Turning the World on its head.
There are certain truths in the universe that when discovered have the potential to turn the world upside down..or rather right side up. For example:
1. The Earth is not flat. You cannot fall off the side of the earth like coming to the end of a table.
2. The Earth is not the centre of the universe. It revolves around the sun. Not the other way. The first guy who discovered that - Cop got into a whole lot of trouble as a result of it.
3. God does not exist for me. I am not the centre of the universe.
4. God exist for Himself. God is the Centre of the universe.
Living in the 21st Century, Pt 1 and 2 are of course, already well established facts. Pt 1 makes perfect sense when you look out at sea and you can see a horizon- your line of sight doesn't go on forever, read - the earth is a sphere. If there were any more doubts, space travels of this century would have effectively put that theory (as well as pt 2) into the casket, said our final farewells and burnt in the fires of intellectual hell. Still there are some people in the world especially from the Flat Earth Society who are totally convinced that this is all a huge conspiracy theory and they meet once a year to revel in their preservation of the 'Truth'.
Well, being Singaporean, if my science text books says it lound, its lound. I believe.
However Pt 3 and Pt 4 - 'God does not exist for me', 'God exist for Himself' are real hard one to swallow. It took me years to finally come to an acceptance of this fact of reality. Consider this:
"But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went. Therefore, say to the house of Israel, "Thus says the Lord God, 'It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. And I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst" Ezk 36.
What God is saying here is that He is about to act for the sake of His own reputation which His own people whom He had entrusted it with had totally ruin before the eyes of the other nations. Incidentally earlier in Isaiah, He had already told them that the reason why He created them in the first place was 'for His glory.' (Isa 43:1-7) That was why Israel was precious to God - He made them for Himself.
But this doesn't just apply to Israel, it applies to all of God's Creation. Including you and me. It's all about Him. God created everything for His Glory.
Now, I don't know about you. But that is hard to shallow.
I think one of the reasons it is hard to accept this Biblical reality for us modern, secular people is that the Biblical mindset and the secular mindset move from radically different starting points.
What I mean by the secular mindset is not necessarily a mindset that rules God out or denies in principle that the Bible is true. It's a mindset that begins with man as the basic given reality in the universe. All of its thinking starts with the assumption that man has basic rights and basic needs and basic expectations. Then the secular mind moves out from this center and interprets the world, with man and his rights and needs as the measure of all things.
What the secular mindset sees as problems are seen as problems because of how things fit or don't fit with the center – man and his rights and needs and expectations. And what this mindset sees as successes are seen as successes because they fit with man and his rights and needs and expectations.
This is the mindset we were born with and that our secular society reinforces virtually every hour of the day in our lives. The Apostle Paul calls this mindset "the mind that is set on the flesh" (Romans. 8:6-7), and says that it is the way the "natural person" thinks (1 Corinthians 2:14, literal translation). It is so much a part of us that we hardly even know it's there. We just take it for granted – until it collides with another mindset, namely the one in the Bible.
The Biblical mindset is not simply one that includes God somewhere in the universe and says that the Bible is true. The Biblical mindset begins with a radically different starting point, namely, God. God is the basic given reality in the universe. He was there before we were in existence – or before anything was in existence. He is simply the most absolute reality.
And so the Biblical mindset starts with the assumption that God is the center of reality. All thinking starts with the assumption that God has basic rights as the Creator of all things. He has goals that fit with his nature and perfect character. Then the Biblical mindset moves out from this center and interprets the world, with God and his rights and goals as the measure of all things.
What the Biblical mindset sees as basic problems in the universe are usually not the same problems that the secular mindset sees. The reason for this is that what makes a problem is not, first, that something doesn't fit the rights and needs of man, but that it doesn't fit the rights and goals of God. If you start with man and his rights and wants, rather than starting with the Creator and his rights and goals, the problems you see in the universe will be very different.
Is the basic riddle of the universe how to preserve man's rights and solve his problems (say, the right of self-determination, and the problem of suffering)? Or is the basic riddle of the universe how an infinitely worthy God in complete freedom can display the full range of his perfections – what Paul calls the "riches of his glory" (Romans 9:23) – his holiness and power and wisdom and justice and wrath and goodness and truth and grace?
How you answer that question will profoundly affect the way you understand the central event of human history – the death of Jesus, the Son of God. It will affect your view of Life and all human events around us.
In fact, it will turn your entire world on its head.
There is still much to say about this. But I'll just end here for this entry. If you are reading this, I want to encourage you to think about. I will be giving a session tonight, 13 oct at Amplify Fridays about this. Do come down or leave a comment and join in the conversation.
God Bless,
Leo
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