Help Me
by Stephen Foster
There is a recurring question that I have with regard to theism which no one ever seems to want to address. How does it make sense to believe that the God of the Bible exists at all, if you do not believe that what the Bible says about the God of the Bible is indeed true?
Please don’t misunderstand me; I completely understand why some people do not believe that the earth was created in six literal 24-hour days less than 10,000 years ago.
I also understand why some people do not believe that there have been supernatural miracles, or that Jesus was actually God.
What I do not understand is how — or why — some people do not believe any of this, yet believe that God exists, and that He is good, and, further, that He is responsible for creation. From where did they get the idea that God exists, that He is good, and that He is responsible for creation?
Among the things that makes sense to me about the Biblical narrative — one of its probative features as far as I’m concerned — is that the plan of salvation, and arguably the theme of the Bible, as well as a microcosm of the great controversy is outlined in Genesis 3:15.
From where could that prophecy have come? What are the various options? The same might well be asked of the foretelling of the successive dominant kingdoms ending with the establishment of the eternal kingdom, to be established by God, in Daniel 2. What possible options are available (other than the famously porous Maccabean thesis)? The same might even be asked concerning the source of the information encoded in genetic material.
Again, so as not to distract from my point, I understand why people do not believe that there is a benevolent supernatural, self-existing, creative Intelligence who is responsible for everything and who demonstrated His benevolence and such responsibility by sacrificially dying for all of humanity. I totally get that.
What I don’t get, what does not compute, what makes absolutely no sense to me at all, is how and why those who do believe that there is a benevolent, supernatural, self-existing, creative Intelligence who is responsible for everything and who demonstrated His benevolence and His responsibility for everything by sacrificially dying for them, do not believe everything that the source — from which this information about Him was derived — has to say about Him. So, help me.
