Monday, August 6, 2012
299 - A Room without a View
Spirituality Column #299
August 7, 2012
Current in Carmel – Westfield – Noblesville – Fishers – Zionsville
Author of Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
To create Day 1 of Creation, God said “Let there be light.”
And there was light. That’s Genesis 1, verse 2.
But it’s not until verse 14, on Day 4, that God creates the sun and the stars, the things that make light. So, what gives? How was there light before there was light?
It’s an easy one really. The “light” first created in Genesis is God’s light; the light of the world that divided the darkness. And that light is Jesus Christ, the son of the father. The sun and the stars are evidence of God’s glory; Jesus Christ is God’s glory.
It’s not unusual for people with only a casual knowledge of the Bible to think that Jesus Christ was a new idea; God’s Plan B for New Testament salvation after the wrath, sin, mayhem, and failure of the Old Testament. No, Christ is an old, eternal hand.
The Christian confession of Christ, best encapsulated (I think) in John 1:1-14, lyrically tells us that Christ – also called the Logos or Word of God – was not only there in the beginning; the Logos made everything.
These are Christian basics. Secular skeptics and more than a few “Christian” preachers and congregations conveniently skip over this very important truth that Jesus is the Word of God, the light of the World (John 8:12), and the way, and the truth, and the life for all who seek relationship with God.
I bring up “light” and the primacy of Christ because it’s a fairly common thing for outsiders and non-believers to accuse Christians of wearing “religious blinders” when answering questions about their faith. Those who either don’t understand or are hostile to the idea of God, Christ, salvation, truth, scripture, right, wrong, evil, etc., often can’t understand an honest answer because they don’t understand their own question. “Blinders” suggests a lack of light for Christians, which I think is the opposite of the truth.
For example, “Who gets into heaven? Does Gandhi? Does a murderer?”
The answer is not binary, and I’m not wearing blinders to say 1) I trust God with all that; 2) it’s truly not for me to say; 3) Christianity isn’t centered on heaven, it’s centered on the glory of Jesus Christ; and 4) if you don’t believe in heaven to start with – or Jesus or the Bible – why would you care who goes there?
Christianity is illuminated by the entire light of the entire world. Those who try to find truth without that light have a room without much of a view.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) cites G.K. Chesterton’s “Orthodoxy” or C.S. Lewis’s “Mere Christianity” as pitch perfect books on Christianity written by former atheists.
August 7, 2012
Current in Carmel – Westfield – Noblesville – Fishers – Zionsville
A Room without a View
By Bob WaltersAuthor of Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
To create Day 1 of Creation, God said “Let there be light.”
And there was light. That’s Genesis 1, verse 2.
But it’s not until verse 14, on Day 4, that God creates the sun and the stars, the things that make light. So, what gives? How was there light before there was light?
It’s an easy one really. The “light” first created in Genesis is God’s light; the light of the world that divided the darkness. And that light is Jesus Christ, the son of the father. The sun and the stars are evidence of God’s glory; Jesus Christ is God’s glory.
It’s not unusual for people with only a casual knowledge of the Bible to think that Jesus Christ was a new idea; God’s Plan B for New Testament salvation after the wrath, sin, mayhem, and failure of the Old Testament. No, Christ is an old, eternal hand.
The Christian confession of Christ, best encapsulated (I think) in John 1:1-14, lyrically tells us that Christ – also called the Logos or Word of God – was not only there in the beginning; the Logos made everything.
These are Christian basics. Secular skeptics and more than a few “Christian” preachers and congregations conveniently skip over this very important truth that Jesus is the Word of God, the light of the World (John 8:12), and the way, and the truth, and the life for all who seek relationship with God.
I bring up “light” and the primacy of Christ because it’s a fairly common thing for outsiders and non-believers to accuse Christians of wearing “religious blinders” when answering questions about their faith. Those who either don’t understand or are hostile to the idea of God, Christ, salvation, truth, scripture, right, wrong, evil, etc., often can’t understand an honest answer because they don’t understand their own question. “Blinders” suggests a lack of light for Christians, which I think is the opposite of the truth.
For example, “Who gets into heaven? Does Gandhi? Does a murderer?”
The answer is not binary, and I’m not wearing blinders to say 1) I trust God with all that; 2) it’s truly not for me to say; 3) Christianity isn’t centered on heaven, it’s centered on the glory of Jesus Christ; and 4) if you don’t believe in heaven to start with – or Jesus or the Bible – why would you care who goes there?
Christianity is illuminated by the entire light of the entire world. Those who try to find truth without that light have a room without much of a view.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) cites G.K. Chesterton’s “Orthodoxy” or C.S. Lewis’s “Mere Christianity” as pitch perfect books on Christianity written by former atheists.
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