Opening THE Book 4 with Rev John

10th December 2018
as published by St Andrew's Church in the Gorleston Community Magazine

Rev John Kinchin-Smith
Assistant Minister, St Andrew’s Church

Last week, we were thinking about the stories at the beginning of the Bible which tell us that before anything existed, there was God; and that this God created a very beautiful and amazing universe including our own planet. Is this true and trustworthy? Can we believe it? Well, let’s look at the alternative
 
The alternative is that the universe and everything in it are the result of random chance. People who think this are known as ‘atheists’. This is a very depressing point of view because it says that if you were born very poor or disabled or if you suffer from cancer or die young, for example, it is just bad luck. It also says that if people do very bad things and hurt other people and get away with it, there can be no justice; and that life has no other purpose or meaning than what you can see, hear or touch and to grab what you can when you have the chance
 
The Bible, however, in those early chapters of the book called Genesis, says that the universe is beautiful and amazing because it was made by a God of perfect love and that human beings were created in a way that reflects what this God is like. This is why human beings can reason, make free choices, form relationships and create. The Bible also teaches that human beings were created to enjoy perfect harmony with each other, with creation and with God
 
The trouble is that having free will to make choices means that you can choose bad things as well as good ones. The story of Adam and Eve in the Bible explains why we live in a world where evil and bad things happen. Human beings, we’re told, chose to follow their own selfish desires and rebelled against their creator – and so the perfect harmony that God intended was destroyed
 
Well, if you are a loving parent and see your child in danger and in need of rescuing, what would you do? And the Bible tells us that God is no different. The story of the Bible is the story of how God took steps to put things right. And if this is true, wouldn’t you want to know how? And wouldn’t you want to know this God? More next week...
 

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