The Alpha Pilot class has had a lot to think about lately as we have seen discussion-provoking presentations (on DVD) about the Christian faith. For example, Jesus says that if we want to know what God is like, he’s it. What we know about God’s loving nature comes from what Jesus did and taught, as well as from his crucifixion, resurrection, and promised return. He said to Philip, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am the Father and the Father is in me?” John 14:9,10.
Why, then, do we have a tendency to start out with a preconceived notion of God and then test Jesus as to whether or not he fits the bill? People say, “I can’t believe in a God who would allow this (terrible thing) to happen!” But such a preconceived notion of God says at least two things. One, it says we’re ultimately robots, and if God really wanted to, God could push a button that would prevent such a terrible thing from happening. Or two, it says that that the created world is also a machine, and if God really wanted to, God could push a button that would prevent cave-ins, storms, fires, in fact, all accidents.
No. The biblical story that culminates in Jesus is that not only are human beings fallen, but so is the whole realm of nature. Not only are things not right with us, but we’ve made a mess of the created world. Thus, Jesus calls us to follow him in putting all things right, i.e., restoring Paradise. But we have to choose to do this. God’s not going to put a gun to our head and make us.
It cannot be said enough: we live in a world in which we not only suffer the consequences of our own sins, but also the consequences of the sins of others. (Take a look at the Gulf of Mexico or Wall Street.) Still, God is not going to take away humankind’s freedom to choose in order that ours become a safer world. Instead, God works to make this a safer world by telling us to do good instead of harm, love rather than hate our neighbor, and take care of the planet.
What we truly know of God comes from Jesus, not preconceived ideas. -DJ
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