Basic HTML Version
for the hope that is wíthin us
(I
Peter
3:15). Don't be satisfied wíth beíng
. "just simple folk" who aimlessly ídle
about under the protectíve shelter of
blind faith like Religious Ralph.
You can have that answer. This
artícle will give it to you. This article
is written for you- to back up and
prove your faíth!
You don't need to fear the lofty
proclamations of educated skeptics
and lettered philosophers. You won't
have to make feeble excuses for
God's absence. You can know -and
know that you know-exactly why
God hides Himself.
We are not going to feed you sorne
wishy-washy, pseudo-spiritual, half–
hearted possibility. We are going to
answer the questíon once and for all.
And it's going to be easy. Let's get
that straight! You won't have to
learn Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek or
Latín. You won't have to tak.e
courses in symbolic logic. You won't
have to struggle through verbose
"statements and propositions." You
won't even need an unabridged dic–
tíonary by your side.
We are going to discover the re–
markably straightforward answer to
the basic . agnostic question "Why
does God hide Himself?" through
the common facts of history and
science- facts which you already
know!
God'a Creatlon
We start with what we can sense
-the physical universe- and we
find blunt proof that only a Supreme
Creator could have fashioned it all
together into such a wondrously uni–
fied. whole. From the forces which
bind atomic nuclei to the principies
which run giant galaxies; from the
fullness of earth to the emptiness of
space; from the existence of law to
the law of existence; from the beauty
of creation toa mind which can com–
prehend it- all testify to the power
of our God, all blazon forth the con–
clusive evidence of His existence
(Rom. l :20).
The ancient philosophers knew
God existed. How? By asking the
right questions! They examined their
world- and found order and. harmo–
ny; they wondered about life-and
found system and design. And when
The
PLAIN TRUTH March 1979
they did, God began to be revealed to
them. Why? Because order, harmo–
ny, system and design demanded a
Creator God.
Then they searched wíthin them–
selves {"know thyselr')- and they
found their own self-conscious hu–
man mind. How could this mind have
come into ex,istence? Only by the
creative act of a Supreme Self-Con–
sciousness- the same Creator God.
The ancient philosophers were forced
to realize this plain fact.
"It
is not
that they [the philosophers] do not
know the truth about God; indeed he
has made ít quite plain to them"
(Rom. 1:19, Phillips translation).
But philosophers didn 't expect
-and certaínly didn't like-this
kind of revelation. The absolute exis–
tence of a Supreme Being just didn't
go over too well. Why? Because these
conceited "intellects" only desired
"esoteric metaphysical truths."
Why? So that they alone could un–
derstand. Why? . Beca use they
wanted to be their own god and
amass their own worshipful follow–
ing.
So they held back God's truth in
unrighteousness (Rom. 1: 18)- and
consequently they· lost it. "Because
that, when they knew God, they glo–
rified him not as God, neither were
thankful; but became vain in their
imagination, and theír foolish heart
was darkened. Professing themselves
to be wise, they became fools " (Rom.
1
:21-22).
What about our modero "philoso–
phers"-scíentists, politicians, busi–
nessmen? They're no different!
It seems silly, but rather than be–
coming more humble as life's unbe–
lievable organization and design are
unveiled, detail-oríented scientists
have become more deeply imbued
with a grandiose sense of personal
power in their own human reason.
Séientists often give the impression
(and may actually begin to believe)
that they are inventing and sustain–
ing the bas¡c laws of life and brain–
when, in reality, they have just un–
covered and described sorne superfi–
cial events. Like a bunch of roosters
fighting for supremacy of "the
known world" in the barnyard, our
modero "philosophers" have com–
pletely ignored reality.
True, sorne few m'oderns do agree
with Dr. Warren Weaver's state–
ment that "every new discovery of
science ís a further 'revelation' of
the order which God has built into
this universe." But even here "God"
is often only a term borrowed from
religion- it is just a name used to
symbolize sorne unconscious "first
cause," and is condescendingly em–
ployed solely to pacify those people
whom scientísts secretly call "the ig–
norant, superstitious masses." And
that probably includes all · of us.
Which doesn't hurt our feelings one
bit-because God has opened our
minds to His truth.
God has indeed revealed Himself
through the intricate tapestry of His
physical creation. We can see it. The
world can't. The world doesn't want
to. God is "plainly
discernibl~
through things which he has made
and which are commonly seen and
known, thus leaving these men with–
out a rag of
excuse~ ·
(Rom. l :20,
Phíllips translation).
Get the Perapectlve of
Hlstory
Human beings are historically nar–
row-minded. We look at our world
fresh from the exhilaration of cas–
ually witnessing televised close-ups
of two men jaunting on the moon
and a man-made spacecraft landing
on Mars. We don't realize that
man's very first flight took place
just 75 years ago. The average per–
son emotionally considers his adult
life to be the totality of human his–
tory- even though he intellectually
recognizes that man has been
around for thousands of years.
When we ponder our wretched God–
forsaken world totteríng on the
brink of global suicide, we become
sickened by the poisoned cloud of
permanent personal agony mush–
rooming on our horizon. Is it sur–
prising, then, that human beings see
the absolute necessity for superna–
toral help (if such help exists)-and
we legitimately ask, "Why is God
hiding Himself?"
Let's take the blinders off our eyes.
Let's visualize the full scope of 6000
years of human history- multiple
dozens of generations strung end to
end. Let's understand the true hís-
27