12 My Choice

To carry on, it matters whether or not I believe in a plural, triune God.

If scriptural evidence supports these claims of God to be God; if reason supports them; if the experience and testimony of many qualified people such as first hand witnesses, historians, great thinkers—better people than I— the 12 apostles (Judas excluded. Paul included.), Emperor Constantine of Rome (300 A.D.), Joan of Arc, C.S. Lewis (a former atheist), my Grandfather, and more—all believers to the grave, some at great sacrifice--supports them; then I bow to the body of evidence in gratitude for the contributions of all concerned and embrace the Judeo-Christian concept of God.

My choice! (Note: Choice is a POWER WORD, more about that later.)

From a study of Apologetics (The practice of arguing and defending the Faith.), I discovered that the scriptural texts of the Torah and the Bible are the oldest, most authenticated ancient writings on earth.

In fact, no other writings compare.

In fact, the texts have been preserved over the years with scrupulous care by both Jew and Christian alike.

In fact, there is no legitimate contest to their veracity (many misunderstandings, but no genuine indisputable contradictions to the Word).

In fact, the Bible (as a whole!) is recorded history with eyewitnesses and corroboration from external sources, such as Herodotus, the Roman historian, contemporary of Jesus.

In fact, confidence in Judaism and Christianity is both objectively and subjectively well-founded. If not exhaustive, the scriptures are accurate throughout. When one book speaks in one way about a subject and another speaks differently, the TWO (or more) TOGETHER complement each other and build a larger picture. Some choose to say they conflict, undermine each other. A choice. Remember, choice is a power word.

You have choice—power, and I have choice—power. But consider, a 3-dimensional sculpture conveys a different understanding from a 2-dimensional picture, neither one of them is wrong. But one is incomplete. The same with scripture. More scripture means more viewpoints, means more understanding. And you build understanding the same way you build a relationship with God—fitting substance together one piece at a time, over time, until what you started with far exceeds that with which you began.

Moving on, a great body of Biblical evidence further identifies Elohim’s existence and works, and furthermore substantiates Elohim’s triune nature as invisible. Romans 1:20 states, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” (NKJV) And, yes, I believe that, too. God is invisible and real. My choice.

How could I not believe it, I ask you my fair-minded reader? With my life-as-too-fine-an-idea-to-be-accidental kind of thinking, it is a must. I miss the meaning of life if I do not.

The upshot? My new attitude of entering exclusively into the Word and being open-minded to it for all the right reasons experienced its first major deployment. And I discovered that God as my organizing principle is clearly a pertinent and relevant choice for me to make for sorting things out. And that led my odyssey to now take on a whole new dimension. Besides a journey of discovery it was a journey of meaning all in itself.

To be continued . . .