| | So, a few weeks ago I was listening to this radio show on iTunes that my friends recommended to me called Speaking of Faith. People from all kinds of different religions are interviewed and talk about what they believe. It's FASCINATING to hear what some people believe. I just enjoy learning about stuff like that.
Anyway, a few weeks ago I was listening to an episode with a lady who talked about this history of doubt. Basically, what it seemed like to me is that she had assembled a list of people in history who she considers doubters because they went against the grain of what was commonly believed when they were alive. (Personally, I think it's a kind of attempt to create a community, a history and a sense of tradition for herself to try to justify her point of view because I doubt, hehe, that all the people she references would necessarily label themselves or include themselves in the group she does. But that's not the point I wanted to make.)
So one thing she said was something along the lines of not wanting to or being unwilling to believe that if there was a God, that He wouldn't just tell everybody individually of His existence and that He would only tell a few specific individuals in history and leave it to the rest of us to take their word for it.
So, of course there's an involuntary pang at the suggestion that the ways of the Sovereign of the universe are somehow lacking. Obviously, God can choose to do things any way He likes and I think it can be logically argued that the way He chose to do things is not only the BEST way but possibly the also the ONLY way. So I set myself to the task of trying to run my mind along the logical reasoning as to why God's chosen way of revealing Himself is superior to all other possibilities. Well, I guess I didn't, nor could I consider ALL OTHER possibilities, but I did set my mind to comprehending the superior qualities within the way He has chosen to reveal Himself.
So, if we reduce this issue down to it's core, that is, kind of set aside all of the physical Creation for a second, the issue is how does an incomprehensibly amazing God receive the voluntary praise, adoration, service and enjoyment He deserves from the sentient, rational willful beings He created who have turned against Him? Now, of course, in our sin and depravity, we don't have the power within ourselves to believe Him and turn from our sin and we need the Spirit to do that work in us. I'm not trying to exclude that in anyway. BUT, thinking rationally about it, I think that the Gospel, being transmitted through the writings of witnesses and prophets and individuals who believe DOES in fact in a sense strip away the Creation and reduce everything to reasoning. Isaiah said, "Come, let us reason together." The world gives it all context and a place for us to concretely see and experience God's grace in personal, concrete ways. And of course, tied in with revelation IS the Creation as a way to comprehend and understand God's existence and His power, which again appeals to our rational faculties. But everyday life in the Creation seems to more often distract and divert our attention to the material and finite, rather than the eternal, to the point that God's message is made to look like foolishness.
So, God could reveal Himself by speaking to each person individually. Or He could just appear to the world all at once, or periodically, or regularly. But, isn't that kind of, well, almost degrading? It's not as though God hasn't left Himself a witness (the Creation) and it's not like He's holding back (He went as far as to give His only Son). The way He did choose puts on full display the foolishness and irrationality of our own sinful race. It also demonstrates His patience and wisdom beyond anything we could ever imagine ourselves. And the fact that we do exist and have rational and moral capabilities is enough that it should cause us to seek Him and lead us to Him, at least in a general sense. Why should He have to condescend (at all, really) to say to each of us individually in some sort of personal appeal to our senses, rather than to our intellect, that He exists and what the truth is? The result in many people wouldn't be any different than their reaction to way through which He is revealing Himself now.
And besides, one of the remarkable things about using broken earthen vessels to pass along His message is that through the process of obeying the message and telling it to others, we become and must become the people He wants us to be. It's like the method of revelation itself is the means of discipline for the Saints. We have to, more and more, understand the message and it's implications in our daily life, as the world constantly shouts the opposite at us, and then we have to exercise the courage and discipline to practice it all. (Not to suggest that it's aside from His power.)
Anyway, those are basically the thoughts that I came up with.
What do you think? |
| | Posted 3/14/2009 11:21 PM - 22 Views - 0 eProps - 2 comments
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