Revelation is Rational. Stopping at Nature is Not.

“However, as it is written, ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him’ — but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2:9,10).

I have been married to my one and only wife for over 32 wonderful years.  With the ongoing passage of time I am learning more and more things about her that I love.  One thing, however, I’ve discovered that “pushes her buttons” (which is not a good thing for me to do!), is my attempt to be silly by recounting a list of obscure things I admire about her while she is simply trying to get my attention by talking to me.  There is of course no question that she appreciates my compliments about her outward beauty.  But the bottom line is, when my wife is speaking to me, I ought to listen!  When it comes to the most important realities of life, that is personal relationships, empirical analysis is not enough.  “Empiricism” is the belief that all knowledge is derived by our five senses (sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch) and can be measured.  Such analysis plays a very important role in understanding my (our) material world.  But it isn’t enough.  I must open my ears, and paying attention, actually listen to what my beloved says about her perceptions, feelings, and wishes.  This insight, of course, is hardly a revolutionary revelation.  Yet a deeper appreciation of revelation within relationships does have the power to revolutionize the latter!

The deservedly famous philosopher Immanuel Kant argued for the existence of God on the basis of the “Categorical [moral] Imperative,” stating that the concept of God follows logically from human moral obligation.  At the same time, Kant (ironically, “Immanuel” means literally, “God with us”) rejected the concept of revelation.  By that term he was specifically rejecting revealed religion.  Kant argued that the legitimate insights about God must be limited to observations from the natural world.  Revelation plays no legitimate role in these questions.  From his time onward the concept of revelation has been held under suspicion.  Yet in reality, there is no legitimate argument against the concept of revelation.  There is nothing that science proper has to say with respect to this possibility.  And indeed, the rejection of this possibility, leads to the impoverishment of all thinking, not just “religious” thinking. 

In my previous blog I cited an atheist who, in a recent debate, argued from the demonstrated falsity of Mormonism and Islam, to the conclusion that Christianity also is illegitimate.  In that attempt he committed the logical fallacy called “affirming the consequent.”  The suggestion that all revelation is false because not all religions are right is as absurd as suggesting that no one ever tells the truth because today’s newspaper stated that someone lied in court.  Sifting out falsehood from the truth demands moving beyond prejudice by doing the hard work of investigating the facts of the case.

That God exists at all is important, but it doesn’t to tell the whole story.  I embrace the Bible’s claim to be the revealed Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16, John 1:1-3, 14, and Hebrews 1:1-3).  As the Gospel of John further fleshes out, the Creator of the heavens and the earth came into our world in Jesus Christ.  It is from this revelation that we learn the character of this God, namely that the One who stretched out the heavens at the beginning of time, in Christ came in love for the entire world to stretch out His arms on a cross in the fullness of time.  And in the present time He extends His arms to receive all who will come to Him (Matthew 11:28,29).  This truth is the most important one of all if true.  The concept of such a revelation is not inconsistent with the revelation between human beings that happens as we reveal our thoughts to each another in daily conversation.  The assertion that God cannot reveal Himself to us effectively relegates Him to a stature that is lower than us.  And that suggestion is worst than irrational.  It leads to the impoverishment of all of life.