Posted on 11/30/2016 4:45:10 AM PST by Gamecock
It seems astonishing to the layperson that anybody would go to the extremes René Descartes went to simply to discover that he existed. What could be more self-evident to a conscious being than one’s own self-consciousness?
But Descartes was not on a fool’s errand. In a world of sophisticated skepticism, he sought certainty for something that could serve as a foundation for much, much more. He moved from the certitude of self-consciousness to the certitude of the existence of God, no small matter for the doubt-ridden believer. Descartes and others like him understood that to prove the existence of God is prior to affirming the trustworthiness of Scripture and the birth and work of the person of Christ.
The most important certainty we can ever have is the foundational certainty of the existence of God. It was this matter that prompted Jonathan Edwards to declare, “Nothing is more certain than that there must be an unmade and unlimited being”
On this bedrock of certainty rest the promises of that unmade, unlimited Being. On these promises we rest our faith. Doubting served Descartes well, but Edwards knew that, ultimately, it is dubious to doubt the indubitable.
Coram Deo
Echo the father of the epileptic boy’s cry: “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.”
Passages for Further Study
2 Peter 1:4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
2 Corinthians 1:20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.
2 Corinthians 7:1 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
Ping
Thanks for this. Almost as stimulating this morning as my first cup of coffee, which accompanied the reading. Later, when wider awake, I plan to read it again.
We rest on His promises that He has given us. This is true faith.
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