Series Introduction

This Easter season, we are taking the opportunity to explore ‘Big Questions’ as we approach Easter, with excerpts from the writing of Dr Nick Hawkes, who went to be with his beloved Father God in March 2023.
Nick wrote, “Explore with me the significance of the greatest claim in human history. It is the one concerning the resurrection of Jesus. Did God really invade human history in order to show us what he was like? Did he die on a cross to pay the price for our sins that would otherwise keep us from him? Crucially, was Jesus resurrected back to life to show us that eternal life with God is possible? In fact, it is God’s intention for all of us who accept Jesus’ forgiveness and leadership to also be resurrected from death.”

Reflection: Does God exist?

Reflection:

Let’s begin our series by talking about you, and whether or not you have a sense of meaning. Is there a niggling feeling within you that you are created for more than that which you are currently experiencing? Carl Jung, the Swiss analytical psychologist, wrote, “About a third of my cases are suffering from no clinically definable neurosis, but from the senselessness and emptiness of their lives. This can be described as the general neurosis of our time.” (Carl Jung, “Modern Man in Search of a Soul”, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Ltd., London, 1934).

Do you feel this emptiness?  If you do, I think you’re right. You were created by God to live a marvellous adventure in eternity. And the only one who can disqualify you from this destiny is yourself. But this, of course, raises the question: Does God exist?

The fantastic order and complexity of the universe indicates a strong possibility that creation was an intelligent, purposeful act, i.e. that it has meaning. The origin of the beautiful mathematical codes and physical laws necessary for the universe to exist remain a profound mystery unless we admit to the possibility of God (Psalm 19:1-4; Romans 1:20). Therefore, belief in God is scientifically reasonable. The great religious reformer, Martin Luther, is reputed to have said: “God wrote the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees, and flowers, and clouds and stars.” (Though as far as I can ascertain, this quote is only found in a fictional work on the life of Martin Luther by Elizabeth Rundle Charles, called The Schonberg-Cotta Family, 1862). The Bible teaches that the “order” we see in creation is an invitation for us to seek its creator – God – as the psalmist writes in Psalm 19:1-4.

The deep-seated moral code within all of humankind is believed by some to be another pointer to God. We don’t just value others because evolution has taught us that it is the nicest and most sensible way to get along… but because God has written his values on our hearts.  It would seem that there is a God-shaped hole within each of us that only God can fill.

Prayer:

We may try and fill the God-shaped hole within us with money, learning and prestige, but we know that only you, God, truly satisfies our need, because it was you who created us to share our life with you.*

*Prayers for this series have been written based on Nick Hawkes’ reflections.