Day 56 – the universe's testimony (a review)

How should we imagine what we may of God without the firmament over our heads, a visible sphere, yet a formless infinitude? What idea could we have of God without the sky?  –GEORGE MACDONALD

Look around you. Gaze at the universe in which you find yourself. Study and explore it in-depth. Then ask yourself: “How did all of this come to be?”

Look within you. Consider your conscience, your bent toward morality. Note the sense of fairness inside you. Acknowledge the positive traits that you possess. Then ask yourself: “How did all of this come to be?”

Look beside you. See men and women testifying to the reality of God. Listen to their stories of His relevance. Hear them relate the many times they have experienced His presence. Take note how steadfast their testimony has been, weathering indiscriminate suffering and intellectual scorn. Then ask yourself: “How did all of this come to be?”

That is precisely what I asked you to do during our journey’s first leg. The conclusion reached then was: “All of this could come to be only if God exists!” This statement of faith secure, we have proceeded over the last eight weeks to ascend the slope of God’s nature. As your guide, I have asked you to look at the same places—the universe, yourself, others—and to answer several questions:

What does a universe of such power say about God’s power?

What does a universe so crammed with knowledge say about His knowledge.

What does your moral nature tell you about God?

What does your sense of fairness says about Him?

What do the love, purpose, and reason inside you convey about God?

Is it likely that all the casual conversations, prepared speeches, and printed words about God’s presence are in error?

How has belief in God survived all the suffering, skepticism, science, and scorn placed in its path?

When compiled, the weight of the evidence—external and internal, objective and subjective—seems to point us toward the God of traditional belief. It points us toward the creating God of Genesis; the revealing and relating God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph; the holy and righteous God of Moses and Isaiah; the loving God of David and Hosea; the purposeful God of Amos and Jeremiah; the sacrificing, suffering God of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; the indwelling God of Paul and the apostles; the sovereign and just God of Revelation. According to the universe, this is the nature of the God of the universe.

I know that some will accuse me of wishful thinking, claiming that I came to this view of God only because this was what I wanted Him to be like before I started. To be truthful, I have to admit that, indeed, this is what I had hoped to find. But I must also relate to you how willing I was to abandon my preconceived notions had the evidence so directed. To remain intellectually honest, I could not have continued to believe in such a God if the testimony of the universe proved differently. So today, if I find myself continuing to believe in the God of my forefathers, I do so not just because it is pleasing to the ear. I continue to believe also because my universe tells me my forefathers were right. Separated by centuries of thought and practice, I have come to the same conclusion as they did. Such a universe could come to be only if such a God exists.

 

Daily Quotation

Winfried Corduan, No Doubt About It, (Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 1997), 33.