Week 43 Romans
After a short salutation Paul jumps right into deep water.
He’s talking about how a person acquaints himself with God: from the time the earth was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature.
Paul says that the visual-experienceable-materiality of the natural world is a tangibleization of God’s power and divinity. Tangible enough for me to make an informed choice.
The world is a kind of data-saturated medium that might disguise but can’t completely hide the medium’s master designer.
I look at the medium. And I draw conclusions. My conclusions are mine to choose but Paul says I can either a) Choose-Up or b) Choose-Down.
Paul says that a couple of outcomes when I Choose-Up are to honour God and to thank God.
There are also a couple of things that happen when I Choose-Down. Choosing-Down: Part One is to decide to not bother honouring or thanking God (I’d classify that as a negative choice since I’m doing nothing about what I’ve seen). Choosing-Down: Part Two includes thinking foolishly and living-out the dark qualities of my soul (I’d think of those as positive choices because I’m being proactive…living the outcomes of my decision) (Paul lists about thirty of those lived-out-actions in the last verses of the chapter).
So…some big happenings are being played out even if I’ve never seen a bible.
Note: quote from Romans 1:20 (NLT)