“And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught. And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes.”
Mark 1:21-22
People are naturally curious. From childhood onward we are continually seeking to understand some aspect of our world. Almost everything in our human experience can, and often is, framed with the question, “Why?” It is this desire for understanding that prompted the modern scientific enterprise with all of its attending benefits. How strange it is to think that today’s atheists routinely claim science as their ally. On the atheist conception of reality, the world we live in is entirely random, accidental, and ultimately meaningless. Why would anyone holding such a view then proceed to ask meaningful questions of a meaningless universe? It is his unconfessed knowledge of God (Romans 1:18-20) that explains the atheist’s confidence in science as an avenue to truth. In any case, we are all still very much like little children in our quest for understanding. Just as a child responds with “Why?” to every answer his parents give him, we too desire to know the underlying reasons for things. Whether we are studying science or history, philosophy or theology, we are continually seeking deeper understanding; we are continually asking “Why?” If we stop to think about it, however, we realize that our question-asking cannot go on forever. If there isn’t a rock solid foundation for it all, a self-explained fact that accounts for and explains all other, lesser facts, then we ultimately know nothing. Knowledge and understanding need a starting point. When we were children, our parents ended the regression of “why” questions with the phrase, “because I said so.” Their authority in the home halted the regress; their final word on the subject became our necessary, rational foundation for everything else we were told. Today we understand that, though our parents’ “because I said so” response ended the regress of “why” questions in our homes, no mere human opinion could possibly suffice as an ultimate foundation for knowledge. While supposedly intelligent philosophers puzzle over these things, we may rest fully assured that our God stands as the needed, self-explained fact that accounts for and explains all other, lesser facts. “For by him were all things created,” wrote Paul, “that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him” (Colossians 1:16). How good it is to know that our Rock (Psalm 18:31; 1 Corinthians 10:4) stands not only as our ultimate reference point, but as our loving Good Shepherd (John 10:1-17; 1 Peter 5:7). Truly, we are complete in Him (Colossians 2:10).
God bless,
Pastor John
English