Quick Takes – 4/25/2009
April 25, 2009
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Posted by Ray Fowler
Randy Harris sums up the book of Revelation in three lines:
1. God’s team wins.
2. Choose your team.
3. Don’t be stupid.
Thomas Nagel talks about his fear of religion. “I speak from experience, being strongly subject to this fear myself: I want atheism to be true and am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers. It isn’t just that I don’t believe in God and, naturally, hope that I’m right in my belief. It’s that I hope there is no God! I don’t want there to be a God; I don’t want the universe to be like that.” (The Last Word, pp. 130-131)
R. A. Torrey explains why we don’t always understand God’s ways. “It will solve a great many of our perplexities when we come to see that God knows more than we do … If a child of six or seven should undertake to criticize the teachings of a profound philosopher of fifty or sixty, we would not take it as an indication of the child’s wisdom but simply of the child’s foolish conceit. But it would not be as foolish as the ripest philosopher undertaking to criticize God. Man never appears more ridiculous than when he tries to tell what an infinitely wise God must do.”
Categories: Quick Takes
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1) God says God will win; and if you don’t believe it, he will kill you; but do other folks say? Don’t be stupid. The Bible also says … that many who think they are Christians, will have been deceived; will have been following a false idea of Christ.
2) If Nagel talks of fear of Religion of God, then after all, God himself commands us to “fear” him. Nagel here isn’t being weak; ironically, he is obeying one of God’s commands. Christians should fear him too. “Fear the Lord” and obey him.
3) If we are not supposed to try to understand God’s ways … then why did the Bible devote most of its pages, to trying to explain them? And if their exaplanations are incoherent?
“Always be prepared to give a reason for your faith.”
G – I am not sure where you are coming from in your responses. You clearly have a lot of zeal for the Lord — which is a good thing! But you also seem to have taken all three quotes and tried to find something negative about each of them rather than engage them in a positive manner. I would encourage you to take more time to try and grasp what each of these men are saying and then consider what God may be teaching you from that. Thanks for commenting, and I hope you will be back!