WHY DO WE CARE?

Ecclesiastes. 3:11

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

                The debate over the existence of God is a relatively recent phenomenon. For most of human history the debate was not does God exist, but what is God like. Throughout the world, in every culture, an image of God emerged. Those images differed from one another based on the prevailing influences for each culture. Yet each culture struggled to grasp the nature and essence of God.

                After the Enlightenment and the rise of human reason, the discussion shifted from the nature of God to the existence of God. Three camps emerged from this new discussion. The vast majority of the world’s population still falls into the camp that believes there is a God, although they do not agree on his nature. A second group, agnostics, assert that they don’t know if there is or isn’t a God. They claim that there just isn’t enough information to make a decision one way or the other. The third group, atheists, vehemently assert that there is no God. In more recent years, this group has become more aggressive in their efforts to convince people that God does not exist.

                The question that arises for me in this debate is why do we care at all? Why do we even debate the existence of God? If God is just a human construct, as some assert, then why do we get so upset about it? I do not waste any time trying to convince people that Santa Claus doesn’t exist, yet many atheists spend an enormous amount of time trying to convince people that God does not exist. For those who believe God does exist, they have spent an enormous amount of time trying to convince everyone else that their image of God is the right one. Many people, who find themselves somewhere in the middle, are content to live in a spiritual void, leaving open the possibility that God does exist, yet living as if God does not. So why do we care what other people believe about God?

                The answer to that question is clearly stated for us in Ecclesiastes 3:11; He has also set eternity in the hearts of men. The reason that it matters is because God has hardwired a desire to know Him within each of us. For some that desire becomes a quest to find out all they can about God. For others that desire because a fight to distance themselves from God. On either side of the equation, God stands firmly at the center of the debate. It is the place that He has intentionally chosen to occupy.

                I recently finished reading Sigurd Olson’s book Reflections from the North Country. The final chapter of that book in titled The Emerging God. Sigurd Olson was a naturalist and a bit of a philosopher. I don’t know where Mr. Olson stood spiritually or theologically, but throughout his books he relates a naturalist view of God. At the beginning of the afore mentioned chapter he talks about the many traditions that have endeavored to explain God. Then he states that if a person really wants to encounter God, all he or she has to do is to venture into the unspoiled wilderness. There they will encounter God in the beauty, power, and awe of nature.

                The Apostle Paul’s words at the beginning of his letter to the Romans resonate with what Mr. Olson wrote.

    The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. (Romans 1:18-20)

                Although Paul’s words are much harsher than Mr. Olson’s words, the basic idea is the same. If we will look around at the amazing world in which we live, we will see the hand of God everywhere. Being able to explain how things in our world work does not negate that God is behind them. In fact, the more that we learn about this amazing world, the more it should point us to God. Which brings us back to my original question. Why do we care?

                We care because we were created to live in a harmonious relationship with God. Of all the creatures on the face of the earth, humanity alone was designed to carry the very image of God within them. We were created with more than an awareness of God. We were created with a desire to be in relationship with God. King David expresses the unique nature of humanity in Psalm 8.

Psalm 8:1-9

O Lord, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory

above the heavens.

From the lips of children and infants

you have ordained praise

because of your enemies,

to silence the foe and the avenger.

When I consider your heavens,

the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars,

which you have set in place,

what is man that you are mindful of him,

the son of man that you care for him?

You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings

and crowned him with glory and honor.

You made him ruler over the works of your hands;

you put everything under his feet:

all flocks and herds,

and the beasts of the field,

the birds of the air,

and the fish of the sea,

all that swim the paths of the seas.

O Lord, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

                God created humanity to be unique in all of creation. He created us with a desire to know Him. He designed our spirits to resonate with His Spirit. He designed us to partner with Him in managing His world. But more than that, He designed us to experience His love and to respond to that love in genuine ways. Throughout history God has continually revealed Himself. The climax of that revelation came in the form of Jesus Christ. God continues to reveal Himself today to everyone.  He reveals Himself through his Word, through nature, and through the Holy Spirit. We can choose to fight against this revelation or to embrace it. Either way, we must deal with it.

                God created us with a spiritual void that only He can adequately fill. We can try to fill that void with other things, but we will always come up short. There will remain an insatiable longing for something more. That something more is God Himself.

                Why do we care? We care because God cares. He will not simply leave us alone. He will continually make us restless until we find our rest in Him.

Matthew 11:28

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”