Steve- (Gerald?)
Thanks for the great posts and link. I’ll check out those books. As for your “tome”, I find this comment most interesting:
“But I do find something spooky about the people of Israel coming back to the Land of Israel.”
Indeed. If we need a “proof” for the hand of God in man’s affairs that one is a biggy.
I know it’s not in your Torah, but a verse in Hebrews (interesting that it was written to the Jews!) says much about this whole subject:
“And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6 (NAS)
Now WHY would it “please” God that we come to him in faith? What is it about God that he requires the human intellect (logic) to be “discarded” or “disregarded” for “FAITH” and for us to take him for his “WORD”, casting all “reasonable” and “rational” thinking to the wind? (Actually, he’s NOT as your posts so eloquently pointed out…)
There are actually two components to this answer.
The first is that by accepting God’s existence in faith, his “absolute never-changing eternalness”, his “I am that I am”, you “please him” by EMBRACING this reality in your life. To NOT accept that he exists (non-faith or non-belief) leaves him “apart” from YOUR reality. Sure, he is and will continue to STILL be GOD (even if YOU don’t accept the concept of “god”) and you can STILL BE YOU, but he is not YOUR GOD unless you accept that he IS. Now, this may seem at first to be “silly logic”, and one can say, “Well, of course…if I don’t believe there is a God, WHY would I CARE that he exists AT ALL?” And the point is…”You won’t!”
So it “pleases” God to be acknowledged, accepted, embraced…because when you do, you allow HIS REALITY to become part of YOUR REALITY!
Until that happens (and it will NEVER happen until you bring yourself “by faith” to ALLOW it to happen)…you can NEVER know the second part of the answer, which goes to the TRUE ESSENCE of God:
God is a God of LOVE! He is a “REWARDER of those who seek him”
Behind this assertion that God is rewarding is the fact that God is so full and so completely self-sufficient that he overflows! Rather than needing our service (he is STILL GOD even if we don’t accept that HE IS), he is like a never-ending Spring of Life and energy and joy and beauty and goodness and power.
Therefore, it “pleases” God when we come to him in a way that affirms this and he delights in it – when we come to him as a “Rewarder”. When we “accept” his TRUE NATURE as being LOVE.
Now I can’t convince those with “logical” arguements about how a God who is loving and full of beauty, goodness, and power, can be the SAME God of the Old Testament who told Moses and Joshua to slaughter thousands including women and children. If you have trouble accepting THAT GOD you may have trouble accepting ANY GOD. Does simple fact of YOUR NON-BELIEF make the TRUE GOD any LESS the TRUE GOD???
No, of course not!
IF (and I’ll let the “if” stand there for those still not “in faith”) there IS A GOD, does it not reason that he will still be “GOD” even if I don’t accept that he is?.. i.e. God is GOD, (if there is a God) regardless of my “belief”, right?
And on the other hand, if I do NOT accept or acknowledge a “faith” in God does it not reason that my “non-acceptance” is VALIDATION for me that he (meaning God) will NOT reward my NON-BELIEF??? i.e….if there is NO GOD, there is NOTHING that can reward my “belief” in him, right? So, logically, I don’t accept that God’s essence is one of LOVE, because I don’t accept the reality of God in the first place…so how can I accept HIS LOVE toward me?????
That’s a problem for most atheists. That, and the problem of:
“NOW what do I DO with my life, if I ACCEPT that there IS a GOD and that he is a God of LOVE?” (a Rewarder of those who seek him”)
A terrible kind of chill can envelope a soul who realizes that he is not “worthy” of being loved by such a God. Even hopelessness…or despair…or anxiety….or hmmmm….NOPE!!!!!
Much better to retreat back to the “warmth” of my “godless” existence…no consequences to face, no sticky issues I need to deal with…everything clean, logical, modern, W.Y.S.I.W.Y.G…..ahhhhh, where’s my beer and my remote?
Just leave me alone, okay God?
God: “Okay”
