I got the tip from iJustine that Google is doing a contest for grade school kids to make stylized treatments of the Google logo. These come with the twist, as the website tells:

Welcome to Doodle 4 Google, a competition where we invite K-12 students to play around with our homepage logo and see what new designs they come up with. This year we’re inviting U.S. kids to join in the doodling fun, around the intriguing theme “What I Wish for the World.”

Both our country and the world are undergoing significant change. At Google we believe in thinking big, and dreaming big, and we can’t think of anything more important than encouraging students to do the same.

This is good. Children are given a real-world application of graphic arts. They will get feedback, votes, and if they put their minds to it, they may have a good career ahead of them. This could inspire them It’s got to be inspiring for youth to work on an assignment like this. I would be, anyway.

I want to encourage you to go to the site and vote. Participation from the Christian web community-minded people would be a positive attribute to the program. I think biblically-minded Christians have a rich perspective of what the world needs—faith, hope, charity—and may understand those core morally uplifting values more than anyone else. These elements are key to the competition.

Second, I want to note some of the art in particular and the ramifications the children want the art to make on society. Each treatment of the logo comes with an explanation by the artist explaining what they want for the world; what they hope the world could have; how they wish the world would change. Here is one by Miriam Elizabeth Lowery of Covington, Tennessee:

Miriam's Google Logo

Miriam wants:
Friendship Around the World
“My wish for the world is that everyone would get along and treat one another in a nice and loving way. We could all be friends!”

That’s great. The aspirations of children are some of the best because they are not old enough to be discouraged by life experiences. Miriam is in the contest between grades between K-3rd. I think she did an exceptional job of creativity. I want to comment on the hope for the world Miriam is displaying in her art.

We know from God’s Word that one day His people will live with this sort of united community for the rest of time/eternity. We are told that Christianity is “the way, the truth, and the life,” and apart from God’s will for the world there will not be peace. Peace is hard to find the world round, and it is so because of man’s evil heart condition. The Bible and Christianity gives what God wants for humanity, and if man would live by it there’s a guarantee for peace and prosperity.

Man needs the Bible to make this happen because there is inescapable divine authority over the world. God chose how to define peace, unity and prosperity in the first place. Miriam, whether she realizes it or not, appreciates a Godly concept. People wouldn’t care about those virtues in the first place if God had not instilled the driving need for them in our souls. We know what is good and truly productive for the world by way of God’s objective definitions of good and evil.

Here’s another logo doodle along similar lines from Meaghan Parker from Rochester, New Hampshire:

Meaghan's Google Logo

Meaghan wants:
Hope for the Future
“I wish for more hope, hope for the future. I wish there was more love. Love for the environment and people. I wish for more joy. I wish for peace, a movement for it. I wish for more trees. I wish for gay rights, now.”

I’ll deal with portions of Meaghan’s wish separately. First, God’s Word is the hope for the future. True, lasting peace of mind is not found in the material things around us, or even in human relationships. Man cannot agree on what absolute ideals are apart from input from a Higher standard.  The Bible speaks a great deal on the subjects of peace and hope, The Bible points to submission and love for the triune God as the only lasting source of hope.

Second, Christianity is often misunderstood as anti-environmental. If by environment activism, you mean tree-hugging worship of the creation, then the Bible is aposed to this because it’s idolatry (the Bible explains this in detail in the Old Testament). The Bible clarifies that nature is not to be worshipped.

It also says that God created the world, and that nature is good to enjoy. God also told man to take care of it—tend it and have dominion over it. A consistent biblical worldview is in favor of environmental friendliness. God does not want to destroy the creation, and neither is it consistent for His followers to want to waste and destroy God’s creation needlessly. We should reasonably preserve the natural resources.

Now, when Meaghan says “I wish for gay rights, now,” I’d like her to clarify. Uninhibited public homosexual frivolity would be sickening to most heterosexuals. Sexuality is meant to be a private and sacred affair that God himself made for man to enjoy. The key here is that sex is meant to be intimate and private. So, if Meaghan doesn’t disagree with this perspective, then perhaps she meant gay rights as in equal legal marital license. This is unfortunately irreconcilable with lasting hope and peace, because even if the Bible didn’t have an issue with legally sanctioned homosexuality, there are so many others aspects to the gay lifestyle that are unhealthy and troubling to humanity. But that’s a subject for another day.

Last, here’s one from Sameek Das from Boulder, Colorodo. Sameek is 8 years old:

Sameek's Google Logo

Sameek wants:
One World One God
“I wish religious harmony for the world. We all are equal under one God! Our world will be a better place, if we love and respect each other irrespective of our religion. With respectful coexistence of different religions, peace will prevail in the world.”

It’s seems simple enough. It’s also naturally appealing; to think “why can’t we just all get along?” Sameek is missing something crucial to his paradigm: presuppositions. Presuppositionally, with many religions of the world, to be consistent in those religious faiths, they cannot be united under one supposed god/God. Most religions teach they are the true faith of the world. Since that can’t obviously be true to be consistent with the next religion, Sameek’s solution is not plausible.

People are created equally, but they certainly are not equals. The Bible specifies there are people God shuns that are not meant to be treated equally to others He loves. The Bible also states ways to determine who God loves. One big way is by a person’s relationship to God. God Himself is a jealous God, and He will not be made equal with other gods.

It would be like a dad telling his child, “Son, I want you to love Daddy the same way you love strangers, and love strangers the same way you love Daddy. And obey strangers as much as you obey Daddy, and obey Daddy as much as you obey strangers. And, Son, trust Daddy as much as you trust strangers, and trust strangers as much as you trust Daddy.”

Ironically, there is a degree of peace in the world today. Sameek overlooks that if one is consistent with the biblical worldview, and not what is usually labeled Christian—everything from Catholicisms to Protestantism—you have true lasting peace and harmony in Christianity. Peace and harmony are governed by ideals, and ideals are governed by paradigms, and the Bible has the most peaceful, logical, world-effectually consistent one of all history.

The Bible tells us that God is reigning over the world today, and He isn’t going to relinquish that authority ever. To be consistent, and have child-like faith like these artists, a biblical Christian also believes that total peace over the world will one day happen, and never be reversed.

Note: when I have some time, I will go back through the post and make hyperlinks to Bible references. Thank you for your patience!