FINAL MESSAGE
by
Joe Nall
© September, 2011 and following...ongoing
Introduction
Suppose you receive an astonishing notice. You are to be given one opportunity, only one, to speak to all the people of the world for thirty minutes. All will hear you simultaneously. Competent translators for every language will interpret. What would you say? For the next thirty minutes you will be before the microphone that reaches the world. You have the undivided attention of the world for thirty minutes. I suspect you will have something you feel is important to say, something you think the world needs to hear...and heed. You probably will have deep frustrations about some of what is happening in the world. You probably will be angry about some things. When you are not speaking the world will hear silence.
Here is what I would say:
It took me six decades to arrive at a statement quoted below. And I need to encourage those of you who identify with the statement and challenge those who don't. Note your feelings as you hear this statement. Notice that I will not shout it. Nor will I be arrogantly thumping my chest. I will speak in a simple, matter-of-fact, straightforward manner. Here is the statement: "If knowledge exists amongst humans, I know that Jesus Christ is God." I fully understand the radical nature of this statement, stating simply and emphatically that I know Jesus Christ is God. I am compelled to say it in that emphatic manner.
Please let me explain how it is that I can make such a statement...after encouraging those of you who identify with my position and challenging those who don't. Then, I will address these subjects: radicals, truth, intelligence, knowledge, blindness, faith, and world-views. These subjects determine and define who you are...who I am. I will then explain how I know.
Encouragement to believers
To you who are believers I say, you have it right. Do not be dissuaded by unbelievers with their spurious negative statements. If you have come to understand who Jesus Christ is, and have received him as your Savior, be true to Him no matter what you hear from unbelievers. Pay no attention to unbelievers who accuse you of not having an open mind. They accuse you while they have their minds closed to the truth. By the way, a completely open mind has no place where truth can settle and reside. It is like a bottomless bucket that can hold nothing but air. The faintest breeze replaces the content. So hold fast to the truth you have.
Pay no attention to those who claim your faith can not stand the onslaught of scientific evidence. Truth is, you have the same scientific evidence available to you that they have. They wrongly "interpret" the scientific evidence and ignore unscientific life-evidence and historical evidence that is as true as the scientific. Truth is, you have more evidence than they. They have arbitrarily rejected the nonscientific evidence. That is a fatal error when seeking truth, as we shall see. There is no scientific evidence indicating that nonscientific evidence should be neglected. Philosophical reasons for unbelief cannot withstand critical examination based on the full spectrum of available evidence, including personal observation and experience.
With your faith in Christ you might have little patience with the philosophical debate about who is right. That is fine, don't weary yourself with the debate. Just keep on following Him, walking through life with Him, obeying Him. You have it right. Personally, I have had to, and still have to, enter the debate to meet their challenges. It seems to be a calling. So please listen to some statements to unbelievers.
A challenge to unbelievers
Assume for a moment that Jesus Christ is God and that He wants us to know it. Based on those two assumptions, what reason is there that we cannot know it? If indeed He is God and He wants us to know it, there is no reason we cannot know it. For those who want to know the truth He would overcome all obstacles and being God He would do it in His own way.
Now move from assumption and imagination to reality. Jesus Christ is God. He does want us to know it. And I do know it. So can you. My attempt to explain how I know will follow in a moment after I make several fundamental statements. This knowledge is not confined to me. It is available to all who are willing to have it. By observation and experience I finally realized it is true. It is the only intelligent conclusion I can reach.
Speaking of intelligence, where did it come from? You/we have only two choices. Either it has always existed or it somehow came into existence. If it came into existence, it either came into existence without a cause or some cause brought into existence. No matter how you answer this question it will be a what-you-believe answer. You will order your life by this what-you-believe answer. Something in you will stir you now and again about what you believe. Perhaps the stirring will come in your intelligence, which is part of you that is different from a slab of concrete. But the source can be deeper, beyond your intelligence, from the rest of you that is different from a slab of concrete. Modern physics says your body is virtually 100% empty space just like a slab of concrete. Your body consists of a bunch of subatomic particles that reside in a huge amount of empty space...empty except for atomic forces and electromagnetic waves, which have no mass, . The very same subatomic particles exist in a slab of concrete and in your body. So truth says something is going on in the "empty" space of your body that different from what is going on in the "empty" space of concrete. We call it psyche, a spiritual part of human beings.
What is the big deal about believing? Whatever you do today, you will do it because you believe you can do it, or that maybe you can do it. If you fail to believe it you won't even approach the idea of doing it. By refusing to be willing to believe you cut yourself off from experiential perception and confirmation. By doing so you disallow yourself accurate conclusions. God requires belief first. You can stuff this truth like a Jack-in-the-box, but sooner or later it will pop back up. Honest naysayers will confess they rely heavily on personal preference and experience in making life decisions and reaching philosophical conclusions.
Fundamental statements and principles:
Radicals
First...about being radical, thoroughly hardcore. Being radical about some things is quite appropriate. If your are not radical about something, you are mush about everything. Of course you would have considerable difficulty finding someone who is not radical about something. Some people are even radically opposed to being radical, apparently failing to recognize that in itself is a form of radicalism. Please keep in mind there is nothing more radical than truth. It takes no prisoners. It bars no punches. It bars no holds. When truth is revealed it annihilates lies and errors. So I, and you, should not be troubled about being radical...unless we are radically wrong. Therein is the danger of being radical...being radically wrong. Before you, or I, make radical statements we need to perform an in-depth examination for rightness. Of course we can be radically right about a truth and radically wrong or unwise in our presentation of it.
Truth
The reality that absolute truth exists should be a no-brainer. But apparently there really are some people who believe there is no such thing as absolute truth. They must wonder if they are figments of their imagination. I will not dwell on this, except to ask a simple question. Is it really, thoroughly, completely true that there is no absolute truth? If it really is thoroughly, completely, all the way true, it has to be absolutely true that there is no such thing as absolute truth. The thinker is trapped into the realization that there is absolute truth. That is obvious to most people but apparently some don't get it. It is so obvious that absolute truth does exist that I will speak of it no more.
Intelligence
Intelligence is a very broad and vital subject. It exists in varying degrees in living creatures. Human beings have the highest range of intelligence. This range is obviously wide, as seen in every day life, in social or business contacts with people, in test scores, etc. We intuitively expect more from higher intelligence. The result is kindergarten through high school and universities, with their teachers and professors. Technology and industrialization, philosophies and cultures, are the result of intelligence in action. Humans have something akin to worship for higher intelligence. That is unfortunate because there is great danger in misguided intelligence. The most dangerous creature on earth is a highly intelligent man who is what humans call evil. So we must not be naive and place too high regard on intelligence. It should not be worshipped but recognized as a very useful tool if it is used properly. We need wisdom to determine if intelligence is being used properly. We need personal wisdom to determine whether we are using our personal intelligence to the best advantage, to the best good, in the most profitable way, tangible and intangible. Pursuing wisdom is a wise choice. Failure to do so invites personal and cultural disaster. The catch in this is the necessity of defining what we mean by best advantage, best good and most profitable.
Knowledge
A result of intelligence in action is acquired knowledge...or what we think is knowledge. It is safe to say that all humans have been so thoroughly convinced about something as to say, "I know it"...then later find that they were mistaken. What they thought was knowledge was absolute error. Sometimes we hear something from a source that we consider to be authoritative, but we are skeptical enough to avoid embracing it as knowledge. We need convincing. We are not ready to embrace it is as proven fact that can be called knowledge. The most gripping persuasions we have are those we acquire by personal observations and experience. A child does not know what the word "hot" means until the child experiences the feeling of a considerable amount of heat. Experiencing something "really hot" will ultimately solidify the meaning of the words "hot" and "pain". The child learns what pain is by experiencing it and observing its result in others. All of what we call "knowledge" is learned. We did not come into this world knowing. We learned. The most solid knowledge is that learned by observation plus experience. We misuse the word "know" when we apply it to what we "think".
Blindness
Sometimes we are guilty of "cognitive dissonance". That is, for some reason we do not accept what the evidence clearly indicates. We unconsciously, or even consciously, put blinders in our minds that lead us to false conclusions. We don't like what the evidence indicates and we embrace a blindness toward it. We can refuse to know what we ought to know. A child refuses to accept that some character is imaginary because accepting it is too painful. The child does so out of intellectual blindness, a personal bent toward an erroneous conclusion. Even Albert Einstein was famously guilty. In his equations related to his Theory of Relativity he inserted a fudge factor to make the equations say what in his opinion they ought to say. He later called that the biggest mistake of his professional life, having learned it was an error. So adults tend toward cognitive dissonance as well as children, regarding some truth as unacceptable. Thus, cognitive dissonance and saying we "know" rather than we "think" is the cause of innumerable conflicts and woes within humanity.
Faith
There is another reality related to knowledge that people tend to reject, or at least, forget. Namely, all knowledge is obtained and held by faith and belief. If knowledge is a brick, faith and belief are its two ends. Bricks do not exist without two ends. Knowledge does not exist without faith and belief. Without faith and belief that which could and should be knowledge can be merely a philosophical thought. Suppose four apples are placed on a table before a child. An effort is made to teach the child that two plus two equals four. The teacher takes two of the apples in each hand, then demonstrates that two plus two is four by placing two apples on the table then the other two. The child sees the demonstration and admits it looks like two plus two is four. But the child begins to wonder if it will always be true. Some strange hesitation grips the child's intellect, and the child is not able to accept the dependability of the equation. This child will never be able to move on to higher math as a result. Fortunately this is not a description of a typical child. Typically a child will simply believe that two plus two is four and will act on this belief later. Thereafter, when asked what is the result of adding two to two, the child will answer four. Choosing to give an answer and then answering four is an exercise of faith. If the child merely believes two plus two is four but does not answer, the child has no faith in the answer. Faith is exhibited when the answer is given.
A different example is a man standing beside a busy highway. He wants to be on the other side. He watches the traffic until he believes the speed and spacing of the traffic will allow him to cross safely. Faith begins when he steps out to cross. He steps out based on the belief that he can do it. Lifting his foot to take the first step initiates faith. He continues by faith all the way across. Faith is "action" based on belief. Now he can say he knows he can cross a busy highway safely when the traffic allows, provided something else does not stop him. His knowledge is based upon his initial belief and his initial faith of actually crossing. In some fashion, belief and faith are always the ends of bricks we call knowledge.
Another aspect of knowledge. Sooner or later each of us will be driven all the way to an "I don't know" answer. A three year-old child can drive the most sophisticated, most educated philosopher or scientist or doctor or engineer or whatever to an "I don't know" answer. All the child has to do is repeatedly ask the question "Why?" And it won't be necessary to ask it many times. Even the "Because God..." answer can be silenced by "Why?"
World Views
All world-views are faith-based world views. There are no exceptions. ALL world-views are faith-based world views. It is profound error to think the words "belief" and "faith" automatically refer to religion. Faith and belief are obviously characteristic of religion. But they also apply to virtually every area of human life. Basically, world-views are collections of ideas about how we came to exist and why we exist the way we do and what we should do about it, if anything. None of us were there when it all started. So none of us can claim to know by first hand, eye-witness observation or experience about the how and why. Atheists say their world-view is a view by-reason, meaning there is no faith involved. Not true, all world-views are formed by a combination of faith and reason. Reason can form a true world view only if it starts with true fundamental statements. The problem is that the fundamental statements are by default faith statements. I will point out later how theists use reason more thoroughly than atheists. As we grow, observe and experience life, we form beliefs and exercise faith in our beliefs by developing our own world-view, which is a faith-based world-view. The developing is itself an act of faith, faith that we can find viable answers to the fundamental questions of life. Human beings cannot avoid or escape the faith-based foundations of world-views. Since none of us can answer all the "Why?" questions, there is no room for arrogance or self-righteousness. We are limited to seeking the best possible faith-based world-view. We are limited by our personal perception and ability to analyze and comprehend...unless there is a source to guide us to the right world-view. There is. His name is Jesus Christ. The balance of what I say here will be to defend the conclusion that this world-view is the right world-view...to press the conclusion it should be adopted and embraced by all people.
How I know
My explanation of how I know begins with a point that might stun, and is likely to anger, science worshippers. Scientific knowledge is a lower form of knowledge, lower because there is more valuable knowledge. The knowledge that I am alive came through observation and experience. There was not a shred of scientific experimentation in the process, nor was there philosophy, nor was I taught it, nor did I conclude it by conscious, deliberate logic. But ultimately, in the process of living, I became aware that I am alive. It is a priceless bit of knowledge. I will not trade it for any, or all, scientific knowledge, nor for any or all philosophy. I am alive. It is priceless higher knowledge.
My livelihood has been applied science, but I have reached the realization that scientific knowledge is indeed not the highest form of knowledge. A few sentences will make the point, all being higher unscientific knowledge. I know my granddaughter likes me. I know I am alive. I know a rose has a marvelous aroma. I know a sunset is beautiful. I know my wife loves me. I know these things by simple observation and experience. Countless such sentences could be said, none of them needing any scientific proof. They are of immeasurably greater value than all scientific knowledge combined. If I had to choose between this unscientific knowledge and scientific knowledge, I would say bury all the scientific knowledge on the backside of the moon or, better, on Mars. Thankfully, I don't have to make that choice.
We do not need science or philosophy to acquire higher knowledge. We do need observation and experience. By observation and experience I acquired the knowledge that I am alive. By observation and experience I acquired the knowledge that Jesus Christ is God. Not surprisingly, the knowledge is confirmed by reality logic, that is, logic based on real premises.
So, what are the real premises, what have I observed and experienced? I have already presented the fundamental that, when speaking of living, higher knowledge trumps scientific knowledge. I did that to put science in a proper perspective. Higher knowledge does not need scientific verification. In fact science is useless when it comes to higher knowledge. Science has no way of confirming or negating this higher knowledge.
- Chance does not design
- We are the products of design.
- Humans do not die to lie.
- History has recorded the deity of Jesus Christ.
- Jesus Christ has demonstrated His deity to me.
- Belief precedes all knowledge.
- Unbelieving philosophy fails.
- Intelligence fails.
- Experience seals knowledge
Chance does not design. Topic list
Of the millions of recorded patents in the world, none were done by chance. Every one is the product of human intelligence at work. It is a simple matter to demonstrate that intelligence designs. It is not possible to demonstrate that chance, or chance plus "natural selection", has ever designed anything. It is possible to demonstrate that intelligent design can utilize and incorporate chance. It is not possible to demonstrate that chance uses intelligence, or that it is a substitute for intelligence.
Why is there vision? We can see. Why? Light enters our eyes and our eyes send data through optic nerves to the brain where images are perceived. That is the system we call vision. The system requires light. It requires eyes. It requires nerves. It requires a brain. There was dumb dead light. There was dumb dead matter. Where did vision come from? What prompted the components to come together to form the system? Why and how did the dumb dead matter become related to the dumb dead light in the marvelously sophisticated and brilliant system that enables us to see? Obviously some people have actually chosen to believe chance plus natural selection did it. They chose that belief because it conveniently fits what they want.
Now, why am I a dyed-in-the-wool intelligent designist? (This paragraph and the following three are also in another page.) Because of the “Watch my finger” instruction given by physicians. Actually, because we can watch the finger. The sense we call vision is a negative feedback closed loop (NFCL) control system. That is not as complicated in essence as it sounds. When the doctor moves his finger your brain notices the finger leave your focal point and which direction it moves. Your brain tells your eye muscles to move the focal point in the direction the finger moves. Negative feedback within your brain tells the eye muscles to stop eye movement when the focal point is where it needs to be. Positive feedback would cause your eye to move wildly to extremes and it would never stop where it needs to stop. The closed loop feature causes the focal point to actually land where the brain tells it to, not somewhere else. The essence is simple. The details are very elaborate and complicated indeed. Your body contains many complex control systems of this type, digestion, sleep, balance to name a few.
Some engineers design NFCL control systems, but none that compare even slightly to the complexity of the NFCL control systems functioning in the human body. So I ask how dumb dead matter and dumb dead light arrived at the NFCL control system we call vision without the input of intelligence? My answer (the answer of most people): they didn’t. Evolutionists do not like that answer. But they cannot objectively disprove it. Nor can I prove it to them...although I know it is true. Therein is the crux of the matter. Recall that the word objective means "everybody agrees". Evolutionists cannot objectively prove their theory; nor can they objectively disprove the design theory (which I know to be true). So how can I claim to "know" the intelligent design theory is true? By the same means of claiming to know I am alive, I learned the truth by observation and experience. By observation and experience I learned that I am alive. By observation and experience I learned that NFCL control systems do not come into existence by chance. As an electrical engineer I have designed NFCL control systems. By this experience I know these systems are the result of functioning intelligence, intelligence at work. Add to that the fact that not a single patent recorded on earth is the product of chance. To conclude NFCL control systems can be the product of chance without intelligence is to willfully put blinders on ones own intelligence. It is to draw a conclusion based on personal preference rather that reality. It is the same as evolutionists holding on to their theory even though they would shun the million dollars at Challenge to Skeptics.
We know that intelligence designs systems. We marvel at the many sophisticated gadgets designed, manufactured and used by humanity. None of these gadgets are the product of chance. They are all the results of intelligence actively at work designing. Many people want chance to be able to put systems together and conveniently assume it can. They claim it can. But they cannot demonstrate it.
The intelligent, informed choice is that intelligence thought of and designed the NFCL control of the magnifcent system we call vision, as well as the many other NFCL controls in our bodies. To assume otherwise is to grab at imaginary intellectual straws. It ignores the overwhelming volume of evidence that intelligence designs systems and the total absence of evidence, or even a shred of evidence, that chance can design anything, much less a complicated system. There is no confirmed intelligent basis in known reality for the assumption that chance plus natural selection has designed any useful system.
We are the products of design. Topic list
None of the gadgets we use, from paper clip to computer, are the products of chance. They are the results of designers seeking to achieve purposes. Engineers do not sit down to aimlessly doodle hoping to come up with some sort of design for a purpose that has not yet been conceived. The design effort is in the context of a premeditated purpose. The purposes are always the product of intelligence. The sequence is repeated over and over. First, intelligence thinks of a purpose. Then intelligence designs to achieve the purpose.
Now consider the supreme gadget used by humanity, the human hand attached to the human body. Is there any purpose to the hand? What thoughtful person would claim there is no purpose to the human hand. All of the other gadgets we use are subservient to the hand. The hand comes into play in all of them. Even gadgets used by handless people are made by people who have hands. We use our bodies to give mobility to our lives. We did not think of that purpose for our bodies. But the purpose was there even before we realized we are alive.
Is there purpose to the eyes? The ears? The nose? All the organs of the human body have at least one purpose? Purpose does not follow design. Purpose precedes design. Purpose is the product of intelligence.
In the realm of human endeavor I cannot think of any kind of purpose that is achieved without intelligent effort, unless of course the purpose is to do nothing, to sleep. By what logic should I conclude all the purpose achieving capacity of the human body came into being without intelligent effort. You are not the product of mindless, effortless chance. God exists.
To conclude otherwise is to commit intellectual suicide at worst. At best it is to cut off ones intellectual legs, leaving one to flailing about with intellectual arms, blind to the truth, stuck in nothingness, going nowhere, unable to find fundamental truth. It is to have a completely open mind, like a bottomless bucket that can hold nothing but air. Fundamental truth finds no place to lodge. It slips through unnoticed.
Humans do not die to lie.
Except possibly to protect something or someone, human beings do not willingly die for telling a lie. We will tell the truth in a heartbeat if doing so saves our lives. There were many eyewitnesses to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ who willingly died because they said they were eyewitnesses. All they had to do to save their lives was recant, to say they really did not mean what they were saying. But they did not. They chose to go to their deaths for saying what they knew to be true. They could not bring themselves to quit saying what they knew to be true.
Their written testimony is a history of the events that verified the deity of Jesus Christ. They saw it. They knew it. They willingly died saying it.
History has recorded the deity of Jesus Christ.
No document of ancient history even comes close to the number and quality of manuscripts as the Bible. We have no trouble accepting the validity of the other documents such as those written by the Greeks. There is far more reason to accept the validity of the Bible. Archeologists are continually discovering evidence verifying the historical content of the Bible. Multiplied millions through the centuries have discovered and testified of the power and efficacy of what it says.
The New Testament books Luke and Acts state the purpose of the writer, Luke, was to present an accurate historical account of the life of Jesus and the proliferation of Christianity after His resurrection. Jesus clearly stated that He was and is God, that He would be put to death and that He would rise form the grave. And He did what was necessary to demonstrate the validity of the statement. He died and rose from the dead. It is recorded history. If you want to examine the veracity of the Bible in depth read The Signature of God by Jeffrey, Grant R., Frontier Research Publications, Inc., 1996, or many other such books.
Jesus Christ has demonstrated His deity to me. Topic list
There was a pivotal, benchmark, hinge pin moment in my life. The moment was so profound and significant that all of my life references that moment. It happened when I was around twelve years old. It was unscientific by the way. A key realization about that moment dawned on me fifty years later. I realized I cannot recall experiencing joy prior to that moment. But I remember quite clearly the quality and magnitude of joy I experienced then.
So what’s the big deal about that? I undoubtedly had more than typical fun and laughter as a child. I had loving and supportive parents. My Dad was a fun loving man whose mission in life was to make people laugh. He loved children. I was his first born and only son. So there had to be much fun and laughter. But I don’t remember any of it. I remember events, but no joy prior to this benchmark moment.
This initiation into joy happened one night when I was in bed. God and I were the only ones present. No one else was involved. As I lay there pondering, it dawned on me that I was in trouble with God. I was guilty of sin and God judges sinners. I was alarmed. Immediately upon the realization my heart turned to God and I asked for the salvation I had been taught He offers in Jesus Christ. When I did, it was as if God flipped a switch in my being and turned on joy. Joy flooded my being, a deep, pervasive, glowing joy that put a broad smile on my face. All alarm was gone.
Many will seek to analyze that moment and make it what they want it to be. However, I am fully conscious of its place in my life. All memories prior to that moment are of just fleeting moments, interesting moments, but neither joyful nor sad. The initiation of joy was profound. All joy since then has somehow been related to that moment and linked to God. He is the source of my joy. Joy draws me to Him with thanksgiving and praise. I did not know at the time God was demonstrating His deity to me. But He was invading me, permanently linking His life with mine. This experience is a huge part of my knowing that Jesus Christ is God. It fits marvelously the other parts of the fundamental life puzzle.
The knowledge that Jesus Christ is God did not come before belief. It came like the knowledge of calculus.
Belief precedes all knowledge.
There is no objective scientific proof (that all people would accept) that God exists. There can be none. There is no need for it. Demanding it is not an informed, intelligent demand. There are huge volumes of scientific evidence construed by many to be proof that God exists. But proof is not tangible. It exists only in the minds of those who perceive presented evidence to be truth. So a collection of evidence sometimes "proves" different things to different people. People tend to selectively pick evidence to prove what they want to be true.
A university biology professor asked me, “Where is the scientific proof that there is a God?” This professor cannot even scientifically prove he is a real live human being. Suppose I assert that he is actually an extremely sophisticated robot, so advanced in design and construction that no technology known to humanity can detect that he is not human. His eyes in every respect look, feel and act like real human eyes. But they are actually advanced television cameras. His ears in every respect look, feel and act like real human ears. But they are actually advanced microphones. His brain in every respect seems to be a real human brain. But actually it is an advanced super computer with a built in advanced radio transmitter, which operates at frequencies undetectable by human technology. His spinal cord, which appears to be a real human spinal cord, is actually a radio antenna. He is a remotely controlled robot, controlled by beings we cannot detect. This professor cannot scientifically prove any of this to be untrue, nor can I scientifically prove any of it to be true.
The professor may know that he is a real live human by virtue of his inner awareness of himself. But no other human can know the professor is a real human like the professor knows he is a real human. The rest of us are stuck with believing he is human. Based on our belief we are quite satisfied to accept as real the apparently human attributes he exhibits. We do not question his humanity. But our acceptance is based on our belief that he is human, not on knowledge that he is human.
To require objective scientific proof that God exists is absurd. But real confirmation is available…to those who are willing to believe. A personal inner awareness of God can coexist with the personal inner awareness of oneself. For me that inner awareness began when God initiated joy within me. The initiation was not the end. There have been countless repetitions of the same joy working in tandem with intellectual factors to confirm the knowledge that Jesus Christ is God.
To get my electrical engineering degree I had to know calculus. But I did not know calculus. People who had gone before me said I had to know calculus. And the college handbook said I had to know it. I did not argue with them. I simply accepted what they said and registered for the necessary courses in calculus. I believed them. I believed there was calculus and that I could know it. I was enrolled by someone I never saw, attended the classes, did the studying and assignments, took the tests, and eventually could say I knew calculus.
That is the way knowledge comes. It follows some form of belief, if it is nothing more that the unconscious belief “I can know”. A young child knows the basic colors. Put a red cap before her and ask what color it is. She will answer red. She has not even contemplated the word “knowledge”. She does not know that she knows. But she knows the cap is red. She knows because she believed what she was taught. Knowledge does not come without belief.
I was taught that Jesus is the Son of God. I believed it. If someone had asked me who Jesus was I would have said the Son of God. But I did not "know" that I knew. I probably had never even thought of or contemplated the idea of "knowing that I know". I simply believed it. Now, after severe testing, analysis, doubting, wondering, checking, soul-quakes, arguing, logic, history, and confirmation, I know that I know. In fact, to be candid I have to say if knowledge exists among humans I know that Jesus Christ is God.
But that knowledge did not come quickly or easily. It came after walking down a life path which had the gate “belief” at its beginning. Passing through that gate freed God (because He requires belief) to initiate joy within me, and the path ultimately led to an inner awareness of God like the inner awareness of self. When I open my eyes each morning and see daylight I am aware the night has past. When I open my mind, my being, to all the experiential and observed evidence I am aware that Jesus Christ is God. Consistent with external evidence, there is an internal sense testifying to the deity of Jesus Christ in those who are willing to believe . Those who refuse to walk through the “belief” gate and down the “believing” path cannot know in this life that He is God, but He is.
Unbelieving philosophy fails.
A number of famous philosophers through the ages have developed and presented their ideas about why Jesus Christ cannot be God. There philosophies cannot stand the test of reality logic. Ultimately they can all be exposed to be statements about why the philosophers don't like God as His image appears to them, and/or they disagree with the way He has done things. But their likes and dislikes have no bearing on the reality that He is. Nor are their likes and dislikes legitimate premises for drawing true logical conclusions. Likes and dislikes are emotional personality factors and are not dependable. They are not reliable factors in drawing conclusions about truth.
I will briefly expose a few of their thoughts. They say a loving God would not allow suffering and would not allow evil. By making such claims they presume to take the position that they are superior to God, both morally and intellectually. They appear to be blind to the fact that God can use the suffering of humanity for the benefit of humanity in ways that humanity cannot understand. And for some strange reason they apparently cannot understand full-blown freedom of choice requires freedom to choose evil and its consequences. They demand to have full-blown freedom but say it cannot possibly be the gift of a loving God. It is impossible to choose good if there is no possibility of choosing evil. God could not prevent evil and suffering and allow full-blown freedom of choice.
I submit that the main problem these philosophers have with Jesus Christ being God is His statements about sin and everlasting hell. They would not mind Jesus being God if He had not taught sin, accountability and everlasting hell. They cannot accept the fact that hell is a by-product of God's love. Whatever is called love is not genuine love unless there is linked to it a latent wrath as big and powerful as the love. Mistreatment of a loved one stirs the wrath. God's love for His Son stirs His wrath against those who reject or ignore or abuse His Son. The end result is hell for those who refuse to repent and believe. Unbelieving philosophers reject this because they find it repugnant. But it fits reality logic based on real premises, in this case, the fact that Jesus has demonstrated that He is God and that infinite love has infinite wrath buried within it. The love is always active. The wrath is always dormant except when it is provoked.
Surely there in nothing more horrifying to humanity than to contemplate an everlasting existence in hell, with no way or hope of escaping. Humanity may try to sweep it under mental, intellectual rugs. But the reality will not go away. Humanity should fear it. Fear is an excellent motivation to seek rescue. If one looks up to see a huge truck closing in at a high speed, the immediate result is fear followed by urgent efforts to get out of its way. Approaching hell should strike fear in every heart and motivate an urgent move to avoid it. God offers a way to avoid it and warns that His way is the only way. He proposes to rescue all people who choose to be rescued...His way. In the "Conclusion" below a link will take you to an explanation of His proposal...His way.
The infinite wrath is real, but it is not the primary nature of God. His primary characteristic is love. He is driven by His great love. It was His love that moved Him to provide the way of escape. If his primary nature was hate or wrath then love would not exist. He would never have created the universe or the human body because he would have hated the precision required in the design. His hate would not allow the appreciation of beauty. There would be no beauty nor any conscious being to appreciate beauty. He would be spending His existence trying to destroy Himself.
Intelligence fails Topic list
Science is not necessary to accumulate higher knowledge, but at least some intelligence is necessary. The word "knowledge" inherently assumes some intelligence, some capacity for cognizance. However, no matter how great it may be, intelligence alone is inadequate. Intelligence is only a tool. And it is a very dangerous tool. The sharper a tool is, the more dangerous it is. A highly intelligent mind is capable of defining unreal premises and using them to develop elaborate, false and dangerous philosophies, dangerous because they are not true, dangerous because of their effect upon humanity. The most dangerous animal on earth is a highly intelligent man with an evil heart. If intelligence alone was adequate, it would always lead only to good, never to evil.
If intelligence alone was enough it would always decipher what is good and lead to avoiding evil, meaning of course it would always understand what is evil. It would grasp without fail the definition of evil which is: any choice against Jesus Christ. This definition follows knowing that Jesus Christ is God. But there are countless intelligent minds that refuse to accept this reality because they reject the other real fundamental facts already presented above.
I understand this definition of evil will be considered radical by many. But who can name something...anything...more radical than truth. It tolerates no lie, no error. Being God, Jesus Christ has the authority and power to define evil. No one else does. What He says is evil, is evil. It is evil because He declares it to be evil. Humanity might not like it, but humanity cannot change it. Humanity can, and often does, use maverick intelligence and unreal premises to weave incredible webs of self deceit. Evil philosophies, webs of self deception, reject Him. The greatest of all evils is to reject Jesus Christ. It stirs God's wrath as nothing else can.
Experience seals knowledge.
Since my late 30's I have repeatedly asked God to do whatever is necessary to make me what he wants me to be. The first time I prayed that prayer was in probably the lowest period of my life. I did not know which end was up. I was not getting any aspect of life right. It became obvious to me I could not get it right alone. I was going nowhere. So I turned to God one night with that prayer to do whatever is necessary.
It was not an impulsive prayer. It was quite premeditated. I knew it might mean anything, losing a loved one, loosing health, loosing everything. But I was desperate enough to risk it. After I prayed this prayer a sense of relief settled in and I was able to go to sleep.
As time progressed I concluded this is a good prayer. Why would God not want to answer it? The more I thought about it, the more convinced I was that I could not pray a more appropriate prayer. I began praying it regularly. I have prayed it thousands of times in recent decades.
Along those lines I eventually asked God to put me in my grave rather than allow me to point my children down the wrong path. This prayer came as a result of the persuasion I would be better off and they would be better off if I left this world rather than point them down the wrong path. I pointed then down the path that has the center-line statement: Jesus Christ is Lord.
Some years later, weary of the variety of verbal spin from media personalities, conflicting messages from pulpits, writers, politicians, and individuals, knowing they could not all be right, and knowing the fundamentals must be true or there is no truth at all, I asked God to take my life rather than allow me to continue down any path of fundamental error.
The truth is more important than my life. Some error may be temporarily tolerable in the details. But being fundamentally wrong is not tolerable. If I cannot know and say fundamental truth I am among the walking dead. No statement can stand unless its foundation is fundamental truth. There is no basis for any statement that is not supported by fundamental truth.
I mention these prayers for a simple reason. Either God has been and is answering these prayers or I cannot trust Him. I must, and so will every reader, answer the question: Is God trustworthy? For me to claim He is not trustworthy would be the ultimate human arrogance. For me conclude He is trustworthy is to automatically conclude I know some vitally important truths, namely the fundamentals I have presented here. Those who deny these fundamentals are denying that God is trustworthy.
Conclusion Topic list
There are many questions I cannot answer. But the pieces of life’s puzzle, the questions I can answer, fit in Jesus Christ. The picture on the puzzle may not always be altogether clear, but the pieces fit. I challenge any and all humans regarding the fundamental pieces of the puzzle I have set forth. I could not be satisfied merely believing them. I had to know if they are true. I know them to be true. I know that Jesus Christ is God. He invites all of us to know Him and receive the eternal life He offers. To examine His proposal click here.