God's common ground
Monday, September 3, 2012 at 02:40PM In his book Always Ready, Greg Bahnsen frequently reminds the reader that neutrality is not possible when it comes to how we know and understand things. Because God is the Creator of everything, everything must serve Him. As he says:
There is not a square inch of the world, not a split second of time, that is not dependent upon, controlled by, and suservient to God. Hence man is commanded to do everything he does to God's glory (I Cor. 10:13); our bodies are required to be living sacrifices in God's service (Rom. 12:1).
Even if a person does not acknowledge this control, it still exists. This means that neturality is impossible; we are either using our lives for God or we are not. This neutrality actually helps us to relate to those who do not profess a belief in Christ. How? Because we all relate to one another on the same level: as creations of God. Our common ground is God's ground:
All men have in common the world created by God, controlled by God, and constantly revealing God. In this case any area of life or any fact can be used as a point of contact. The denial of neutrality secures, rather than destroys, commonality.
So, do we need to contrive areas of commonality? By Bahnsen's reasoning, no.
Greg Bahnsen
Reader Comments (1)
Kim, You're killin me. I think my brain just snapped.