A friend who teaches at BSU tells me that students often wonder, Is God real? What can I really believe in, and commit to?
Christian theology has historically addressed this issue in two ways, called general revelation and special revelation. By the way, how do we get to know another person? Most importantly, through paying attention to their self-disclosures. If we are made in God’s image, would it not follow that we would come to know Him in the same way?
General revelation—the self-disclosure of God through nature—is reflected in Bible verses like Psalm 19:1—The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows his handiwork, and Romans 1: 20– For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
More and more scientists are coming to see the truth in such statements. They claim that the Big Bang which began the universe about 14 billion years ago required Someone to light the primordial match under the microscopic stuff which exploded, producing a world which has been expanding ever since. All the mathematical/physical variants had to be exactly calibrated—within trillions of factors—or the expansion would not have occurred, nor life come about.
And the possibility of life, and the instructions for it in the amazingly complex DNA molecule, coming about by chance, as the evolutionists foolishly claim, are so remote it would be like the formula for the Salk Polio Vaccine coming about through an explosion in a chemical factory! “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” says Psalm 139.
Furthermore, if you consider the amazing construction of the eye and the ear, you have to conclude there is design in both, and you cannot have a design without a designer. But the Designer is not far away, or the “unmoved Mover” of Aristotle. Psalm 94 asserts, He who made the eye, will he not see, and He who made the ear, will he not hear?
Or just think about how your heart, with its amazing complexity, keeps beating blood throughout your body and head, containing billions of neurons? Did this all come here by chance, the “survival of the fittest”?
There is also general revelation through people. Yes, even though we all have a sin problem—all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, Romans 3: 23—we can see signs of God when people are at their best, being creative, lovers of truth and beauty, and caring for one another. Even people of other religions! John 1 says He (the Logos) is the light that enlightens everyone who comes into the world. Sometimes I watch reruns of “Rescue 911” and am delighted at how often people will say things like This has made my whole life worth while, after doing something like rescuing someone from a freezing river or a burning car. In those moments they were in touch with the Logos, the invisible, universal, law of love.
Then there is special revelation. Scripture points clearly to the author of it all, the Word made flesh. C.S. Lewis said we have to choose—He is either a liar (and lunatic) or Lord. The Pharisees, for instance, got upset when he forgave people’s sins, saying, Who is this, who forgives others’ sins? Only God can do that! Bingo! Not only what He taught, but his actions, and his supreme action, his death on the cross, prove God’s love for us. And by his resurrection we know our sins are forgiven as we come to know Him, whom to know and follow means living in a new, eternal zone, the Kingdom of Heaven.
However, many choose to believe in blind evolution because it permits them to live the way they want to. Back when I was in college I had a brilliant philosophy prof who was convinced that more people reject Christianity because of moral reasons rather than philosophical ones. Who wants to consider the One who said “follow me!”, when they have a big over-night drinking bash planned at their honey’s apartment?
But there is another reason for avoiding Jesus: some have hidden resentments towards a “god” who disappointed them in some way, like “Why did He take my dad from me years ago?” Or “God gave my mom cancer at an early age!”
News Flash! God didn’t do such things—these are natural consequences of the Fall into sin, and even nature is affected. And if God afflicted people with sickness, or blindness, etc., wouldn’t Jesus be working against his Father when he healed them? No, “God is Love”!
Yes, the problem of evil is a serious intellectual, and even emotional, problem. But as I learned from a sermon I heard back when I was going through the agony of divorce, 54 years ago, the only real answer is the Cross. So my suggestion for any serious seeker is this: Imagine Jesus dying on the cross for you, and bring to him any doubts, resentments and fears, including the fear of commitment. Ask Him to reveal himself to you, forgive you your sins, save you from a meaningless life, and make you his disciple. (See John 7:17 and 1:11) You’ll see for yourself that God is real. (Questions or comments? Use Pete Kuiper on FB, messenger.)
