Hard at work building a church in Kathmandu, Nepal. Haven't posted in awhile, but will start again. This will be my thought tank.

I've been thinking that since God is omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent, there should be no problem understanding the conflict some have with His sovereignty and man's free will. God has designed the only world possible where the most people are saved, the least amount are lost, and man has the freedom to choose Jesus Christ or not.

Romans 9:22-24 (ESV) 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,
23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—
24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?

The question always comes up about the lost tribes somewhere not hearing about Jesus Christ but I believe that God's benevolence assures every man, according to the light available to him, has an opportunity to know God. One suggested that those who are eventually lost are ones who would not have yielded to God regardless of the world they found themselves living in.

Acts 17:24-28 (ESV) 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,
25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.
26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,
27 that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,
28 for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; ..."

Having examined all possible worlds in the logical moment before creation, this is the world that met all conditions and offered the greatest return.

The Main Thing

Jn 17:3 "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. (NKJ)

1Jn 5:19-20 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. 20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. (NKJ)

According to Jesus and the apostles, knowing God was the main thing regarding eternal life and being a disciple. Knowledge—revelation knowledge—not man’s wisdom which is what Paul is warning against in 1 Corinthians 8:

1Cor 8:2-3 And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. 3 But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him. (NKJ)

Too many reject all knowledge in favor of some sort of feeling or opinion elevated to fact. Because the Christian faith is supernatural in power most have the idea that it is not logical or rational. This leads to much deception and opens the church to strange ideas, doctrines, and teachings of demons. Paul warned us:

1Tim 4:1-2 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, (NKJ)

A lie spoken with authority and passion by a “learned” man is still a lie. Error never becomes non-error because a multitude believes it. Truth is not subject to society, culture, tradition, or belief. It just is. And truth is always logical and rational though not always easily understood. 2+2 = 4 is a simple truth statement that most have no problem grasping while E=MC² is not so easily understood. Truth contains no emotion but can be obscured by emotion. Passion and opinions are often confused for truth and this leads to deception. Preferences, expectations, hopes, and wishes are not truth although they can contain some truth. Knowledge requires truth, belief does not. Faith in God rests on the truth of who God is and what He’s revealed to us. Faith in anything else is subject to error. Paul writes:

Eph 1:17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, (NKJ)

Col 1:9-10 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may have a walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; (NKJ)

Knowing God and His will has caused some concerns over the centuries because of the fear of “missing His will”. Some are paralyzed by such a fear to the extent that they do nothing. This is wrong. The will of God is as broad and wide as the world—we are called to be witnesses unto the world. When Jesus said the way was narrow and difficult He meant that there was only one way to see and enter the kingdom of God. You have to be born again through faith in Jesus Christ. This will put you at odds with a world in darkness. Thus it is narrow and difficult. This does not mean that we are walking some tightrope with the expectation of falling in and out of the will of God on a daily basis. Once we are accepted we are IN, and only apostasy will cause us to be OUT. Apostasy is a very specific condition entered into with full understanding and comprehension.

Heb 6:4-6 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. (NKJ)

Another thought on truth is that it is binding on all of us regardless of personal preference, belief, opinion, desire, or demand. Truth, being logical, is subject to the laws of logic which are, briefly: The Law of Identity, The Law of Non-Contradiction, and The Law of the Excluded Middle. Few people know these laws and violate them intellectually all the time. This is the fantasy world of deception and darkness.

I. How do they help us understand God?

God is logic—John tells us this (Jn 1:1). This helps us understand the way He thinks. The emotional references to God in the Bible are relative to His relationship with us and help us understand our own character and personality as we’re created in His image. He doesn’t make decisions based on them and neither should we. They add color to life and help us relate to one another. But we’re told to walk by faith and not by sight. This refers to walking by what we know to be true and not what appears, sounds, or feels to be true. This is a critical necessity because we can be moved emotionally away from the truth. To walk by faith, then, means that we walk, including the actions of thinking and behavior, according to what is true as opposed to what we think is true. God created our universe in accordance with His plan and it functions in a logical manner. We can know this because things are structured and interact in a cohesive and comprehensive manner which keeps life alive.