I have to confess to being an eavesdropper, especially when I am on a camping trip. Tents have thin walls and people sit around campfires talking about all sorts of things – and I listen.
One conclusion that I have come to is that all people are religious. They speak (around the campfire) on all sorts of issues; the danger of red meat, politics, music, world events, tv – all with such an evangelical passion it is hard to maintain ones own faith while listening to these impassioned discourses.
John Calvin spoke of a “sensus divinitatus” – a sense of the divine. In simple terms it is the idea that every human is created with a sense of God. We in turn fill that hole with many “gods” of our making – hence the evangelical passion when discussing gluten free foods – or whatever.
In our rationalistic C21st lifestyle we have made an art of magnifying the trivial. Celebrities take on an air that neither their intelligence or contribution to the human race deserve. Foods and brands receive more airtime than they need. Sport is a whole area of irrational magnification of its own! However, in that process we have reduced the historical and traditional understanding of the Biblical God to the dust pile.
Yes, I am with Calvin. We can discover the majesty, power and awe of God in creation. But to understand His message for us personally we need to turn to His revelation of Himself in Scripture and discover the plans and fulfillment of those plans in the person of His son Jesus Christ.
Travels from Ur 