“I hold (without appeal to
revelation) that when we take a view of the Universe, in it’s parts general or
particular, it is impossible for the human mind not to percieve and feel a
conviction of design, consummate skill, and indefinite power in every atom of
it’s composition. the movements of the heavenly bodies, so exactly held in
their course by the balance of centrifugal and centripetal forces, the
structure of our earth itself, with it’s distribution of lands, waters and
atmosphere, animal and vegetable bodies, examined in all their minutest
particles, insects mere atoms of life, yet as perfectly organised as man or
mammoth, the mineral substances, their generation and uses, it is impossible, I
say, for the human mind not to believe that there is, in all this, design,
cause and effect, up to an ultimate cause, a fabricator of all things from
matter and motion, their preserver and regulator while permitted to exist in
their present forms, and their regenerator into new and other forms. we see,
too, evident proofs of the necessity of a superintending power to maintain the
Universe in it’s course and order. stars, well known, have disappeared, new
ones have come into view, comets, in their incalculable courses, may run foul
of suns and planets and require renovation under other laws; certain races of
animals are become extinct; and, were there no restoring power, all existences
might extinguish successively, one by one, until all should be reduced to a
shapeless chaos. so irresistible are these evidences of an intelligent and
powerful Agent that, of the infinite numbers of men who have existed thro’ all
time, they have believed, in the proportion of a million at least to Unit, in
the hypothesis of an eternal pre-existence of a creator, rather than in that of
a self-existent Universe. surely this unanimous sentiment renders this more
probable than that of the few in the other hypothesis.” [1]
---Thomas Jefferson To John Adams
April 11, 1823
I know it may seem strange to begin a
blogpost like this but I did not know how else to begin it in any other way but
before I go into the words of Thomas Jefferson, the Bible says that creation
itself testifies of a creator and even if men do not praise God, creation
praises Him night and day for as the Psalmist states:
The heavens declare the glory of God;
and the firmament showeth his handiwork.
Day unto day utterth speech, and night unto night showeth
knowledge. There is no speech nor language,
where their voice is not heard. Their
line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the
world. In them hath he set a tabernacle
for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber and rejoiceth
as a strong man to run a race. His going
forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and
there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. (Ps. 19:1-6)
And again the Apostle Paul writes in
his Epistle to the Church in Rome:
For the invisible things of him from
the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that
are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without
excuse…(Rom. 1:20)
As I was searching out some alleged
quotes attributed to the founders pertaining to Christianity to see whether or
not the things they were alleged to have said were so, I came across a
correspondence between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson in which Jefferson
basically affirms that which the scripture says about the glory of God being
revealed in nature though I must say not all that Jefferson says in his letter
to Adams is in agreement with the scriptures but at odds with them but before I
go on any further a number of things must be understood about Jefferson and his
views pertaining to the Christian faith:
Jefferson is accused of being a
deist, but in all fairness to Jefferson, though he could not be described as a
follower of Christ, he is not a deist in the purest sense as deists do not
believe that God is actively involved in the affairs of men or His creation but
instead claim that after God had created the world, He left everything else to
chance, but Thomas Jefferson believed that God was, to a certain extent,
actively involved in His creation and in the affairs of men, and that it was
God who was the source of all truth and the definer of right and wrong, good
and evil, and as stated in our Declaration of Independence which he had
authored, he also believed that men inherited their rights from God and not
from men, [2] but he denied that God would go so
far as to interject Himself into the affairs of men by means that would defy
the laws of nature that He has set in motion as is revealed in the afore
mentioned responding letter of his to John Adams in which he stated that he, by
the study of nature, already knew by way of reason that there was a God by whom
all things were made and needed no divine revelation to tell him that all of
creation owes its existence to a Creator, but what Jefferson failed to realize
is that when creation itself reveals the hand of God, that in and of itself, is
a revelation and it is a revelation that would not be possible except that God
opens the eyes of those who would otherwise be blind to the evidence of His
existence that they may see in creation the evidence, or should I say to go so
far as to declare, even proof of the existence of the Creator and I dare say
that I find it to be easier to prove the existence of God than to prove that
there is no God.
There are countless testimonies from
scientists who have stated that upon their own independent study of nature that
they see features in all that they study of design and design possessing a
complexity and elaboration that from a standpoint of reason and logic, could
not be possible without the will and act of a Creator and while communicating
the scientific details may not be one of my finer strong suits, I can say that
when we take time to carefully observe the things of nature, that we should
find that there is an order to all things and one that operates with purpose
and that all things are also made with purpose; all seeming to be a part of
what we might call a symbiotic circle with every extinction of each plant and
animal gradually breaking that circle down and what is causing it to break down
is a plague and a curse that was pronounced upon it due to a transgression
committed by our first ancestors, Adam being the first man and his wife Eve
being the first woman and from whom we all descend but before the committing of
that transgression, irrespective of what kind of world Thomas Jefferson
believed God intended, the world that the Bible says that God had created was
created to be good as repeated again and again throughout the first chapter of
the book of Genesis for He had created all things to be good and in this good
world, there was nothing in it that was not good. There was no evil, no sin, no death, no
grief, no pain, nor hardship of any kind; just life, light, goodness, peace,
and contentment with a perfect and uninterrupted harmony between God, man, and
nature until the day, at the behest of a lying spirit, Adam and Eve did
something that would change the good and perfect world that God had created
into the fallen, evil, corrupt, decay infested, death-ridden, and sin-cursed
world that it is today and that was the eating of a certain fruit forbidden to
them from a tree called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, having been
warned that in the day that they ate thereof, they would surely die (Gen.
2:16-17, 3:3) but they were led into disobedience by a lying spirit who had
come to them in the form of a serpent, but before this lying spirit had become
a spirit of lies and turned to evil, he had once served at the throne of God as
a covering cherub until he was lifted up in a pride so great that he thought to
make himself equal to God and as a consequence, he and all who sided with him
were cast from their positions in heaven (Is. 14:11-21, Ezek. 28:12-19) and
after having lost the war for heaven, he took his enmity towards his Creator to
the earth. This lying spirit, before he
had become a lying spirit, was a certain angel called Lucifer and after having
set himself against God became known as Satan and it was Satan who had crept
into that good, beautiful, and perfect world that God had created and deceived
Adam and Eve into eating of that forbidden fruit which God had told them not to
eat from by falsely assuring them that if they ate of that forbidden fruit that
they would not die as they had been warned but that instead, they would receive
wisdom that they had never had before and even become divine in nature (Gen.
3:4-5) and when they had eaten of that forbidden fruit, instead of receiving
the wisdom that the serpent told that they would receive, the only knowledge
they received was the shame that came upon their nakedness after they had eaten
of that forbidden fruit (Gen. 3:7) and instead of attaining a status superior
to the one in which they had been created, they fell to an inferior status and
the sentence of death of which they were warned was pronounced upon them to
which they eventually succumbed (Gen. 3:19) but the sentence of death did not
stop with Adam and Eve for it was sin which entered into them that brought
death to them and the sin that entered into them and brought to death to them
was then passed down to all of mankind because it is from Adam and Eve all
mankind descend and because we are all descended from them, we have also
inherited from them the very sin that entered into them (Rom. 5:12) and just as
they died because of sin, so we all die because of sin; (Rom. 6:23) sin being
defined not by just our actions, behavior, conduct, and what we say, but as the
inwardly corrupt condition of our nature that not only influences our outward
acts and what we say, but also our very thoughts, motives, and the attitude of
the heart which is why it is written that we are not defiled from without but
from within (Mt. 5:11, 17-20) but the consequences of the transgression that
brought sin into the world and death with it did not confine themselves to man,
but spread to all of creation which is why it is written that the entire
creation groans and travails in pain to this day (Rom. 8:19-22) which is
suffering, pain, misery, and hardship of every sort and severity abound in the
world today and why creation itself is dying a very slow death and it was that
very lie that Satan told which led Adam and Eve to commit that very fateful
transgression that earned him the title of the father of lies (Jn. 8:44)
because the lie that he used to lead Adam and Eve into the transgression was
the first lie known to man and by that lie he through sin brought death which
is why he is also called a murderer (v. 44) and he continues to kill and
destroy through sin every day and it is by that lie by which he became the
father of lies and a murderer that he diminished the dominion over the earth
that had once been given to man (Gen. 1:26) and claimed lordship over the
nations, kingdoms, and empires of the earth (Mt. 4:8-9, Lk. 4:6-7) which why he
is called the prince of this world (Jn. 12:31, 16:11) and the thief who comes
to steal, kill, and destroy (Jn. 10:10) and yet in spite of the fallen state
that the once good world came into, God in His mercy continues to uphold all
things for He is not willing that any should perish but that all would come to
repentance (2 Pet. 3:9) for He takes no pleasure in punishment or destruction
but desires to bestow life and goodness upon His creation but because sin
entered into the world by first entering into man, redemption first begins with
man and ends with the liberation of the creation from the curse of sin and in
His love and desire to show mercy and to offer the forgiveness of sins, He has
provided that redemption in Christ Jesus our Lord who, being without sin (2
Cor. 5:21, Heb. 4:15) offered Himself up as a sacrifice on our behalf and since
He was without sin, He was the perfect and unblemished sacrifice (Heb. 7:26-27)
needed to purchase our redemption which was purchased by the death of Christ
upon the cross on which He was crucified
and after having purchased our redemption by His death, He was raised
again from the dead so that we by our faith in Him would be justified in Him
(Rom. 4:25) so that any calling upon Him for the forgiveness of sins in sincere
faith and repentance would be justified before God the Father by Him and in Him
(Rom. 10:13) and with the redemption of our souls comes a transformation (2
Cor. 5:17) that causes us to no longer desire to follow after selfish and
worldly pursuits but after those things that pertain to the Kingdom of Heaven,
(Mt. 6:33)
to no longer take pleasure in those
things that are evil and displeasing in the sight of the Lord, but in that
which is good, right, and pleasing in His sight,
to no longer desire to walk in the
lies of this present world, but only in the truth that comes from Christ
Almighty, (Jn. 14:6) no longer placing our hopes in the things of this present
world, but looking forward to that new and better world to come, (Rev. 21-22)
to no longer rely on worldly
resources, men, or even our own power, abilities, skills, and wisdom for our
needs and provision but upon God who is able to meet all of our needs, (Mt.
6:25-33) recognizing that the resources of this world and even the people He
brings into our lives are but instruments and vessels through which God meets
our needs and that the skills, power, knowledge, and wisdom by which we might
acquire our provision are provided and instilled in us by God,
to no longer fear what men can do to
us, but rather fearing the God before whom we will have to one day give an
account for how we lived our lives, (Mt. 10:28)
to no longer look to corruptible
institutions within our society for direction and order in our lives but to God
who, by His written Word has given us laws and precepts to be applied to our
lives and which serve to produce and maintain an ordered life, and who, by His
Holy Spirit which comes to dwell within us upon repentance, establishes in our
lives a course and direction in our lives to pursue for His glory,
to no longer seek our own glory but
the glory of God,
to no longer rally behind corruptible
men, but instead behind the incorruptible God in Heaven bearing in mind that
those men and women God raises up for our edification are but instruments and
servants of His for that respective purpose to which He has called them,
to no longer seek to align ourselves
with the things of darkness but only with the things of the light,
to no longer trust in the wisdom of
the world but only on the wisdom and knowledge that comes from above, nor
depend on corruptible earthly authorities to swiftly administer justice, but
only in the power of God to deliver us from evil.
And we look forward to the day that,
just as our souls have been redeemed and delivered from eternal damnation, when
we shall also be delivered from bodily death when that which is sinful is made
sinless and that which is corruptible is transformed into that which is
incorruptible (1 Cor. 15:51-55, 1 Thess. 4:13-18) for wherein dwells no sin
there is no death and finally, creation itself will also be liberated from the
curse that has come upon it because of sin, when Satan who is the adversary of
our souls and is that thief who comes to steal, kill, and destroy (Jn. 10:10)
is given his final sentence and cast into eternal damnation along with all who
have sided with him (Rev. 20:10-15) and after that, the creation will then be
made anew, and it will be a creation in which there will dwell no death, no
decay, no evil, no darkness, no grief, no sorrow, and no misery, and no
hardship, but only light, life, happiness, peace, contentment, and joy before
the Lord God Almighty for all eternity. (Rev. 21-22)
And if you desire to be a part of a
world and kingdom better than this present one, I urge you reader that if you
have not done so already to call upon the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ for the forgiveness of sins. It
is but a simple prayer of repentance away:
"Lord Jesus I need you.
I realize that I am a sinner
who has fallen short of the glory of
God
and that my goodness falls short
of your standard of Moral perfection.
Please forgive me of all of my sins.
Come into my heart and into my life
to be the Savior and Lord of my life.
Make me into the servant and follower
that you want me to be.
In your name Lord Jesus, I pray.
Amen."
Know that God is not concerned with
the words that you use to call upon Him forgiveness, but with the attitude of
your heart and if you have, with all sincerity, have asked Christ to forgive
you of your sins, placing your trust in Him only for your salvation and in
nothing else, then your sins are forgiven and your place in Heaven is certain.
End notes:
1. Thomas
Jefferson To John Adams April 11, 1823
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-19-02-0400#f2f56a8a-5249-4a58-b220-8b7c0d19872a
2.
The Declaration Of Independence, July 4, 1776
Scripture references:
1.
Psalm 19:1-6
2.
Romans 1:20
3.
Genesis 2:16-17, 3:3
4.
Isaiah 14:11-21, Ezekiel 28:12-19
5.
Genesis 3:4-5
6.
Genesis 3:7
7.
Genesis 3:19
8.
Romans 5:12
9.
Matthew 15:11, 17-20
10.
Romans 6:23
11.
Romans 8:19-22
12.
John 8:44
13.
Genesis 1:26
14.
Matthew 4:8-9, Luke 4:6-7
15.
John 12:31, 16:11
16.
John 10:10
17.
John 14:6
18.
2 Peter 3:9
19.
John 3:16
20.
2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 4:15
21.
Hebrews 7:26-27
22.
Romans 4:25
23.
Romans 10:13
24.
2 Corinthians 5:17
25.
Matthew 6:33
26.
Revelation 21-22
27.
Matthew 6:25-33
28.
Matthew 10:28
29.
1 Corinthians 15:51-55, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
30.
Revelation 20:10-15
No comments:
Post a Comment