller than the Bible actually portrays us. When the Bible says that we are made “in the image of God” and “a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned … with glory and honour” (Genesis 1:27, Psalm 8:5) it explains why we are so special, and if anything makes us even more special. And it also begins to help us give the credit where it is due – to the God who made us.