Sunday, May 17, 2009

Deep Thinking

I couldn't find this on my Playlist website, so I copied the lyrics over. We had a pretty lively and interesting discussion this morning in our SMBS (Sunday Morning Bible Study) class at GABC. All that kept running through my head was this song. The discussion was stemmed off of the open-ended question "When a person dies without Christ, ____." One of the first answers was "they die and go to Eternal Hell." The question was raised, what about the people in China, etc., who have never heard of Jesus, do they still go to Hell after they live out their natural life? The discussion was a hard one to even think about, much less come to a solid conclusion. There were mentionings of the reason for urgency in evangelism, the Truth that Jesus is the only way, truth and life, and NO MAN comes to the father except through him, but it never got to the real question. What happens if no one hears?? All I could come up with is this: There is a God-shaped hole in every man's soul, and every soul is searching, searching, constantly searching for something to fill that hole. We search our whole lives, and even when we find something that seems to fit, there will always be the smallest of pinprick sized holes letting our hope seep through. Like a drip in a dam, the only sure way to close off the water is to find the right fit. Jesus is that fit. He created that hole, and he alone knows the exact shape of it.

So back to the question, what about those people who don't know? I firmly believe in the verse in Luke 19:40--
But Jesus answered, "I tell you, if these (disciples) become silent, the stones will cry out!" This means if man is silent of the goodness and mercy of Jesus, nature itself will reveal Him. (Just before Jesus said this, his disciples were singing loud praises to Jesus and the hoity-toity pharisees-- academics-- told him to make them stop.) So if no person reveals Jesus to China, God can use his creation to reveal himself to them. Really, God can use anything or anyone he chooses, and humans don't need to be included at all. (Why are we so selfish to think that WE are the only things God can use?) Have you looked at a sunset and thought about the expanse of the universe and not been left in awe that there is something, someone out there who made it? This is how God uses His awesome creation.

Just my thoughts on the subject anyway. I'm starting to circle around and confuse myself. Well, I'm not confused, but the words aren't quite enough to describe the understanding I feel when thinking about. Today's discussion opened up a whole lot of possibilities and a lot of deep thinking. Fun stuff.

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God-Shaped Hole
Tiffany Arbuckle (Plumb)

Every point of view has another angle
And every angle has its merit
But all comes down to faith
That's the way i see it

You can say that love is not divine and
You can say that life is not eternal
"all we have is now"
But i don't believe it

There's a God-shaped hole in all of us
And the restless soul is searching
There's a God-shaped hole in all of us
And it's a void only He can fill

Does the world seem gray with empty longing
Wearing every shade of cynical
And do you ever feel that
There is something missing?

That's my point of view...
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Edited to add: HA! I found the verses I was looking for. See below:

--Isaiah 55:12
You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands.

Psalm 19:1-6
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.

Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.

To me, this is proof that God reveals Himself through creation!

1 comment:

The Skaggs said...

Good word! God spoke through a burning bush and a donkey among other things, who are we to limit Him in His power to speak to those who are too far to reach.