Editorial November 2, 1992 Issue

The most important of questions

William E. Moody

Without diminishing in any way the significance of humanity's search to understand the complexities of the natural world and universe, the Christian thinker could reasonably argue that the most important questions confronting mankind down through the ages have not actually been in the realm of the physical sciences—not in mathematics or physics, chemistry or biology. Not in human evolution or in unlocking the mysteries of DNA. Not in computer technology or thermodynamics or astronomy. The most important questions of the ages have actually centered on the nature of God as the divine creator and of man's relationship to God.

As humanity has endeavored to discover man's true relationship to God, many different philosophies and religious traditions have evolved over the centuries. Their various theories have represented an earnest attempt to resolve and explain what has sometimes been called the "mystery" of God's presence—how God, as divine Spirit, connects to the fleshly life of humanity. For the most part, human theories have proceeded from the incorrect assumption, however plausible, that God must have purposefully created a material realm and then, as the originator of physical life, subsequently managed to maintain some kind of personal relationship with that physical outcome, even if the relationship often appeared tentative and insecure.

Such views of Deity would logically anticipate that this "God of matter" would need to be regularly and adequately appeased if His creatures were to have any hope of receiving His benefit. And many religious traditions assume that it is just as likely for God to be angered as it is for Him to be pleased by human behavior. Consequently He would be just as apt to send punishment as He would to bestow a blessing.

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