AN AKAN proverb says: “Onipa firi soro besi a, obesi onipa kurom.” To wit, when a man descends from heaven, he descends into human society. The proverb emphasizes three things: the belief in man as created by God in heaven, the belief in the human society as the natural place of man…” (Dr. S. B Adubofuor, Morality and Social Values in Africa).
How did the earth and everything in it come into existence? How old is the earth? Or who saw how the sea, lakes, rivers, vegetation, animals, sun, moon and all natural things both living and non-living came into being? Can anyone answer these questions without reading or referring to any historical material or source?
Which member of the human races, namely, the Negroid, Mongolian or Caucasian can convincingly explain how man came to live on the earth? And what and who can AUTHORITATIVELY tells us how man and the world came into being? Isn’t it the Bible? The Book of books tells us who man is and how he was created!
In His words to Job, God asked him, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements – surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sank, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy” (Job 38: 4- 7, ESV)?
Can any scientist answer the questions God posed to Job? We see from the above passage of Scripture that the world existed before man was made. That is why man cannot narrate pre-creation events except by divine revelation. It is for this reason an unregenerate man cannot grasp the biblical message of creation. Unless God reveals to man how the world and everything in it were made, man will be kept in the dark.
Man, no matter his level of education and exposure, is defective in knowledge. He is not all-knowing; he knows but little compared to God his Creator who lives in eternity and knows all things. Yet, with his little knowledge which he struggles to acquire in many years, man challenges and doubts that God made him. But man cannot deny that God made him.
“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in things that have been made. So they are without excuse” (Romans1: 19- 20, ESV).
O man, your inability to tell when you will die, what will cause your death, where you will die and how you will die should prompt you to appreciate the fact that you are but a finite being unable to answer many of life’s questions.
O proud children of man, our shallow mindedness must humble us to trust in a Superior God, a Supreme Spirit Being and live by His Word. Truth is, man is man and God is God. God has no beginning and ending, but man has. O man of dust, how can you understand God and all His doings?
God declares to man, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55: 8- 9, ESV). It is also written that, “… that which the world deems foolish in God is wiser than men’s wisdom, and that which it deems feeble in God is mightier than men’s might” (1 Corinthians 1: 25,Weymouth New Testament)
God is a Spirit and operates from the spirit realm, a territory an unregenerate depraved mind cannot discern. The things of God are therefore better understood spiritually. God cannot be studied and understood like how we study and understand mathematics or physics. That is why one needs the guidance of the Spirit of God to understand the things of God.
“…no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God… the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2: 11- 14, ESV).
So, now, what must the natural (unregenerate) man do to receive the Spirit of God so he can understand the things of God? The first step is not to read or listen to biblical teachings and understand God. The other is not to read or listen to biblical teachings to see God. The natural man likes to understand or see before he can believe.
However, a natural person seeking to understand the things of God by the Spirit of God must first hear the Good News and believe in Jesus Christ. No man is forced to believe in Jesus Christ. It is a matter of a personal choice. You can believe in Jesus Christ, be saved and understand the things of God or reject Him, die and suffer eternal death in ignorance.
FROM James Quansah, Kumasi
jamesquansah@yahoo.com