Who is God? Answer: the creator of heaven and earth. That means everything. It means there are essentially two main types in the universe: created things and the Creator. There is nothing in between.
The Creator is invisible, so how do we know he is there? Answer: we are surrounded on every side by his works. Light and darkness; the light we do not see but works our radios, TV’s, phones, GPS’s, X-ray machines, remotes and much more; the elements and all the myriad shapes and textures of the material world; the stars in the sky, the sun, the moon, the sky itself, the seas, the trees, the flowers the animals, the music. All these things and more cry out to us every day the knowledge of their Creator. And don’t forget the human observer! The brain and senses that see and hear and smell and interpret all these things.
But didn’t it all evolve? Answer: some parts, no doubt, but everything that did, did so because He made it work that way. I once thought Darwin had cracked it: an elegant theory that accounted for the variety of living things. It didn’t account for much else though. And as I grow older I question whether it even accounts for as much as I once thought. Evolution, yes, but the design of an eye always convinced me there was a Mind behind it. When you strip back the skin and reveal the layout of muscles packed layer by layer, so elegant, so efficient, can anyone seriously think it all came about by random incremental changes? And the muscles themselves: what a magnificent mechanism!
The Bible says the invisible God has made himself visible to the rational mind by the things he has made. (Romans 1) But how much of himself? According to Romans 1.20, his eternity, his power and his “godness”. “Godness” means we should worship him. Worship means that for us he comes first.
The problem is that to worship him we must know more. How? has he revealed more of himself than we can surmise from creation? If so, we can worship intelligently and in a way that pleases him. But Romans goes on to say that humans suppress the truth and worship a lie. In Paul’s world it took the form of idols (representations of natural forces); today we make a god of Nature. Nature (with a capital N) is praised for everything; rarely does one hear any acknowledgement of God. This is the great rip-off of our generation, as tragic as it is wrong. Tragic, because when humans lose the knowledge of God, they soon lose touch with who they are themselves. Tragic too, because God has put us on notice that he will not forever leave his world in the hands of ingrates, usurpers and twisters.
David Seccombe 5th July 2019