Romans 1 and the Man on the Island

As the question goes:  "What about the man on the island who has never heard nor had the opportunity to hear the gospel of Christ?"

I will not pretend to know all of the answers.  However, in reading chapter one of Paul's letter to the Romans, I picked something up I have missed in all the other times of reading it (goes to prove we should continue to stay students of our Bibles).

In verse seventeen of chapter one, the ESV translation reads,

For in it (the gospel) the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith.  As it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith" (italics mine).

Thus, the righteousness of God indeed cannot be understood without faith, for it is revealed from faith.  In honesty, we cannot imagine a perfect being.  A being who is unable to sin, who does everything exactly perfect at any given moment, who loves perfectly despite not being compensated by anyone else's love (save the love of the Trinity, which is irrelevant for this argument).  So how can a human comprehend the righteousness of God?  the perfectness of God?  the holiness of God?  Answer:  "The righteous will live by faith."  One is surely on his way toward righteousness once he understands needing faith to understand God.

The righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith.  So after having established we need faith to comprehend God, we then come to realize this builds our faith, no matter how small (or nonexistent) it was.  Once we begin to confess a little faith, we may obtain the knowledge of God's righteousness, which will then lead to more faith.  You will never be able to do one hundred push-ups if you cannot first do fifty!

Now, about that man on the island.  Picking up in Romans 1:18...

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.  19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.  20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.  So they are without excuse.  21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.  22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Paul argues, and I believe rightly so, that creation plainly begs a creator, or at least a deity(ies).  By faith, he believes God has made sure that what we can know about Him is plain, especially God's eternal power and divinity in the things that have been made!  Who can be without excuse then?  Even an atheist must have faith in something because he knows (so long as he uses his brain) that the way things are have not simply always been this way.  We as humans demand a beginning and an end.  That is perhaps something we all have in common.  Faith in something, be it God or Muhammad or Jesus or Artemis or the Unmoved Mover or Demiurge or Ourself.

The man on the island (based solely off Romans 1) seems to condemn himself.  Paul claims that all humans have some understanding of a big Something Else out there who is higher than we are, but we must honor Him as God and give thanks to Him.  I suppose that doing this, though one may not have any idea of Christ, will put the man on the island on his way toward salvation.  It is important to note that Jesus Christ is the only way for salvation, because Scripture is clear on this.  However, it takes faith to realize God is the one out there, and this brings about more faith!  And I am not so ignorant as to suppose God will not meet this man on the island with the appropriate means to be saved, because after all, salvation is something we do to ourselves.  It is God who saves, and I, being once lost, cannot superimpose the Savior in a box.  He will save as He will save, according to the Scriptures He has given us.  And He will not go against His Scripture, because He is good.

There is hope for the man on the island, for you, and for me.  It just takes a little faith to build faith.  Thanks be to God you are not on this island with this man.  We have Bibles.

Enlightenment by the Fireplace

My head slightly dizzy, my forehead warm with fever, one nostril dry and burning while the other be clogged, I marched through the snow to get some firewood behind the garage.  It lit up nice, though wet, with some kindling (aka Kroger brand cola boxes).

I sat and let my feet warm up, thinking about stories I enjoy:  The Lord of the Rings, The Narnia Chronicles, The Walking Dead, etc.  You know, dorky stuff.  I realized what all good stories have in common!  In fact, all stories in general.  The ending would not have happened the way it did if what happened before did not happen at all.

Frodo would not have been around to destroy the ring had he not been adopted by Bilbo (remember Frodo was the only one around who had the will power to resist the ring's evil!).

The Wardrobe would not have been if the Digory Kirke and Polly Plummer had not been around their creepy magician uncle Andrew (remember Digory Kirke becomes Professor Kirke!).

Rick Grimes would not have survived the initial zombie apocalypse in the hospital if his gunshot wound did not put him into a coma!

You would not be where you are if you had not gone through what you went through.  Catch my drift?

God authors real life, we play our roles.  Fortunately for us, we can see the end of the story--and the beginning!  Go read your Genesis then John then some Revelation and be thankful that it is out of your control... and in His.

Not Satisfied

Things seem hopeless at times for life on Earth.  Granted this life is temporal, I still feel utterly disgusted with how things play out:  Family, my past, my present, my future, old friends, old enemies, need I say more?

We hope out of our teenage years invincible.  I knew what I wanted and I was gonna get it.  And although I am getting it, I still do not feel satisfied.  I am afraid these "commodities" we have as middle class Americans are not commodities at all.

I figure it that in the 1800's there was more biblical morality, less stress, less promiscuity, and less dissatisfaction.  I can honestly say that right now I would not mind if I were in a small one room cabin with no electricity (although running water would still be great).  I could see myself smiling with a wife and a kid or seven while walking back from the fields knowing dinner was ready and the children were ready for their nightly Bible story.  I would go to sleep not wondering how to pay to fill up the car with gas, because we would be self-sufficient.

I know, though, that I could live in my fantasy world and still be as miserable as I feel right now.  The key to contentment is not fulfilling fantasies, but fulfilling our purpose as humans: to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.  I know why I feel unhappy and sinful and slothful.  I will not blame anyone but myself.  If God picked me up and dropped me in my deepest fantasy world right NOW, after the initial shock and fun of it all slipped away I would remember that I am still a fallen person--still self-centered.

So what do I do?  Read more of the Bible?  Pray more?  Call my pastor?  Go to the homeless mission and volunteer?  Call Oprah?  Live more for God and others than myself?  I suppose the last one and all else will work out... but I resonate with Paul in Romans 7 and 8.  My spirit is willing but my flesh is weak.

God, help us to be content where we are and serve You regardless.  Help us to see the beauty even in the urban decay of rinky Anderson, Indiana.  Help us to realize You created us cheerfully and wonderfully knowing Your will for us.... and help us fulfill it.  Forgive us for all our sins we daily commit in word, thought, and deed.  Forgive us for our selfishness, our discontentment, our hatred of Your holy laws, and our disregard for Christ's work of salvation He so lovingly worked out for us.  Help us to fight for what is right, and wage war against out sinful inclinations.  Help us to protect the weak, be with the widows and orphans, and to be wise with what we have, no matter how much or little we have.  May Your name and all You stand for be glorified in our lives.  May Your kingdom come soon.