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    Re: Kim Davis, Rowan County Kentucky Clerk Archived Message

    Posted by Philip du Nard on September 6, 2015, 9:42 pm, in reply to "Re: Kim Davis, Rowan County Kentucky Clerk"

    Well, let’s see. I don’t know that I can answer your question to your satisfaction or anyone else’s for that matter. Nevertheless, I will make an attempt.

    The character of God as revealed in the Book commonly known as the Holy Scriptures is what is being called into question here. And because it is found deficient in some respect in the eyes of some, His very existence is questioned. I’m not attacking you. Your position is by no means uncommon. So the thought is, as you expressed it in an earlier post, there may be a God but it can’t be the “God of Abraham” (Isaac and Jacob).

    Let’s think on the goodness of this other “God” for a minute. We are faced with the same evil, turmoil, suffering, etc. that we have with the God of the Bible. But this other God has not revealed himself to us in any way, except possibly through creation. He has not told us his plans, given us any guidance, or given us any hope for the future or any way to approach him. He’s allowing his own character to be supposedly slandered by what many regard as a fictional representation of Him and does nothing about it. I can only speculate as to what goes on in his mind( if there were such a God). If it’s a case of him being unable to handle his own creation, then humanity is left to itself and good luck with that.

    I don’t know everything there is to know about the God of our fathers but I have a good deal more information about Him than this other god because the God of the Bible has at least troubled Himself to reveal some things that should give us a whole lot of hope. Which is the better God? If I’m going to give any thought to God, I’m going to go with the better God by comparison, the God of Holy Scripture. Anything else is an exercise in futility.

    In any case, it is plain that what people expect of God is that He be “good.” If He is not good, He is not God. And if there is no God, then how did humanity come to have a general sense of what good is? If we are mere animals then why should our conscience bother us when we hurt someone? Let it be dog eat dog and let the strong survive. If there is no God, who by definition has to be good, then what is the point of being good and condemning evil?

    But at least I see something in Scripture that is borne out by common experience. St. Paul writes in Romans 2:14ff “For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: 15Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another 16In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.”.

    In other words, even unbelievers have a general sense, not a perfect sense, of right and wrong and have a conscience, because the law of God is, to a certain extent, written in their hearts too because God put it there. Isn’t that a good thing? Does it make sense to pass judgment on the God who put it there?

    This does not explain the presence and reality of evil or why God allows it but it should stir us to consider the possibility that maybe an infinite God understands a few things that my little mind does not. If He exists ( and remember, He is better than that other god), the only way I can hope to understand is to approach Him on His terms as revealed. What is revealed is that “he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.:” Heb. 11:6 I wouldn’t expect to get anywhere starting with the proposition that He is a monster.

    What we have with the Bible is a comprehensive, panoramic view of the creation of the universe, earth and all its creatures, including humanity. We have the corruption of mankind which God foresaw and allowed. Early on, we see the promise of redemption. We not only see the consequences of that corruption set forth in the pages of the Scriptures, we experience and witness it in our daily lives. We have God chastening mankind with precision and tempering it with mercy. He calls one man that his seed and one Seed in particular might be a blessing to all the families of the earth. Everything He does is progressive, systematic, and according to His timetable. He concludes all under sin that He might have mercy on all. He becomes flesh and dwells among us and allows Himself to experience and suffer an agonizing death to satisfy the requirements of His own law so that we would be spared that. He assures us redemption will be complete and speaks of a kingdom planned from the foundation of the world and to wipe away all tears and suffering and death.

    In my own personal life, there have been times of suffering and uncertainty and as I look back, I marvel at God’s deliverance and sustenance which would have been unthinkable under the earlier circumstances. So the whole experience, bad followed by good, turned out to be to His glory and the point of Scripture that all things work together for good to them that love God proved out. God would not have been glorified much if it had been smooth sailing the whole way. Things would have been taken for granted and so forth. Magnify that principle and apply it to all of creation and history and you may begin to see things from God’s perspective a little bit and give praise and glory to Him in the end as you surely will when every knee bow and every tongue confesses that Jesus is Lord.


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