Okay, I am way overdue on writing a new blog, sorry for that.
Before I launch in, let me point out that it does not take a thological genius to present a logical case for God from scripture, The problem is I can present all the clear evidence there is, but it'a a heart issue at heart. now that I've made my foundational points in the last 5 blogs , The next set will be presenting the case that God's not dead. Again I make no claim of complete understanding, I will give my opinion on a lot of things, I hope we all understand it's not a "I'm right you're wrong" approach.There's going to be scripture, and a lot of it, so having a bible handy would be a good Idea. I'll qoute, but I'll also make references. I'm using ESV [if you want to know]
“ For I am not ashamed of the gospel,
for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew
first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God
is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, 'The righteous shall live
by faith.' For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their
unrighteousness suppress the truth. For
what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and
divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the
world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or
give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish
hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became
fools, and exchanged the glory of the
immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and
creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the
lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among
themselves, because they exchanged the truth
about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the
Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
For this reason God gave them up to
dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those
that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural
relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men
committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty
for their error. And since they did not see fit to
acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be
done.
They were filled with all manner of
unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder,
strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful,
inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish,
faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous
decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do
them but give approval to those who practice them.” Romans 1:16-32
If you want to make yourself even more uncomfortable instead of them/we use personal pronouns me/I. Starting where I made the text red to the paragraph break. makes your skin crawl doesn't it?
The reason I put this passage first and not some other passage is it points very clearly to the heart of the issue, God's not dead, we just don't want to aknowledge Him. God's not dead, but without HIm WE ARE.Since Genesis 3 untill god revives our spiritual deadness we have one desire and that is to suplant/subjugate God. We want to be the one in charge. Now for the part I like, let's take this passage apart further and go phrase by phrase.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
two things here, let me give a very simple definition of "unrighteousness" Righteousness is living in obedience to The standards/rules God has expressed and set in place. Un-righteousness is the opposite.
-Suppress the truth: means to hide or ignore [the truth-see Righteousness- our lack of it due to sin] an intent to lead/convince others of the reality of "another [false] truth" outside of What God has expressed.
For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.
There's a part of me that is going "Do I really need to explains this piece?" selective hearing isn't our only problem, We are selective visualizers/interpreters as well. If God is somehow inconvenient for us then we ignore him in that area. But this clearly points out if we're really looking for evidence of God we don't have to look very hard or very far.
Here are some more verses that might help us
" In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He
was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through
him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In
him was life and the life was the light of men. 5 The light
shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it….14 And the Word became flesh and
dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the
Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:1-3&14
"You ask me how I know he lives? He lives within my heart."
