1. Welcome to Baptist Board, a friendly forum to discuss the Baptist Faith in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to all the features that our community has to offer.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!

Truth and the Nature of God

Discussion in 'Other Christian Denominations' started by Heavenly Pilgrim, Oct 1, 2006.

  1. Heavenly Pilgrim

    Heavenly Pilgrim New Member

    Joined:
    May 7, 2006
    Messages:
    9,295
    Likes Received:
    0
    Php 3:10 That I may KNOW him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

    Ps 103:7 He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.

    No one can make a case that God’s ways are not higher than our ways, but just the same neither is it evident in Scripture or revealed in reason that we are to be left in a vacuum of knowledge as to His attributes such as justice, mercy, love, etc. Our whole legal system is based upon principles of justice elucidated in Scripture and understood by men such as John Locke and others. To hide behind that which we do not know, and allowing that to confuse or detract from that which we do in fact understand and comprehend, is not in the best interest of truth or wisdom.

    It has been stated something to the effect, (I believe by Algernon Sydney) that true fortitude of knowledge consists in not allowing that we cannot understand to confuse that we of certainty know. Sorry I cannot remember the quote exactly or the exact reference with absolute certainty. Just the same, I can see the truth of the statement regardless of what I cannot know or remember. If I was to say that the statement does not contain understandable truth because I cannot with certainty undertstand or remember who the author was or all that he believed, that would not be in keeping with true fortitude of knowledge. Just because there are many things we cannot understand about God does not equate to placing all concepts revealed to us by God on such a plane as to make them indiscernible or beyond our understanding.


    One thing we should never do is to allow our theology to contain absurdities. We may error as theologians or philosophers, but our job should be to examine both to see where the error lies and to eliminate any obvious absurdities.

    Yes God’s ways are indeed higher than our ways, but He has implanted within our beings and revealed to us in Scripture many truths we can with certainty be assured are according to truth. We must make every effort to utilize every means by which God reveals truth to our hearts, comparing truths with truths. Certainly there are many truths found in Scripture that are not revealed to us in any other process or by any other means. Just the same, it is not in keeping with wisdom to approach the Scriptures as an island of truth isolated from the testimony of God to man via conscience and first truths of reason and nature itself.

    Truth, regardless of the realm it is found in, has it’s Authorship in God and our understanding of it must be compared and analyzed to create unity of thought and to eliminate all possible clear contradictions. May God guide us in our pursuits.

    What are your thought as to the nature of truth and our understanding of God?
     
  2. BobRyan

    BobRyan Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 27, 2002
    Messages:
    32,913
    Likes Received:
    71
    Faith:
    Non Baptist Christian
    Titus 1 speaking of the Gospel "Which God who CAN NOT LIE promised long ages ago".

    Paul argues from logic and reason that God IS to be trusted and that logical boundaries DO apply to Him. For example if He can NOT LIE then we can trust that what He says He IS obligated to do - He WILL do.

    Some are so hung up on the fact that He is all powerful that they can only predict Him to be totalitarian and arbitrary system nothing "stops Him from doing that". YET while having ALL power -- He sovereignly CHOOSES to tell the truth - to uphold His Word, AND as we see in Romans 3:1-4 (and in Job 1 and 2) to ALLOW Himself to be questioned, tested and audited. To let "the facts" DISPLAY clearly that He is either lying and an arbitrary tyrant OR that He is in fact LOVE, Justice, Mercy and above all "The way the TRUTH and the life".

    In Christ,

    Bob
     
Loading...