All Things were made
through Him,
and without Him
nothing was made
that was made.
In Him was life,
and the life was
the light of men.
John 1:3-4
This Scripture intimates an axiom that all Christians apprehend: there are real "things" or matter that exist and were created by God, the second Person as stated by the Apostle John. It is further intimated that life exists and that life was made by Him and exists in Him. These facts are clearly taught in the Bible and are assumed to be true by Christians. It is assumed and taught by the Scriptures that there is an external world, not some phantom, as some people have believed, such would be found existing in the Oriental religions, and even in Christian Science; all is just a show, some form of a delusion. No matter what its various states are or produced, we are just some manifestation, even a manifestation of God. We are not ourselves and in time we will just be absorbed back into the consciousness of a deity. Yet, any sentient, rational being can observe and know that material exists, that there is an external material world; unless Pantheism is your religion where everything is God, and only a portion of God; further to not recognize, for whatever reason, that material is only a phantom or only is God, then that person has fallen prey to Idealism; they hold to a belief to a dynamic theory that teaches that matter is nothing more than force. I suppose then that songs such as "He holds the whole world in His hands" is not to be believed as speaking any truth; not that we admit that the song is inspired but it does speak of what the Scripture affirms. Matter exists and if intelligence is applied to what we know about the external material substance, that it is a force and that force is to be understood as only the constant active will of God from which it derives is energy, the energizing of God's divine substance; yet, to all dismay there are those whose doctrine on this matter present this force in a totally different manner. They take force to be an ultimate fact. Is Force matter? No! Force is not a substance, it is simply activity or power. Do we not know that nothing moves or is active without power, some force that produces such activity? Yes! It is clear and plain; nothing acts, or has motion, without a force. As was stated, force is not matter, it does not exist alone, by itself, there must be a cause from which this substance of force originates. Force must have a manifestation, some property assigned to it for it to have any real meaning or power. From where then does this manifestation arise? How does a non-matter have force? There is a necessity for there being a Force greater than simply being power generating force, or causing activity, motion, a resistance from which all activity, or motion arises. There must be an intelligence behind such force dictation all that force causes and that intelligence must then direct all motion, all activity. This direction by the resistor must not only be intelligence, but that intelligence must have a purpose and not be the cause of random effects. There is harmony to be found in the universe, even in the midst of turmoil and destructive, as we know destructive to be, guiding such activity so that what we may know as disharmony is not left to itself, to do as it pleased, rather that it is influenced, guided, and even willed, or decreed by God for if He did not do so then it would not happen. There is real existence in the world, all facts point to that and our common sense agrees with that fact, a fact of Scripture that we cannot deny. To do so is utterly foolish, or has some other purpose as to remove from that person any sense of real responsibility for their actions.
When matter is examined we find activity as it has forces, properties that are the proximate causes of physical change; this physical change or activity of force we can readily admit as we can see it for ourselves and in our experiences. This fact of matter being active is an axiomatic fact within science and it is the general fact or conviction of men. An example: Take a rock and hold it in your hand. You feel weight, the rock has weight and we assign that weight to the properties of the rock and in relation to gravity or in relation to the earth. Furthermore, we can detect sweetness in one thing and sour or bitterness in another and assign to them either factor from their substance or property. Everything is assigned and are referred to by their differences of their substances or properties and they are always known as their physical effects and are referred to by their physical causes. This is the law of our nature and if there be a contradiction provided by others then they have just attempted to undermine that which is fact and is known to be fact by all rational thinking men, using common sense from the world around them showing that we can discern that there is a material external world that is active by a force, and that force that is found within them is caused by a greater force and that force is the creator of matter and life is in that matter because He not only created matter but causes it to be active and have motion; this force, or God, not only is the First Cause, He causes all to operate according to His will, and to accomplish His purpose, His purpose for creation. to disavow that fact leads as was stated; to Pantheism and/or Idealism; it merges the universe into God.
Physical forces act by necessity, blindly, and uniformly; they are always the same everywhere, all the time. An example of this fact is gravity as it acts always, and always in the same manner, as does light, hear, electricity, and chemical substances. They are everywhere in their same mode of operation.
Big deal! You may shout! "I already knew that fact." Yes, you may know that fact and believe in God of the Bible but there are many who don't and there are many so-called Christians, who don't hold exactly to that fact, or Christians that are easily mislead because they do not have the knowledge or information to defend their beliefs. God is Sovereign as He is the creator, the First Cause of all things giving to them power, activity, motion. As was shown in previous blogs, God as the First Cause is not the cause directly for second causes. He gives substance there properties and they act within those properties, He gives man the ability of being a free agent who can by his own reasoning and rationale live a life that is derived from his own exercise of that free agency or free will. But as being totally depraved he cannot act other than within this external natural world. As for the spiritual world, the world of God and for his salvation, he cannot act for this is not his property, it is not constituted in him, man is the result of the first sin, and needs something more than just making a decision for God when he cannot choose God unless God can bring to him some form of satisfaction derived to bring to him a better life, a thinking that what they are doing is holy and godly. God is Sovereign and He is Providential, therefore what God does is what God has willed, a people holy and blameless, chosen by Him, and unless chosen by Him, you cannot choose Him, and in a manner that is pleasing to Him. We act by the law of our nature and all things are endowed in such a way as God wills or decrees them to be. Therefore, I will discuss in the next blog the Laws of Nature and its relation to God.
Blessed is the man
who walks not in
the counsel of the
ungodly, nor
stands in the path
of sinners, nor
sits in the seat of
of the scornful;
But his delight is in
the law of the LORD,
and in His law he
meditates day and night.
Psalm 1:1-2
Today let us be instructed by God
Richard L. Crumb
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