In John 1:9a (NET) we read of Jesus that he was “The true light, … [that] gives light to everyone.”
I am beyond persuaded that the root of all human bondage to self-centeredness, sin, and error is deception, and specifically deception regarding God’s existence, his nature, and his motives. False thinking about God instantly alienates us from God because having been made by him and for him, such thoughts put us in the position of sawing off the very branch we’re sitting on.
If we were on a slowly sinking boat in a stormy sea, we wouldn’t try and climb onto a rescue ship if we were convinced that — in short order — it too was going under.
Tragically, believing lies about God sink the human spirit. And with death staring us down day after day, we find ourselves utterly devoid of any final hope. And it is out of that inner void that a host of attempted survival mechanisms — called sin — arise that pivot around whatever makes us feel good, period.
If you are among those who question that there could be a perfectly good God behind all reality, but are willing to entertain the possibility, here’s a mental exercise that I think will help answer your doubt.
To begin with realize that no partially good God will do. Either he is perfectly good or forget it. So start by confronting your own assumption that God could have even a sliver of darkness in him. That must be put on hold before you can proceed.
Then take a good hard look at any one thing that you would consider to be indisputably and universally good. Examine it from all angles, as it were, and ask, how could this be? In a world like this — this quagmire of tormenting evil and suffering — how is it that something so wonderful, so precious as this could cross my path?
I grant that that one good thing is only a small light on a narrow path running through the dark woods of this world. But if you will walk in it, that is, think and keep on thinking about it, you will eventually meet up with the living source of that light. And you will know that you were fooled and come to laugh at having believed such pathetic nonsense as God is not there or not thoroughly good.
