Luke 16:19-31
Believing Moses and the Prophets
19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family,28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
Romans 1:18-20
God Created the Universe
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.
Deuteronomy 4:28-29
Seek God with All Your Heart, Your Mind, and Your Soul
28 There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell. 29 But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.
John 4:24
Worship God in Spirit and Truth
24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
Our laws have it so that when we arrest someone, they are taken to a courtroom...We may not believe the one who has been arrested, but it is up to the court to figure out the truth...So the most common place to examine the evidence over one accused is a courtroom...And the judge presides over the courtroom...A judge presides over trials of those accused of doing something wrong...A judge helps put together all the evidence in a courtroom and examines the overall truth of the trial...The evidence in regular trials, with the judges supervision, come from witnesses, who present their truth...And then a jury and a judge make a decision on the truth in the evidence given in a trial...
C. S. Lewis said years ago that God had been put on trial, and we are the ones who has put God in the Dock...We have arrested God and brought Him into a courtroom...Believers do not want God on trial, but someone does...It is those who do not believe in Him that have indirectly and maybe unknowingly have placed Him on trial...They want their own personal evidence to get Him out of the dock...
And it has happened before, because we put the One who was without sin on trial...
Lewis said, “The greatest barrier I have met is the almost total absence from the minds of my audience of any sense of sin...The early Christian preachers could assume in their hearers, whether Jews, Metuentes, or Pagans, a sense of guilt...(That this was common among Pagans is shown by the fact that both Epicureanism and the mystery religions both claimed, though in different ways, to assuage it.)...Thus the Christian message was in those days unmistakably the Evangelium, the Good News...It promised healing to those who knew they were sick...We have to convince our hearers of the unwelcome diagnosis before we can expect them to welcome the news of the remedy...The ancient man approached God (or even the gods) as the accused person approaches his judge...For the modern man, the roles are quite reversed...He is the judge: God is in the dock...He is quite a kindly judge; if God should have a reasonable defense for being the god who permits war, poverty, and disease, he is ready to listen to it...The trial may even end in God’s acquittal...But the important thing is that man is on the bench and God is in the dock.”...
Like the ancient man, we need to see that we are the ones to be judged...We are the sinners in need of a remedy...We are the ones in need of the Good News...But modern man does not see God this Way, and as the ancient shepherd did...We are far to advanced for that...Modern non-believers need more evidence, than those who used to tend sheep...They have heard about God, and know of the Bible and just do not believe that He is Absolute Truth...And after all the Bible is a very old book written by ancient, biblical men...
But it is us who are the accused for sinning...We are the the ones who should be in the dock, but the roles are now reversed...God is our Judge...So, if these roles are reversed, what does the unbeliever need as evidence to get God out this trial and prove that He is innocent...Does the unbeliever want to even look at the evidence for God?...Is the non-believer willing to listen to those witnesses that God, as the True and Absolute Judge?...Jesus tells us the witnesses for God are the Prophets, Moses, and the Word of the LORD...The Bible includes His witnesses and His Truths...
St. Paul said that ever since the the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all the things around them...All these things God were created by God...These things clearly show His Divine Power, His invisible qualities, and His Eternal Power...So creation is another evidence of God...Something created all these things around us...Nothing and from nothing, nothing is created...God created the earth and sky and all the created things...
What does the unbeliever need as his evidence to let God from the courtroom?...And when he examines the evidence will he believe in Him?...They need to examine the evidence in the Bible...And Jesus in the New Testament is a very good starting point...We all need to seek God with all the heart, the soul, and our minds...Yes, use the mind to prove or disprove God...God is Truth, and wants to be worshipped in Spirit and Truth...