The more we deny God's reality, the more we produce a vacuum in society, Ivan Grindlay believes.
God provokes so much interest despite our increasingly secular mindset, and has done so since time began.
I findit intriguing that Greece, the nursery of knowledge and philosophy, language and culture, religion and mythology, is teetering on the verge of economic collapse, threatening to shake the very foundations of the European Union and beyond.
And as it teeters on the brink, its people riot in the streets to claim their rights, rendering its beautiful facade a tragic mess that will be a nightmare to repair, driving the already fragile Socialist party to desperation despite its pleas for calm and reason.
How is it that a nation so revered for wisdom and intelligence could be so bankrupt, so stupid, so void of answers?
It reminded me of one Paul (a servant of Jesus Christ) who had occasion to wait at Athens for his friends to rejoin him, and he became distressed at a city full of idols. He reasoned in the marketplace daily and was confronted by some Epicureans who believed everything happened by chance, and some pantheistic Stoic philosophers convinced that God was everything and in everything.
Inevitably a dispute arose, since Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. They couldn't agree on what Paul was "babbling" about or determine what new foreign god he was advocating. So they introduced him to the Council of the Areopagus, so called because the hill of Ares (the Greek god of war) was its original meeting place.
It was the most venerable institution in Athens going back to legendary times, retaining great prestige and jurisdiction on matters of morals and religion. It was the place where Athenians and foreigners spent their time talking and listening about the latest ideas. Sounds familiar.
As I pondered the exchanges for this opinion page, I wondered if there is not an interesting parallel between Athens and this proud educated city of ours. We debate the evidences for and against a god who apparently does not exist. It's amazing that so much can be written about someone who is a figment of the imagination. God provokes so much interest despite our increasingly secular mindset, and has done so since time began. Why?
Because He, the Creator, has placed eternity in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 4:11).
We are born with an innate awareness of the divine. The more we deny His reality, the more we produce a vacuum in society that can only be filled by our Maker.
God ("the Word") has never ceased to speak. He reveals Himself from heaven in the face of a godless and wicked world that seeks to suppress the truth by its behaviour. What we can know about God has been made plain through creation where His invisible power and nature is clearly seen and understood by what He has made. The evidence is so clear that we are without excuse (Romans 1:18-20).
So Paul stands up in the middle of the Areopagus and, perceiving that these men of Athens are very religious and not a little curious, proceeds to introduce the God whom they have addressed on a local altar as "unknown" (Acts 17:16-34). In case "another god" may exist with whom they were not acquainted, they covered their backs by acknowledging it, lest "it" be offended. How thoughtful of these learned minds.
As all good teachers do, Paul worked from there to the known, revealing the One who was actually not far away from them.
Perhaps there are those in this city who have never been introduced to this One who delights to reveal Himself to those who are humble and lowly in heart, who accept that not all that is can be apprehended. By seeing and hearing, we don't always understand.
But by the gift of faith, given to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness and for life in all its fullness, the meaning can be known ... even by an innocent dependent child.
The God of whom I speak made the world and everything in it.
He is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in ornate buildings built by hands; neither is He served by human hands as if He needed anything. He is the giver of life and breath to all mankind, and everything else.
From one man He made every nation, that they should inhabit the earth. He determines the times set for every individual and the exact place where they should live.
Why?
So that we might seek Him and perhaps reach out and find Him, for He is eminently reachable. In Him we live and move and have our being. In fact, we are His offspring. We should not think that the divine being is made of gold, silver or stone, or any image made by human design and skill.
He is One who has graciously overlooked our ignorance, but now commands all people everywhere to change their mind about Him and their condition, for He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by Jesus Christ, the one He has appointed. He proved this by raising Him from the dead.
This One I have personally come to know by faith, through grace, and declare to you in Dunedin and beyond. What will you do with Him?
• Ivan Grindlay is an elder of the Caversham Community Church
