Last week we talked about God as the Creator and source of life. We established certain pieces of his nature that have to be present to be the supreme being.
This week, we’ll discuss more about His nature and the order of the universe that follows from His nature.
“It’s no wonder that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction has to make sense.”
-Mark Twain
God is the creator, and therefore the Logic or Mind, behind the order of the universe. There is a fullness of Truth in God and all truths, however small or incomplete, point to that truth.
People will say that evil is not a thing in itself, but an absence of good. It’s a lack or deprivation. Truth, like goodness, is a building up of something towards an ideal. A lack of truth is falsehood. But an incomplete truth is not bad the same as a lack of good because we’re born without the ability to truly do evil while also born ignorant.
All truth we know is learned. All good or evil can be in flux throughout our lives.
As we learn, we can measure our understanding of the truth by the results our understanding produces. Because God created the world with an order to it, we can tap into the potential of His creation by coming to know that order better.
We learn truth several ways: observation, experimentation, reasoning, and exploration. We can learn about the physical world and see what metaphysical truth that reflects, and vice versa.
In fact, science comes from this world view: that the universe has a logic to it and can be observed. That it operates with laws and rules to guide it.
But, does this translate to moral truth? I say yes. There are principles to live by that are in accord with the way the world is created. You then apply these principles to the situations you’re faced with- which is where the Way comes from.
Need to catch up on the series? Check out Part 1 here.
I think the truth of Gods existence is less important than how we know whether God is communicating anything to us in any way.
For, what we could call inspiration from God, or communion or communication, regardless of its form, ultimately gets lost in what various humans might advocate as that communication.
This is why I say the matter of the existence of God is a moot point, since all it really does is cause confusion and discord, for even what harmony it appears to bring is argued over, or is put off to some purpose of the world that will come to fruition in a proper manner that every one then also argues over.
God? Yes.
Now go do within the name of God without advocating any particular theology about why anything should be the case, or whether any God exists; that is, unless someone already believes. đ
Iâm not sure that it only causes confusion and discord to have these discussions about the nature of God when both people engage in a real discussion not just a âIâm going to win at all costs debate.â
Much of the peace and prosperity that has come about in the world is because of people spreading the gospel.
Have people done evil things in the name of religion? Sure.
I donât think thereâs evidence that Christendom was more warlike than their neighbors in the world. In fact, Iâd argue they were the most peaceful.
The fruits of The monotheist traditions I have undoubtedly been a force for good in the world. And if the fruit is reflective of the idea in anyway, then I think it is safe to say that it is worthwhile to spread the fruits through the ideas.
Yes. But that kind of goes to my point. God then is just another topic of discussion. It is the people who insist that they know the truth of it that cause problems. For if we were just talking about God and some general term, like I am the Christian of this God topic, and this other person is the pagan of this God topic, and this other person is there …etc… if everyone brings their âown truthâ then what are they really saying that âthis is the truthâ.
And yes. Any topic has good and bad arguments to be made about it.
But relativism doesnât work. God either does or doesnât exist. From there, you can walk through the implications for the world and how to act in it.
We donât take a relativist view on gravity. We say that itâs real and if you jump off a building youâll fall.
When it comes to the theory of relativity or how gravity ultimately works on the cosmic level, we really donât know.
Not being able to fully explain or prove something doesnât mean itâs not real. It just means thereâs more investigation to do.
The God of the Bible? Am I allowed to have many wives or just one? Is the Bible only the first installment of his word, or the only one ? Am I allowed to kill Gods enemies if God tells me to? How do I know if God is speaking to me?
But God, as God, does and does not exist. If he or it is either one or the other, then we are demanding that God is not God but some thing that answers to our knowledge, rather than us answering to him or it.
This is the point Kierkegaard makes.