#2 - The Gospel...in a nutshell.

There is a lot of debate these days about whether God exists or not. I had a three day debate with a friend of mine on this very subject. The basis for the question is reasonable. The emphasis on science as our only reliable source for truth coupled with the ego’s desire to determine one’s own ethics makes atheism an obvious choice. In other words, if we can’t prove there is a God, why would one live a life of restrictions?
Fair question.
But what if there is a God? I have noticed a couple things in my research and in my conversations with those that would be classified as “unbelievers”. I have noticed that the theory of God isn’t even thought out. I mean it seems to me that either there is a God or there isn’t. Either we are created by a hyper-intelligent, incredibly complex being with unimaginable power or… something else. I have yet to read or hear anything from anyone that isn’t a believer about the implications of the God theory. Evolutionists seem to want to take the science that suggests we might have evolved and then jump off the philosophical bridge with it into atheism.
Not very scientific, is it?
But what if there is a God? Other than the obvious attributes of such a God (intelligence, complexity, and power), can we deduce what this God might be like?
Can we, for example, infer purpose? Can we say that it is more likely that this “God” created for a reason than not for a reason?
Can we infer morality? It would seem to me that if we are moral and morality cannot be explained by evolution, and there is a God, God is likely moral. Right?
Now, I could continue along this train of thought, but for the sake of brevity, I want to jump tracks to the Christian foundation we call “The Gospel”. Christianity claims that there is indeed a God, he is indeed moral, and he did indeed create us for a reason. Let me first nutshell the reason…

God created us because he wanted to share himself with us…forever.

The process of this is complicated by the need to offer us a choice in the matter. After all, it isn’t sharing if it isn’t optional. What makes this complicated is that to refuse to share God is both the height of immorality and the peak of foolishness. Immoral because the refusal is an act of treason (mutiny) as well as an act of complete self-absorption (pride). Foolish because to refuse God is to refuse anything good.
If you are wondering what refusal looks like, let me nutshell that as well. If God is there, then God is God. He must be our ultimate purpose in every facet of life. Government should be based on him and should exist for him. The same goes for science, business, education, family, etc. This should be happening on a global scale, and it should be happing on an individual level. God should be our ultimate end in everything. When we make him less than this, we refuse him. There can be no middle ground.
This refusal puts God in an awkward position. He is moral; he is just. He cannot simply let this immorality slide. However, he also isn’t about to be defeated in his purpose. Besides, it turns out that he has another purpose…

To demonstrate the grandeur of his grace…

So, his solution, the solution he made us for in the first place, is to pay for our crimes himself. Enter Jesus. Simply put, God’s perfect and eternal son becomes one of us in order to live the perfect life we won’t and then pay the debt we can’t, thereby creating an avenue for reconciliation with our God. He then proved this by resurrecting from the dead.
Now, we can share God…forever.
And we can do it even though we fail. We can do it even though we are weak. The failure and the weakness serve to remind us that we can only do it through him. Which makes sense, because he is God.

Yay God!