God

I've been thinking a lot about the direction I want to go with this, to begin with, and I think the most important place to start is with God. I considered the bible, but I think for me, I want to start with God. A lot of what I believe about God begins in the bible, but some of it does not come from the bible. I am having a little trouble crystallizing in my head how and why I think this is most important, but here goes.

If we believe that God inspired the bible, then we must also believe that God is trustworthy. If God is not trustworthy, then it wouldn't matter if he inspired the bible or not, because he could just do something else. So, if God is trustworthy, then he is also good. If God is good, then we can know some things based merely upon his character, such as, God will not do things that go against his nature. In a manner of speaking, God has a certain code that he himself knows and he upholds. God refuses to do those things that violate that code.

In addition, God adheres to simple laws of logic. I am not sure how it works, but it must. If not then God could not be trustworthy. I am not sure if God follows those laws because he must or because he chooses to. What I do know, is if God does not follow rules of logic then God cannot be trusted. What I mean is this. (I believe this is called the law of noncontradiction) God cannot be A and non-A at the same time and in the same sense. What that means, is God cannot both love and hate someone in the same time and in the same sense. God cannot make a square circle. God cannot make a black thing white at the same time and in the same sense. I realize this is a difficult concept, but it is worth grasping (not that I have really done anything to grasp it, but I did learn at the feet of Wallace Roark, who is about a billion times better at explaining this than I am).

Anyway, this may seem like common sense, and it may seem very obvious, but as I think through the rest of what I think about theology, I find this simple principle even more important and even further taken for granted by some. God is trustworthy, and God is logical. This means that our concept of God should be trustworthy and logical.

I realize the common attacks against this point of view. Why would you say that God cannot do something? I guess my response would be "Could God be evil?" or "Could God lie?" There are certain limitations within God, whether chosen by him or inherent in his nature. I believe logic is one such limitation. The other common objection is that sometimes we don't know God's point of view about things, so while it may seem like a contradiction to us, it isn't to God. While most of the time I think that is a cop-out, I guess sometimes it holds some weight. My problem with it is that it becomes a catch-all for anything that could disrupt someone's picture of God. People will say with a straight face that God has done or wants certain things done while also affirming that his character is against them. It seems at that point a person must question his view of God. But many times this is simply a way for people to affirm what they want to affirm without any logical consistency. In some rare occurences, I think its right that God works in ways and does things that we don't understand. However, I don't think it is often. God has given us incredible reasoning capabilities and has explained who he is and how he works a good deal of the time.

I realize the majority of the five of you that read this won't really like this post, but I think Grant will probably have a few things to say about it. Also, I realize this isn't riveting stuff, but I think it becomes really relevant as we move to certain other discussions.