A STARTING POINT by H. C. Balsbaugh

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jun 14, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 24.

A STARTING POINT.

By H. C. Balsbaugh

BY H. C. BALSBAUGH.

CONSIDER that God's existence reaches into the past and future further than thought can carry us, and that the extent of His dominions is beyond our reach of thought. Being Creator of all things, and perfect, He is of necessity fully acquainted with all things in the whole universe. The Bible consistently records this truth, giving also such a diversified portrait of good and evil throughout all the centuries since creation, that man, God's highest endowed creature upon earth, may know that God knows all good and evil.

From this it is evident, that as perfect knowledge and power pertain to God, He looks and speaks from the standpoint of a perfect comprehension of all things. Note, then, how incapable, of himself, man is to see as God sees. As a father's view of life is so much larger than a child's, so is the Creator's view incomparably larger than the creature's. Isa. 46 : 5, 10.

Therefore the difference of view-point is the difference between the limited knowledge of man and the unlimited knowledge of God. Tho we may be honest, this explains how our minds naturally are at variance with God's mind, for, consider how the few years of earthly life, tho well spent in gathering knowledge and wisdom, is not a drop in the bucket compared with the knowledge and wisdom of God from all eternity.

With God's perfect knowledge is connected a holy and righteous character, and these attributes together furnish the foundation for an implicit faith in Him. And by faith it is possible, and for the reasons given, reasonable, to see from the view-point of God through belief of His Word, His Word being evident truth.

God's character is holy, which establishes the truth that He estimates all things at their true worth, thereby rendering righteous judgment always. Isa. 57 : 15; Gen. 18 : 25.

Those who only partly believe the Bible, and honestly find it difficult to believe all of it, will find in a sober consideration of the important truth of view-point one of their greatest stumbling-blocks removed.