A (Grand) Father's Contemplations

As a dutiful grandfather I have, over my work desk, pictures of my grandchildren. It has been a delight and privilege to see this new generation as they are born and as they grow in the process of becoming what they will be. When our youngest grandchild was born recently his picture went up there with the rest receiving the place of honor of center stage as the newest grandchild. And so my attention is drawn to him as I sit at this desk and I begin thinking as I did with each of his cousins before.

He looks so innocent, so trusting, and so vulnerable and I begin to wonder what he will become. In a world that has so much disorder I tremble to think of all the temptations and pitfalls that lay before him. What kind of a man will he grow to be? What kinds of choices will he make? As I thought on this I was reminded of the following that my father wrote of his sons

                                A Father’s Contemplations

                                 Little boy, little son:

                                     Content upon my knee:

                                 I contemplate your future,

                                     And I wonder what you’ll be.

                                A doctor, lawyer, preacher:

                                     A boon to every man,

                                Or will you be a Satan’s scourge;

                                     Do evil when you can?

                                Will you develop character

                                     And strength and fortitude;  

                                Or will you live a careless life:

                                     A wasted interlude?

                                I pray that you will grow to be

                                     An upright man of God;

                                That you will dare to walk the path

                                     Our loving Savior trod.

                                I know whatever course you take:

                                     Whate’er you’re going to be,

                                All depends on a loving God,

                                     And His control of me.

As I read the above poem I realize it is in God’s hand that I commit this and each of my grandchildren, as  I committed their parents before them. God is faithful and … I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day (1 Timothy 1:12 ).God is not slack concerning His promises. I can trust Him.

What Can I Believe?

As we draw close to the election of a new president and Congress we are bombarded we political ads in all sorts of media advising us who to vote for or actually in most cases, who not to vote for. Every indiscretion, every vote or missed vote, any action that can be put in a negative light is held out for us as a reason not to vote in for a the opposition’s candidate while little is said as to what the so-called “preferred” candidate would do or even what he or she truly stands for. Negativity appears to be the rule leaving one to wonder what is really true and how the candidates can say such things about one another.

This question was brought to my attention recently and led to the more fundamental question of what we can believe. The person behind this question gave the opinion that the only thing we can be sure of is what we can see, hear, taste, touch or prove through Science. Consequently, since God is not seen, neither can we touch Him or prove Him through Science, this person finds it difficult if not impossible to believe in God. If only God (if He truly exists) would appear before us and prove in some substantial way that He is Who He claims to be.

But what if God did come to earth and performed irrefutable feats that would show that God not only exists but that He is Who He claims to be? Would everyone believe or would some find “reasons” to explain away what is done openly before them? The Bible makes the astounding claim that God has indeed appeared to men even dwelling among them and that He has left written evidence through those who witnessed His appearances. And so, to those who can only believe what they can see, hear, taste or touch, I submit this: consider the Bible. 

The Bible claims to be the written Word of God and as such it claims to be Truth. Those who have yet to receive the Bible as Truth most commonly lump it together with the numerous religious writings in the world today. The fact that the Bible does not seek to establish a religion (man’s efforts to earn favor with God) but instead depicts God’s efforts to reconcile man to Himself is generally missed. And so the Bible claims to be a unique, even miraculous book. And, if it is truly the Word of God, then God has set out for us a record in writing that can be tested, proven and relied upon.

The skeptic probably would challenge the above statement noting that the Bible begins with the simple assumption that God exists and no one can prove that, at least not through the empirical methods we call Science. However, there are many theories highly regarded and accepted in Science as “the best explanation” of things that cannot be proven due to their far reaching nature either.  However, many claims of the Bible can be tested and proven to be true. This in turn points to the veracity of its whole. The point is, however, most skeptics have never read the Bible and as such do not know what its claims truly are. Instead, they pass judgment on it as just another religious writing.

Let's go back a minute to consider the opening question of this discussion of how  the politicians in this election cycle can act the way they do to the point of intentional deception just to get elected? The Bible has the answer that they are sinners fallen from the grace of God and are seeking to what is right in their own eyes. They may even be sincere in what they are attempting to accomplish and accept the idea that the end justifies the means. Therefore, character assassination, deception, and various cover-ups are considered legitimate means to their desired ends. This is what the Bible says sin is all about—men throwing off God’s authority to replace it with our own. It doesn’t take much astute observation to see that this is the case in all of us. We all reserve judgment to our own thinking unless we submit to higher authority such as is found in the Bible. Thus we see the biblical claim and see evidence of its veracity. 

So where do we go from here? One might truthfully say that this discussion has not proven anything. However, it was not intended to do so. On the other hand, it is intended to arouse inquisitiveness into the trustworthiness of Scripture, and to present a challenge. There is nothing wrong in being a skeptic if that skepticism leads one to honestly seek for the facts before dismissing the Bible as religious myths. It is the hope of this writer that the sincere skeptic will read the Bible to find out for himself/herself what its claims really are and then honestly consider them.