Ask Mr. Religion
☞☞☞☞Presbyterian (PCA) 	
Gold Subscriber
LIFETIME MEMBER
Hall of Fame
There is but one true God. These thoughts from Haykin (modified a wee bit) are worth meditating upon.
Within the borders of the universe that humanity inhabits, there are two types of beings. First, there are those beings that are dependent on another. This category encompasses everything from elephants to snails, from angels to demons, from human beings to viruses.
And second, there is that one being upon whom all of this depends. He alone is self-existent—the great Yahweh (Jehovah), who told Moses that His name is I AM THAT I AM (Ex. 3:14; Rev. 1:4). All other beings draw their sustenance and existence from Him. He is utterly unique in that He has no need of anything outside Himself. He alone possesses what all of us students of theology call aseity, the attribute of self-existence (John 1:4; 5:26). Because He gives life to all of creation, from the greatest object to the smallest particle, He is to be confessed as the one and only Creator and God (1 Cor. 8:6).
The Bible’s confession of God’s uniqueness is also found in the statement that He is holy (Isa. 6:3; Rev. 4:8). The holiness of God means first that He is completely different from His creation. God is the Creator, unique and in total control of all that He has made. We human beings are limited in what we can do. Our knowledge is finite, never exhaustive. And our lives on this earth are relatively short in duration and often plagued by painful experiences—"nasty, brutish, and short," (per Thomas Hobbes). This is not so for God. He is immortal, can do all that His good pleasure decides, and has absolutely no logical limitations. Accordingly, to say that God is holy is to speak of His uniqueness, His otherness from His creation.
Men and women worship many gods. Being made in the image of the true God, we human beings have an unquenchable desire to worship. But being fallen, human beings inevitably worship gods of their own making. John Calvin, the French Reformer, rightly observed that the human mind is "a perpetual factory of idols" (Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1.11.8; also Rom. 1:18–25). The sole remedy is God’s gift of spiritual sight, by which, when it is given like a ray of light from heaven, people are awakened to know the true God and know themselves as His creatures.
God is thus sovereign over His creation. He gives life and takes it away, raises up nations and mountains and casts them down, and brings suns to light and extinguishes them. And none can hinder Him. What He has decided will surely come to pass, and in this exercise of sovereignty is His glory.
Human beings have the privilege and duty of acknowledging this sovereignty of God. However, they can do so only when God so inclines their hearts. By nature human beings are rebels, despising God's authority, with some going against what they instinctively know and claiming that God does not exist.
But, of course, God does exist! Of that fact the Christian is more certain than of anything else he or she knows. And it is the Christian’s "sweet delight"—to borrow a phrase from Jonathan Edwards, the eighteenth-century gospel preacher—to submit to this great God, to acknowledge his utter dependence upon Him, and to live for Him and His glory. As such, Christian talk about God is far more than a philosophical discussion about His existence. It is joy itself, for the Christian has come to know the one and only true God, and in knowing Him has found meaning for life and, yes, also life eternal (1 John 5:20)—in which he will forever enjoy knowing, loving, and communing with the triune God, basking in His smile and feasting in His presence.
AMR
Within the borders of the universe that humanity inhabits, there are two types of beings. First, there are those beings that are dependent on another. This category encompasses everything from elephants to snails, from angels to demons, from human beings to viruses.
And second, there is that one being upon whom all of this depends. He alone is self-existent—the great Yahweh (Jehovah), who told Moses that His name is I AM THAT I AM (Ex. 3:14; Rev. 1:4). All other beings draw their sustenance and existence from Him. He is utterly unique in that He has no need of anything outside Himself. He alone possesses what all of us students of theology call aseity, the attribute of self-existence (John 1:4; 5:26). Because He gives life to all of creation, from the greatest object to the smallest particle, He is to be confessed as the one and only Creator and God (1 Cor. 8:6).
The Bible’s confession of God’s uniqueness is also found in the statement that He is holy (Isa. 6:3; Rev. 4:8). The holiness of God means first that He is completely different from His creation. God is the Creator, unique and in total control of all that He has made. We human beings are limited in what we can do. Our knowledge is finite, never exhaustive. And our lives on this earth are relatively short in duration and often plagued by painful experiences—"nasty, brutish, and short," (per Thomas Hobbes). This is not so for God. He is immortal, can do all that His good pleasure decides, and has absolutely no logical limitations. Accordingly, to say that God is holy is to speak of His uniqueness, His otherness from His creation.
Men and women worship many gods. Being made in the image of the true God, we human beings have an unquenchable desire to worship. But being fallen, human beings inevitably worship gods of their own making. John Calvin, the French Reformer, rightly observed that the human mind is "a perpetual factory of idols" (Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1.11.8; also Rom. 1:18–25). The sole remedy is God’s gift of spiritual sight, by which, when it is given like a ray of light from heaven, people are awakened to know the true God and know themselves as His creatures.
God is thus sovereign over His creation. He gives life and takes it away, raises up nations and mountains and casts them down, and brings suns to light and extinguishes them. And none can hinder Him. What He has decided will surely come to pass, and in this exercise of sovereignty is His glory.
Human beings have the privilege and duty of acknowledging this sovereignty of God. However, they can do so only when God so inclines their hearts. By nature human beings are rebels, despising God's authority, with some going against what they instinctively know and claiming that God does not exist.
But, of course, God does exist! Of that fact the Christian is more certain than of anything else he or she knows. And it is the Christian’s "sweet delight"—to borrow a phrase from Jonathan Edwards, the eighteenth-century gospel preacher—to submit to this great God, to acknowledge his utter dependence upon Him, and to live for Him and His glory. As such, Christian talk about God is far more than a philosophical discussion about His existence. It is joy itself, for the Christian has come to know the one and only true God, and in knowing Him has found meaning for life and, yes, also life eternal (1 John 5:20)—in which he will forever enjoy knowing, loving, and communing with the triune God, basking in His smile and feasting in His presence.
AMR