The Biblical Narrative Part 10 of 10
At this time in human history…God is allowing the upsetting of the delicate balance between belief and unbelief…slowly but steadily weighted in favor of the God narrative…which has never occurred within a similar cultural environment like today.
When the authority of human scientific research may be found to be making the case for the existence of the extreme brilliance of the Intelligent Designer of the universe…arguing amazingly against the humanism it has been indirectly supporting for the last roughly 160 years…as stated above…this new development overlapping into the credibility of assigning the authority of the biblical narrative stories of faith to the creative genius of God…may turn out to surpass in magnitude the Protestant Reformation of 500 years ago.
Certainly, scientific fact-based evidence inserting itself into the divinely crafted, delicate balance between belief and unbelief…after thousands of years in existence being tweaked and adjusted to maintain equal balance…this new reality can in the truest sense be termed “breaking news.”
The larger point here is not some cultural battle over elevating the empirical authority of the trusted word of our medical doctor…for example…over and above placing our faith and trust in the authority of the word of our church pastor or youth director.
In a biblical narrative story of faith…our God-composed journeys of faith life-scripts take precedence over everything and everyone…coming from the highest authority…the Intelligent Designer God of the universe.
Will the God of the Bible lead and guide us like He did with the people of faith in the biblical narrative stories of faith?
That is the stated intention of God as recorded in Jeremiah 31:31-34…that believers will all know Him from the least to the greatest…which cannot happen outside of a God-composed journey of faith life-script that ingeniously displaces our ways…our life-plans…with God’s higher ways and thoughts.
Pastors and ministers of the gospel do not have to compete with scientists over who has the most credibility and authority in our modern culture…in a false choice between faith and science…because faith and science coalesce into one…as our understanding of both faith and science increases…identifying God as the only Person qualified to compose our life-scripts.
I would like to add three brief thoughts before closing-out this introduction.
First, if human life was a blank canvas for painting a picture…and we see the incredible beauty and magnificence of the cosmos filled with galaxies, this earth, and the diversity of life within its varied ecosystems…it would be reasonable to assume that the God who created all of this could also paint a beautiful portrait of our lives…if we would let Him.
But in the Garden of Eden mankind basically took away the paint brush and the palette of colors…and said: “No, we will paint this portrait of our lives ourselves…on our own.”
The biblical narrative stories of faith are examples where God was able to paint the life-stories of people willing to hand over to Him the brush and paint colors…by faith trusting that He is a better artist than we are.
Second, today’s Christians should no longer be suspicious of science. The truth of the existence of complex, specified, and coherently integrated systems of information in the natural world…now eliminates the plausibility of naturalistic explanations for the origin and operation of the phenomenon in the living and non-living natural world…returning us slowly to the pre-Darwin period where belief and unbelief were balanced between moral, metaphysical decisions…unweighted by atheistic materialism claiming the support of science on its side.
Third, there is absolutely nothing in the biblical narrative worldview that blocks people from choosing to strive to be the best people they can be…to live their best lives…because the biblical narrative equation for life does not aim for the wrong mountaintop…does not include in its program the narrowly limited access to wealth, fame, or power…to achieve our true and genuine destiny…when we have God’s help walking jointly through a journey of faith.
This is The Biblical Narrative in a Modern World.
And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. (Isa. 2:2-3)
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. Unto him be glory in the church by Jesus Christ throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” (Eph. 3:20-21)
When the authority of human scientific research may be found to be making the case for the existence of the extreme brilliance of the Intelligent Designer of the universe…arguing amazingly against the humanism it has been indirectly supporting for the last roughly 160 years…as stated above…this new development overlapping into the credibility of assigning the authority of the biblical narrative stories of faith to the creative genius of God…may turn out to surpass in magnitude the Protestant Reformation of 500 years ago.
Certainly, scientific fact-based evidence inserting itself into the divinely crafted, delicate balance between belief and unbelief…after thousands of years in existence being tweaked and adjusted to maintain equal balance…this new reality can in the truest sense be termed “breaking news.”
The larger point here is not some cultural battle over elevating the empirical authority of the trusted word of our medical doctor…for example…over and above placing our faith and trust in the authority of the word of our church pastor or youth director.
In a biblical narrative story of faith…our God-composed journeys of faith life-scripts take precedence over everything and everyone…coming from the highest authority…the Intelligent Designer God of the universe.
Will the God of the Bible lead and guide us like He did with the people of faith in the biblical narrative stories of faith?
That is the stated intention of God as recorded in Jeremiah 31:31-34…that believers will all know Him from the least to the greatest…which cannot happen outside of a God-composed journey of faith life-script that ingeniously displaces our ways…our life-plans…with God’s higher ways and thoughts.
Pastors and ministers of the gospel do not have to compete with scientists over who has the most credibility and authority in our modern culture…in a false choice between faith and science…because faith and science coalesce into one…as our understanding of both faith and science increases…identifying God as the only Person qualified to compose our life-scripts.
I would like to add three brief thoughts before closing-out this introduction.
First, if human life was a blank canvas for painting a picture…and we see the incredible beauty and magnificence of the cosmos filled with galaxies, this earth, and the diversity of life within its varied ecosystems…it would be reasonable to assume that the God who created all of this could also paint a beautiful portrait of our lives…if we would let Him.
But in the Garden of Eden mankind basically took away the paint brush and the palette of colors…and said: “No, we will paint this portrait of our lives ourselves…on our own.”
The biblical narrative stories of faith are examples where God was able to paint the life-stories of people willing to hand over to Him the brush and paint colors…by faith trusting that He is a better artist than we are.
Second, today’s Christians should no longer be suspicious of science. The truth of the existence of complex, specified, and coherently integrated systems of information in the natural world…now eliminates the plausibility of naturalistic explanations for the origin and operation of the phenomenon in the living and non-living natural world…returning us slowly to the pre-Darwin period where belief and unbelief were balanced between moral, metaphysical decisions…unweighted by atheistic materialism claiming the support of science on its side.
Third, there is absolutely nothing in the biblical narrative worldview that blocks people from choosing to strive to be the best people they can be…to live their best lives…because the biblical narrative equation for life does not aim for the wrong mountaintop…does not include in its program the narrowly limited access to wealth, fame, or power…to achieve our true and genuine destiny…when we have God’s help walking jointly through a journey of faith.
This is The Biblical Narrative in a Modern World.
And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. (Isa. 2:2-3)
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. Unto him be glory in the church by Jesus Christ throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” (Eph. 3:20-21)
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