easy as stating your own name, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Today, there seems to be a war on God. It has been stated from various sources that
the new religion in America is to not
believe in God. And if you are going to
believe in God, just don’t believe in the God of the Bible. It’s interesting to note that every culture in
recorded history has had some conception of a god, some source beyond
ourselves that directly affected the beginning of life as we know it.
Why is that? It seems that in
our very make-up as humans we are created to look for answers outside of
ourselves. The French Philosopher Pascal said in the heart of every man there is a "God-shaped vacuum.”
Augustine said, “Lord, you have
made us for yourself. Our hearts are
restless until they find rest in you.”
I like how the Bible puts it, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put
eternity in their hearts,” (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
Could it be that the reason every
culture in human history has had a concept of a Supreme Being is because God
placed the vacuum in our very souls that only a relationship with Him can
fill? I believe so.
From the first verse of the Bible, we
see that God is a stated fact. The
argument for God’s existence is not found anywhere in the Scriptures. God is simply presented as a fact that seems
to be without question.
A great preacher has said that this verse is “shallow enough that
a little child can get a drink without fear of drowning and deep enough that
the scholars can swim and never touch bottom.”
May I tell you something? There are no natural born atheists. You have to learn to be an atheist. In a 2012 debate with the Archbishop of Canterbury,
Richard Dawkins even admitted that he was an agnostic, rather than an atheist
since he could not be certain 100% that there is no God.
The skeptic will ask, “Prove that God
is real.” However, the other question
must also be asked, “Prove that God doesn’t exist.” Can the finite ever truly explain the
Infinite? Evelyn Underhill said, “If God were small enough to be understood,
He would not be big enough to be worshipped.”
I am a self-proclaimed Science-geek. I love science. However, Science cannot prove how the world came into existence. Science is limited to studying what it can examine, things as they are, things already in existence. It cannot study that which was before it became to be. Science cannot explain how all this came to be, but it can proclaim that creation is too profound to be an accident.
God asked Job this question in Job 38:4, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.”
Psalm 14:1 says, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” The word fool here does not mean someone is intellectually
deficient. The word here is NABAL and speaks of moral
perversity. In essence, it means this
person has said to God, “You may or may
not exist, but I refuse to believe in you.”
It is not that he/she cannot believe, it is that they choose not
believe.
Richard A Laidlow has made a great statement on the matter. He said, “God
exists whether or not men choose to believe in Him. The reason why many people do not believe in
God is not so much that it is intellectually impossible to believe in God, but
because belief in God forces that thoughtful person to face the fact that he is
accountable to such a God.”
In the beginning….GOD.
There is no more important issue facing us today. Why? Because, what you believe about God affects
everything. It affects your personal
belief system. It affects how you conduct your life, and how you treat your fellow man. It affects the direction
of society and society affects the direction of a nation.
If you take God out – everything crumbles - it all becomes a senseless act of chance. No
God = No absolute truth, no standard for morality, no definition for right and
wrong. Everything becomes relative. The consequences are devastating. However,
when you acknowledge that God does exist then you must face the fact that we
are accountable to Him. He is real. We are accountable for our actions. We have a purpose and a great responsibility for our life.
The
recent debate between evolutionist Bill Nye “The Science Guy” and Creationist
Ken Ham has brought a lot of attention to this issue. Bill Nye publicized an attack on parents who believe in God through a Youtube
video that went viral last year.
Bill Nye said, “If you want to deny evolution and live in your world, in your
world that’s completely inconsistent with everything we observe in the
universe, that’s fine, but don’t make your kids do it because we need them. We
need scientifically literate voters and taxpayers for the future. We need
people that can—we need engineers that can build stuff, solve problems.”
May this be a wake-up call for all of us who do believe in
God. We cannot sit back quietly in a
corner as those who deny the existence of God influence our children. For us who believe in God and want to honor Him with our lives, we must follow the directives God gives us in
the Shema (Deuteronomy 6: 4-7).
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 “And
these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk
of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie
down, and when you rise up."
Notice the simplicity in the passage of Scripture. You don’t have to be a Bible scholar to reveal the truth of God’s existence to a child, just simply go on a nature walk, look up at the stars together, see God in creation and share the joy of your creator. The Bible declares that God is clearly seen through what He has
made (Romans 1: 20: Psalm 19:1). The passages instruct us to bring God into the everyday functions of our day. Our children need to see our love and faith in God by the way we conduct ourselves through our normal activities and use the activities as opportunities to diligently teach them about God.
Let me give you a personal illustration from my own life. My love for nature and how it reinforces my faith came from the influence of my grandparents. I was blessed with God-loving grandparents both paternal and maternal. Both sets of grandparents loved the outdoors, watching wildlife, growing gardens, planting flowers and trees. They were also very intentional about sharing their love for the outdoors and their amazement of God's creativity with me and any family member who would listen. Now, I share that same intense feeling of awe whenever I feel the sun warm my skin, listen to a bird sing, watch a fish swim in a creek or look out over a field of freshly fallen snow.
Let me give you a personal illustration from my own life. My love for nature and how it reinforces my faith came from the influence of my grandparents. I was blessed with God-loving grandparents both paternal and maternal. Both sets of grandparents loved the outdoors, watching wildlife, growing gardens, planting flowers and trees. They were also very intentional about sharing their love for the outdoors and their amazement of God's creativity with me and any family member who would listen. Now, I share that same intense feeling of awe whenever I feel the sun warm my skin, listen to a bird sing, watch a fish swim in a creek or look out over a field of freshly fallen snow.
We have no greater privilege, nor carry no greater weight of responsibility than to glorify God and share Him with the next generation. What you believe about God affects everything!
Romans 1:20, “For since
the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by
the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so
that they are without excuse.”
