The finite mind of man is now, and has always been, “fruitless” and “futile” in his attempt to identify true God; and as a consequence, we have not had and do not now have the ability, on our own, to initiate communication with Him or worship Him!
We have a limited “human mind” that can perceive nothing beyond our “finite” material world! True God, on the other hand, has “infinite” capacity. Mankind, on his own, cannot identify true God nor communicate with Him nor comprehend Him!
We humans have passed our initial limited, finite mind from generation to succeeding generation, without enhancement, from the beginning of our material creation; and, since time immemorial our finite spirit has foolishly identified, worshipped and died for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of “imaginary” false gods. Our human “spirit,” in its finite “wisdom”, deified the sun, the moon, stars, birds, serpents, animals, invisible spirits, man like super-humans; and, man-beasts, even men!
Today many simply look inward and worship their own, but finite, wisdom. If men are not worshipping false divinity, they are worshipping themselves through the philosophies of the earth, past and present, i.e., the major ones are: China (Confucius), India (Buddha) and Greece (all Greek philosophers-basically humanism).
Man, from antiquity, has carved wood and chiseled stone edifices-laid aside his tools and prostrated before them in worship. Some of the same tree was used for cooking and some to shape a god to worship. Some of the same stone was used for a building and the rest chiseled for a god to worship. Copper, brass, and iron was used to form and mold weapons-the rest to pour into a man-made mold to form gods to worship!
Man’s finite “divine” wisdom is glaringly reflected in the bygone and fully forgotten gods of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, South America, etc. Man has foolishly built thousands of temples worldwide from the beginning to various “phantom gods”; and multimillions of deluded humans have served them in fear, been murdered, fought wars, suffered pain, offered in sacrifice; then, in times of fearful panic and distress of spirit, uselessly screamed the name of their chosen false god for “divine” assistance! The remains of those once “hallowed”, but always useless, temples are now trod under foot; and, serve as a litter basket for the trash and spit of tourists!
Worshipping false gods from the finite mind of man has produced decadence, lying, deceiving, murder, destruction of families, divisions, discrimination, hatred, abortions, wars, fornication, adultery, homosexuality, etc.
The finite mind of man mostly produces evil, not good! We call “good” evil and “evil” good. We try to assuage our unsettled conscience by a little “good” now and then. In our heart we know there is a difference between good and evil, we just cannot perfectly identify either! Each era of time and place of culture has produced its own varied and separate definitions of “good” and “evil”.
Our present, contemporary, modern world continues today the near deification of philosophers and philosophic schools from Greece (they are built on the limited, finite mind of man too whether Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, Epicureans or Stoics); and, useless false gods from India, (and other oriental nations) and Arabia (Islam). They come to us also embellished in the finite wisdom of man. Finite man of course, confidently but blindly, receives them in worship.
The claim goes that we finite men should, instead since we are taught by some that we have the claimed ability, love each other and live in peace — who can disagree? But in our finite “wisdom” we have never done it! History explosively demonstrates our futility in identifying divinity or perfectly practicing loving philosophies. And surely, we should have learned by now! We couldn’t do it then, nor today! We simply don’t have the ability to do it! Even when limited to family units. Even when limited to parent-child relationships! We “wisely” destroy our posterity in the womb! We call “men” women and “women” men. Past and contemporary events shout out the uselessness of man’s “loving wisdom.” We call carnal, sexual lust “love.” We need help!
Today many men, in their finite wisdom, do not seek exterior gods at all, but have come to full folly; and, openly and proudly worship themselves; and, their own desires! Their desires, to them, are “good” and those who oppose their desires are “evil.” They have found the carnal lust of their bodies and mind, in their finite wisdom, to worship! They openly, proudly and arrogantly flaunt their sin!
We are without hope! In order for man to know Him, INFINITE God must initiate contact with us and reveal Himself to us-for those who seek a god and even those that don’t-else mankind could NEVER know true God! God Himself is the only source to reveal to us-Himself!
Christ, the incarnate Word of God alone, has revealed and is revealing the inner heart of infinite God and His love to us by the infinite Spirit of God; and, through the incarnation of His Word, spoke to men directly from a human body-Jesus Christ. He did not come in his own name. He came from and revealed to us true God. Who else can make that claim? Yet Jesus and His cross are mostly rejected by the finite “wisdom” of men; or, the divinity they worship! Men simply reject God’s love in His forgiveness of sin and gift of changed lives.
There is only one truth, one peacemaker, one savior, one mediator, and one life for man — Jesus Christ; and, it is because He is the Word of God, from time immemorial and is the originator of all created things in Himself, and is now in resurrected and changed flesh. He-the Word-a composite part of the eternal Trinity and sent by God the Father is the expression of all truth, life and love! He offers Himself free to all! He gave His innocent human body on the cross as a substitute for the consequence of our sins and provides in Himself, alone, constant spiritual cleansing for believers in this lifetime. He has eradicated the sin barrier, alone, and ended the sin problem for those that trust Him.
Jesus, alone, ended our sin barrier forever, but what about the future trust (faith) problem? Having had our sin problem removed by the cross, will we believers persevere in faith? And, what about those who have never heard the good news of the cross?
Jesus said (John 3:16-21): “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. Jesus also said: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me.” (John 14, 6, KJV). And, referring to Himself and His cross Jesus also said: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that “leads to life” (my emphasis), and only a few (my emphasis) find it.” (Matthew 7, 13-14).
Jesus does not teach us theology. He simply tells us God’s loving TRUTH! He is truth! His truth is not a rational argument between various opinions. It is simply non-arguable Words of truth!
The tragedy is men will believe the deceiving word of “finite” men (they teach and follow the broad road- false divinities, man’s finite philosophical wisdom or themselves) but not the truthful Word (Jesus Christ) of “infinite” God (the narrow gate)! Jesus came to “give” us true life not hinder our life!
Who do you believe-the word of men or the Word of God?
Where do we find the “infinite’ Word of God? It is recorded in the New and Old Testaments.
Where do we find the “finite” word of men? We begin with the Koran and any other religious writings or philosophical writings of men from any nation, past or present.
Jim S. Brooks, 225 Heather Drive, Spartanburg, S.C., (moved from 2400 E. Blackstock Road, Roebuck, S.C., 29376), retired attorney,
