It is written:
Acts 17:22-Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious;
When the Apostle Paul addressed the philosophers on Mars Hill, he identified them as “very religious.”
By using the phrase “very religious,” Paul showed respect for the Athenians and commended the aspects of their religious beliefs which were undoubtedly correct and true.
“Paul acknowledges the Athenians’ religiosity with an expression translated “most religious” (ὡς δεισιδαιμονεστέρους). The Greek term means “fearing the gods”; it can be used positively in the sense of “pious, religious,” or in the negative sense of “superstitious.” 39 Used in the opening line of an address before the council, it can hardly have the denigrating sense of “superstitious.” Luke underlines the proverbial piety of the Athenians40 with the comparative form of the adjective (used for the elative or superlative), and with the prepositional phrase translated as “in every way” (κατὰ πάντα).” (1076 (Kindle Edition); Elkhart J. Schnabel, Clinton E. Arnold (General Editor), Acts (Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament Book 5), Grand Rapids, MIchigan; Zondervan)
You and I find much common ground, Mr. Hopson, in acknowledging that there is a God.
For example, you claim in your lyrics:
“I look at the Earth and Sun and I can tell a genius man designed it
It’s truly mind blowing, I can’t deny it.”
There are at least three ways to know that there is a God.
The cosmological argument (1. Everything which begins to exist has a cause. 2. The universe began to exist. 3. Therefore the universe has a Cause. 4. But the only Cause sufficient for the universe is the eternal God. 5. Therefore the eternal God exists) argues from cause an effect.
The teleological argument (1. Design implies designer. 2. The universe exhibits undeniable evidence of design. 3. Therefore the universe has a Designer) argues from the design demonstrated through the universe.
The moral argument (1. If objective prescriptive moral law exists, then God exists. 2. Objective prescriptive moral law exists. 3. Therefore God exists) argues from the fact objective prescriptive moral law.
Antony Flew was perhaps the most well-known (former) atheist of the last hundred years. His papers are still used as a criteria in many skeptical college courses around the world. What doesn’t receive as much attention, however, is the fact that Mr. Flew finally came to acknowledge that there is a God.
Flew wrote:
“I now believe that the universe was brought into existence by an infinite Intelligence. I believe that this universe’s intricate laws manifest what scientists have called the Mind of God. I believe that life and reproduction originate in a divine Source. Why do I believe this, given that I expounded and defended atheism for more than a half century? The short answer is this: this is the world picture, as I see it, that has emerged from modern science. Science spotlights three dimensions of nature that point to God. The first is the fact that nature obeys laws. The second is the dimension of life, of intelligently organized and purpose-driven beings, which arose from matter. The third is the very existence of nature. But it is not science alone that has guided me. I have also been helped by a renewed study of the classical philosophical arguments. My departure from atheism was not occasioned by any new phenomenon or argument. Over the last two decades, my whole framework of thought has been in a state of migration. This was a consequence of my continuing assessment of the evidence of nature. When I finally came to recognize the existence of a God, it was not a paradigm shift, because my paradigm remains, as Plato in his Republic scripted his Socrates to insist: “We must follow the argument wherever it leads.” (Antony Flew & Roy Abraham Varghese, There Is a God: How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind by Antony Flew, 88-89 (Kindle Edition); New York, NY; Harper Collins Publishers, Inc.)
Again:
“But the three items of evidence we have considered in this volume—the laws of nature, life with its teleological organization, and the existence of the universe—can only be explained in the light of an Intelligence that explains both its own existence and that of the world. Such a discovery of the Divine does not come through experiments and equations, but through an understanding of the structures they unveil and map. Now, all this might sound abstract and impersonal. How, it might be asked, do I as a person respond to the discovery of an ultimate Reality that is an omnipresent and omniscient Spirit? I must say again that the journey to my discovery of the Divine has thus far been a pilgrimage of reason. I have followed the argument where it has led me. And it has led me to accept the existence of a self-existent, immutable, immaterial, omnipotent, and omniscient Being.” (Antony Flew & Roy Abraham Varghese, There Is a God: How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind by Antony Flew, 155 (Kindle Edition); New York, NY; Harper Collins Publishers, Inc.)
But here is what I find very interesting in regard to your lyrics Mr. Hopson: you acknowledge that God has “spoken” of His existence through the beauty and majesty of the universe, but then you complain that you doubt God because He has not spoken to you as He did to Adam and Eve.
For example:
“I hate the fact that I have to believe
You haven’t been chatting with me like you did Adam and Eve
And I ain’t seen no f____________ talking snake unravel from trees
With an apple to eat, that s________ never happens to me.”
Again:
“You gave me a Bible and expect me not to analyze it?
I’m frustrated and you provoked it
I’m not reading that m_________________g book because a human wrote it
I have a f____________g brain, you should know it
You gave it to me to think to avoid every useless moment
It was a mission that I had to abort
Cause humans be lying with such an inaccurate source.”
You are involved in some logical contradiction here, sir.
Just because a person does not communicate to every person in the exact same way does not diminish or negate communication.
For example, you communicate to people through the lyrics of your songs. You also communicate through the Internet, and through Facebook. I am sure you also communicate to people via cell phone, mail, email, etc. Just because you choose to communicate through different mediums does not diminish the message that you are you are trying to convey through the means that you employ.
I too yearn for being able to speak to God the way that Adam and Eve did. However, if we are going to be fair to the Bible and give it a just hearing, we must remember that the Bible teaches us that such intimate communication existed before the introduction of sin into the world (Genesis 1-3). We look forward to the full restoration of that intimacy when Heaven’s plan is finally consummated when Jesus returns (Revelation 21-22).
In the meantime, God has not left Himself without witness (Acts 14:17). He communicate to us-not only through nature-but through His Son, Jesus, and through the Volume which He inspired to be written, the Holy Bible.
In my next correspondences, we will investigate the claims that the Bible is the Word of God.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen.
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