Good News - October 2019

en GAGE 34 OCTOBER 2019 www.goodnewsfl.org Good News • South Florida Edition sume he would create us with the capacities to understand him? If we are created in his image, don’t we imagine a God who can hear and see as we do? Didn’t the Lord see the distress of Hagar and Leah and Israel in bondage? (Genesis 16:13, 29:31-33; Exodus 3:7). In every case God intervened to save them. So we can conclude that God both sees our sufferings and responds in kindness when he hears our cries!” Not a bad understanding of God, we admit. 5. Can we know God by reason? “We can know some things by reasoning about God’s creation,” adds Christian. ‘We learn about God’s faithfulness when we see the sun every morn- ing, and we live with the assurance that spring always follows winter. We see that God brings light out of darkness every morning, which teaches us to have hope. David saw the stars and understood them to be result of the playfulness of God’s mighty power (Psalm 8:3). He saw the sun bringing life and warmth to the world, and described the sun like an evangelist proclaiming God’s glory, a gospel needing no translation (Psalm 19:1-6). “God brings bread forth from the earth to nourish us. He brings forth wine to gladden our hearts. We learn that bread and wine are necessary to life when every supper becomes a Eucharist. God gives us rest in the nighttime to restore our strength. We lie down to sleep and arise with the sun every morning. Every day, it seems, God has us practice resurrection.” 6. Can we know God by revelation (poetry)?What are its limits? “God in the Bible always speaks in poetry. All revelation is poetry—image “making.” We are made in God’s image. We must know the limits of poetic “likeness” to preserve the truth of our creation. When Satan first tempted Eve in the garden, he promised that she would be “like God.” Satan’s deception was to use a simile of identity—he was offering her a false poetry. Eve was al- ready “like God” in her creation. But she was not divine. “Poetic image making is the essence of theology, at the heart of conflicts of faith. Judaism broke from Christianity at the idea that God came in the image of man in Jesus (Hebrews 1:3). The Roman Empire divided in two over the question of Christ’s divinity. Is Jesus “like” God or is he truly “God.” The Protes- tant church divided over the nature of the Eucharist. Christ said, “This is my body” (Luke 22:19). Is the bread actually Jesus’ body, or is it like his body? Poetry is clearly fundamental to theology. We need to become better poets!” 7. & 8. Who is God by reason and revelation? “John tells us that Jesus is both Reason (logos) and Revelation (arche) (John 1:1). Paul tells us that Jesus is the Mediator between God (transcen- dent) and man (imminent) (1 Timothy 2:5). Socrates looked for the Philoso- pher-King; Jesus comes to us as the Priest-King (Hebrews 4:14-16). “We are being conformed by the Spirit of God into the image of Christ who is the image of God (1 Corinthians 15:49). We are being renewed after the image of the divine ‘I Am’ through him who said, ‘I Am the way, the truth and the life’ (John 14:6). We are led by the one who said, ‘I Am the light of the world’ (John 8:12). We are fed by him who said, ‘I Am the bread of life’ (John 6:35). And we are led safely, even through death, by him who said, “I Am the resurrection and the life’ (John 11:25).” Now perhaps we can rest better, even on our planetary rocket, knowing that Jesus will bring his hitchhikers safely home to heaven, to the land flowing with milk and honey. Next month: Is Jesus God? Dr. Warren A. Gage, Th.M., J.D., Ph.D. is president of The Alexandrian Forum, which provides life-changing Biblical teaching. To learn more, visit alexandrianforum.org What is Religion? (Continued from page 32)