Eric E. Wright's Blog, page 22
June 21, 2021
Good Scientific Discoveries Depend Upon Finding What the Creator Put there to be Discovered. (Why every Christian Should Be a Naturalist, #5)
Imagine living in a universe with no fixed laws of motion or attraction or chemistry? One day gravity might be less and we might jump up from a chair but hit the ceiling. The next day it might be so strong we would have to crawl to work. Rockets to the moon might miss it and wander into space. Water might not evaporate from our lakes and oceans, there would be no rain, and oceans would overwhelm the land.
We take the consistency, the order, and the dependability of physical laws for granted. So do scientists even though many in our day deny the Creator of natural law. What chutzpah to deny the source of the very laws they study and attribute them to blind evolution or an uncaused big bang! The scientific method itself originated in a God-centred era that spawned the early scientists who revered God. They were men like Copernicus, Johannes Kepler, father of modern astronomy, Robert Boyle, father of modern chemistry, and Isaac Newton.
The heavenly bodies still operate according to principles discovered by Copernicus and Kepler. The elements still interact according to chemical principles in operation during Boyle’s time. The principles of electricity have not changed in a thousand years, although our understanding has. Nor have the basic interactions of the systems in our bodies. In actuality, good scientists are explorers who discover what is already there.
Every good scientific discovery we have, came through the study of the consistency and order of the universe. Our universe is not a random, chaotic swamp of competing and unpredictable forces. We should honour scientists for their discoveries, but refuse to let them steal the Creator’s glory. Actually, they are often wrong. Witness the competing claims of so-called experts during the current Covid-19 crisis.
Every Christian should be a STUDENT OF CREATION BECAUSE THE SON OF GOD IS THE CREATOR OF NATURAL LAW. He is the one responsible for the consistency and order upon which all good science depends. Why were scientists able to discover DNA? Because the Designer created us with imbedded DNA.
John reminds us of Christ, “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made” (John 1:3). “In him all things hold together” (Col. 1:17). The Psalmist states, “I will meditate on all your work, and talk of your deeds” (Psalm 77:12). “I will muse on the work of Thy hands” (Ps. 143:5) “Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them” (Psalm 111:2). “In wisdom you made them all” (Psalm 104:24). Belief in a Creator, far from discouraging science inspires thought and research into the almost infinite mysteries of existence. Consistent scientists, such as Newton, loved nature and studied it because they saw it as the handiwork of God. George Washington Carver, inventor of scores of uses for the peanut, pursued his discovery out of reverence for God.
So, as we wander through God’s forests, sail over His seas and gaze into his sky, we should wonder at the glory of it all and ponder what mysteries yet wait to be discovered. God created us in His own image; part of that image is rational thought including CREATIVITY and IMAGINATION. We need an abundance of Christians who will take up the study of creation and rescue it from the hands of atheistic science for the good of mankind.
(Let me know your thoughts on this subject. If you appreciate this blog, please pass it on. Further articles, books, and stories at: http://www.countrywindow.ca Facebook: Eric E Wright Twitter: @EricEWright1 LinkedIn: Eric Wright ––)
June 12, 2021
Nature Enhances Our Enjoyment of Life, (Why every Christian should be a naturalist, #4)
Throughout the world, Covid-19 has led to orders to stay at home! Here in Ontario we’ve just finished a very severe lockdown. Aren’t we all tired of being shut-in? I must commend health experts for all they have done during this pandemic and for the speedy development of vaccines. But in one area at least they have failed to take into consideration human health—by failing to encourage us to get out into nature.
Every Christian should be a biblical naturalist because NATURE ENHANCES OUR ENJOYMENT OF LIFE. Every Christian who can should seek to regularly spend time in God’s great outdoors. We should also encourage our politicians to create more access to green space and woodlands.
In the last month or so the Globe and Mail has been featuring a series of articles on the importance of green space in cities, the value of the ravines in Toronto and the effect natural landscapes have on our brains. “City dwellers who live near green spaces are less depressed and anxious than those who don’t…82 per cent of Canadians say parks had become more important to their mental health during the pandemic…[immersion in nature boosts creativity] Hikers solved 50 per cent more puzzles than the control group…People who see trees, flowers and grass recover from surgery faster…They also do better in school and are generally happier…City dwellers [while generally healthier than rural dwellers except in mental health] are 20 per cent more likely to have anxiety and 40 per cent more likely to develop depression.” (“This is your Brain on Trees”, The Globe and Mail, April 17, 2021, p. A12,13)
Nature is a gift of God’s common grace for all people. Recognizing its value, people all over the world form hiking, bird-watching, and camping clubs. They frequent parks. There are 500 trails in NC and E. Tennessee alone. Canada is just completing a trans-Canada trail. In Ontario we have the storied Bruce Trail and the Waterfront Trail among hundreds of others.
Among all people, followers of Jesus should value and enjoy nature more than any. The mountains, the sky, the seas, the rivers, the forests, the fields, the birds, the animals, the wild flowers, and the moon are all gifts that reflect God’s creativity and love. “God gives us richly all things to enjoy” (1 Tim. 6:17, NASV).
“O God, our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas. Who formed the mountains by your power,…where morning dawns and evening fades you call forth songs of joy. You care for the land and water it, you enrich it abundantly” (Psalm65:5,6,8).
Why then do our health care providers and government leaders not see that every long-term care facility for our seniors must have a garden attached where those shut-in their rooms can escape for even a few minutes. Why do they not see the importance of saving old-growth forest? Why do they not encourage us to walk along the lake or hike into the woods?
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI for one, as strength allows, will be venturing out a to identify wild-flowers and photograph birds.
(Let me know your thoughts on this subject. If you appreciate this blog, please pass it on. Further articles, books, and stories at: http://www.countrywindow.ca Facebook: Eric E Wright Twitter: @EricEWright1 LinkedIn: Eric Wright ––Photos are my own. )
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June 5, 2021
Dogs Illustrate Why We Should Love Nature.
In our condo community many people have dogs. We see them out walking their dogs in all weather. Nowadays, dogs have their own barbers, dentists, surgeons, and specialized nutritionists. The new breeds are very expensive to buy and costly to keep. Why then do so many people have them? I have a theory.
People love dogs because they are so faithful. In this day when so many human relationships are broken, dogs fill a need for love that is uncomplicated. If we are away from home, dogs race to meet us when we return. They don’t argue back, they just love us, day after day after day. When I was a boy, my dog Frisky would often follow me to school and wait for me by my bike. Dogs illustrate the faithful love many lonely people are longing for.
In the third in our series we’ve come to another reason why Christians should be students of the created world; THE NATURAL WORLD ILLUSTRATES SPIRITUAL PRINCIPLES. Elements of creation often illustrate how to live, how to act or how not to act.
Baby Robins, 2012The author of Proverbs urges us; “go to the ant, you sluggard, learn from his ways and be wise” (Prov. 6:6). Don’t be lazy; work hard. “Like a bird that strays from its nest is a man who strays from his home” (Prov. 27:8). Even birds know the importance of faithfulness to one’s family. “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another” (Prov. 27:17). We need friends. Friends inspire us to be thoughtful, dependable, wiser and less self-centred.
Since as Christians we should be continually growing in faith, hope, love and all the godly qualities, we may look around for illustrations that urge us toward more excellence. Mosquitoes, flies and poison ivy remind us that we live in a fallen world and we should not live as if it is all there is. We can live lives of hope and expectation knowing that there will be a new world without evil. Pelicans know where they are going. Do we? Are our lives purposeful?
Isaiah pointed out, “the ox knows his master, the donkey his owner’s manger, but Israel does not know…” (Isaiah 1:3). Even dumb animals remind us to be ever conscious of the Lordship of God over our lives. “In him we live and move and have our being.” Every provision we have comes from his hand. Are we grateful and faithful?
Jesus often used examples from nature to illustrate his teaching. “Look at the birds of the air, they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them…why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow…do not worry” (Matt 6:26,28ff). Worrying about what we have or haven’t got, worrying about tomorrow is pointless and shows a lack of faith in our Father’s ability to care for us.
The Bible is full of natural allusions. Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5)
Canada geese fly in a V formation which cuts down individual drag making it easier for all to fly. The individual geese take turns as the lead goose, showing us that shared leadership and group effort is much more effective than going it alone.
Whenever we are out for a hike through the woods or a walk along a lake, we can look around us for lessons that may remind us about how we should live.
(Let me know your thoughts on this subject. If you appreciate this blog, please pass it on. Further articles, books, and stories at: http://www.countrywindow.ca Facebook: Eric E Wright Twitter: @EricEWright1 LinkedIn: Eric Wright ––)
May 20, 2021
Why Every Christian Should Be a Naturalist, #2- Knowing the Unknown Through the Known
James Nickel and his new bride were seated on the south rim of the Grand Canyon. They were numbed by a presentation explaining the evolution of the strata. While they listened a tour bus arrived and let out a flood of tourists. An elderly German lady marched past them, surveyed the scene and lifted her hands to heaven. From her mouth came a torrent of Alleluias. James admitted that it took a worshiping lady from Germany to rouse him from inattention.
Every Christian should be a naturalist not only because creation opens a window inviting worship like the German tourist, but also because through that window WE GLIMPSE SOMETHING OF THE CHARACTER OF GOD. Creation testifies to the invisible God.
Nature not only tells us there is a God, but if our eyes are not blinded by atheistic philosophies, we will plainly see truths about what God is like. Paul explains, “what may be known about God is plain to them [that is those who see nature around them] because God has made it plain to them.” How has God done that? “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understand from what has been made, so that men are without excuse” (Rom. 1:19,20).
Early scientists such as Kepler, Newton and Galileo recognized that because God created the universe it enshrines an order and dependability that makes the discovery of scientific principles possible. Later scientists adopted truths discovered by these theistic scientists but denied God. They believed instead in blind chance and evolutionary forces. Rationality, however, when confronted with the immensity of the universe and the unbelievable energy of even our puny sun should force us to admit that the Cause of all this must be infinite and almighty and all wise.
The fine-tuning necessary to locate sun, moon, and planets exactly where they are so life on earth could exist shouts out the reality of a Divine Mind. The infinite complexity of even the tiniest creature or a simple cell speaks to a Cause greater than random chance and vast amounts of time. The simplest mind can fathom that the stupendous nature of the universe could not possibly have just happened or that it eternally existed. Everything we experience in life tells us that things happen due to causes. When we see something happen we innately look for a cause. Cause and effect is a law. Without an infinite Cause our vast universe could not exist.
We should purge our minds of anti-God presuppositions and look, listen and learn. As Psalm 19 declares:
God’s glory is on tour in the skies,
God-craft on exhibit across the horizon.
Madame Day holds classes every morning,
Professor Night lectures each evening.
Their words aren’t heard,
their voices aren’t recorded,
But their silence fills the earth:
unspoken truth is spoken everywhere.
God makes a huge dome
for the sun–a superdome!
The morning sun’s a new husband
leaping from his honeymoon bed,
The daybreaking sun an athlete
racing to the tape.
That’s how God’s Word vaults across the skies
from sunrise to sunset,
Melting ice, scorching deserts,
warming hearts to faith.
(A paraphrase of Psalm 19 by Eugene H. Peterson, The Message – Psalms, Colorado Springs: Navpress, 1994, p.27)
James Nickel wrote of his experience on the lip of the Grand Canyon upon hearing the German tourist’s cries of allelujah; “What dulled me for a few moments has blunted modern culture for generations. One of the characteristic signs that a culture is under divine judgement is a loss of wonder in the greatness of God’s works.” (Chalcedon Report, Oct. 02)
Every Christian should be a lover of creation because it shouts about the glories of God.
God is invisible. How then can we know what he is like? We can grow in understanding of God by comparing him with things in our experience. For example, how do I explain a guava to someone who has never seen nor tasted one? I can compare it to a pear, but explain that it is an edible, pale orange tropical fruit with pink juicy flesh and a strong sweet aroma. Understanding things beyond are experience depends on comparing them to things within our experience.
Every Christian should be a naturalist because, fourthly we cannot know what God is like without COMPARING HIS ATTRIBUTES WITH THINGS WE SEE IN CREATION.
David ponders the power of God as he gazes at the sea. “The seas have lifted up their pounding waves. Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the see—the LORD on high is mighty” (Psalm 93:4). God is all powerful; more powerful than tornadoes or volcanos or earthquakes.
David often pondered the big questions. How much does God know? Where is God? He concludes; “You know when I sit and when I rise, you perceive my thoughts from afar…you are familiar with all my ways.” God knows everything! He is omniscient in such a way that he is in my mind, reading my thoughts even before I think them. That is too much to understand so he begins to think in terms of escaping God into the vastness of the universe. “If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there…if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there you hand will guide me…even the darkness will not be dark to you;” God is greater than the whole universe and doesn’t need light to see. David concludes that God is omnipresent in such an amazing way that he is personally here with me yet is vaster than the universe. And he knows everything I think; he sees me in light and in darkness. (See Psalm 139)
The Bible is full of comparisons—similes and metaphors—through which we begin to know God better. He is a fire. He is a rock. His protecting love is greater than the wings of an eagle. The Holy Spirit is like a mighty wind. He cares for sparrows, but cares for us even more. His love is greater than that of the best Father. His love is deeper than that of a husband and wife.
Without studying and appreciating nature, we may miss the power of many of these comparisons and understand less of the glory of God. He is more beautiful than a sunset, sweeter in his love than a mango, more powerful than a cyclone.
(Let me know your thoughts on this subject. If you appreciate this blog, please pass it on. Further articles, books, and stories at: http://www.countrywindow.ca Facebook: Eric E Wright Twitter: @EricEWright1 LinkedIn: Eric Wright ––)
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May 17, 2021
Why Every Christian Should Be A Naturalist
The lockdown has us all longing to escape the confines of our homes. We need some fresh air. We need to walk in the wild. We need our eyes to feast on flowers and green leaves and grass. Among those of us who follow the Master, there should be a heightened desire to bathe our souls in nature rather than this everlasting masking and washing our hands in toxic cleansers.
I want to begin a series of blogs on why I believe every Christian should be a naturalist. I don’t mean that in the technical sense that we should all be environmentalists. I don’t expect every Christian to be a hiker or camper or even a gardener. I certainly don’t mean this in the sense that new-agers mean it, that we should all worship “mother nature”.
But we should all appreciate nature because of our LOVE FOR THE ONE WHO CREATED IT. Don’t you love the rather squiggly slashes of colour when your child or grandchild brings you one of their paintings to admire? Why? Because we love the child who painted it. Well, nature is God’s art.
Do we appreciate Michelangelo’s art? Art tells you about the artist. If we visit the Sistine Chapel in Rome and gaze at the ceiling with its astounding paintings, we will ponder how Michelangelo could possibly have painted those while lying on his back on a scaffold. Surely, we must come away with, maybe not love for him, but an enormous appreciation for the artist. When consider;
This is my Father’s world,
And to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings
The music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world:
I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas—
His hand the wonders wrought.
Do we love God? Well consider his artistry. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…God saw all that he had made [during the six days of creation] and it was very good” (Gen. 1:1,31). If we go outside in the evening and gaze at the sun setting or the moon rising. If we wonder through the woods and see trilliums and violets carpeting the ground. If we gaze into the sky and watch V’s of Canada Geese flying north. Or if we even ponder the mystery of how our fingers work. If we really look beyond what we have come to take for granted and see God, our mouths must open in awe and our hearts expand with love.
Do you not know God as Father? Then you can’t really appreciate the glory and purposes of the created world. Read and believe the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15:1-5, and then gaze at the natural world around. As I found out when I was converted at 19, you too will discover through God’s Son by the power of the transforming Holy Spirit that:
Heaven above is softer blue Earth around is sweeter green;
Something lives in every hue Christless eyes have never seen
Birds with gladder songs o’erflow
Flowers with deeper beauties shine.
Since I know, as now I know, I am His, and He is mine.
(Loved with Everlasting Love, George Wade Robinson)
How do we feel as we watch the sun set or as we see the moon rise? “Oh, that’s really lovely.” How do we feel when we gaze on trilliums carpeting a woodland? “That’s beautiful.”
The Psalmist felt something deeper when he saw mountain peaks, oceans—indeed, everything. “The LORD is the great God…In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Come let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker, for he is our God” (Psalm 95:3-6). So moved was the Psalmist that he began the Psalm by saying, “Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation” (Psalm 95:1).
Every Christian should be a naturalist because first of all, we love for the one who created it. Secondly, and similar to that reason, we should be genuine, biblical naturalists because NATURE MOVES US TO WORSHIP.
John Muir founded the Sierra Club, a powerful force for ecological responsibility. Once when Muir was standing with a friend at a high point of the Yosemite Valley tears began to course down his cheeks. His friend was one of those rather unemotional types. Muir turned to him and in the Scotch dialect into which he often lapsed when filled with wonder said; “Mon, can ye see unmoved the glory of the Almighty?”
“Oh, it’s very fine,” came the reply “but I do not wear my heart upon my sleeve.”
“Ah, my dear mon,’ Muir replied, ‘in the face of such a scene as this, it’s no time to be thinkin o where you wear your heart.” (Sierra, March/April 1989, p23)
Even if we, like Muir’s friend, are unemotional types surely when we gaze at our wonderful world, or the mystery of a new-born baby, or the weather cycles we should at least shout in our hearts about the creative majesty of God! His power! His wisdom! His goodness and beauty for all that is good and beautiful in our world reflects the creativity of God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen and amen.
(Let me know your thoughts on this subject. If you appreciate this blog, please pass it on. Further articles, books, and stories at: http://www.countrywindow.ca Facebook: Eric E Wright Twitter: @EricEWright1 LinkedIn: Eric Wright ––)
[i] This Is My Father’s World, text by Maltbie D. Babcock, music by Franklin L. Sheppard
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Does my Politician Encourage a Victim Mentality or Initiative?
How should a Christian view systems of government? A couple of things seem clear. As exhorted throughout Scripture, we should encourage compassion for orphans, widows and strangers or refugees. (Deut. 10:17-18 among many texts.) Into this category we should probably include seniors in long term care homes—those who have been so poorly served during this pandemic.
Certainly, character is a basic criterion. We need politicians who show from their history that they have a commitment to honesty and faithfulness. We want public servants who don’t run for office because they desire the limelight or love to debate. But in this blog, I want to highlight one general characteristic of desirable political parties.
Scripture makes clear that governments should do everything they can to encourage industriousness. While exhorting the Thessalonian Christians, Paul wrote: “Keep away from every brother who is idle…you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. …we worked night and day laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you…in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow. For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule. ‘If a man will not work, he shall not eat. We hear that some among you are idle…Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:6-12).
Good government discourages idleness and promotes initiative. It encourages everyone to earn a living, be hard-working, develop entrepreneurship and if possible, create more jobs. Governments should not hinder entrepreneurship through excessive taxes or laws that hinder creativity.
While the selfish DNA within us might tempt us to vote for those who promise us a guaranteed income or special subsidies, we must deny the tempter and vote for what is good for the country as a whole. Encouraging laziness is not good for Canada. Welfare, except that which is very carefully targeted, hinders Canadian fiscal and emotional health.
A few Canadian facts. From 2010 to 2013 during the Harper era, the Canadian economy grew an average of 2.8% a year after inflation. In the next four years during the Trudeau era the economy grew less than 2.3% a year. Leaders in the current government claim that their approach to the pandemic—all the emergency spending—has worked and yet $100 billion went straight into Canadian’s bank accounts. That obviously was not stimulus money but added to our mammoth deficit without increasing flourishing. Fortunately, some of the stimulus money did go to those who need it.
Let me add one further set of facts even though they are rather tangential. At this point I am risking provoking the ire of cancel culture. We hear much about the importance of equality between men and women in the workforce. Central to the current Canadian budget has been promoting the fallacy that women suffered disproportionately from pandemic job losses. The facts tell a different story. Male unemployment shot up to 13.5% last May while female unemployment was close at 13.9%. Currently both have rebounded to 7.3% and 7.6% respectively. Of course, this does not describe the matter of wage parity, which must to be considered. Both sexes are equally worthy.
My point in this blog is to simply urge us, especially Canadians, to make political choices based on principle and facts. Certainly, one of the most important principles is to choose a party based on whether or not it encourages hard work, entrepreneurship and initiative or helps to further the victim mentality that is so hurtful to our democracy. Christians, like others, need to make informed decisions about politics based on facts not hearsay or warm fuzzies.
(Statistics thanks to comments in “The many false assumptions on which the 2021 budget is based,” by Andrew Coyne, Globe and Mail, April 24, 2021, O2)
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May 3, 2021
The Tri-unity of God
Can we collect lightning in a bucket? Can we gather the ocean in a thimble? Either would be easier than trying to fathom the mystery that is God. We’ve covered a lot of ground in our attempts in these blogs to understand what God has revealed about himself through his attributes. As this series nears it end, we approach one of the greatest mysteries, the Trinity. This truth is not one we can deduce through reason, but as with most of what we know about God can be known only through revelation.
As we would expect, the most complicated truths about God are revealed later in his revelation, the Bible. Biblical revelation is progressive. The Old Testament has some passages that imply multiple persons but don’t fully describe the three persons. For example, ”And God said, ‘Let US make man in OUR image’” (Gen 1:26). At the tower of Babel, we read, “The LORD [said]…Come, let US go down and confuse their language” (Gen. 11:7). “The sovereign LORD has send ME, with his SPIRIT” (Isaiah 48:16).
The New Testament clearly affirms each of the three persons as divine. No reader of the Bible doubts that the Father is God. In many places Jesus Christ is declared to be deity. “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being sustaining all things by his powerful word” (Hebrews 1:3) [Further see John 1, Col. 1, Hebrews 1, and Revelation 1.]
That the Holy Spirit is God is clear because the divine names, perfections, works and glory are attributed to him. “The Spirit of God…the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:3). It is important to note that the Holy Spirit is not a force but has personality. He is the Comforter who dwells within believers. He counsels, he comforts, and he “will teach you all things” (John 14:26). “The Spirit helps us in our weakness” (Romans 8:26).
Thus, we have three, distinct, Divine Persons and yet they are one in essence. The Trinity is not a descriptor for one God with three names, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Nor is it three Gods united in one purpose but with different responsibilities; the Father as the planner, the Son as the builder, the Spirit as the power. Neither does the Trinity refer to how God has revealed himself in three dispensations; the Father in the OT era, the Son during the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and the Spirit during the Church Age.
There is one God, undivided in essence. And each of the persons is fully, completely, wholly God and yet they are distinct as expressed often in the NT. For example, see the baptismal formula in Matthew 28; the involvement of each person in our redemption in Ephesians 1, and the blessing in 1 Cor. 13:14. “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all”. [Please refer to a good theology book such as Systematic Theology by L. Berkhof for a more thorough discussion.]
This is a mystery beyond our experience and comprehension. But make no mistake, to be Christian is to be thoroughly trinitarian. We would be wise to heed the Athanasian dictum, lest we venture into heresy. “We must neither divide the essence nor confuse the persons.” Despite its mystery, the Trinity is a wonderful reality. It demonstrates that at the root of all existence is personality and relationship. Existence cannot be understand as merely material or mechanistic. From eternity, the Father has been delighting in fellowship with the Son and with the Spirit and so have each of the three with the other member of the Tri-unity.
As a relational God, God loves to have fellowship with you and me. He expects us to be in loving fellowship with each other. The Christian faith never encourages us to be loners.
But perhaps, you feel alone. You need not for there are three who love you more than a mother or spouse could. The Father. The Son. The Holy Spirit. Jesus taught us to pray, “our Father who art in heaven.” Jesus rose from the dead but said, “Lo, I am with you always.” Before he went to the cross, Jesus explained to his disciples, “I will leave you another Comforter, the Holy Spirit who will be with you for ever.
On the darkest night in the loneliest desert, we are never alone if we have received Jesus Christ as our Saviour. Repenting of our sins and receiving his forgiveness ushers us into an eternal relationship with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
(Let me know your thoughts on this subject. If you appreciate this blog, please pass it on. Further articles, books, and stories at: http://www.countrywindow.ca Facebook: Eric E Wright Twitter: @EricEWright1 LinkedIn: Eric Wright ––)
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A Truth Beyond our Imagination
Mankind has both a marvelous imagination and an astounding inventiveness. Think of the wheel, the printing press, the telephone and the internet. Or consider Ra, the sun god of Egypt, Baal, the storm god of Philistia, Ganesha, the elephant god of India, Allah, the god of Islam or mother nature–the god of many environmentalists. What a minute, these are examples of human imagination gone wild!
Imagination is fine when it inspires art or even leads scientists on a quest to discover some new truth. But No scientist abandons belief in the basic laws of mathematics and physics in their quest for a new discovery. They may probe deeper into reality and come up with the speed of light or the secret of pi or quantum physics. There are always aspects of reality beyond our current understanding.
But in our search for God there are certain truths He has revealed about Himself which, if we deny we venture into wild speculation that is not rooted in reality. Fundamentally, we begin our search by asserting that there is only one God. “The LORD is God; besides him there is no other” (Deut. 4:36). This reality is stated as the second of the ten commandments. “You shall have no other gods before me” (Deut. 5:7). Paul explains, “We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one” (1 Cor 8:4).
Besides the uniqueness of the LORD God which we considered in other blogs, the oneness of God requires us to think of his unity as stated in the Hebrew Shema. “Hear O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one” (Deut. 6:4).
Ever since we used blocks to make a toy house or put Lego together, we understand that everything is composed of parts. Our bodies are made up of cells. Even apparently solid metals are composed of molecules. The atmosphere is composed of various gases including oxygen and carbon dioxide. But when we consider the oneness of God we face something completely beyond all experience. There are no parts, no division within God.
We’ve been considering the attributes of God. But we must not think that God is composed of wisdom plus holiness plus justice plus goodness, etc. These are not parts of who God is but qualities of his entire unified being. God is one, undivided.
We may think that God has at least three parts, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But no, God is one undivided being. Yes, there are three persons, but they are one. The Father is infinite. The Son of God is infinite. The Spirit is infinite. Yet there are not three infinites but one undivided infinite essence.
We affirm this because Scripture demands we do so. Jesus said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). This declaration was also affirmed in all of Jesus I AM statements and led the Jews to crucify him. “I am the bread of life…I AM the living water…I AM the light of the world” etc. By these declarations, Jesus was declaring that the Shema applied to him.
This is, of course, beyond our experience and beyond our comprehension. We cannot conceive of a being that exists as three persons and yet these three have one undivided essence. We should not be surprised. God in His essence and being is totally beyond anything comparable in the universe. Any consideration of God is a venture into mystery. Theologians have pondered these mysteries for 2000 years.
We’ll ponder ruther the mystery of the Trinity in next post. To keep us from the heresy of Unitarianism on one side and tri-theism on the other we would be wise to heed the Athanasian Creed which states; We must neither divide the essence nor confuse the persons.
All of us have gone to some school or university. I wonder what learning will be like in heaven? We have a lot to learn. (Let me know your thoughts on this subject. If you appreciate this blog, please pass it on. Further articles, books, and stories at: http://www.countrywindow.ca Facebook: Eric E Wright Twitter: @EricEWright1 LinkedIn: Eric Wright ––)
April 17, 2021
An Enigma Within a Mystery
History is full mysteries. How was Stonehenge constructed? What is the language of the 3500 year old Indus civilization and how did its people disappear? What happened to the crew of the Mary Celeste, an American merchantman found adrift in the Atlantic in 1872 with no lifeboats. How could the pyramids have been constructed? But the greatest mystery of all is the being of God.
Mohenjo-Daro, ancient city of the Indus civilizationWhen Muslims debate Christians, one of the first things they do is mock our arithmetic. “Don’t you know, one plus one plus one equals three, not one. Jesus could not be the Son of God for allah is one in absolute unity.”
Christians accept the Trinity as mysterious but we believe in it because God, himself, revealed it to us in the New Testament. If we are biblical Christians we are thorough going trinitarians. We believe in; God, the Father, God, the Son and God, the Holy Spirit. “Jesus commissioned his followers to, “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19). And yet we believe that God is one. “Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one” (Deut. 6:4). These two verses seem like a contradiction.
In this series of blogs about the attributes of God we have faced many truths that have stretched our minds. But now we come face to face with three even greater mysteries. Let’s approach the revealed facts that God is a spirit, that God is one, and that God is triune slowly and with care.
The place to start is with an admission of the reality of Mystery and the reality of our own limitations. We have neither the technology nor the intelligence to search the universe for God. In our meditations on God’s attributes, we’ve found Him to be unsearchable until he reveals Himself to us. Who can comprehend eternity? Or infinity? Or omnipotence? Or omniscience?
Zophar spoke to Job saying; ”Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection? …The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea” (Job 11:7,9 KJV). God is unsearchable. Paul wrote, “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments and his paths beyond tracing out” (Rom. 11:33).
We think so highly of ourselves with our robotics, our aircraft and our space probes. We proudly think that we have reached such a place in history that all truth is open to our investigation. Nothing could be further from reality. The only way to approach God is with humility. Think back to the beginning of history; to Adam and Eve. To create within Eve the Great Sin of Pride, Satan whispered to her; “Did God really say [don’t eat?]…for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God” (Gen. 3:1,5). That whisper echoes down through history to our day. Will we obey God? Will we approach him with faith, or arrogance? Will we read and accept what he has revealed about himself in Holy Scripture?
That God is mysterious and other-worldly should not surprise us. Actually, you and I are a mystery. The search for the essence of who we are has engaged philosophers from time immemorial. It is the secret of human consciousness. Are we just a bundle of brain synapses plus heart pumps and lung breaths? No, of course not, every human has a distinct spirit or soul that reflects his or her personality. Although researchers labour to identify which area of the brain is responsible for what function, we are not just a brain. We are living souls. And the soul is mysterious and invisible.
If we are so mysterious doesn’t it make sense that God is more so, especially since we were created in his image? The Samaritan woman confronted by Jesus at the well probably had a material concept of God. This led her and her fellow Samaritans to believe that God must be worshipped in a place. Jesus corrected her. Worship must not be limited to this mountain or to Jerusalem. “God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). We must approach God in our own spirit or soul according to the truth about worship revealed in Scripture.
God is a spirit. This means various things. He is invisible and his essence does not consist of tangible matter. Although the universe is full of his presence yet we can never isolate him to one place nor measure his width, height or length. As we read in 1 Tim. 6:16; He is the one—”who only hath immortality, dwelling in light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be glory and power everlasting”.
Being a spirit means also that he is a self-conscious and self-determining being. He is not an impersonal force. He is a personal being with thoughts, feelings such as love and a will that makes decisions.
God is beyond all the laws that he created and thus beyond the search of the scientific method. Beyond matter and mass. Beyond space and time. Beyond change and decay. Beyond any limitations, so that as a spirit, he can be fully attentive to a person in one spot with the whole of his consciousness.
Our mind-boggling God! Clearly there is much more to consider here. Is the Father separate from the Son and Spirit? What does the unity of God mean? What does the Trinity mean?
Perhaps most important for you and me is to know that when we pray in our spirits to our heavenly Father we have his total attention. He is here as an invisible spirit. He listens to our prayer. He loves us. He moves heaven and earth to take care of us.
(Let me know your thoughts on this subject. If you appreciate this blog, please pass it on. Further articles, books, and stories at: http://www.countrywindow.ca Facebook: Eric E Wright Twitter: @EricEWright1 LinkedIn: Eric Wright ––)
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The only Real Change Agent
“Can the leopard change its spots” (Jer. 13:23)? Can an evil man become kind and loving? Can a deceiver become honest and trustworthy by reforming himself? No. Then how did John Newton, committed slave trader, become a preacher of freedom? How did Chuck Colson, Nixon’s hatchet man, become such a humble agent of truth and the gospel? How does a Hell’s Angel biker or a drug dealer, or a womanizer become a godly follower of Jesus? Through saving grace.
We’ve been considering the astounding attributes of God in this series of blogs. God is infinite, eternal and unchangeable. He is all wise, all powerful, and omnipresent. Although he is far beyond our comprehension, yet he has revealed himself as one who can relate to us as a Father. He is good in at least five ways.
His universal kindness—he is good to all,His mercy and compassion,His long-suffering—slow to anger,His love,His grace.
Grace is the goodness of God expressed towards guilty sinners. Grace is why God is moved to forgive repentant sinners. It is what triggers the Holy Spirit to create within the sinner a new heart as predicted in Ezekiel. “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26. See also Jer. 31:33, John 3:3, Hebrews 8:10). Without that new heart within we cannot change. Yoga will not do it. Counselling will not change us from the inside out.
The instantaneous and dramatic change in Saul from being one who hated and imprisoned Christians to the Apostle Paul who preached the gospel throughout the Roman Empire is because of grace. His conversion is one of the great proofs of the truth and power of the Risen Christ. From his sudden conversion on, Paul celebrated salvation by grace rather than through works of the law as prescribed by his Pharisaical training.
“The law was given through Moses but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works,…for we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works” (Eph. 2:8-10).
God gives good gifts, not because we earn them, but by grace—his undeserved favour. His greatest gift is seen in the birth, teaching, death and resurrection of His Son. “But you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9).
If we try to earn our salvation by going to church, trying to be good, or keeping sacraments or anything else, we deny and vilify the GRACE of God. Everything a saved sinner has is a gift of undeserved grace; forgiveness of sins, the new birth (regeneration), justification, sanctification, and ultimately glorification. Receive it. Rejoice in it. Give thanks a hundred times a day.
The Puritan had it right when he prayed; I know that that Thou art the author and finisher of faith, that the whole work of redemption is thine alone, that every good work or thought found in me is the effect of Thy power and grace, that their sole motive in working in me to will and to do is for thy good pleasure. O God, it is amazing that we can talk so much about man’s creaturely power and goodness, when, if thou didst not hold us back every moment, we should be devils incarnate. This, by bitter experience, thou hast taught me concerning myself. (The Valley of Vision; Banner of Truth.. quoted in a Sept. 2002 Steve Brown letter.)
Do you want real change? Character change? Come to Jesus Christ and he will change you from the inside out.
(Let me know your thoughts on this subject. If you appreciate this blog, please pass it on. Further articles, books, and stories at: http://www.countrywindow.ca Facebook: Eric E Wright Twitter: @EricEWright1 LinkedIn: Eric Wright ––)
