Invitation to Inquire
I do not want to believe simply because I was raised in a Christian culture. I want what is authentic, what has been wrestled through and found true.
A little phrase caught my eye in my Bible reading this morning:
"Indeed, ask now concerning the former days which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and inquire from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything been done like this great thing, or has anything been heard like it?" - Deuteronomy 4:32
I appreciate that right in the Bible there is the invitation to inquire. Test it. See if it holds water. Ask the hard questions.
There is no fear of being found faulty, no need to maintain a fabricated facade. As Mark Clark pointed out, God does not have to go around convincing people of His existence. We sometimes assume He is obliged to do this because we put ourselves at the centre of the universe. We assume that if He is not making Himself obvious, then He must not exist.
But He's so much greater than that kind of manipulation. He is. Whether or not we care to look and see is another question. And here's the neat thing, if we do inquire, He will be found.
"You will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul." - Deuteronomy 4:29
That was from my same reading this morning, but there are so many more times that truth is repeated in the Bible. He has not made a secret of His existence.
"For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse." - Romans 1:20
I've been listening to Mark Clark's series on "The Problem of God." (He also has a book by the same title, which I started this summer, but it's easier to listen while I'm walking, ironing uniform, cleaning my room...). His sermon The Problem of God's Existence ties in with my last post about the stars, as even the rate of the universe spreading apart points to the existence of God.
I've been enjoying the series for asking the hard questions, finding if what I believe is logical, if it holds water. God is big enough for this kind of wrestling.