| HIGHLIGHTS OF DAWN | March 1999 |
The True and Living God
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“The LORD [Jehovah] is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king.” |
AN ARTICLE APPEARED recently in a chemical and engineering news journal citing the work of two prominent scientists who became involved in studies of possible life on Mars and Europa—a moon of Jupiter. Water is essential to life, and only these two places in our solar system (excepting Earth) are believed to have, or have had, water as detected by the probes sent to explore the planetary system, and by rock samples from Mars.
The work done by the two scientists was reported in the Journal of Geophysics Research, (103, 1998). The title of this news item was eye-catching: “Mars Was No Garden of Eden.” Many writers on scientific subjects believe in evolution and do not accept the Bible as a message from God, the great Supreme Creator of the universe. Likewise, many of their readers believe in evolution and question the existence of God. Therefore, the use of Biblical language in this case was unusual. It may have been employed to illustrate the profuse vegetation upon Planet Earth in contrast to the lack of such vegetation elsewhere in our planetary system.
This work concerning the quest for life in other places in the universe analyzed data available from Mars and Europa. Their conclusion was: “Even if life could have arisen on Mars, there probably wouldn’t have been enough energy to allow it to flourish.” This conclusion was reached by using a model of energy available for creating and sustaining life. We quote further from the article:
“The model assumes that life requires water; elements like carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur to build complex molecules; and a source of energy. On Earth, photosynthesis makes possible the creation of about 20 grams of organisms per square centimeter of land every 1,000 years, the researchers say. On Mars, a biosystem without photosynthesis would have to rely on geochemical energy from volcanic activity, hydrothermal circulation of water, and chemical weathering of the planet’s surface and crust. The researchers calculate that it would take Mars 4 billion years to produce that same 20 grams per square centimeter from these energy sources. Europa’s limited vulcanism makes it even less fertile a breeding ground than Mars. The findings suggest that searches for past life on Mars should focus on areas near former hydrothermal systems.”
EXISTENCE OF A SUPREME CREATOR
The question that arises is, “Why are scientists so interested in the search for life elsewhere in the universe?” NASA recently sent another explorer to Mars to sample terrain in the south polar region, where ice is expected to be found. The answer is that many scientists are unwilling to accept the Bible as a message from the true and living God. This is so even though their work pinpoints the remarkable phenomenon of photosynthesis, which is the means whereby the energy from the sun makes food for the living creatures God placed on earth.
What a remarkable phenomenon it is. Scientists have long been studying photosynthesis and have learned much about the mechanics of the process. They say, “Each hour Earth’s surface receives an amount of energy from the sun that approximately equals the amount of fossil fuels consumed globally in one year.” Photosynthesis is described by them as a process that “nature developed several billion years ago to trap solar energy and store it in the fuels that are essential for life on Earth.” What does the Bible say about this remarkable phenomenon?
We read in Genesis: “God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.”—Gen. 1:29,30
Note the ‘green herb’ mentioned in this passage of scripture The robing of the earth in living green highlights the fact that chlorophyll—the material that imparts a green color to vegetation—is also the means whereby the sun’s energy is absorbed. As far back as 1912 a photochemist said, “Plants are unsurpassed masters of—or marvelous workshops for—photochemical synthesis of the fundamental substances, building up from carbon dioxide [a waste product] with the help of solar energy.”
Scientists now recognize that “mimicking natural photosynthesis” has great potential along many lines to improve life on Earth. They have embarked on a study of both the simplicity of the chemical reactions involved, as well as the complexity of these. Planet Earth is outstanding as a place where life had been carefully designed by God, and where life could be created and sustained. It contained a very beautiful place, called the Garden of Eden, and though the beauty of that garden no longer exists, Earth continues to be an amazing testimony to a living God.
FALSE GODS
There is a segment of the scientific world which believes that everything happened by chance. In doing so they unknowingly have erected a god called Chance. The Bible, however, is the message from the living God who created heaven and earth. In the past God has not been described properly by well-meaning supporters of the Bible. The traditional concepts of God as formulated in the creeds of the Dark Ages could be responsible for this rejection by thinking men.
What are some of these concepts? Prominent among them is the claim that God is a trinity of deities called the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. This conception of God is a monstrosity which cannot be harmonized either with the Bible, or with enlightened thinking. Various church leaders are discarding this concept of God, while others hold tenaciously to it.
Then there is the picture of God as being the author of ‘hell’ and ‘purgatory’. Here we have another theory that is not supported by the Bible, and is rejected by reasoning minds of the present. This concept of God blasphemes his holy name. How horrible it is to think that an all-powerful Creator would torture countless millions of his human creatures in a fiery hell forever! The theory of purgatory is only degrees less revolting.
The ‘end of the world’ dogma, handed down to us from the Dark Ages, is another one which pictures the true God of the Bible in a very false light. What a fiend God would be to destroy the whole earth with fire in twenty-four hours, and transfer its wicked inhabitants into a hell of endless torment! This is too awful to contemplate, yet it was taught that God would do this. At that horrendous time, the righteous of earth were to be transferred to heaven; but we wonder how much joy they could have in heaven, knowing what had happened to their neighbors, and was continuing to happen.
HONESTY A GEM
These concepts are rarely mentioned in the churches today, with the exception of a minority of radical Fundamentalists. But they are still in the creeds, because the rank and file of church leaders do not have the courage or honesty to say openly that they no longer believe them, and advocate a revision of the creeds. Due in part to their lack of understanding, they do not possess sufficient faith in the Bible to accept its revelation of the true and living God, the God of all Creation, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
ONE GOD
The Apostle Paul wrote, “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” (I Tim. 2:3-6) From this we learn that the one true God of the Bible is a ‘savior’ of his creatures, not their tormentor. He is the great Author of his plan of redemption from sin and death; it is for that plan that his beloved Son willingly and gladly gave himself in death as a ‘ransom for all’.
RESTITUTION
The word ransom means ‘a corresponding price’. Jesus took the place of Adam in death, thus providing release from the penalty of sin, which is death. This could not be understood by those who believed that the wages of sin is eternal torture. But how simply and clearly the Scriptures set forth the plan of God for his fallen human creatures! Paul wrote, “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom. 6:23) And again, “As by Adam All die, so by the Anointed [Christ] also, will All be restored to life.”—I Cor. 15:22, Wilson’s Emphatic Diaglott
This making alive of the millions of Adam’s children is to be accomplished right here on the earth. This is what Paul refers to in his statement that God will have all men to be saved—saved, that is, from the sleep of death. Following that awakening, the people will have an opportunity to ‘come to a knowledge of the truth’ that God does love them, and has provided for their eternal salvation upon the basis of belief and obedience. This diffusion of the true knowledge of God is referred to by Paul as a testifying of this great truth in ‘due time’.
Because this knowledge will be ‘testified in due time’ to the whole world of mankind, the “knowledge of the Lord” will fill the earth “as the waters cover the sea.” (Isa. 11:9) All will then have an opportunity to know “the only true God,” whom to know aright “is life eternal.” (John 17:3) No one will lose the opportunity of gaining everlasting life by being left in ignorance of the true God and his will for them. Nor will anyone be saved in his ignorance, for the Lord will then turn to the resurrected people a “pure language,” or message, and all shall know him, and call upon him, “from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord.”—Zeph. 3:9; Jer. 31:31-34
ISRAEL’S IDOLATRY
When the nation of Israel was blessed with the knowledge of the true and living God, they often went astray and worshiped idols. God sent a powerful message to them through the Prophet Jeremiah, saying, “Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven.” (Jer. 10:2) Jeremiah then proceeds to describe idols built by the gentile nations, which were inanimate and powerless. These were not to be feared nor worshiped, because they could do nothing. Instead, Jeremiah calls their attention to the true and living God who provides all of our needs, and is in sharp contrast to the gods imagined by men.—Jer. 10:1-13
Men’s knowledge is limited, as Jeremiah says in continuing his message to Israel: “Everyone is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. His images are a fraud; they have no breath in them. They are worthless, the objects of mockery; when their judgment comes, they will perish.” (Jer. 10:14,15, New International Version) We note the emphasis in this exhortation on a living God, and the absence of life in the gods worshiped by men. Jeremiah concludes by saying of God: “He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the Maker of all things, including Israel, the tribe of his inheritance—the Lord Almighty is his name.”—Jer. 10:16, NIV
THE TRUE AND LIVING GOD
Many students of the Bible have discarded the concept of a lifeless god, or one founded on Dark Age creeds. The Apostle Paul spoke for all of us when he said, “We trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men.” (I Tim. 4:10) Jesus emphasized the importance of God being a living God who was interested in the welfare of his Creation, saying, “Now he is not a God of the Dead, but of the Living; for to him all are alive.” (Luke 20:38, WED) Soon the world will know why Jehovah was called the ‘true and living God’, as through Jesus and the church, his Christ, he will employ his great power to bring back to life all who have passed into the sleep of death. Then they will know why he is the God of the living, as his plan is to provide an opportunity for everlasting life to everyone who ever lived.
The Apostle Paul exhorts all to wait patiently for the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. For then he will reveal to everyone “the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.”—I Tim. 6:15,16