Romans 1:18-32
God's Wrath Against Humanity
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised.Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
1 John 4:8
God Is LOVE
8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Psalm 19:1-6
A Psalm of David
1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
3 They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
5 It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
6 It rises at one end of the heavens
and makes its circuit to the other;
nothing is deprived of its warmth.
Matthew 6:28-34
Do Not Worry
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Hebrews 13:8
Jesus is the Same Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
John 18:37
Jesus Came to Earth to Testify to the Truth
37 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
Matthew 5:43-48
Love Your Enemies
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
John 8:12
Jesus is the Light
12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
In looking at our universe, Paul saw different things...Paul saw a created world by God...He saw a world that allowed man and woman to sustain themselves and he wrote about this to the Romans...The created world gave Paul answers that there is a God...
But the created world by God also gives us questions...I believe the question of God and faith and belief in Jesus gives us many more questions to ask about creation and life...As I think about this, there are many basic questions about how we view creation and how we came to be...Some basic questions are How did Creation happen?...Is there an Absolute Truth and what is this Absolute Truth?...Why is there belief in morality and in goodness and in LOVE?...Why do we search for the meaning of life?...Why is there beauty in the Universe?...Why do we believe or not believe in eternity, or heaven –the belief that there is something more than death?...
I see many of these questions answered by Jesus, or at least He addresses the basic questions of life...Yet, Jesus Himself ask many questions...But somehow in His questions we better see life and the answers to life...
We know that Creation Happened, because we are here and we see the things that Paul saw...If Someone actually was involved in Creation and had all things made through Him, how would He put His fingerprint on His Creation and His Universe?...As the Psalmist wrote there is a beauty in the stars, the skies, the world...The heavens declare God's work...The Psalmist saw God in the stars and the sky as Paul did...There would and should be natural laws and different universal truths we could find, that are universally sound from a Wise Creator...Then we could see universal truths like mathematics and physics and Absolute Truths that would exist no matter where you are in the universe, all coming from this Source of Creation...And through these universal truths we see reason and logic and truth...Absolute Truth would testify to the Truths of Life...And this power to reason would be universal...Paul basically argues this in his Roman epistle...And this Absolute Truth and His Universal Truths are unchanging...The Creator would be unchanging...He is the same yesterday, today, and forever...If God is LOVE then there would be this goodness and love and morality in the world and the world would be and should be a loving place...Men would gravitate toward this LOVE and goodness in ethics and morality...If God had a Son, His Son would be full of LOVE and He would want us to be like Him (and we would want to be like Him)...He would LOVE us unconditionally, which would allow us to choose and make our own decisions in love and in life...In a perfect universe one would always make the Perfect Decision...In a Perfect World we would love everyone including our enemies...A loving, forgiving, merciful world would be a very good world full of Grace and Truth and Forgiveness...In a perfect world there would be no evil, but if we are allowed complete and unfettered decision making, we (as man does) would make some wrong decisions, along the way, and the world would change, because of our wrong decisions...
When Jesus said He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life -I believe He is telling us that He is our Absolute Truth and that there is an Absolute Truth in the world...The Absolute Truth of the World was a Person at one time, who walked the earth...Now He is in heaven and the Absolute Truth resides with God, the Source of our Creation...As we read the four gospels we constantly see Jesus teaching about morality and goodness and mercy in all His Parables and all His teachings...We see that He says He is Absolute Truth...And we see a beauty in the universe that not even Solomon could contend with...We can envision a Perfect Kingdom in the Kingdom of God, a heaven, an afterlife...Those who believe in the Absolute Truth see a Perfect Kingdom that is a mystery, believable by seeing the Light...
When we see these mysteries and examine our questions, we learn from them...Somehow questions and mystery help us see God better and somehow strengthen our faith...