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_The_Need_for_Revelation_001.jpg) In the previous two parts of this series, we answered the
two “big questions.” Who made us? God. Why are we here? To serve and worship
Him. A third question naturally arose: “If our Creator made us to serve and
worship Him, how do we do that?” In the previous article I suggested that the
only way we can serve our Creator is through obeying His mandates, as conveyed
through revelation.
But many people would question my assertion: Why
does mankind need revelation? Isn’t it enough just to be good? Isn’t it
enough for each of us to worship God in our own way?
Regarding the need for revelation, I would make
the following points: In the first article of this series I pointed out that life
is full of injustices, but our Creator is fair and just, and He establishes
justice not in this life, but in the afterlife. However, justice cannot be
established without four things—a court (i.e., the Day of Judgment); a judge
(i.e., the Creator); witnesses (i.e., men and women, angels, elements of
creation); and a book of laws upon which to judge (i.e., revelation). Now,
how can our Creator establish justice if He did not hold humankind to certain
laws during their lives? It’s not possible. In that scenario, instead of
justice, God would be dealing out injustice, for He would be punishing
people for transgressions they had no way of knowing were crimes.
Why else do we need revelation? To begin with, without
guidance mankind cannot even agree on social and economic issues, politics,
laws, etc. So how can we ever agree on God? Secondly, nobody writes the user
manual better than the one who made the product. God is the Creator, we are
creation, and nobody knows the overall scheme of creation better than the
Creator. Are employees allowed to design their own job descriptions, duties
and compensation packages as they see fit? Are all citizens allowed to write
their own laws? No? Well then, why should we be allowed to write our own
religions? If history has taught us anything, it is the tragedies that result when
mankind follows its caprice. How many who have claimed to banner of free
thought have designed religions that committed themselves and their followers
to nightmares on Earth and damnation in the hereafter?
So why isn’t it enough just to be good? And why
isn’t it enough for each of us to worship God in our own way? To begin with,
peoples’ definitions of “good” differ. For some it is high morals and clean
living, for others it is madness and mayhem. Similarly, concepts of how to
serve and worship our Creator differ as well. More importantly and to the
point, nobody can walk into a store or a restaurant and pay with a different
currency than the merchant accepts. So it is with religion. If people want
God to accept their servitude and worship, they have to pay in the currency God
demands. And that currency is obedience to His revelation.
Imagine raising children in a home in which you
have set “house rules.” Then, one day, one of your children tells you he or
she has changed the rules, and is going to do things differently. How would
you respond? More than likely, with the words, “You can take your new rules
and go to Hell!” Well, think about it. We are God’s creation, living in His
universe under His rules, and “go to Hell” is very likely what God will say to any
who presume to override His laws with their own.
Sincerity becomes an issue at this point. We
should recognize that all pleasure is a gift from our Creator, and deserving of
thanks. If given a gift, who uses the gift before giving thanks? And yet,
many of us enjoy God’s gifts for a lifetime and never give thanks. Or
give it late. The English poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, spoke of the irony
of the distressed human appeal in The Cry of the Human:
And lips say “God be pitiful,”
Who ne’er said, “God be praised.”
Should we not show good manners and thank our
Creator for His gifts now, and subsequently for the rest of our lives? Don’t
we owe that to Him?
You answered “Yes.” You must have. Nobody will
have read this far without being in agreement, but here’s the problem: Many of
you answered Yes, knowing full well that your heart is not in the Bible.
Or perhaps it is in the Bible, but not entirely. You agree we were created by
a Creator. You struggle to understand Him. And you yearn to serve and worship
Him in the manner He prescribes. But you don’t know how, and you don’t know
where to look for the answers. And that, unfortunately, is not a subject that
can be answered in an article. Unfortunately, that issue has to be addressed
in a book.
On the other hand, the good news is that I have written
this book, and its title is The First and Final Commandment (soon to be
republished under the title, MisGod’ed). So if you like what you’ve
read here, I invite you to read what I’ve written there.
Copyright © 2007 Laurence B. Brown.
About the
Author:
The author can be contacted at BrownL38@yahoo.com.
He is the author of The First and Final Commandment (Amana Publications)
and Bearing True Witness (Dar-us-Salam). Forthcoming books are a
historical thriller, The Eighth Scroll, and a second edition of The
First and Final Commandment, rewritten and divided into MisGod’ed
and its sequel, God’ed.
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