Keith Ward in his Why There Almost Certainly Is a God (Lion: 2008) critiques the views of Richard Dawkins and others on the question of the existence of God.
A highly respected philosopher and theologian, Professor Ward raises questions about the dubious nature of materialism. ‘Most of us (philosophers) do not want to deny that material things exist,’ he writes, ‘but we are no longer sure of what matter is. Is it quarks, or superstrings, or dark energy, or the result of quantum fluctuations in a vacuum?’ (p.14) ‘What is the point of being a materialist when we are not sure exactly what matter is?’ he asks. ‘It no longer seems to be a set of simple elementary particles… What this means is that materialism no longer has the advantage of giving us a simple explanation of reality’ (p.15).
He also raises questions about the problem of consciousness, namely, ‘how conscious states – thoughts, feelings, sensations and perceptions – can arise from complex physical brain-states …’ (p.16). He further asks, ‘Do we know that no consciousness could exist without being tied to … a physical process? … There might be a consciousness that came into existence in some other way’ (apart from a physical process) (p.17).
Following a carefully developed analysis of a scientific and materialistic explanation for our existence, he observes, ‘But perhaps materialism is the greater delusion. Consciousness is the most evident sort of existence there is, and it is not necessarily bound to matter. It will then be very natural for finite consciousness to have an affinity with the spiritual consciousness of God, and sharing in the divine awareness is their most natural form of existence.’
‘Immortality is not a fiction invented to compensate for an unhappy life,’ he comments. ‘It is the perception that our conscious lives are not bounded by space and time, and that they find fulfillment in union with a supreme spiritual reality that seems, even during this life, to take us beyond the limits of time’ (p.96).
It is this spiritual reality that the Lenten readings from John’s Gospel open up for us.
Read
John 1:1-5, 9-14, 18
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it…
9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth…
18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
Reflect
With his opening verses, the gospel writer John introduces us to ‘the Word’. He tells us who the Word is and from where he comes; we learn that he is truly God (1:1), eternal (1:2), the creator of all things and the source of our existence (1:3); he opens our eyes as well as opening the way to the spiritual dimension of life (1:4). He was God, and yet with God – by himself the Word is not the full complement of the Godhead. With such a philosophical preamble, verse 14 is alarmingly and shockingly tangible!
The Word of God, whose very nature and existence is eternally divine, has taken on human form. John is telling us that he and his fellow apostles saw what Moses only glimpsed, namely, the glory of God personified. For the first time in history, God had revealed himself in person (1:18). The grace and truth of God had become incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ.
But there is an ironic tragedy: left to ourselves we reject the Word and his light. We prefer to live in the darkness of our own egos. We need God’s work of grace within us to open our eyes to the truth (1:5-13).
In his opening section (1:1-14), John introduces us to a counterintuitive idea: there is more than one Person who makes up the One God of the Bible. Throughout eternity God exists in relationship and, in that relationship delights in giving life and light. Christianity we begin to see is not a religion of works but of relationship – one that is grounded in the surprising grace of God.
Prayer
Blessed Lord, you have caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning: grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them, that, encouraged and supported by your holy Word, we may embrace and always hold fast the joyful hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. (1662 Book of Common Prayer, Advent 2)
Twelve months ago I drew attention to Robert Letham’s observations in his book, The Holy Trinity (P&R Publishing: 2004), concerning the impact of postmodernism on society. He comments that since the 1970s the western world has developed ‘a generally pessimistic view of human progress… The modern world’s reliance on reason has been replaced by a preference for emotion… The cardinal fault in interpersonal relations now is to hurt someone’s feelings…’ (p.449).
‘In the vanguard of this new world order,’ he continues, ‘are not so much scientists as literary critics. Its root feature is the view that the world is without objective meaning or absolute truth…’ (p.453).
How should we respond? Letham suggests ‘perhaps the most appropriate response to the postmodern suspicion of claims of objective, absolute truth is in our focusing on the manipulation-free, self-giving love of God’ (p.456). Yet how often do we find this ‘manipulation-free, self-giving love of God’ emulated in churches?
He asks, ‘How often do evangelists use music to get their audience into the right mood, to soften them up, so that they can influence them more easily and so change their behaviour? … Much “worship” today is not worship at all, for it is not directed to the Holy Trinity, but to the advancement of hidden agendas, the bolstering of human pride, or the entertainment of seekers’.
By contrast, Paul’s thanksgiving for the church in Colossae, speaks of a church that is God’s workmanship.
In Colossians 1:3-8 we read: In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospelthat has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God. This you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, and he has made known to us your love in the Spirit (Colossians 1:1-8).
Salvation – the work of the One in Three God. The Colossians did not just have a ‘faith in God’ but rather their faith was in Christ Jesus who, Paul tells us, enjoys a unique relationship with God the Father. Paul explains this relationship more fully in Colossians 1:15 where he speaks of Jesus being the image of the invisible God, the firstborn before all creation. Jesus perfectly reveals the nature and being of God.
Furthermore, there is reference to another Person in the Godhead whom we so easily overlook. In verses 7 and 8 we read: This (gospel) you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, and he has made known to us your love in the Spirit.
God’s Spirit was also intimately involved in the work of salvation – the Colossians faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and also their love for all the saints (verse 4).
Love. The Colossians’ relationship with the Lord Jesus expressed itself in their relationship with one another. They were a new community, the people of God. The love of which Paul speaks is one that binds people of different national and cultural backgrounds into a unique community. It was an example of the way Jesus’ command was being fulfilled when he said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13: 34-35).
Truth. In our postmodern age, it’s worth noticing Paul’s emphasis on the truth.The gospel, he says, is the word of the truth. He could have omitted any reference to the truth, but he didn’t. And, because it is the word of the truth Christianity was expanding all over the world, he says.
Robert Letham comments: ‘It is vital that we present people with the context in which an intelligent response to the gospel can be made. The message of God’s grace must be grounded in creation, the reality of truth, and in the union and communion of the Trinity’ (p.456).
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Starting Wednesday, March 6. Lenten Reflections – 40 Days with the Gospel of John
Lent forms an important part of the Christian church’s traditional calendar. Each day of Lent, I am offering a selected text from the Gospel of John, paired with a reflection. Alongside the readings and reflections, there will a prayer, one of the collects (in Anglican terms, a short prayer that collects the ideas of the day). Together with a suggested daily reading plan from the Gospel of John that will take you through the whole book by Easter.
Email me if you are interested, or sign up next week on the Anglican Connection website: www.anglicanconnection.com
Fifteen months ago I drew attention to an article, ‘Faith’s Implacable Enemies’ in The Weekend Australian (November 4-5, 2017). Dyson Heydon, a former justice of the High Court of Australia, wrote of the significant shift by society’s elites today away from the humble dependence on the blessing of Almighty God expressed in the ‘Imperial Act’ that brought ‘the Australian Constitution into being’.
Heydon commented that ‘the public voices of the modern elites are not humble. They conceive themselves to have entitlements and rights, not blessings. And they do not feel any gratitude to Almighty God for their entitlements and rights. Instead, they desire to exclude any role for religion in Australian public discussion, and perhaps any role for religion in any sphere, public or private. They instantly demand an apology for any statement they dislike.’
Furthermore, Heydon observed, ‘Indifference (towards religion) based on rising wealth can be insidiously damaging to religion… Religion inquires into the nature of humanity and the destiny of humanity… To those satisfied with the pleasures of this world, now so freely available, inquiry and search of these kinds is of no interest… But members of modern elites are moving away from mere indifference. They are embracing a fanatical anti-clericalism. Some want to destroy faith itself…’
‘Modern elites do not desire tolerance,’ Heydon noted. ‘They demand unconditional surrender’.
How will we respond? Let me suggest two words to keep in mind: Gratitude and Truth.
In his opening section in his Letter to the Colossians, Paul the Apostle does two things. First, he thanks God for the Colossians faith in Christ andfor their love for one another. Significantly he speaks of their faith and love arising from the hope they have in the gospel. Secondly, Paul speaks of the gospel, as ‘the word of the truth’.
Gratitude. In most of his Letters, Paul does something we today so often overlook: he expresses his heartfelt thanks to God for his evident work in the lives of men and women.
In Colossians 3:17 Paul writes: And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
There is a timeless wisdom here, for nothing brings about discord and hostility more than an unhappy, unthankful spirit. To be thankful is to accept the challenges of life confident in God’s love and compassion. A thankful heart trusts God in every situation. It doesn’t mean that we do nothing. Rather, under God, for whose love we are grateful, we will look for constructive ways forward. People who have a great sense of gratitude to God are kind and generous themselves, looking for ways to serve the best interests of others around them.
Truth. In Colossians 1:5b – 6 Paul writes: Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing – as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth,..
What is significant here is the emphasis that Paul puts on the word truth. The gospel, he says is, literally, the word of the truth. ‘You Colossians came to know the grace of God in all its truth.’ Paul could have left out any reference to the words the truth, but he doesn’t. He wants to stress that the essence of the Christian message is true.
When we think about it we can see that the gospel statement is beyond human invention and imagination. No one of us would have invented a God who was prepared to forgive a self-preoccupied and faithless world by such a costly and humiliating death as occurred at Calvary. A gospel like this can’t be invented or contradicted.
Furthermore, the gospel is also true in ‘an historical’ sense. Paul is telling us what Luke also states about his ‘account concerning Jesus Christ’ – that the ‘eyewitness accounts of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus’ – are no invention (Luke 1:1-4). They are true and trustworthy. (If you are keen to follow this up, you may want to read the Prelude of my book, Luke: An Unexpected God, Aquila: 2019, pp.3-10, as well as, Paul Barnett, Is the New Testament Reliable? IVP: 2003.
Too often we forget to thank God for the generous grace and truth of his gospel, and so we are silenced.
Dyson Heydon commented that the elites today, ‘By preventing any public expression of religious thought through ridicule and bullying, … tend to cause religion to wither away even in the private sphere. What can have no public expression will eventually cease to have any private existence…’
What we often overlook is that the followers of Jesus overturned the ancient Roman world, not by armed revolution, but through bold and confident prayer to the God ‘whose nature is always to have mercy’, and by the example of their lives and the testimony of their lips.
Let’s pray that we express each day our gratitude to the Lord for his boundless love and mercy, assured that the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ is the truth and nothing but the truth.
There are so many things in life we either tend to ignore or simply take for granted – leaders, for example. We may not always respect leaders at a personal level, but Paul in his First Letter to Timothy writes: First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high places, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way… (1 Timothy 2:1-3).
Good and upright leaders are rare. We need to pray for wisdom and discernment when it comes to elections. That said, because no leader is perfect, most people (as every election shows) long for a leader who will use their position to provide for the security and welfare of the nation.
Isaiah. When we look back to the history of Israel we learn that the prophets spoke of a special leader whom God would send. For example, in Isaiah 1-39, we read of God’s condemnation of the people’s self-worship and their disregard of him. Isaiah had warned of God’s judgement and in 586BC the Babylonians demolished Jerusalem and took its people captive. But Isaiah is not all negative, for he opens a window on something new God planned to do – through a special king.
In Isaiah 61 we read: The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me;… Isaiah 61 continues by telling us what this Spirit-led figure will do: He has come to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; And the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn… (61:1b-2).
Jesus. It is in the New Testament that we see the real significance of these words. For in Luke 4:17-19 we read that Jesus, as guest speaker in the synagogue in Nazareth, opened the scroll of the book of Isaiah at chapter 61. He read: The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me,… to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. Period. Full stop.
Jesus didn’t complete Isaiah’s words, “…and the day of vengeance of our God.” Significantly he went on to comment: “Today these words are being fulfilled in your midst”.
By putting a period/full stop to Isaiah’s words, Jesus was indicating that there would be two stages to the day of the Lord – the day of favor, and the day of justice. His first coming was the time of God’s rescue operation. His second coming would be the time of God’s judgment.
It’s important we notice how Jesus applies Isaiah’s words in his public ministry: he says he has come to the aid of the poor, the captives, the blind, and the oppressed.
When did Jesus do this? After all he did not provide food and clothing for all the needy around him; he did not release any prisoners, not even John the Baptist.
In exploring the use of words like poor, blind, captive and mourn in the pages of Isaiah and the Old Testamentas a whole, we see that these words are often used as metaphors. The poor is often a reference to those who are spiritually poor, the blind, those who are spiritually blind, and the captives, those who are captive to self, sin and death. Those who mourn are aware of their broken relationship with God as well as the brokenness of the nation in its relationship with God.
However, there were times when Jesus literally fulfilled Isaiah’s words. He did feed people who were hungry; he did give sight to some who were blind; and he did release people who were captive to the powers of evil. In each instance the miracle is a picture of God’s compassion and his ultimate purpose to provide life in all its fullness and freedom for his people.
By reading from Isaiah 61 in the synagogue in Nazareth that day, Jesus assumed the mantle of the anointed servant-king of Isaiah’s vision. He was announcing that the final great era of God’s mercy had dawned.
Yes, he introduced a tension between the is and the yet to be of God’s rule, but it is a tension we need to work with, for it is God’s plan. How important it is that we live with this tension in our lives. Many around us have thrown God out of the equation of life and see political power and their world-view as the solution to the world’s ills – of which there are many. The day will come when Jesus Christ will return in all his kingly glory.
For now we have a part to play, testifying through the integrity of our lives and the words of our lips to what we believe. At the same time we have Paul’s words in 1 Timothy 2:1-4: I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high places, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
Because cities are sometimes synonymous with evil and corruption, poverty and injustice, we tend to overlook the significance of the City of Zion or the heavenly Jerusalem of which the Bible speaks.
In Isaiah 60 we read: Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you. Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn (Isaiah 60:1-3).
Isaiah was speaking first to the Jewish people whose city had been destroyed in 586BC and who were exiled in Babylon. Here he assures them that their darkness and despair would give way to light and hope, for God would establish his City.
Historically Isaiah’s words were fulfilled when in 520BC Cyrus the Mede who had defeated the Babylonians, decreed that the Jewish exiles be permitted to return to Jerusalem and rebuild it.
But Isaiah was also pointing to a time when God’s rule would come down to earth: God would bring in a whole new order, a new creation. He speaks of the time of God’s righteous reign and the glory of a new and lasting city where God himself would fill the city with the light of this presence.
In Genesis 1 we read that thick darkness covered the earth, but God’s light overcame it. Here in Isaiah 60 darkness is a metaphor for moral evil and spiritual blindness. Light is a picture of God’s coming to rescue his people.
Furthermore, God’s light will shine world-wide: Nations shall come to your light (60:3), and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Those who refuse to turn to God will perish (60:12).
It is one of the ironies of history that the power of Rome that crucified Jesus in the first century, capitulated to him in the fourth, when the emperor Constantine was baptized. Human kingdoms will fail and, while they might amass wealth, they will lay it down again at the feet of the King of kings.
Isaiah’s words are inspiring and encouraging. But how much more should they encourage us, who live on the other side of the coming of God’s King. With his coming we see in greater detail that God’s reign amongst his people happens in two stages – Stage 1, with the incarnation of God’s Son, the Messiah, a descendent of King David; Stage 2, with the return of the King, Jesus, in all his majestic glory.
A future city. At one level we see that Jerusalem is a city of bricks and mortar — a city in history. At another level we see Zion as a glorious everlasting City with its inhabitants gathered by God to be with him forever: You shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob (60:16).
There are times in life when we are tempted to ask, ‘What’s the point of going on? What’s the point of raising a family? What’s the point of praying and going to church? Whatever I do is pointless.’
By way of answer, Isaiah uses the language of the first city of Jerusalem to point us to our ultimate destiny. Believing people from all ages, from all nations, will one day be beneficiaries of God’s promises to Abraham, Moses and David. People will be drawn from every generation, from every corner of the world to be with him in the City he has created.
Revelation 21:1-3 picks up the imagery: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God…”
This is our destiny — a City, a new Jerusalem, with countless throngs of people; a City where there will be meaningful relationships and social structure, and even work to do; a city where there will be no more grief; and above all, a city where God himself will be seen to be with his people. It is an awesome and exciting picture.
But we need to be realistic: God’s new Jerusalem will only be brought in through his intervention. The new city lies on the other side of a cosmic discontinuity which God must bring about. Only then will his people be delivered from the tragic consequences of the present world.
In this meantime we need to be biblical followers of Jesus Christ. What we do in this world has significance; what we do in this world can change things; what we do in the service of Christ in this world lasts. When we know that, we know why we work, why we try to improve the world: all of our work has a place in God’s new order and will be made a part of the City that he will build.
This is the hope Isaiah encourages us to embrace when he says, Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
