Is God dead? Nature in Defense of God

It is the Christian understanding that "long ago, at many times and in many ways," God spoke to His people through the prophets (Heb 1:1 ESV) and that He has, in fact, spoken to His people through two distinct media: through general revelation in nature, and through special revelation in the Bible. However, it is from the book of nature that God chooses to defend Himself against Job's questioning.

Nature is one of the most influential teachers known to mankind. In fact, Job writes, "But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you, and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?" (Job 12:7-10). It is interesting to note that this is an all-inclusive declaration; no one is left out. The beast, the birds, the fish, even the plants and bushes are held accountable. Everybody knows that the Lord has done this. As readers, we are privy to the conversation between Job and his friends, which is a recurring cycle of Job complaining, followed by one of his friends attempting to defend God while also trying to convince Job to repent, only for the cycle to repeat itself. It is a cycle that goes on just like that for 34 chapters! Thirty-four chapters!

Finally, God puts a stop to it all in a powerful way, saying to Job beginning in the 38th chapter, "Dress for action like a man: I will question you, and you will make it known to me." Can you imagine? This is serious. Job provokes God to respond because, at the heart of his argument, Job questions God's character and foundational attributes, such as justice and mercy. Understandably, God responds in a powerful way by building His own apologetic (defense) for Himself. In other words, God is playing the role of apologist by preparing and then delivering an apologia to defend Himself against Job's accusations. But notice what God uses as evidence to support His argument. Nature. Throughout chapters 38-41, God challenges Job to consider the evidence creation provides. At its core, this is what apologetics does. It examines God's general revelation through nature, and then utilizes the evidence from nature to craft a defense for the existence of God and, ultimately, the truthfulness of Christianity.

Listen to the "great cloud of witnesses" from nature that God calls to testify on His behalf: From the cosmos, God calls forth Orion and Pleiades and all the constellations of stars to testify on His behalf. Regarding the earth, God calls upon its measurements and cornerstones; He calls upon its seas and rivers. And its great expanse.

From the atmosphere, God calls as witnesses to His divine nature: light and darkness, wind, dew, and hail. Then frost and ice, rain and snow, clouds and lightning. He calls forth the testimony of the grain of the fields, the Lotus plants, and the grass. He calls on the willow trees and cedars. From the animal kingdom, God calls to bear witnesses: the hawk and the horse; the eagle and the lion; the mountain goat, the donkey, and the wild ox; the raven, the ostrich, and the locust. He calls forward Behemoth, and He calls Leviathan.

But, in the middle of all this, in chapter 38, something almost goes unnoticed. In verse 36, in that short little verse, God calls upon Job to use his God-given wisdom and understanding to reason from the evidence presented by nature's "great cloud of witnesses" that God exists and is sovereign. God asks Job if he knows, "Who has put wisdom in the inward parts or given understanding to the mind?" God is asking Job if he knows where the human mind's capacity came from and how we think and use logic and reason. There is an intent on the part of God to make these things known about Himself. And it is because of God's intentionality to "show" us these things that we call God's intentionality: revelation. However, it seems to me that if, at the very least, God holds people accountable for not clearly recognizing His existence through the evidence presented in nature (Rom 1:19ff), then there is something important for all of us to learn here. Perhaps it is this: to utilize the things that have been created, including observations in nature, scientific discoveries, and historical records, and to employ the logic and reasoning capacity of our minds. God blessed mankind with a particular mental capacity so that he might dig deeper, ask ultimate questions, see the handiwork of God in the things that have been made, and prepare a defense for anyone who asks the reason for the hope that they see within us.

The beloved Christian minister Virgil Trout once wrote that if Christianity "is true, it will not be harmed by careful examination. The Christian invitation is directed to your heart and your head." As Christians, we are called to do no less; to honor God, as God, using the gift of our minds, so that our hearts will not be darkened, but that we might be further filled with the light of Christ and shine forth as credible witnesses to His love; "in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation" (cf Phil 2:15). That is what Christian apologetics is all about: loving the Lord our God with all our minds. Otherwise, we are "without excuse" (cf Rom 1:19ff).

Gloria in excelsis Deo!

Ty B. Kerley, DMin., is an ordained minister who teaches Christian apologetics and relief preaches in Southern Oklahoma. Dr. Kerley and his wife, Vicki, are members of the Waurika church of Christ and live in Ardmore, OK. You can contact him at dr.kerley@isGoddead.com.