“The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good” (Psalm 14:1).
Stephen Charnock: “For, 1. God in regard of His existence is not only the discovery of faith, but of reason. God hath revealed not only his being, but some sparks of his eternal power and godhead in his works, as well as in his word…
Romans 1:19-20
“…because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse…”
…’God hath showed it unto them,’—how? In his works; by the things that are made, it is a discovery to our reason, as shining in the creatures and an object of our faith as breaking out upon us in the Scriptures: It is an article of our faith, and an article of our reason. Faith supposeth natural knowledge, as grace supposeth nature. Faith indeed is properly of things above reason, purely depending upon revelation. What can be demonstrated by natural light, is not so properly the object of faith; though in regard of the addition of a certainty by revelation it is so. The belief that God is, which the apostle speaks of…
Hebrews 11:6
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
…is not so much of the bare existence of God, as what God is in relation to them that seek him, viz [namely] a rewarder.”
Clay Miller: There are some things reason tells us we must believe based on faith. Science cannot answer such things. Where did life begin? What was eternal? How did that eternal thing (or person) effect what we see existing today? I really do not care that “scientists” call me unsophisticated for being consistent when they are all over the place with their really corny theories and assumptions. I don’t have to say, “I don’t believe it is possible for that 80 story building to have evolved itself into the perfect functioning facility it is today, that is ridiculous”, and then in the same breath say, but this infinitely more complex universe and all that is in it with its synergy and interdependence, did evolve from nothing into what it is today by itself, by chance.” That is telling. So call me what you will, but at least I don’t apply different rules to reason in order to support a pet theory. It is plain and evident that God exists. He created to show this existence. It is infallible evidence.
I liked Charnock’s description of God’s power displayed…God revealing “sparks” of His power in what He created. All this massive universe and its energy is just a spark of His power.
We can go far in knowing something of God and His existence by creation alone…but we can only go so far. We need Scripture to fill in necessary blanks, to tell us more about the character of this Creator. When we get to this point, we have to believe by faith, because we cannot see such things physically, and the evidences of some characteristics of God can obviously be misinterpreted to cast doubt on Him or to turn people against Him. For example, God is love, yet when we see suffering in the world, the skeptic is quick to cast dispersion on God’s character. We may not see “love” as we think it is, but we do believe He is love and has a purpose that will work to our better end…because He is faithful too! We would have a hard time deducing that from nature alone. So Scripture takes us above our natural understanding. So of course we believe some things by faith. We are not God and do not claim to be. But then, neither is the naturalistic evolutionist who believes by faith (because he was not there in the beginning and cannot replicate it) that the world created itself. More later…I stopped in the middle of a paragraph on Charnock’s part because it was super long…
