Philosophy/Tough Questions

Classically, there are four ways that God has shown us a glimpse of who He is and what He is like: Nature, Intuition, Prophecy, and Incarnation.

Nature reveals some remarkable things about God. Every culture in history has concluded from observing the natural world that there is a Being responsible for its creation. By looking at the intricacies of a leaf or a bug or a baby, people have always marveled at the genius required to design things so painstakingly. By staring into the vastness of space or over the swells of the oceans or the vistas from the mountaintops, people have always stood in wonder at the power needed to bring such awesome things into existence. No matter how tiny, no matter how vast, the creative fingerprint of God is obvious to anyone with an open mind. Only the modern world with its anti-supernatural bias has resisted this conclusion.

Romans 1:19-20, “What may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made…”

Intuition is that hunch we have that there’s Someone out there. That hunch shows when we breathe a prayer involuntarily in a time of need or confusion. When we consider the question of morality and where it comes from, we have to conclude that some of our standard of right and wrong just isn’t natural or societal. It’s just in there, as though it was written on our souls by some Divine hand. Intuition tells us that it was. Intuition is what leads every people in every place to speculate about God. Obviously, intuition is completely subjective, so it can be fickle, nebulous, and misleading. But that doesn’t make it any less influential.

Romans 2:14-15, “[When those who] do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.”

Prophecy is more than predicting the future; it is the delivering of a divine message through a human spokesperson. Prophets may speak aloud or in writing and even use their own personal styles, but they reveal the words of God. Many religions claim to have possession of prophetic words.

Hinduism has its divine prophecy in the Vedas and Upanishads, ancient writings by various authors pointing to spiritual principles. Buddhism has the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, and the recorded sayings of the Buddha Siddhartha Guatama. Taoism believes the prophetic writings of Lao-Tzu. Islam has the Koran revealed to the Prophet Mohammed in various ways throughout his lifetime. The modern Latter-Day Saints have their Prophet Joseph Smith whose discovery of golden plates and miracle glasses led to the published Book of Mormon.

Judaism has the Law of Moses, the Torah, given by God himself from Mount Sinai in addition to the Psalms of David, the Proverbs of Solomon, and the written messages of numerous prophets all given with the such confidence that the authors could say, “Thus says the Lord!” Christianity (originally a Jewish sect) has its prophetic revelation in the form of biographies of Jesus and early followers by eyewitnesses, their letters to his adherents, and some cryptic foretelling of last times. All these writings have been accepted as the authoritative words of God communicated through people.

So the question about prophecy then becomes, can prophecy be the valid self-revelation of God? If so, which prophecy is the most accurate reflection of God’s true message? Are any of them faithful representations or are they just human projections of what a Divine author might say? How would we go about determining that?

There are many measuring sticks to use when considering the validity of an account. But here are a couple to start with:

• Is it externally consistent with history and life?

Are the cities, eras, or names in the stories verifiable through other sources? Do they contradict real history? Do the principles within it square with life?

• Is it internally consistent with itself?

Is there a unified message to the source? Do authors agree with one another?

2 Peter 1:20-21, “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

Incarnation (Latin for “being made flesh”) is the belief that a deity can take on human form and enter into the physical world. Again, this is a theme common to several religions. Greek, Roman, Norse, and Celtic mythology all assume that gods do that regularly. While some religions like Islam believe it blasphemy to say that Eternal God could ever lower Himself to a human state, Judaism and Christianity teach that God has done that repeatedly in the past. And Christianity, more than any other faith, pins all of its teaching on the incarnation of God in the person of Jesus the Christ.

There is a story that broadcaster Paul Harvey used to tell about a man who looked out his window during a terrible winter blizzard to see a flock of birds grounded by the storm and wandering around the yard in confusion. Concerned for their survival, he ran out, opened the barn door, and tried to shoo the birds into the barn. But no matter how hard he tried or what method he used, the birds would not respond to his efforts. They were simply too afraid and could not understand what he was trying to do. As he finally gave up in despair, he thought to himself, “If I could become a bird, I could communicate to them like a bird would and lead them to shelter and safety.” This farmer was wishing for incarnation.

Nature, intuition, and prophecy can point us to God and fill in some of the gaps, but they still leave some pretty big questions unanswered. People have always speculated about what God might think or say or do. Cultures have always guessed about what God might be like. Wouldn’t it take all the guesswork out of the equation if we could see and hear it directly from him? Wouldn’t it be the definitive self-revelation of God if he could just come here to show and tell us in person?

Christianity teaches that God did that in Jesus. He revealed himself in the flesh through Christ. He adopted a human body so that he could relate directly to the objects of his compassion. He showed us his character, his truth, and his reality by becoming one of us. Christianity teaches that Jesus revealed God’s depth of love for us when he lived in our world, died in our place, and rose from the dead again.

If this is true, then incarnation is the most complete revelation of God because it reveals the Creator of nature in tangible ways, confirms the suspicions of intuition, and bears out the promises of prophecy. Incarnation shows us not only what God says, but that he personally relates to his creation.

Hebrews 1:1-3, “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.”