These Are My JOTtings, Part #2

Catechism Poem #2: "How Do We Know God Exists?”

Q. 2. How doth it appear that there is a God?
A. The very light of nature in man, and the works of God, declare plainly that there is a God; but his word and Spirit only do sufficiently and effectually reveal him unto men for their salvation.

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In My Own Words:

Question: "How do we know God exists?"
Answer: "There is still a spark of Creation's light in the human heart, that sees God's working throughout The Creation. This prevenient grace shows, 'There is a God" to the childlike heart. (In other words, all children know, that God exists, until age or abuse calls that knowledge into question.) However, it is only His Word and Holy Spirit, which can reveal salvation with completeness to the heart of men."

And Again Trying to Simplify:

Question: "How does it become apparent, that there is a God?"
Answer: "Something in Man plus the works of God together say, 'There is a God,' but The Word of God and The Spirit of God, only and together, can be the full revelation of God to Man for the completion of the saving of Man's soul."

Ultimately, the wording of the catechism is unwieldy because the complexity of God escapes the brilliant, and is see only by the heart of the child.

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This last part of the answer marries so easily with a beloved hymn from my childhood. "his word and Spirit only do sufficiently and effectually reveal him unto men for their salvation."

Hymn: "He Lives"

"Chorus

He lives, He lives,
Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me and talks with me
Along life’s narrow way.
He lives, He lives, salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know He lives:
He lives within my heart."

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How can it be, that He appears
to freely, fully live?
When searching hard and with great tears,
I've nothing left to give.

The mind of Man, sincerest heart
can't grasp The One Above,
but childlike souls know from the start
this God of lasting love.

The Infant is so near the one,
He made in Garden, rare,
that light, a spark, and working Son
say, "God exists right there."

Salvation's work is made, anon,
by The Word and Spirit's touch.
These Two when Surgeon's work is done
bring gratitude, so much.

The unchanged man can see, that God
exists through childlike heart,
but by The Spirit and The Word
the new man gets his start.

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John 6:37, KJV, "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."

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by Jay O’Toole
on March 18th, 2022