It's easy at times to attempt to bring God down to our understanding in our human minds, especially when our faith is questioned. When questions of faith arise many (including me) have a habit of allowing the questioner to be the judge, God to be the defendant and we to be His lawyer. There is no arbitrator between man and God, God is always the judge. The apostle Paul summed it up in both Colossians 2:8 and Galatians 4:3
'See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.' Colossians 2:8
So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. Galatians 4:3
It's interesting to note that both the phrase elementary principles and elemental things from the two seperate passages come from the same root word in the original Greek that is 'stoicheion'. When used in the above context it means:
- 'The elements from which all things have come, the material causes of the universe.'
Also - 'the elements, rudiments, primary and fundamental principles of any art, science, or discipline'
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What does this mean?
This means that Paul 2000years ago was telling us not to be 'taken captive' by those holding to philosophical views such as Materialism - Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds that matter is the fundamental substance in nature, and that all things, including mental aspects and consciousness, are results of material interactions.source
What exactly does this mean?
This means that by the grace of God Paul 2000years ago was well aware of the fact that to the spiritually blind no amount of evidence would prove the existence of God. Many famed new atheists such as Dawkins and Shermer hold to the belief that our mind and thoughts are no more than the product of electro-chemical reactions in our brain.
The reason why Paul in Galatians 4:3 states that 'we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things [rudimentary principles] of the world' is because holding to the belief that everything can be explained via the matter in the universe is precisely what keeps some of the most intellectual people on the planet spiritually blind.
Another interesting point to note is that whilst the most widely held understanding of faith is:
- 'Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence'. source
It also means:
- 'Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing'. source
Any man that has ever proposed to his wife-to-be also did it based on 'Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing'... He has no 'logical proof' or 'material evidence' they will be together in 20years time, He does however apply the same methodology as any believer in God - He has a confident belief based on the available evidence.
All that said - The take home message is that God is always the judge, he is never shamed and that the knowledge of God's mystery is Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.' Col 2:3
As a footnote to those who are not 'taken captive' by materialism - Dr Rupert Sheldrake PhD is a biologist and author of more than 80 scientific papers and ten books. He was a biochemist and cell biologist at Cambridge University in the late 1960s and he made this remark in his banned TED Talk 'The sciences are now a wholly owned subsidiary of the materialist world-view... As my friend Terrence McKenna used to say, modern science is based upon the principle "give us one free miracle and we'll explain the rest". And the one free miracle is the appearance of all the matter and energy in the universe and all the laws that govern it, from nothing, in a single instant.'
See the full 18minute TED Talk here - Rupert Sheldrake - The Science Delusion BANNED TED TALK
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Amen! God stands alone by Himself as the One Unique Person. All we do or try to do does not change Him. And in His never changing there is security and confidence.
Bless you bro!
Amen to that my fellow believer. I think there's profound wisdom in Paul's words that even applies to the most intellectual of atheists today. Thank you for the support :) God bless!
Amen my brother!