I know I’m asking a bunch of questions without answers. I don’t even understand why Jesus was necessary. God can do anything, right? Why couldn’t He just forgive us of our sins, without allowing His Son to be murdered? If God is in control of the entire universe and beyond, then why did He ‘need’ the ultimate blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ?” (an excerpt from Julie in yesterday’s comment section)
Note to other blog readers: I’m going to forgive her for pointing out (not quoted above) that I’ve been a Christian longer than she’s been alive.
I don’t think Julie’s asking questions that have no answers. While we can never fully understand everything about God, we can understand much because He has given us the answers in His word. We can, by study of His nature and attributes as revealed to us in the Bible, understand why, for instance, the Atonement of Christ was necessary. “It is not true to say that God is unable to be understood, but it is true to say that he cannot be understood fully or exhaustively.” (Wayne Grudem)
Quoting Grudem again: “Some have objected that it was not fair for God to do this, to transfer the guilt of sin from us to an innocent person, Christ. Yet we must remember that Christ voluntarily took on himself the guilt for our sins, so this objection loses much of its force. Moreover, God himself (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is the ultimate standard of what is just and fair in the universe, and he decreed that the atonement would take place in this way, and that it did in fact satisfy the demands of his own righteousness and justice.”
God can do anything (as Julie noted), but He will only do anything that is not in direct violation of His holy, just, loving, righteous nature. We, in our determination to be the gods of our own lives and the world around us, get ourselves into trouble because we want to say what is just and fair, forgetting that God is the ultimate standard. Until we start seeing things through His eyes, we will always have a distorted view of reality.
When I’m asked questions such as Julie posed, I’m forced to search for answers. I may not always be able to respond adequately (or at all) in a blog entry or even in my own mind, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Just the act of seeking more of God is a worthwhile venture.
Writing my novels is an act of worship for me, and a part of that act of worship is the working out of questions in my own life/mind. God, show me Your truth. As I create my story worlds, I’m sharing what God is teaching me or has already taught me. And since I will always be learning something new about Him for as long as I’m able to think, I guess I shouldn’t ever run out of stories to tell. Huh?
Speaking of which, it is time for me to turn my attention to the line edits sitting on my desk.
In the grip of His grace,
Robin
God understands Man…He knows we are more apt to believe what we can see…hence the miracles performed by Jesus. Even so, many alive at the time did not believe He was the Messiah. God has given Man the gift of “free will” — it is our choice: if we will accept – if we will believe –if we follow.
Jesus was made flesh so that Man could better understand the Father.
Thanks for taking a crack at my questions, Robin. 🙂 I know that God will never fully make sense to me, but in my heart I can’t deny that He is real.
I just tend to let my humanity get the best of me sometimes.
He also wanted us to know that Jesus lived life and experienced humanity, just as we do. As we all know, the ultimate sacrifice is to give your life for what you believe in. Jesus died so that we might live. Thank God for His love and mercy!