The problem of absence

[Burning_to_Know (Jason)]

@Jay313

One of the greatest replies of all time! Someone actually seeking the truth, willing to listen thoughtfully, expressing personal doubt instead of absolute certainty that their opinion is the correct one. Jason, you forever have my respect (and yes, you are making sense).

Thanks. I, too feel it is a rare trait. Part of the reason I strive for it. I’ve lived lies before in my life. Believed in things that weren’t true. I never want to do that again.

@Jay313

Doubt is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it can forever set us adrift if we allow it to run amok, as you’ve discovered. On the other hand, that gnawing feeling that our ideas of God may be wrong can drive us to deeper insights and a greater understanding of him. After all, we are called to love him with all the mind. But … what does this look like?

Perhaps it would look like us? Wracking our brains night and day in order to hopefully understand and therefore help others understand.

I’ve never read Pascal’s musings but he does seem to feel exactly as I do. I see he seems to realize that he also cannot know and so humbles himself before God. He still sees the problems though, which is why he cannot just accept a purely naturalistic explanation either.

What a horrible thing to be Human sometimes eh?

[Jay313 (Jay Johnson)]

Loving God with all the mind is a messy business. I have a feeling that you would enjoy Pascal and identify with his ideas quite a bit. Your title, “The problem of absence,” made me think of him immediately, which is why I popped in here in the first place. Pascal is one of the great geniuses of history – mathematician, scientist, inventor, philosopher, literary stylist. His major literary work, Pensees, was published after his death at 39 and consists solely of his notes for a book he intended to write defending Christian faith.

Like you, I was once plagued by intellectual difficulties that threatened my faith.The way out, for me, came in the form of two things that finally set my thoughts on solid footing. The first is not so popular these days, but the fact of Scripture fulfilled in Jesus is very weighty in my mind. And if all the passages cited directly in the gospels (Is. 52:13-53:12, Ps. 22, etc.) are not enough, the indirect references (allusions to Christ, narratives that foreshadow Christ, etc.) are equally powerful, considering that they appear consistently throughout the Hebrew Bible like a recurring theme in a grand symphony. The second is that I came to terms with the historical Jesus. Long story short, I investigated thoroughly and concluded that Jesus did, in fact, rise from the dead. Neither of those two things that I call “firm footing” are immune from challenge, but I find the challenges weak and unconvincing. Rising from the dead and predicting the future are not possible in a godless universe. Thus, my faith rests on Jesus, and I submit to the authority of the Scriptures as the “word of God,” not only because of the inescapable conclusion that it was inspired by an intelligence not bound by time, but also because it speaks to my heart in ways that no other literature does or can do. My heart has found its rest. I pray that yours may do likewise, in God’s timing.

Interestingly (to me, anyway), Pascal’s musings landed him in the same place.

"We know God only by Jesus Christ. Without this mediator, all communion with God is taken away; through Jesus Christ we know God. All those who have claimed to know God, and to prove Him without Jesus Christ, have had only weak proofs. But in proof of Jesus Christ we have the prophecies, which are solid and palpable proofs. And these prophecies, being accomplished and proved true by the event, mark the certainty of these truths and, therefore, the divinity of Christ. In Him, then, and through Him, we know God. Apart from Him, and without the Scripture, without original sin, without a necessary mediator promised and come, we cannot absolutely prove God, nor teach right doctrine and right morality. But through Jesus Christ, and in Jesus Christ, we prove God, and teach morality and doctrine. Jesus Christ is, then, the true God of men.

But we know at the same time our wretchedness; for this God is none other than the Saviour of our wretchedness. So we can only know God well by knowing our iniquities. Therefore those who have known God, without knowing their wretchedness, have not glorified Him, but have glorified themselves. 1 Cor. 1:21. “Which… by wisdom knew not… it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.”

Not only do we know God by Jesus Christ alone, but we know ourselves only by Jesus Christ. We know life and death only through Jesus Christ. Apart from Jesus Christ, we do not know what is our life, nor our death, nor God, nor ourselves. Thus without the Scripture, which has Jesus Christ alone for its object, we know nothing, and see only darkness and confusion in the nature of God and in our own nature. It is not only impossible but useless to know God without Jesus Christ."