“Any fool can make a rule. And any fool will mind it.”
― Henry David Thoreau
I didn’t birth me. I didn’t will myself into being. I had nothing to do with my creation. My parents “did the deed,” but they also were birthed through a process that was at best an activity. In other words, it’s not like we humans have any level of democracy in how a child is formed. There ain’t no hammers and nails or glue or spools of thread we use to create our little rugrats. All we offer is the sex, and presto, through a stunning miracle, a baby is formed. It’s such a commonplace thing, we often forget how truly magical the birth of a human is. If we go back far enough, something birthed the first man and woman. A quick refresher, as stated in Part 1 of this series, the miracle can’t start with science because science is not a thing-maker. Science is the study of the things, not the Creator and designer. One definition of science is “a systematically organized body of knowledge on a particular subject.” Science must have an intelligent designer using it as a tool, or it would be 100% impossible for it to be “a systematically organized body of knowledge.” With no brain, no knowledge.
Last night I watched the Netflix series Inside Bill’s Brain: Decoding Bill Gates, which I’ll likely post about in the near future. His brain — like others in tech, medicine or business — is astonishing in its processing power (he likens it to a CPU). But, even Gates, like his parents and their parents before them, was birthed. He didn’t have much to do with the horsepower given to that brain, and no level of parental encouragement or perfect schooling could fertilize such an intellect. A creator determined and designed the fluency, capacity, and the logic driving it. The same way Bill Gates and Steve Jobs created world-changing computers, something created them.
Now on to part 2 of this series. The image above doesn’t exactly create a feeling of joy. Personally, the words sound stifling and rigid. That’s often how we view the Bible. One of the ageless questions of belief is can we know the God who created us? Christianity promises a relationship with the Creator of the Universe through belief in Jesus Christ. By believing in Him, we have an actual relationship with God, the Creator of all things. There’s several ways of saying and explaining, but it’s the idea that while God is still an entity of exponential proportions, through Christ and His sacrifice on the cross, we have access to a trinitarian God known as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Because of Christ’s actions, we can now talk with Him, rage at Him, seek wisdom from Him, and experience forgiveness in a way the most perfect parent or spouse could never withstand or fulfill.
The Bible is the living, breathing document that helps us know Him and Them (the trinity). “Uh, whuh?” Yes, scripture is not a rule-book, it’s a living thing that speaks to us where we are in life’s adventures when we’re 10, 25, 45 and 75 years old. Trust me, it’s a fact, and why the inspired writing could only come from God. There’s no reasonable explanation of how a book written over a 1600-yr timeline, by upwards of 39 different authors could still be relevant today, centuries after it came into existence. No level of human agency could be that prescient to weave together a document of this magnitude without divine penmanship. For example, why, how and for what purpose would John, in his Gospel, write this about Christ if it were not true?
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
— John 1:1-4, 14
Ah yes, the grand conspiracy, that is one option. Let’s dig into that a bit. Lots of folks think the Bible was created to control us malevolently, and the perpetrator is or was the church. If it was the church, the next logical question would be how did the church begin? Which will lead you back to the Bible, which includes the origin of the church. The origin of the church begins with God speaking to the Jewish people in the Old Testament, and concluding with His Jewish Son Jesus in the New Testament, fulfilling the prophecies of the Old. In other words, the church had to begin somehow, and even secular historians consider the Old Testament and New Testament to pass veracity assessments. So how does this conspiracy realistically manifest, and how have we been able to mask the cover-up hundreds of years? Wouldn’t there be a book of equal weight and historicity that could push back against Biblical claims? I will bet bricks of cash that books by Dan Brown, Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens won’t be remembered even decades from now, let alone centuries. If you had to look them up, my point is already proven in their relevance vs Christ. Plus, if I wander down the conspiracy trail, and assume the Bible is just a tool of control, the document doesn’t read that way. It states over and over that a loving God has our best interest, and shows a record of how He comes to the rescue over and over throughout history. In other words, the narrative doesn’t read like a mean, restrictive government agency out to destroy mankind.
When I distill this three-part series down to a foundational debate, the issue is pride. I want to run my own life. I know what’s best for me. I make my own rules. I don’t need God to control me.The content in the Bible very much says that WE want total management of our lives, and that we think we’re smarter than the thing that created us.
This is why I push hard on folks to dive much deeper and not simply stop at “The Bible was written by humans, therefore I don’t believe.” That’s a pride issue, move past it. Why haven’t seminaries and universities also stopped at that question? As I said last week, every prof and scholar is well-aware, but they’ve chosen to spend careers studying and teaching on the next level of questions. In other words, we don’t disbelieve historical characters like George Washington, Napoleon or Alexander the Great. We use historical data to evaluate their legitimacy. Therefore, let’s do the same with Jesus Christ. Keep in mind, you won’t find any viable organizations worshiping Washington, Napoleon or Alexander on Sunday mornings. Why is that? A large number of people around the world show up on Sunday’s, of different creeds, colors and nationalities, and all worship Jesus Christ. Not Abraham Lincoln, not Ghandi, not Nelson Mandela, not Shakespeare. The two billion-plus who claim allegiance, look to one man as deity. That data must be measured and questioned, and yes, against other major faiths of Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism. Use scientific methodology if you want, find empirical evidence to show that Christ followers are bonkers. Why do those folks believe, worship and serve Him? Yep, could be a fear-based thing, where the massive conspiracy continues with mind control as the goal. But again, the narrative says Christ wants to give you, me and everyone a more meaningful life on this side of heaven, and then eternal peace and happiness when we pass to the next. Christ made astonishing claims that force a decision. It’s the classic C.S. Lewis mind-twister of three options: Christ is either a liar, lunatic or exactly who He claimed and proved: He’s the one true Son of God, Creator of the universe, and our Lord and Savior. Wrestle with the options.
Scripture also gives us the foundation for right and wrong. I regularly have discussions on how mankind can discern right and wrong when it comes to truth. It’s a significant part of the thesis of my book. Every Friday morning I sit with a group of good friends who discuss the idea. Some of the group believe the only way to discern right and wrong is to look to the creator as the source, meaning God is the arbitrator of truth and morality. If that’s a fact, we then must answer the question of did God speak through the Torah, Quran, Bible or some other document? Others in the group are adamant that people decide what’s right and wrong, and use documents like the Constitution as the final authority. It’s interesting that there is belief in a man-made document like the Constitution, but disbelief in another document also written by people (the Bible), that has been tested, questioned and studied tenfold more than the Constitution. The secular worldview says people have final authority and agency; in other words, we’re the top of the totem pole, therefore we make the decisions, thereby stripping God of His jurisdiction. A theological worldview — or deist — pick whatever you want for nomenclature, says only God has absolute authority, since the created thing (people) cannot usurp the Creator.
This is where I get practical in my book. As an artist, the canvas doesn’t have dominion over me, the creator. I choose the paint, colors, composition, and the overall meaning of the piece. The canvas can only receive what I choose to give it. The canvas has no agency, I’m the creator. Or, at a company, there’s a CEO. He or she has final authority of the organization, we can only follow the rules of the person, team or Board who created the entity. Yes, we can quit a job, but that doesn’t give us authority over that boss or the next. The challenge when taking God out of the picture, is the age-old conundrum of how can one person or a thousand people know who is the most right when discerning truth. We know from our democracy that individuals and groups can never agree. This leads to another interesting data point. When a person has “connected” with God, or surrendered to God, the question of authority is clear-cut, there’s no discussion. It’s like questioning whether air exists. Of course God knows best. God created everything in the universe, it doesn’t follow logic that the Creator of all things would then reduce Himself or Itself to a smaller position of dominion underneath “things” which He gave birth.
In simplistic terms, it’s like a four-year-old running a household, with the parents taking orders from the child.
See ya next time for part 3. ML