Assumption #4

This "something" that exists and has personality and created me, has communicated its nature to men through all that has been created and especially through the Holy Bible.

I find this assumption to be the hardest to demonstrate with any sort of empirical or philosophical exactness. Yet, my testimony of 30 years of reading the Bible is that no group of mere humans could have devised such a unique book. The external evidence is impressive but the internal evidence blows my mind. Its explanation for my origin, my purpose, and my destiny is compelling and unified. Its explanation for and recording of evil is understandable and brutally honest. Its themes are coherent. Its hero is beautiful and worthy of the grandest of all stages and the highest of all praise. Its claims are universal and true. Its author, I conclude, is God.

To borrow a phrase from Francis Shaeffer, "God is there, and he is not silent." If God is speaking, I would like to listen. Could there be any message of greater profit than the words of God?

Assumption #3

First, to review:

Assumptions #1 and 2 can be summed up: I was created by something that was not created, and that something has a personality.

What is that "something" like? If I am to find out, where will I start? What is known about this being, this power, this "something"?

Assumption #3: The only way I will learn anything about my creator is if he reveals such information to me.

Unless the creator makes himself known to the creature, the creature's ideas about his origin will be nothing more than an educated guess. Further, one creature's idea about his origin can have no more authority or claim to be true than another creature's.

My only hope, then, for understanding the personality that created me, is that he might make himself known to me. And that would be a treasure worth seeking and, if he is good, a profit worth sharing.

Assumptions #1 and #2

One of the most important things you own is your worldview. Your worldview is your set of assumptions that inform your decisions and actions. For instance, you may believe that morality, or the distinction between right and wrong, is up to each individual, and therefore actions such as shoplifting or spitting could be right or wrong depending on who you ask. Everyone has a worldview. Some of us are aware of our worldview, and some are not. Some live out their lives more or less consistent with their worldview, and some do not. But everyone has a world view. Allow me to reveal the assumptions that compose my worldview.

I exist, and there was a time when I did not exist. Therefore there must be something that existed before me, something that had no beginning, something that always existed and caused me to exist.

I have not made explicit what that something is, but it must be either matter or something with a personality. I assume that since I have a personality, the something that brought me into existence must have a personality, too. It does not suffice to say that I am merely a complex mixture of lifeless molecules and matter, essentially no different than a rock. The naturalist (one who believes matter is all there is) has great difficulty accounting for my personality and my ability to choose, since I am (on his view) essentially made of the same stuff as a rock but wired for complexity. My conclusion, therefore, is that I exist because something with a personality caused me to exist. This seems more likely than the option of either existing without a personality or with a personality composed of mere matter.

Is there a way to know more about this personality that caused me to exist? Stay tuned.

To Despise Or To Revere?

Proverbs 13:13, "Whoever despises the word bring destruction on himself, but he who reveres the commandment will be rewarded."

The commands and ways and advice and instructions of God can be marginialized, ignored, trampled upon, thrown away, misunderstood, and disobeyed. Or, these things can be treasured, guarded, obeyed, followed, understood, and placed in the most central, or highest, place in our hearts and minds. In short, the word of God can be despised or revered. The former leads to destruction, and the latter to reward.

Woe to me when I despise the word of God! Jesus, in Mark 7:6-13, accuses the religious leaders of this very thing, "...in vain do [the religious leaders] worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men...You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!...[you make] void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do."

May the traditions of man never be elevated at the expense of the commandments of God. One way leads to destruction; the other way leads to reward.

The Invitation of Wisdom and Folly

Wisdom and folly call out to me each day. Each has the same initial invitation, and each appeals to my desire for happiness and profit and treasure and joy. However, the appeal of folly plays on my desire for immediate gratification, and its result is death. Wisdom, thankfully, leads to life. Here is how Solomon puts it in Proverbs 9 -

"[Wisdom] says, 'Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!' To him who lacks sense she says, 'Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways, and live, and walk in the way of insight.'" (verses 4-6).

"[Folly] says, 'Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!' And to him who lacks sense she says, 'Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.' But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol." (verses 16-18).

Here is set before me two invitations. I can choose the "sweet water" and "secret bread" of folly, or the bread and drink of wisdom. One leads to death, the other to life. To whom will I send my RSVP?

One question remains - what is the way of wisdom? Verse 10 gives us a place to start, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight."

Jesus on Profit

"Then Jesus told his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done'" (Matthew 16:24-27).

1. Jesus assumes that his followers are looking for profitable things.
2. Jesus teaches that no profit comes to those who do not have life.
3. Jesus teaches that life is so precious (or, expensive) that there is nothing a man can give in exchange for it, or to buy it back once it is lost.
4. Jesus assumes it is possible to gain all things and yet lose your life.
4. Jesus teaches that he has the authority to "repay" life to each person when he returns.

So, if I, being a man interested in profit, do not have the authority or the riches to gain life, the prerequisite for profit, how can I be one that Jesus gives life to? Here is the paradoxical answer - if I lose my life for Jesus' sake, I will find it. If I deny myself, take up my cross, and follow Jesus, I will find such profit that in the end I will find that it was little denial for infinite and everlasting gain. And if I cling to my life, seeking to gain the world and soak up pleasure and ignore the way of Jesus, I will lose my life in the end. And that would bring eternal loss, not profit.

Profit For All People

Jeremiah says to God,

"O LORD, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in the day of trouble, to you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth and say: "Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, worthless things in which there is no profit. Can man make for himself gods? Such are not gods!" (16:19-20).

This is the confession of all who know the God of Jeremiah. Our race, our ancestors, our fathers have tried to make gods for themselves instead of worshiping the God who made them. However, profit is found in finding that which is WORTHy and putting away that which is WORTHless. And, the message of the prophet is a promise of hope to the nations; all who will may come to the true God and find profit in him.