The God Who Speaks

The God Who Speaks

Solomon wrote the Book of Ecclesiastes to the question of is God does not exist, is there any meaning to life. Questions of origins (where did I come time?), meaning (why am I here?), morality (why should I live any way at all), and destiny (where am I going when I die) aren't new and plagued humanity down through history. In "The God Who Speaks," Thaddeus Williams points out that science can give us answers to how things work, but it isn't able to answer the questions of the meaning of life. But God and His word speak to these very issues, and those who spend time in His word are changed. Williams writes about his "Favorite Atheist," French existentialist Albert Camus. His writings demonstrate the sheer meaninglessness of existence if all there is, is birth, living a few meaningless, and going into nothingness. Nothing one has done will matter because, in the end, all will cease to exist.  It is a bleak life indeed. But then : 

Something astounding happened to Camus, something that has everything to do with a God who speaks.  

In the 1950s a New York Methodist pastor named Howard Mumma was guest preaching at a church in Paris. Mumma noticed a mysterious figure in a dark trench coat circled by admirers. It was none other than Albert Camus, mid-twentieth- century international atheist celebrity, and a self-described “disillusioned and exhausted man.” He confessed that he had never read the Bible himself, and Mumma agreed to be his tour guide through the text. What followed was a friendship that lasted five years, Mumma visiting Paris and Camus visiting New York City to explore the possibility that God has spoken.

Williams describes Camu coming to the place of wanting to be baptized. He died in an auto accident before he settled on being baptized though. Had he come to the faith? None of us know this side of the veil. But the word of God speaking is demonstrated in this account. Williams goes on to demonstrate the importance of spending time in the word of God: 

When researchers Arnold Cole and Pamela Caudill Ovwigho polled forty thousand people ranging from eight to eighty years old, they made some unexpected discoveries. People who read their Bibles once or twice a week experienced no benefit over those who never read their Bibles. At three times a week, some minor gains were detected. But with at least four times of reading Scripture per week, everything seemed to spike.  

- Sharing their faith skyrocketed 200 percent.  
- Discipling others jumped a whopping 230 percent.  
- Feelings of loneliness dropped 30 percent.  
-  Anger issues dropped 32 percent.  
- Relationship bitterness dropped 40 percent.  
-  Alcoholism plummeted by 57 percent.  
- Feelings of spiritual stagnancy fell 60 percent.  
- Viewing pornography decreased 61 percent. 

Solomon concludes his considerations with, "Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth" (Ecclesiastes:12:1Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;
See All...) and gives a very poetic description of aging and breathing our last. It is the word of God through with the voice of God speaks to help us remember our creator.

https://mailchi.mp/d34f5dc31384/santeria-animal-sacrifice-and-the-constitution-part-1?e=169825fd77