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The Existence of God is Self-Evident

Dec 14, 25 2:13 PM

God has revealed certain truths about His nature to all man-kind which manifest themselves in what is called general revelation. General revelation shows us what can be seen by observing nature which gives additional theistic proofs in support of what is already self-evident. These evidences are found empirically by observation of the world we live in. The Psalmist David declares in Psalm 19:1-4:

The heavens declare the glory of God; the sky displays his handiwork. Day after day it speaks out; night after night it reveals his greatness. There is no actual speech or word, nor is its voice literally heard. Yet its voice echoes throughout the earth; its words carry to the distant horizon. In the sky he has pitched a tent for the sun.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from the New English Translation (NET).

David proclaims how the days and nights speak revealing His majesty and power for this was created by Him. It is important to note that this revelation never ceases for it is “day after day” and “night after night” in verse 2. In verse 3, “There is no actual speech or word”. The Psalmist continues by saying that no one is absolved from these revealed truths which includes all created beings in the heavens1. In fact, Paul warns of this in Romans 1:18-20:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness, because what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So people are without excuse.

Scripture is unabashedly clear that the truth of God’s existence is known throughout creation and not just here on Earth. General Revelation, also referred to as natural revelation, is so named because it has been given to all men everywhere. When we observe the world and ourselves, this is what is made plainly and clearly as it has been written upon the hearts of men. Paul continues on with Romans 1:21 warning about the suppression of this truth:

For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts were darkened.

Similar to Psalms 19:6, Paul is explaining that no one can avoid the truths of what is self-evident to all, for even wicked and evil men cannot escape the proof on display throughout all of creation. Hence, Romans 1:20, “So people are without excuse.”

Exodus 3:14 states:

God said to Moses, “I AM that I AM.” And he said, “You must say this to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.'”

In discussing the concerns of Divine Essence, it was from Exodus 3:14 that Thomas Aquinas constructed five ways in which he wrote on the proof of the existence of God in his work Summa Theologica2. Thomas made three points of inquiry, 1) Whether the proposition “God exists” is self-evident, 2) whether it is demonstratable, and 3) whether God exists? In the first of his articles on the existence of God, he stated:

It seems that the existence of God is self-evident. Now those things are said to be self-evident to us the knowledge of which is naturally implanted in us, as we can see in regard to first principles. But as Damascene says (De Fid. Orth i. 1,3), the knowledge of God is naturally implanted in all. Therefore the existence of God is self-evident.

Thomas believed he could prove that God exists by pure reason alone. While Thomas produced five arguments in his work on the existence of God, three of these are listed as being cosmological. By directing our gaze into the night sky, we experience the evidence with which Psalm 19:1-6 was written, and will discuss in a separate post.

  1. Reference to the heavens can be found in KJV. ↩︎
  2. Aquinas, Thomas, Summa Theologica, Vol. I. Part 1, Question 2, First Article, pg. 10. ↩︎
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Worldview: God

Mar 2, 18 3:45 PM

Every world-view, held by any person, no matter what religion or culture has one most important and essential element above all others. This is what one believes, or does not believe about God making it the absolute cornerstone for one’s entire world-view.

For the Christian, God is the one ultimate being, perfect in every way. In simplest terms, God can be defined as, “He IS!” This makes Him eternal, pre-existent, independent, and self-existent. He is infinite and unlimited, and therefore, omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. He is the uncaused first cause of all things seen and unseen, sovereign over all of creation. He is unchanging and immutable. He has will, emotions, is moral, and probably most importantly, He is love. The latter makes Him personal, the giver of life and forgiver of sins. He consist of three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in perfect unity as One, and completely separate from all things created. Yet He is concerned with and involved in the happenings of humanity and all of creation, and has been since the beginning of creation.

The closest we can relate to knowing God in this age is through the person of Jesus Christ, God incarnate. For a believer to have a correct world-view, it is essential to understand God in order to properly interpret our experiences and beliefs. Without basing one’s world-view on a proper understanding of who God is results in a confused and misleading testimony of truth to others and a misled life.

God told Moses the meaning of His name by responding in Exodus 3:14, “I AM that I AM.” The meaning here is that His name is connected to the verb “to be” expressing his eternal nature, character, and essence. God is eternal, meaning He was not a created being. The principle of causality, which states that every event has an adequate cause, does not apply to God. This principle does not state that all things need a cause, rather, it means that all things that have a beginning must have a cause. Saying that God must also have a beginning is to make a categorical mistake by placing God in the category of things created. The existence of God is eternal, His existence is truth. Without His existence, rationality and first principles are indefensible.

Regarding His character and essence, Jesus claimed to be the living God incarnate and the only way one could possibly know of Christ before His incarnation is through what is called Special Revelation, i.e., the Bible. Knowing Christ is knowing God. Support for His claims come via messianic prophecy, a miraculous and sinless life, and His resurrection from the dead through Special Revelation. By General Revelation, the Bible begins by assuming that every man believes in God and makes no case that God exists for the simple fact that He has already revealed Himself to man. The Apostle Paul teaches in Romans 1:20 that all men are without excuse having knowledge of God. 1 John 4:8 tells us that God is love. While there are other sources less credible being tainted by the biases of men, we also have other letters outside of Scripture that tell us about God:

You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone, revealing that you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on tablets of human hearts.

NET, 2 Co. 3:2-3

All things that exist, exist because of a first cause. We know by using the laws of logic, otherwise known as first principles, along with philosophy and reasoning that God is self-existent, uncaused, infinite, and unchangeable, thereby making God the first cause of all things seen and unseen. And we know the claims of Jesus Christ to be true because He shares in these non-transferable attributes of God. In John 8:56-59, we read where Jesus referred to Himself as YHWH, meaning “I AM.” We see this again in John 18:4-6. Jesus lets us know the relationship between being saved and His true identity in John 17:3-5. In John 5:23 we find that Jesus wants us to worship Him in the same way that we worship the Father. John 17:5 He asserted that He shares in the glory of God throughout eternity.

You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had, who though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature. He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross!

NET, Phl. 2:5-8

Having a correct perspective of God is absolutely fundamental in the world-view of a believer. Without believing these truths, we become confused and mislead other with our testimony, we walk through life not realizing how others are affected by the decisions we make, nor are we able to discern the influences upon us by an unbelieving world.

Be careful not to allow anyone to captivate you through an empty, deceitful philosophy that is according to human traditions and the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

NET, Col. 2:8

Basing our world-view on the truths of God helps us in developing a stronger and deeper faith while protecting us from the ideas of a secular culture.

Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God – what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.

NET, Rom. 12:2

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Understanding Babylon

Jul 26, 15 3:43 PM

In order to understand Christ’s return and the last days, it is helpful to understand Babylon. Just as Jerusalem is the city of God, Babylon is themed throughout the Bible as the city of abominations and false worship.

Babylon is Akkadian which means “the Gate of the God(s).” The etymology of the name Babel as found in the Bible means “confused”, Genesis 11:9. Babel is the Hebrew name and Babylon is the Greek form of the Hebrew name.

The origin of Babylon can be found in Genesis 10:8-10. It was one of the first known cities founded by the great-grandson of Noah, Nimrod the son of Cush, grandson of Ham. Nimrod was renowned for rebelling against God.

In 626 BC, the city of Babylon became the capital of the ancient land of the Babylonian empire in southern Mesopotamia, the land of Shiner as told in Genesis 10:10. This location is 50 miles south of modern day Baghdad on the Euphrates River just north of the town al-Hillah in modern day Iraq. The existence of Babylon could only be found in the Bible until it was eventually discovered during excavations in 1898.

Since it’s beginnings, Babylon has had a long history as the center of religious significance and has been the source of false religion and rebellion against God, the center of false worship. In the Bible, Babylon is seen as the symbol of confusion caused by godlessness, the symbol of Gentile glory and moral and religious wickedness, a symbol of power, materialism, and cruelty.

Genesis 11:1-9 records the dispersion of the nations at Babel. The Lord judged the people and confused the common languages and vocabularies as spoken by the entire Earth because of their arrogance in building idolatrous shrines. In Genesis 11:9, we find how the name Babel was given:

That is why its name was called Babel — because there the LORD confused the language of the entire world, and from there the LORD scattered them across the face of the Earth.

The Bible reveals that all false systems of religion began in the land of Babylon. Using the Bible to interpret the Bible, we find that in Revelation 17:5, every form of false religion can be traced back to Babylon:

On her forehead was written a name, a mystery: “Babylon the Great, the Mother of prostitutes and of the detestable things of the earth.”

Babylon was an extremely wealthy city, the center of economic activity with trade routes throughout the region. Compared to a modern day superpower, it’s destruction seemed unlikely. The downfall of Babylon was foretold by the prophets Jeremiah (51-52) and Isaiah (13-14). Although these prophecies have come to fruition, continued study of these prophesies shows they have not yet been completely fulfilled because they also foretell a future time where Babylon will rise again and come to prominence. The absolute annihilation of Babylon was also foretold, yet Babylon today is still in existence and occupied. The destruction of Babylon will not fulfill prophecy until the last days as told in Revelation 18:20-21:

(Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, for God has pronounced judgment against her on your behalf!) Then one powerful angel picked up a stone like a huge millstone, threw it into the sea, and said “With this kind of sudden violent force Babylon the great city will be thrown down and it will never be found again!”

The destruction of Babylon is very much associated with the restoration of Israel to its land. Upon the restoration of Israel will be spiritual blessings of renewed fellowship between God and man which has been cast away for a time, and will then return. See Jeremiah 51:4-6, 50:18-19, 50:28, 50:34, and 51:20-23. Although Israel has returned as a nation, the fulfillment of these predictions is clearly not yet complete.

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Prayer for Our Nation

Jun 28, 15 1:04 PM

Prayer for Our Nation

“When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?” – Psalms 11:3.

“If my people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.” – 2 Chronicles. 7:14 AMP

This is a call to repentence. May these words sweep over the United States of America and become our desire to be once again called ‘One Nation under God.’ This “Prayer of Repentance” was written by by Bob Russell in 1995 and offered at the Kentucky Governor’s Prayer Breakfast in Frankfort.

“Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance.
We know Your Word says, ‘Woe to those who call evil good,’ but that is exactly what we Americans have done …
We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.
We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
We have killed our unborn and called it choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem.
We have abused power and called it politics.
We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.
We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and Set us free …

In Jesus’ name. Amen!”

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” – Psalm 33:12.

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What is the Gospel message?

May 24, 15 7:00 PM

The first four books of the New Testament are known as the gospel, otherwise known as the four gospels. The word gospel comes from the Greek word, ‘euaggelos’ which literally means “good news” (Isa. 61:1-2; Luke 4:18-19). In earlier times it was a messenger heralding a grand announcement such as a military victory.

Without knowing what the gospel message is, missions, evangelism, and discipleship cannot be successful. It is missions, evangelism, and discipleship that are used to carry out the Great Commission.

In John 3:16 we find four essential points that summarize the gospel message.

  • A Message about God: God offers a plan for fellowship with himself.
  • A Message about Man: Man’s problem is his sin and sin’s penalty.
  • A Message about Christ: God’s provision for sinful man is Christ.
  • A Message about Faith: Belief is God’s means for man to procure salvation.

We are all sinners, and the gospel message offers the Lord Jesus Christ to sinful people through the power of the Holy Spirit so that they may put their trust in God through Christ, to accept Him as their Savior and follow Him as their Lord. This is the good news given in the Bible, that God sent His son Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and then raised Him from the dead so that those who believe in Him may have eternal life with Him.

The offer of the gospel is completely by grace through faith. Eph. 2:8-10 teaches that works cannot save. Works are man’s efforts to earn salvation. It is impossible for a man to save himself. Good works come into play only as a result of salvation, never as the means.

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