Kaliwanagan Kay Kristo (June 8, 2017): Ang Diyos dapat may pinanggalingan din || John Pesebre

Question 1: What is the brief statement of the doubt?

Hindi ko na siguro mabilang ang mga written questions na aking natatanggap sa mga youth camps kung saan ako nag conduct ng apologetics. Ginu-grupo ko sila sa uri ng katanungan at malimit maari mo syang maigrupo sa 7 na categories. Pero isa sa pinakamarami ay ang katanungang “Saan nanggaling ang Diyos.” Ano ang brief statement of the doubt natin ngayon? I will try to put it this way: “Ang Diyos dapat may pinanggalingan din.”

Question 2: Where did this doubt come from?

Nauunawaan ko po na ang objection or doubt na ito ay humihingi ng paliwanag. Ang kalimitan na premise nito ay, kung lahat ng bagay ay may pinanggalingan, saan naman nanggaling ang Diyos. It is a question of cause. Parang what is that caused God to exist.
Ika nga ng isang tanyag na athest na pumanaw na a few years ago na si Christopher Hitchens, “the postulate of a designer or creator only raises the unanswerable question of who designed the designer or created the creator. Religion and theology… have consistently failed to overcome this objection.”* Ayun din kay Rebecca Goldstein, “Who caused God? [Theists offer] a prime example of the Fallacy of Passing the Buck: invoking God to solve some problem, but then leaving unanswered that very same problem when applied to God himself. Ilan lamang po yan sa mga kilalang mga personalities who pose this argument na tulad ng mga tanong ng Christian youth sa mga camps.

Naunawaan ko din ang problemang hatid ng objection na hindi kayang ipaliwanag ng believer ang pinanggalingan ng Diyos kasi para siyang yung sinasabi din ni Goldstein na nagbibigay tayo ng paliwanag sa pinanggalingan ng mga bagay bagay pero pag Diyos na bawal tanungin. So hindi sufficient na explanation yan sa mga nagsasaliksik. Kulang.

Question 3: What is wrong about this doubt?

Hindi po totoo na dapat ang Diyos ay may pinanggalingan din.

Question 4: How is it wrong?

I affirm ko muna po ang commitment ng Christianity dito para naman makita natin ang pinanghahawakang katotohan ng Christianity patungkol sa kalikasan ng Panginoon. There is an important detail to consider when asking the question, “Where did God come from?” or “Who created God?” Ang ina-affirm  ng mga believers ay ang Panginoon ay infinite at everlasting, so nangangahulugan na hindi Siya saklaw ng katanungang “Sino ang lumikha sa Kanya?” This question is appropriate only for created being. Some of the many verses that affirm the truth of an Eternal God include Deuteronomy 33:27 which says, “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” And  Isaiah 40:28 “The everlasting God...will not grow tired or weary...he gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.”
By way of refutation, it is best to evaluate the question and see its assumptions. The statement “Ang Diyos dapat may pinanggalingan din.” assumes that God has a beginning.

To say that God has a beginning is to say God isn’t God so the question or the statement is actually meaningless. Para mong sinabi na “Ang square dapat may tatlong corners.”

The question where does something come from is a question in the realm of created order, such as we’d ask “Where did this tree come from?” or “Where do granite rocks come from?” Sa history ng Judeo-Christian belief, hindi pa nagkaroon ng idea na ang Diyos ay may manlilikha. So kung ikaw ay tatanungin ng ganito it is better to ask the one asking the question if he understands the nature of God in Christianity.

Question 5: What wrong idea about God is this doubt trying to create?

As is typical nowadays, this doubt presents a created god which is no god at all. And as such kung wala namang diyos, we are no longer accountable sa diyos. Worse, we do not have the gift of salvation form the Eternal God who wll bless His people with Eternal Life.

Question 6: What is the Biblical teaching about God that recuperates this wrong idea about God?

Read Psalm 103:16-17

• As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments.

In this verse we see not only attributes but the eternal quality of those attributes.

Question 7: What application can you draw from this correct teaching about God?

Study the verse: How is man described in terms of his longevity in this world? How is the steadfast love of God described?
Meditate: How is being eternal an important characteristic of God and His attributes for you?

Question 8: What action point can you resolve to do at this point?

As is common to believers, lagi tayong naeengganyo sa pandaraya ng mundo na nakakalimutan nating sariwain ang buhay na walang hanggan na biyaya ng Panginoon. Isa sa mga paraan para manariwa ito sa atin ay ang pag awit sa ating devotion ng mga papuri sa Kanya. Malimit ang ating daily devotion siguro ay walang awitan. Sariwain natin ang kaluwalhatian ng Panginoon sa pag-awit.


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*God is not Great, 71.