• Ultimate forgiveness does not exist. If you want to be moral and just, you will always have the burden of mak- ing amends for all of your past harm- ful words and deeds. There would be no such thing as wiping the slate clean. • You may never be loved more than you deserve. Only the God of grace can be relied upon to love you that fully. • You can’t be sure that there’s a force for good at work in the world, a spirit of self-giving love that makes people genuinely concerned for somebody else and not only if there’s something in it for themselves. • The biblical story and its view of reality, along with its high moral standards, could be basically wrong. Actually, the Bible provides a num- ber of reasons for believing in God Here are four: First, the Bible isn’t a fairy tale
Without God By Roland Zimany W
e sometimes discuss arguments for the existence of God. But we don’t often consider the assumptions we have to make and the kind of world we are left with if we don’t believe in God. If you don’t believe in God:
• You are left with a cold, impersonal universe. There would be no heavenly Father caring for creation. • You close yourself off from whatever spiritual assistance might come from God. The Lord God may be with you wherever you go, but you won’t reach out to benefit from God’s presence. • There is no realistic reason for hoping that something unexpectedly good or new could occur in a purely material and deterministic world where the future can only be the logical consequence of what has gone before. The God who makes all things new, however, is not trapped by the past.
Zimany is a retired ELCA pastor and former professor of philosophy and religion at Blackburn College, Carlinville, Ill. He lives in Urbandale, Iowa.
16 The Lutheran •
www.thelutheran.org
about the world’s best religion. The Bible presents a realistic view of the world, filled with sinners and scoun- drels, whom God nevertheless uses to make the divine will known and to draw people to God. Second, you’ve got to wonder why
the ancient Israelites had such strong moral sensitivities, when none of the nations around them did, if they didn’t get them from God. The god worshiped by the Canaanites wasn’t concerned about morality at all. That god was just concerned about making the crops grow. The Babylonians had 600 laws, but it was just as important to them what coat you wore to visit the king as it was not to steal. The Greek gods made moral laws, but then they broke them too. Third, consider the prophets who dared to speak out against the leaders of government and business, and who risked their lives to criticize immoral behavior and unfaithful rulers and religious officials. Where did they get the moral sensibility and courage
PHOTODISC
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