We are on to (Key Belief) number 6. After the most recent two, we may be left with the knowledge or belief that God exists, and His universe is impressive, but with no more than that. The knowledge could be academic or theoretical. It could be a belief sincerely held, but of no more significance than knowing Queen Elizabeth II became Queen in 1952.
This knowledge, at
least, is current or topical. Knowing that the Spanish Armada arrived (or
rather didn’t) in 1588, in the reign of the other Elizabeth is knowledge that
is more remote.
These might be interesting
facts, but of no direct impact on daily life, unless you are doing a history
exam. They may something to be debated, the same way as discussing whether
Chelsea Football Club will recover to win the Premier league (currently 5th
in the table, as I write the first draft of this).
But there are other
forms of knowledge that have more of a direct impact on us. For example,
whether or not our home exists and will be there, when we return is of direct
relevance to us. Whether we were paid by our employer is, for most people
anyway, of considerable importance. We live according to these beliefs, even
though we are hardly conscious of them.
Into which category is
belief in God? It is very comfortable to believe in a God, and then to carry on
one’s life as before. It need make no difference to one’s life or one’s
attitude to oneself. I know that most people regard God as having some moral
characteristics (which I have not written about in these blogs). From here, we
might regard it as logical to have some form of moral code that derives from
this. This is a very civilising influence of society and communities and
families and is not to be ignored. Nevertheless, it still keeps God at arm’s
length. The knowledge is still academic.
But “Key Belief number
6” is that the knowledge of God is like knowing another person, even a friend.
In that sense, it is nothing like knowing your house at all. It is a personal
encounter. Of course, it is not possible for me to prove this. This sort of
knowledge cannot be proved. It must be experienced.
What form does this
personal encounter take? I can think of four ways, which are really all
similar.
1. It would start along the thought that we are
“things” that God has made. We are “creatures” and He is the creator. We are
part of His creation, which He made and we acknowledge this fact before him.
2. Actually this may not be the only way forward. The Old Testament, in some places, describes the relationship between God and His people as that between “master and servant”. God lays down rules for their lives and they are expected to follow this. If a person makes this acknowledgement to God, then this too is the beginning of a correct relationship with God.
3. Here is a further way. Jesus, in one of the
New Testament stories, allows children to come to him. He says that unless we
become like children, we cannot enter God’s world. (Matthew 18.3.) Jesus repeats this, when He teaches us the
first line of the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Father, who is in Heaven…….”
4. I can think of a fourth way of approaching
this. The Old and the New Testaments teach that God sets us standards, which we
fail to live up to. In fact it is in our nature to breach these standards. When
we acknowledge this, we are able to move forward into a relationship with God.
If we deny that this is the case, then progress here is not possible. (Romans 3.23.)
Any one of these four
approaches sees a change in our relationship with God. We recognise God as who
he is and what we are. We need to make this acknowledgement to God himself and
this is not an academic exercise. It cuts to the core of our pride and it is
here that most people stop. It is the personal encounter with God, which is
necessary and which forms the basis of the knowledge of God in the same way as
you know your friends.
There
is no way or short-cut through here. Unfortunately, God is very uncompromising on this.
