Good Reading

I've been reading The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer for my Old Testament History and Litterature class.

Here is some food for thought from the chapter "The Self-Existence of God"



" 'What possible meaning can the self-existence of God have for me and others like me in a world such as this and in times such as these?'

"To this I reply that, because we are the handiwork of God, it follows that all our problems and their solutions are theological. Some knowledge of what kind of God it is that operates the universe is indispensable to a sound philosophy of life and a sane outlook on the world scene. The much-quoted advice of Alexander Pope,

Know then thyself, presume not God to scan:

The properstudy of mankind is man,

if followed literally would destroy any possibility of man's ever knowing himself in any but the most superficial way. We can never know who or what we are till we know at least something of what God is. For this reason the self-existence of God is not a wisp of dry doctrine, academic and remote; it is in fact as near as our breath and as practical as the latest surgical technique" (34-35).



"As a sunbeam perishes when cut off from the sun, so man apart from God would pass back into the void of nothingness from which he first leaped at the creative call" (35).





"The natural man is a sinner because and only because he challenges God's selfhood in relation to his own. In all else he may willingly accept the sovereignty of God; in his own life he rejects it. For him, God's dominion ends where his begins" (36).



"Because man is born a rebel,he is unaware that he is one.... He is willing to shar himself, sometimes even to sacrifice himself for a desired end, but never to dethrone himself" (36).



"after Peter had preached the first great Christian sermon. 'Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and bretheren, what shall we do?' This 'What shall we do?' is the deep heart cry of every man who suddenly realizes that he is a usurper and sits on a stolen throne" (37).



"To set our will against the will of Go is to dethrone God" (37).