The Search for Goodness is the Search for God

Early on in my Christian faith, a skeptic to my newfound belief pointedly asked me, "But what about those who don't have God?"

Being a novice yet in my Biblical learning, and having only just begun to "grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ," I did not have an answer. 

But in the ensuing years of growing in the knowledge of the Lord, I now have an answer to that skeptic: 

Everybody has God, and in fact, I firmly believe that everybody also desires Him when they also desire goodness.

How do I know this? At the most basic level it is because God created, and continues to create, all persons (Genesis; Psalm 139:13-14). God "has" us. We are His creation. 

But through the fall, every individual is separated from God, although we never stop being His. 

The insinuation in the skeptic's question was to imply that God is, in some way, out of reach to certain folks: that he is unattainable; that He has somehow set up an unfair system whereby some people are devoid of any recourse to "have Him" and must instead sit on the sidelines and forlornly watch all the lucky folks who do have God.

But that skeptic's implication is simply a form of stonewalling.

God is near to, and all are dear to, God--equally, impartially and without favoritism on his part (Mark 12:14; Acts 10:34; Romans 2:11; 2 Peter 3:9). 

He causes the sun and the rain to fall on all (Matthew 5:45).

But not all harken to God. 

While God has us, many people willingly, if not ignorantly and self-righteously, do not have God because they don't want God. These are not victims of some sordid divine economy. They are their own worst enemy in that no matter how God calls them, they close their ears and eyes to Him and carry on with hardened hearts. 

And yet, these same people will bend over backward, travel to far away lands, and read volumes on self-actualization, happiness, significance and simplicity in the perpetual search for a goodness that evades them. 

It's nothing new. Philosophers have been doing the same thing for centuries, and people still peruse their writings today.

Stanley J. Grenz, in his book The Moral Quest, which I have quoted from the last few days, writes that what people don't always realize is that their seeking after goodness is actually seeking after God. 

He writes:

"On what basis can we assert that the philosophical discovery of the good is in fact related to the divine will?
The answer to our query draws from a distinction between what is (ontology) and how we come to know what is (epistemology). From the perspective of ontology what Christian ethicists denote as 'the will of God' precedes, or is foundational to, what the philosophers speak of as 'the good.' Goodness is entirely dependent upon and derived from the divine will. Nevertheless the actual way in which a person comes to know the good and the divine will may occur in the opposite order. Knowledge of goodness may in fact come before awareness of God's will. A person may obtain knowledge about what is the good before acknowledging that the good is in fact the content of God's will. 
This epistemological reversal does not alter the truth that God's will is the foundation for all goodness and forms the goal of the human quest for the good. Even when a person's first grasp of the divine will comes indirectly--through the quest to determine the true nature of goodness or the good life (i.e. philosophical ethics)--the fact remains that what he or she is actually seeking and even coming to know is nothing else but the will of God (which is the explicit topic of Christian ethics). 
Just as Paul drew from the pagan poets of Athens to address the quest for the unknown god, so also Christians can confidently conclude that lying at the foundation of the quest for goodness displayed in philosophical ethics is the will of the God revealed in Jesus of Nazareth. Consequently we can affirm the sincere human search for the good, for we know that the quest for goodness is nothing less than the search for the divine will."

However, there's a problem with general ethics (founded on general philosophy). 

Grenz goes on to explain:

"...we must also express a grave reservation about the philosophical ethical enterprise. General ethics is flawed by an all-pervasive defect, namely, its 'anthropocentricity' or fundamental human-centeredness...
Endemic to the philosophical tradition is the tendency to operate from an anthropocentric, rather than a theological, anthropology. Because it seeks to elaborate whatever ethical system can be discovered through the use of human reason, general ethics assumes that the distinguishing characteristic of the human person lies in some dimension of human existence (e.g. the experience of being moral agents) or in some power that humans supposedly possess (such as rationality)...
In contrast to the philosophical approach, Christian ethics does not start from the assumption that the distinguishing characteristic of the human person consists in our rationality. Nor does our essential humanness lie ultimately in our experience of being moral agents. Instead the definitive human characteristic lies in a relationship for which we were created, namely, community or fellowship with God. To use the language of the Hebrew Scriptures, we are to be God's covenant partners...This divine desire to enter into covenant with us even stands at the foundation of our status as morally conditioned beings.
From the Christian perspective, therefore, the ethical life does not arise out of any innate human characteristic or any integral aspect of our existence. Instead its genesis lies in our divinely given purpose as those called to live in the presence of, and responsible to, God. The Christian message is that God created us with a destiny, with a goal for our existence, namely, that we enjoy a special covenantal relationship with the covenanting God, that we live in fellowship with our Maker. Our creation by God with a special destiny is what marks us as ethically responsible."

Stanley Grenz has more to say on anthropocentricity, and I hope to post his comments soon.

copyright Barb Harwood



     "So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, 'Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKOWN GOD.' Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. 
     The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are His children.' Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.
     Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to all men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead." Acts 17:22-31

The Moral Quest

Stanley J. Grenz, writing in his book, The Moral Quest:

"...despite the human-centeredness of all general ethics, the human moral quest is essentially the search for the will of God, and therefore the Christian ethic marks the transformation of general ethics. More specifically, naturalism, with its appeal to creation, reemerges at this point as an appropriate bridge to the Christian moral vision, rooted as it is in the new creation."

"Viewed from the biblical perspective, therefore, existence and ethics are not two separate concerns. Instead they are integrally connected. The ethical life involves living according to the divine will that provides the foundation of our very being as God's creatures populating God's universe.
On this basis we can conclude that the sense of moral obligation lying behind all human ethical systems is nothing less than the impact of the divine will upon human life. The sense of moral conditionedness arises because we exist by the will of God. And this divine will--the divine preference--forms the foundation for morality."

"This connection forges the link between Christian ethics and general ethics. Their common genesis in the divine will means that the revealed ethic of the Christian faith and the general ethic of the philosophers occupy the same ground and traverse the same territory. The Christian ethicist and the philosopher are ultimately concerned about the same thing, namely, the proper human response to God's claim on our lives or the determination of what constitutes living according to the divine will. Whether or not they are consciously aware of it, whenever people engage in ethical reflection they are in fact seeking to determine God's intention for human life and conduct. They are ultimately searching for the answer to the fundamental questions of theological ethics: What does God will that we be and do? And how should we live as those who exist by God's own will?" 
Stanley J. Grenz, The Moral Quest

The Ethic of Devotion to Jesus Christ

The following excerpt is from the book The Moral Quest: Foundations of Christian Ethics by Stanley J. Grenz:

"The goal of devotion supplied the ultimate rationale for Jesus' emphasis on inwardness. Conduct flows from character, he taught, but true character arises from devotion. Indeed, devotion to the Master became the wellspring for the development of Christlike character in his disciples. In short, Jesus' followers were not motivated to follow their Lord by admiration for a historical person who had done some great deeds. Instead their discipleship was the outflow of personal gratitude and love to the one whose love they had experienced. Such discipleship opened the way for the New Testament focus on incorporation into Christ and conformity to Christ.
The ethic of devotion provides the link between Jesus and his disciples in every era. The dynamic of devotion means that we no longer stand outside the biblical story. Unlike the manner in which we may observe the plot of a good novel or even follow the biography of a great hero, we are not mere uninvolved observers of the gospel narrative. Instead, we are participants in the gospel drama as those who, like the early disciples, are the recipients of Christ's love. We have been touched firsthand not only by the moral ideal Jesus embodied but by the Risen Lord himself.
Consequently we do not merely admire Jesus as we might admire other historical figures such as Gandhi, Albert Schweitzer or Mother Teresa. We do not simply draw inspiration or a pattern for living from his life as we might do from theirs. The Christian ethic does not look to Jesus solely as a historical example whom we seek to emulate. We do not look to him only as the main character in a story from a bygone era on whose life we can reflect and thereby draw instruction. Rather he has loved us and has sacrificed his life for us. To this personal experience of Jesus' great love, we find ourselves compelled to respond with gratitude and love. Hence, rather than merely patterning our lives after his, we enter into relationship with him. In this relationship we desire to live as Christ would have us live, that is, to have Christ formed in us.
This ethic of devotion has characterized Christians throughout the ages. Christ's followers have consistently differentiated between other model persons (such as the patriarchs, the apostles and the martyrs), whose memory they bore in their hearts, and Jesus Christ, who through his Spirit had made his abode in their hearts. Thereby the Christian ethos has intensified and personalized the biblical concept of the presence of God among God's people. The divine presence is none other than the indwelling reality of the living Lord Jesus Christ mediated through his Holy Spirit...
And by pouring out the Spirit on his followers, the Risen Lord mediated to them the divine dynamic that made possible the imitation of the God revealed in Jesus of Nazareth."
Stanley J. Grenz, The Moral Quest

The Other Perspective on GMO's

I am currently reading a book recommended by Jordan B. Peterson titled, Progress: Ten Reasons to Look Forward to the Future. It is written by Johan Norberg and first published in 2016. 

I highly recommend reading this book for a perspective that is entirely missing today.

Here is an excerpt:

"It has been estimated that in the first decade of the twentieth century, 3.1 million children died annually because of conditions related to malnutrition. This increased to about four million children in the 1950s and 1960s because of population growth, but then it started to decline rapidly, even in absolute numbers. In the first decade of the twenty-first century, 1.7 million children died because of malnutrition--still a shockingly high number, but a sixty per cent reduction since the 1950s, even though world population more than doubled.
There have been negative side effects of this more intensive farming, including over-extraction of groundwater for irrigation and nitrate pollution of water bodies. But the Green Revolution also made it possible to save pristine land from being turned into farmland. Between 1700 and 1960, farmland quadrupled, as people made use of forests and grassland to feed themselves. But after fixing nitrogen and developing new seeds, it was possible to produce more from the same amount of land. For the first time, for the world as a whole, food production has been decoupled from land use.
From 1961 to 2009, farmland increased by only twelve per cent, while farm production increased by about 300%. It has been estimated that, had agricultural yields stayed the same, farmers would have needed to turn another three billion hectares into farmland--immense continental areas, about the size of the USA, Canada and China put together. Artificial fertilizer has caused oxygen depletion in many marine systems, but it also saved us from depleting wildlife and turning our planet into 'Skinhead Earth.'
In 1970, Borlaug won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in increasing the global food supply. As US Senator Rudy Boschwitz put it:

'Dr. Norman Borlaug is the first person in history to save a billion human lives. But he must also get credit for saving the wild creatures and diverse plant species on 12 million square miles of global forest that would long since have been ploughed down without the high-yield farming he pioneered. The two accomplishments combined make him dramatically unique.'

Nonetheless arguments against modern agricultural technology have had a huge impact on the debate, and some environmentalists object to nitrogen fertilizer on principle, despite the human cost. Today we see the same objections to genetically modified crops, which would increase our yields even further. Environmental campaigners have had an impact on one continent, Africa, where they pressured big foundations and the World Bank to back away from introducing the Green Revolution, which Borlaug had considered the next priority. This is now the only region where the number of undernourished people has continued to increase, and where wild habitats are being depleted by slash-and-burn subsistence agriculture.
Borlaug has reacted angrily to this campaign:

'Some of the environmental lobbyists of the Western nations are the salt of the earth, but many of them are elitists. They've never experienced the physical sensation of hunger. They do their lobbying from comfortable office suites in Washington or Brussels. If they lived just one month amid the misery of the developing world, as I have for fifty years, they'd be crying out for tractors and fertilizer and irrigation canals and be outraged that fashionable elitists back home were trying to deny them these things.'" From the book, Progress

What is Truth?

"Truth...is not a set of facts or specific answers, but a starting point for reasoning that empowers us to find the answers as particular problems arise...this is what Jesus meant...the starting point is himself."
Phillip E. Johnson, a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Chicago; law clerk for Chief Justice Earl Warren; taught law for thirty years at the University of California at Berkeley and author of, among other books, Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds


"'I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. 
My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.'" John 17:13-21


"'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.'" John 18:37

"For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority." Colossians 2:9-10

When the World Makes You Crazy

When the world makes you crazy, and you wonder how drag queen story hours for children are now a normal part of programming at the local public library, 

and when there is more outcry for an animal that must be killed than for the child that it attacked, 

and when canvassers on the street corner call out for women’s rights when that does not include the right of an unborn female to be born, 

and when people’s uptightness causes them to honk their horns at the car in front of them that is waiting patiently for a pedestrian to cross the street, 

and when shootings happen daily and suicide is on the rise and all sense of decorum goes out the window when it comes to politics, 

and when one is actually scared to voice their advocacy for traditional values—such as a mother choosing the high calling of forgoing work outside the home to raise her children, 

and when the “F” bomb and other cursing has become an accepted part of the vernacular—forced on those within earshot and no different than second-hand smoke in its pollution…

then do as Jesus did:

“As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, ‘If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.’” Luke 19:41-42

Weep and pray, for they do not know what they are doing.

Copyright Barb Harwood

The Mindset Behind Secular Humanist Churches

Ever wonder why churches are, or become, secular in their theology? 

Look no further than Luke 22:2 and Mark 11:18:

“and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people.”

The NASB translation puts it a bit stronger:

“The chief priests and the scribes were seeking how they might put Him to death; for they were afraid of the people.”

“The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.” Mark 11:18 NIV

“The chief priests and the scribes heard this, and began seeking how to destroy Him; for they were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching.” Mark 11:18 NASB

Notice that the chief priests and teachers—the religious and spiritual leaders of the day—were afraid of Jesus not because of Jesus, per se, but because of the people.

And this fear and dislike of what was transpiring was so desperate that they desired to, and were willing to, actually and literally kill Christ. They just wanted to make it all go away.

They did not like the notoriety and positive reception Jesus was getting from the people; the leaders were jealous, and also did not like the threat that Jesus posed to their legalisms and the fact that Christ was turning people away from those legalisms.

Mark 12:38 reveals these leaders’ pride and why Jesus would indeed elicit their hostile response:

“As He taught, Jesus said, ‘Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows houses and  for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.’” Mark 12:38-40

It’s the same today: the liberal, and at-times downright secular trend of much church leadership today is to soft-pedal Christ and dilute and strip the Bible of authority so that, just like the Pharisees, they can make the whole Jesus thing simply go away.

That way, the people will follow their teachings instead of Christ’s—people will follow their secular, agnostic, universalist and human legalisms—and people will make them their authority, lavishing adoration on their intellectual prowess, which is often camouflaged as sincere “open-mindedness.”

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” Matthew 7:13-15

Beware, says Christ, because the underlying impetus is self pride, not the love of Christ. 

It’s interesting that, just before Jesus gives his warning in the Mark verse quoted above, he takes a question from one of the teacher’s of the law:

“One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, ‘Of all the commandments, which is the most important?’

‘The most important one,’ answered Jesus, ‘is this: Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.’” Mark 1228-31

The teachers of the law had no problem loving themselves without Christ. That is precisely the problem. Because, without the love of Christ, they could not love others as Christ would. They could only love others as they loved themselves—without Christ. 

And so, within that love of others was the sinister motive of having others love them—the Pharisees—as the Pharisees loved themselves. 

In other words, with Christ, we are to love the Lord Jesus Christ and God—who are one—first. Only then can we love ourself and others in the love of Christ. 

The Pharisees, with no love of Christ, are unable to love others in the love of Christ; they can only love others in the manner they love themselves, which is to put themselves first before others, and to love only those who love them back (read about the good Samaritan to find more proof of this). 

This mindset is prevalent today in religious institutions: from the church, to Christian universities and seminaries, and every other organization that has based itself on a secular humanist co-opting of Christ. 

They may celebrate Christ as a great teacher and role model, but will deny his Deity, literal death and resurrection, and His sole role in redemption from the spiritual death of sin.

This is why Jesus was so stern in alerting his disciples (and in alerting us today):

“Be careful,’ Jesus said to them. ‘Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Matthew 16:6

and

“How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Matthew 16:11-12

and

“Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying: ‘Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” Luke 12:1

I would like to share a modern-day case in point to illustrate how this same hypocrisy exists today in churches that call themselves Christian:

I once asked a good friend if I, a born again Christian, would be welcome in his Unitarian church (Unitarianism, as with United Church of Christ, holding to the motto “all are welcome”). My friend paused a bit and after thinking it over, grudgingly admitted, “No, you would not.” 

I, a born again Christian, would not be welcome in his church. Hypocrisy? Of course it is. 

And yet secular humanist religious institutions get a free pass, never even remotely being associated with hypocrisy, while this term is self righteously hurled, everyday, by people as a reason against their ever reading the Bible or looking further into the person of Jesus Christ. Ironic that they are okay with turning a blind eye to secular humanist religious hypocrisy; willing, even, to join in. 

The problem is the same today as it was when Jesus walked the earth: I, as do all born again Christians, bring something fearful to the secular religious mindset: and that is Jesus Christ Himself and new life in Him alone. 

Some folks call that a legalism, Scripture calls it truth. 

And it is hypocrisy to say, as secular humanist agnostics do, that “all are welcome,” when in reality, the Biblical Christ and His followers are not.

Jesus brought truth to the people of the Pharisees’ day, and the leaders weren’t having any of it. 

But the people were. The people were having it! 

And those who had ears to hear and eyes to see found the peace of God through Christ while the scoffers continued on in blindness.

It’s the same today.

If a church is afraid of Christ, His Word, Redemption, Salvation and His people, it is because they love themselves and the appraisal of the world more than they love Jesus. 

We are to love them in the love of Christ, within the warning of Christ: to beware, to be careful, to be on our guard, so that the leven of the modern day Pharisees—those who set themselves up as spiritual movers and shakers—does not derail our seeking, our finding and our living out of truth. 

“I have given them your Word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As.you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.” John 17:14-19 

“Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice. Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.” 

“Therefore Jesus said again, ‘Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:1-10

copyright Barb Harwood