I don't know if people have noticed, but down the left-hand column are two lists. One is prayer requests we are praying for, and one is of things that I (sometimes we) am/are thankful for. The top 'Thankfulness' item at the moment is a bit odd, and might need just a tad bit of explanation.
On the drive back from Hattiesburg on Wednesday, I was listening to a pod-cast of a debate that Emma and I heard part of on NPR the other day. What we heard sounded interesting so when we got home we downloaded all of it to save for a car-trip sometime. The car trip came much sooner than we expected!
The statement that was being debated was "Science refutes God" - it was an interesting debate. Even the 'yes' guys made some good points that were actually in 'our' favor (such as Science can not refute something that is not measurable). But there was one comment by 'them' that kind of opened the door in my mind for some doubt. One of them stated something along the line of "people say that the man Jesus is the reason they believe, because He supposedly gave His life so that you could live. Well, why did He give his life? Because one man sinned? So who was requiring His death? Wouldn't the answer to that be "the God of the Universe"? So, God requires that death be the answer to sin, and God dies to answer that requirement. Seems like circular logic. And where is the "good God" in that?" I don't have it entirely right, even there. But it sure got me thinking. Even as a little girl, that was the big question I always struggled with. "But WHY did Jesus have to die" and Wednesday I found myself struggling with it again.
In the end, the beauty of the truth that we have, regarding The Great Controversy was what won out in my mind. God didn't require a death to pay for sin. The fact that He is a good God has to be proven to the entire universe. Therefore, the watching universe required it, not God himself. We often forget that 'the judgement' that is debating the REAL question, is not whether you or I are saved, it is debating whether God is a 'Good God' or not. In order to prove His goodness, He had to allow His creatures a choice, whether to serve Him or not. And in order to allow that choice, He had to provide a safety valve for the possibility of a situation in which they decided not to. That safety valve involved a price being paid in their place. And the only price that can possibly pay that, is something that is worth MORE than what was lost. Jesus is the only one that fits that bill, because all other creatures are created beings, and thus, essentially, on-par with man, and besides, how would sacrificing another created being to save the lost one be considered good, in ANY court? Had to be God himself. Not because GOD required it, but because the judgement of whether God is GOOD or not required it. I am so glad, that not only do we receive salvation through the death of Christ, but the UNIVERSE receives a guarantee that this sin experience will NEVER happen again, ALL DOUBT that God is GOOD will be FOREVER removed, when we are done here. What a huge relief that will be.
Anyway. I'm just thankful today, that when it comes to those faith-shaking questions, that we have been provided with solutions. What a blessing to have that truth. The man that made this statement, if I remember right, was a former minister in one of the Sunday churches, and his faith was shaken on this very question, to the point of him leaving the church completely. What a blessing to have a believe that makes that shaking so much more difficult. We need to be out sharing this truth!!!!!
Short test comment.
ReplyDeletewas that you Mark?
DeleteI like your thoughts. They resonate with the ones expressed in this essay: gnag.org/papers/cross.htm
ReplyDeleteLarry
Going to try this again... shorter this time. And yes, that was Mark with the "Short test comment."
ReplyDeleteBingo! This is the heart of the piece that "we" as a people have been sitting on for a long time. It actually supplies a coherent answer to what someone called "The only question worth asking." But you understand that this answer goes against the grain of much of fundamentalist Christianity? Don't be surprised if not everyone jumps up and down at this and says "Praise God!" Still, I think it is the heart of the Good News - which I think is Good News about God, what he is really like, and how he wants to relate to his children.
Anyway, excellent post. Keep it up!
Hmmmm, updated my "profile" but it didn't seem to take, at least for the old post. Let's try this with a fresh post.
ReplyDeleteit seems to take time. When I started blogging a few weeks ago I added the little picture of myself, thinking it would show up, instead of the ugly orange Blogspot icon, on my toolbar. It showed up here, in place of the icon, but not on my toolbar. But about two days ago, suddenly, on it's own, it changed over. Probably needed to restart firefox or something.
DeleteAnyway, thanks for your comments. Wish you could have been here for the excellent discussion we had in Sabbath School yesterday. The entire church here (well, all of the adults, we DO have children's SS classes) sits in one class here. And we have some wonderful, lively, Explorer-esque discussions. Yesterday was one of them. The NPR debate came up, and several other very interesting trains of thought, too.
I'm not promising that very many of my entries will be that deep - it is a log of what's happening with the family, after all, so not everything that happens is deep, but now and then...