Volume I: The Existence of God, "How can I know this?"
Throughout all of recorded history, and even in the traces left in caves and fossil remains, Man has known intuitively about the presence of God, but did not know who God was. Man made God a superhuman and saw God as just like Man only better in every way. We will soon see that one group of people saw it differently – the Israelites. They saw that the truth was that Man is Godlike, not the opposite. (cf. Genesis 2) For them, this approach made great sense. Where did they get this information? We shall address this issue in coming chapters. For now it is important to note that human beings can and have discovered much about fundamental truths like being and becoming, and the existence of a supreme being. There does exist a body of knowledge which may be judged a kind of spiritual heritage of humanity. This knowledge should serve as a kind of reference point for the different modern philosophical schools of thought, but instead, at great peril, it is largely marginalized and ignored today.
God is a personal God who has spoken to men. His words are Revelation, and man’s response is Faith. Revelation by nature is public. Passed on orally, it becomes Tradition; recorded in writing, it becomes Scripture. Hence, the written record in the new Testament is vitally important – the permanent and unchanging testimony of the apostolic generation. The New Testament writings do not claim to be – in fact they obviously are not – a complete and balanced inventory of the early Church’s beliefs. Nevertheless, they lay down what cannot be changed: the rule of faith as it was recorded, to which the Church is always bound, and which she can develop and expand but never falsify.
The faces of good and evil do appear throughout our world. Undoubtedly, you are familiar with both. Author John LaCroix describes in graphic scriptural and philosophical terms, the initial inherent goodness of creation, and then reveals the tragic genesis of evil in a new and fascinating manner. Because of the complex ongoing dynamic between these two opposing forces, their natures and identities are often confused. We will learn quickly that it is only the face of grace that truly allows us to recognize them. It is imperative that we do so because choosing between them determines our lot in eternity. It is only grace that allows us to see all these realities as they are.