Latest / Reformed Thinking / God’s Glory as the Ultimate Purpose of Creation | Jonathan Edwards

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God’s Glory as the Ultimate Purpose of Creation | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to reform thinking. So imagine an architect who
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spends years drafting the blueprints for, you know, a
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breathtaking, towering cathedral.
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Right, a massive project. Yeah, they designed the sweeping
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arches, the stained glass windows that catch the morning
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light, all the intricate stone carvings.
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Oh, for sure. But, well, they do not build
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this cathedral to shelter themselves from the rain.
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No, they don't need it for that. Right.
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They do not build it to charge admission and they do not build
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it because they need a place to live.
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Absolutely. They build it simply because the
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sheer brilliance of the design demands to be realized.
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Precisely, the structure is a physical manifestation of the
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architect's mind. The building exists to display
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the genius of its creator. That is a great way to picture
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it. Yeah.
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And today we are looking at a 300 year old argument that
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claims the entire physical and moral universe is, well,
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precisely that kind of cathedral.
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It is a massive claim. It really is.
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You are joining us right now for a deep dive into one of the most
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rigorous mind bending theological texts ever written
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so you can glean the highest insights without getting lost in
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18th century syntax. Which is easy to do honestly.
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Oh totally, Yeah. Our specific mission today is to
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unpack Jonathan Edwards monumental work, a dissertation
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concerning the end for which God created the world.
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A brilliant text. We are going to walk through his
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meticulous, step by step logical proof showing that God made
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himself His own highest goal in the creation of the universe.
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Right. And coming at this from our
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Protestant Christian convictions, we approach this
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text with a huge view of God's sovereignty.
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Absolutely. We hold to the Westminster
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Confession which teaches that God has all life, glory and
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blessedness in and of Himself. Yeah, and is alone and unto
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himself all sufficient. Right.
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So when you keep that framework in mind, Edwards rigorous logic
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reads as an exquisite defense of God's supreme glory.
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It is a remarkable piece of literature.
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Really. What is fascinating here is how
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Edwards builds his case. Well, he does not ask you to
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simply take his word for it, Nor does he rely on pure abstract
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philosophy divorced from revelation.
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Right. He grounds it.
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Yeah. He constructs an argument that
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is virtually impenetrable, starting from the bedrock of
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Scripture and moving outward into the detailed mechanics of
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logical reasoning. It is so structured.
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It is He is operating with a very specific theological
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architecture, one that aligns perfectly with a high view of
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God's absolute sovereignty and self-sufficiency.
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Which? We'd love to see.
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Absolutely. When we look closely at Edwards,
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we have to recognize that we are dealing with a thinker who've
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used the entire cosmos as a deliberate, perfectly designed
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system. Nothing is accidental.
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Right. Everything has a very specific,
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designated goal. And the question he is asking is
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perhaps the biggest question anyone can ask, you know?
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Did God make all of this? Yes.
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What is the final issue, the conclusive endpoint toward which
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every atom, every star, and every human life is tending?
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It is a heavy question. Very heavy to answer that
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Edwards starts where any robust Reformed thinker must start,
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which is the biblical text itself.
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The only solid foundation. Right.
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He points to an opening barrage of Scripture that is designed to
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establish an absolute, unshakable baseline regarding
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who God is in relation to time, creation and purpose.
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That biblical baseline is striking.
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I mean, it really sets the tone. It does.
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Rather than listing out every single verse like a concordance,
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we can look at the overwhelming pattern Edwards identifies.
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Right, the big picture. You go straight to the prophetic
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texts of Isaiah and the apocalyptic visions of
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Revelation. Some of the highest visions of
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God in the text. Yeah, and he stacks half a dozen
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verses from these books to prove one inescapable point.
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God repeatedly explicitly calls himself the 1st and the last,
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and the Alpha and Omega. Which is so crucial.
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In Isaiah 44, God declares I am the first, I also am the last,
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and besides me there is no God. A definitive statement.
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And you see this repeated in Revelation chapter 1, chapter 21
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and chapter 22. I am Alpha and Omega, the
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beginning and the end. It is everywhere in those books.
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Yeah, Edwards uses this to hammer home the concept of God
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as the absolute origin and the absolute conclusion of all
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reality. He is setting up the parameters
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of the discussion right there. Exactly.
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Well, precisely. If you want to know why the
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universe exists, you have to start with the entity who claims
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to be the bookends of all existence.
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And if we connect this to the broader logic Edwards employs,
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we have to look closely at what those specific titles actually
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mean in a philosophical sense. OK.
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Let's break that down. When God is repeatedly spoken of
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as the last as well as the first, the end as well as the
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beginning, Edwards argues that there is a very specific
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implication regarding causation. Right.
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Cause and effect. Yeah, in classical philosophy
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there is a distinction between different types of causes.
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The two that matter most here are the efficient cause and the
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final cause. So what is the efficient cause?
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As God is the first, He is the efficient cause and fountain
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from whence all things originate.
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The efficient cause means the active agent that brings
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something into being. Like a sculptor chiseling a
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block of marble. Yes, perfect analogy.
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The sculptor is the efficient cause of the statue.
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God is the spring, the source, the starting point of all
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matter, all spirit, all existence.
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But the biblical titles do not stop at first.
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No, they don't. They also call him the Last, and
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Edwards argues that as the last, God is the final cause for which
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all things are made. The final cause, meaning the
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destination. Right.
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The final term to which all things tend in their issue.
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It is the destination, it is the goal.
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It is the reason the sculptor picked up the chisel in the
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first place. So it is the why behind the
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what? Absolutely.
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This is the most natural, logical reading of these
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expressions. If God is the fountain from
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which the universe flows, he is also the ocean into which the
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universe empties. That is a beautiful way to put
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it. Edwards confirms this by
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pointing to parallel passages like Romans Chapter 11, which
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says for, of him and through him and to him are all things.
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Or Colossians chapter 1 which states that all things were
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created by him and for him. Yeah, the biblical data is
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overwhelming. God is the source, the
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sustainer, and the supreme goal. I'm going to push back on this a
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bit though, because a modern listener is going to hit a wall
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right here. Oh for sure, it is a very
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natural objection if. God is already infinite if he's
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completely self-sufficient and lacking absolutely nothing,
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which is our core reformed understanding.
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Does saying he made the world for himself imply that he was
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lonely? Right.
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Did he need us? Yeah.
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Does it imply he was somehow incomplete before the universe
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existed and he needed to create us to fill some kind of void in
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his own heart? It is a totally fair question.
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Because it is incredibly easy to look at that phrase that God
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made all things for himself and project our own human psychology
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onto. It we do that all the time.
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When a human being does everything for themselves, we
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call that narcissism. We view it as a massive
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character flaw, a sign of extreme ego or deep insecurity.
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Faithfully so in humans. Right, So when we hear that the
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Creator of the universe engineered the entire cosmos for
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his own sake, it can sound to our modern ears like a statement
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of supreme selfishness. Or a sign of some hidden
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deficiency in the divine nature? Yeah.
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So how do we reconcile an infinitely perfect being making
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everything about himself without turning him into a cosmic
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egomaniac? That is a crucial tension to
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resolve, and it requires us to separate human pathology from
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divine reality. OK, wait out for us.
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Edwards addresses this directly by looking at the manner in
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which God is said to be the last to whom and for whom all things
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exist. What does he point out?
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He points out that the Scriptures speak of this as a
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meet and suitable thing. It is a branch of His glory.
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Meaning it is fitting. Right.
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It is a prerogative that perfectly fits the great,
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infinite and eternal being. Edwards is arguing that it is a
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thing becoming the dignity of him who is infinitely above all
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other beings. So it is about his objective
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status. Yeah, let us break down the
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logic here. God is the being from whom all
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things are and by whom they consist.
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In comparison with Him, all other things are as nothing.
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Less than a drop in the bucket. Absolutely.
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Therefore, for God to make himself his own highest goal is
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not a sign of deficiency, it is a simple recognition of
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objective reality. Because he actually is the most
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valuable thing. Precisely.
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He is infinitely the most valuable, most beautiful, most
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worthy being in existence. If God were to make anything
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else His supreme goal, He would be valuing something lesser over
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something greater. Oh wow yeah, he would be
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elevating the creature above the creator.
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And in theological terms, valuing the created over the
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Creator is the absolute definition of idolatry.
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God cannot commit idolatry. No, he cannot, because he
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possesses infinite worth. It is perfectly fitting meet and
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right that he directs all things toward the display and
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communication of that infinite worth.
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So human narcissism is toxic because a human is finite and
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flawed. Right, Demanding all the glory
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is stealing what belongs to God. But when God demands all the
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glory, He is simply operating in accordance with the truth of His
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own infinite value. Is just the truth, yeah.
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It is not about him being lonely or needing anything from us.
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It is about his supreme worth, dictating the entire structural
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goal of the universe. So we have established the
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scriptural claim that God is his own final end, and we have
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clarified that this is a function of his infinite worth,
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not a sign of weakness. Correct?
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But how do we logically prove the mechanics of this claim?
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I mean, if we know God acts for his own sake, we still need to
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figure out a method for observing his specific intent.
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We need a framework. Yeah, before Edwards builds his
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positive case for what God's goal is, he establishes some
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strict logical boundaries. He has to clear away the brush
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and establish what God's goal is not.
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Which is such a smart way to argue.
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It really is. Edward sets a very strict
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logical rule right out of the gate.
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God does not make his own existence for His own being the
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goal of creation. Right, that is impossible.
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To suppose God created the world to gain existence is a massive
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logical absurdity. His existence must be conceived
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of as prior to any of His designs.
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Therefore, He cannot create the world to the end that he may
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have existence or that He may acquire certain attributes and
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perfections. The logic here is absolute.
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You cannot create something in order to become yourself.
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That makes no sense. Right.
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The cause must always precede the effect.
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God's existence, His infinite nature, His perfect attributes,
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the user the absolute prerequisites for the act of
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creation, not the results of it. He already has to be there to do
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the creating. Yeah, if God lacked existence,
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he could not create. If he lacked perfection, he
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would not have the capacity to design a perfect system.
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So his existence is a given. Precisely, therefore, whatever
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divine effect or whatever relation to God, the Scripture
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teaches us to be the end He aimed at in His works of
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creation. It cannot be His own baseline
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existence. Because he already has that.
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He has possessed it from eternity past.
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He is the great I am, yes. This is a crucial boundary
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marker for Edwards. It forces us to look beyond the
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mere existence of God to find the goal of creation.
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We have to look at what God actually does with his
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existence. Right.
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How he chooses to manifest it and what he intends to
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accomplish through the specific mechanism of a created universe.
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Think about an author sitting down to write a massive,
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intricate novel. Oh, that's a good analogy.
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The author does not write the book in order to become a human
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being. The author does not write the
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book to gain a physical body or brain or the capacity to think.
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They already have all those things.
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Right, the author already exists.
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The author's existence, intelligence, and imagination
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are absolute prerequisites for the book to even be conceived.
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The book is the result of the author's prior existence.
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Yeah, the book is the outflow of the author's mind.
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In the same way, the universe is the book and God is the author.
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I love that. The author does not write the
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universe to gain his own reality.
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He writes the universe because he already possesses total
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infinite reality and he has a specific goal in mind for the
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story he is telling. It's a perfect parallel.
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So if we know that the author didn't write the book to gain
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his own existence, how do we determine his actual goal?
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How do we find out the purpose of the story?
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That is the next logical step. This is where Edwards introduces
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a sequence of analytical positions, a systematic method
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to draw correct inferences from the Word of God.
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And he starts with a massive concept.
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The undeniable link between the initial act of creation and the
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ongoing act of Providence. Yes, Edwards begins this
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analytical sequence by arguing that God's final goal in the
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creation of the world is identically the same as his
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final goal in his ongoing Providence.
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So define Providence for us, just to be clear.
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Providence in this context means God's continuous management,
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governance and active use of the world He has made.
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It is how he runs the universe day by day.
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Exactly. Well, precisely.
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Edward states that whatever appears to be God's chief aim in
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His works of Providence in general, we may justly supposed
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to be His highest end in the work of creation.
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So they are linked. Very closely linked.
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He builds on this by noting that when anything appears by
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Scripture to be the final issue of some of the works of of God,
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that thing appears to be the result of God's works in
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general. If a specific result is
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consistently produced by God's actions throughout history, and
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nothing peculiar makes it the result of only a few isolated
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actions, we can reasonably infer it is the end of his works in
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general. Right.
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He reinforces this logical step by stating that if a particular
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thing is most frequently mentioned in Scripture as God's
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aim in Providence, it is his aim in creation.
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So the texts about Providence are also texts about creation.
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Absolutely. He ties it all together by
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stating that the end of a thing can always be inferred from its
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use. Its use.
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Yeah, God's Providence is His active use of the world.
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Therefore, the main works of Providence reveal the main use
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of the creation, which reveals the goal of the creation itself.
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I love how concrete Edwards gets to illustrate this point.
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He uses these brilliant mechanical analogies.
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They really help clarify the dense nature of the argument.
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They do, he says. We must justly infer the end of
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a clock, a chariot, a ship or a water engine from the main use
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to which it is applied. Let's focus on the ship analogy,
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yeah? Let us visualize that shipyard.
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If you walk into a massive, bustling shipyard and see an
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enormous structure of wood, sail and rigging, and you want to
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know why it was created, you do not just stare at the raw
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lumber. That won't tell you much, right?
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You look at what the machine does.
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You watch it being placed into the water.
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You watch the crew load it with massive crates.
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You see it in action. You watch it catch the wind and
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carry cargo across an ocean. The main use of the ship,
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transporting goods across water, tells you exactly why the ship
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was built in the first place. You determine the goal of the
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ship by observing its operation. Yeah, and Edwards says that
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God's Providence is his operation of the universe.
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It is his active use of the world he has made.
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So if you want to know why God built the universe, you look at
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how he runs it. You look at the result of its
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daily operation under his governing hand.
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Consider how this shifts the perspective for you as a
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listener. The implications are staggering.
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It changes everything. It really does.
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And when you look at history, when you read about the rise and
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fall of empires, when you observe shifting cultural tides,
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or even when you look at the minute details of your own daily
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life, you are not watching random chaos.
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It is not a blind system. No, you are not watching a
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machine that has spun out of control or been left to its own
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devices, according to Edwards. You are watching the engine of
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creation doing the precise job it was designed to do.
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You are watching God's Providence in action, and
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whatever result God is consistently bringing about
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through all these historical and personal events, that result is
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the very reason the universe was spoken into existence.
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Because history is the use of the universe.
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Right Providence is the operation of the ship.
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Therefore, the final harbor that history is sailing toward is the
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reason the ship was built. This makes every single event a
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clue to the mind of the creature.
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It means that the study of Providence is the study of God's
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highest intent if. We look at the universe like a
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giant intricate clock, and human history is the ticking of the
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gears. Which gear is the most vital for
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understanding the designer's mind?
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That is the $1,000,000 question. Where should we look within this
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massive system to find the clearest evidence of this grand
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purpose? And Edwards does not leave us
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guessing here. No, he doesn't.
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He points us directly to the moral universe.
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He zeroes in on the intelligent, rational beings as the absolute
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centerpiece of the entire. System, the intelligent beings
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are the key. He argues that the moral,
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intelligent part of the system is the goal for the rest of
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creation. Therefore, whatever God's goal
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is for the moral world, that is his goal for the whole universe.
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Yes, Edwards states this explicitly in his logical
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progression. Whatever appears from the Word
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of God to be his aim with respect to the moral world or
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the intelligent part of the system, that is God's highest
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end in the work of creation in general.
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So humans and angels. Right.
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Edwards argues that it is evident from the constitution of
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the world itself, as well as from the Word of God, that the
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moral part is the end of all the rest of the creation.
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The inanimate, unintelligent part of the universe is made for
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the rational part. Think of the sheer scale of it.
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You know, the galaxies, the planets, the vast oceans, the
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tower mountain ranges, the complex weather systems, they
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all exist for the sake of moral agents.
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Which is humbling. Very.
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And it is for the sake of some moral good in these agents that
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they are made, and the world made for them.
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So the physical supports the moral.
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Right. Edwards concludes that
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whatsoever is the last end of that part of creation which is
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the end of all, the rest must be the last end of the whole.
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The highest goal for humanity and angels is the highest goal
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for the entire cosmos. Absolutely.
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Edwards provides it's 2 stunning analogies to make this point
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completely undeniable. Let's look at those.
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First, he says, the inanimate world is made for the rational
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world as much as a house is prepared for the inhabitant.
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A great visual. Think about the massive effort
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that goes into building a modern house.
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You dig the earth, you pour a solid foundation.
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You frame the walls. You run the plumbing.
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You wire the electricity. You install the roof.
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It is a huge undertaking, the. House itself is magnificent, a
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marvel of engineering, but the house does not exist for the
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sake of the wood, the bricks or the copper wiring.
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No, that would be silly. The entire structure exists for
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the person who is going to live inside it.
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The rocks, the trees, the animals, the atmosphere.
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They are the house. And intelligent creatures are
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the inhabitants. Right, the house is built for
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the inhabitants. And what was the second analogy?
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He gives the watch analogy. He says if all the other parts
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of a watch are made for the hand of the watch in order to move
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that hand to right, then it will follow that the last end of the
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hand is the last end of the whole machine.
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Every tiny spring, every interlocking gear.
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The mainspring, the escapement mechanism, the piece of glass on
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the front, all of it exists to make that little metal hand
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point to the correct number. So if you know the goal of the
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hand, which is to tell time, you know the goal of the entire
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watch. We as moral agents are the hands
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on the clock face of the universe.
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That is a brilliant synthesis of his thought.
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So the logical progression dictates that we must now
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determine the goal of those specific hands on the clock.
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Right. What are the goal of the moral
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universe? Edwards addresses this by
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analyzing that part of the moral world which is actually good.
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He says that whatever divine revelation shows to be God's aim
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with respect to good moral agents must be the aim of the
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whole creation. But this raises an essential
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question. What makes a moral agent good?
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Yeah, that is a loaded word. We often define goodness by
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cultural standards like harm reduction or general politeness.
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Which is very subjective. But Edwards provides a
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definition that is rooted entirely in the Creator's
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intent. Goodness, he says, is a thing's
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fitness to answer its end. It is goodness in the eyes of
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its author. Goodness in God's eyes is its
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agreeableness to His mind, and agreeableness to His mind must
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be an agreeableness or fitness to the end for which He made it.
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Therefore there are good moral agents who are fitted for the
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end for which God has made moral agents.
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Whatever goal good created moral agents are fitted for, that is
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the chief end of the moral part of creation, and consequently of
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the creation in general. It is airtight logic.
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I want to highlight the logical deduction here too.
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If goodness equals fitness for the original design, then a good
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human being is simply a human being functioning precisely as
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the designer intended. Right, doing what they were made
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to do. Edwards takes this a step
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further by looking at what God actively requires of these moral
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agents. He says that what the Word of
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God requires the intelligent and moral part of the world to seek
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as their highest end, that is what God made them for.
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God's revealed law must agree with the law of nature.
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His will as a lawgiver must perfectly match His will as a
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creator. He is not going to command us to
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seek one goal if he designed us to seek a completely different
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goal. The instruction manual must
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match the machinery, yeah. If you buy a complex piece of
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equipment and the instruction manual tells you to use it in a
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way that destroys its internal gears, the manual's flawed.
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But God's rules given in Scripture are not arbitrary
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hurdles. No, they are the flawless
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operating instructions for our own specific designs.
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And this brings us to a clear distinction Edwards makes
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between intelligent creatures and the rest of the physical
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world. A.
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Huge difference. A main difference between the
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intelligent parts and the rest of the world lies in their
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capacity for awareness and action.
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The inanimate creatures, the rocks, the rivers, the stars
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cannot promote the design of their creation except passively
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and eventually. They just exist.
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Right. They just exist and God uses
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their existence to achieve his ends.
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They are pushed along by the physical laws of the universe.
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But intelligent creatures are completely different.
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They are capable of knowing their Creator.
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They are capable of knowing the end for which He made them.
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And crucially, they are capable of actively complying with his
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design and promoting it. Because they have this capacity,
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it is their logical duty to fall in with it.
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Their wills ought to comply with the will of the Creator in
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mainly seeking the same final end which God mainly seeks.
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When you wake up and go about your daily routine, Edwards is
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arguing that your highest capacity isn't found in simply
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surviving, or in accumulating wealth, or in seeking personal
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comfort. Those are secondary at best.
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Your duty as an intelligent creature is to align your will
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with the creator's will. You have been given a rational
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mind. You have the ability to read the
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instruction manual. To understand the designer's
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intent and to consciously choose to act in accordance with that
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intent. You are not a rock obeying
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gravity. No, you are the hand on the
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watch. And your highest possible good,
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your supreme state of functioning, is to deliberately
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point where the designer wants you to point.
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According to Edwards, your highest goal must be identical
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to God's highest goal. Edwards summarizes this entire
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logical sequence by stating that whatever the Holy Scripture
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states as the main end of the goodness of the moral world, the
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thing that chiefly makes their goodness valuable and desirable
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is God's supreme end in the creation of the moral world.
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And therefore of the whole world.
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Right, we now have the theoretical framework fully
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constructed. We know that the intelligent
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creature should seek God's goal and that this of compliance is
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the definition of goodness. But abstract theory must be
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backed by concrete evidence. We need to see it in action.
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Do we have? Proof of anyone actually doing
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this? Has any moral agent ever
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successfully aligned their will with the Creator's will,
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providing us with a flawless test case?
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To answer this, Edwards turns to the greatest historical examples
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available in the biblical text. We must look at the evidence of
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the Saints and the Savior. In his final logical steps,
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Edwards looks at the approved Saints and the best frames of
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their souls. He looks at the most pious
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individuals recorded in Scripture.
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What did people like Moses, David and Paul seek as their
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highest goal? Edwards argues that whatever
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persons who are described in Scripture as approved Saints
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sought as their highest end in their instances of good
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behavior, that is what they ought to seek.
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And consequently, that was the same with God's final end in
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creation. He looks at the desires of the
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souls of the best individuals and their best frames of mind.
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When a St. Is operating at peak spiritual
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health when they are most properly expressing their
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respect to God? What do they desire?
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Edwards argues that the direct tendency of a spirit of true
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goodness is to the chief end of goodness.
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A true spirit of respect and friendship toward God will
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express itself in desiring the exact same end which God himself
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chiefly. Desires.
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The logic remains incredibly consistent here.
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If goodness is fitness for design, then the people whom God
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himself declares to be good must be the ones functioning closest
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to the original design. When we examine the prayers, the
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writings of the lives of the approved Saints, we find a
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singular, obsessive focus. Look at Moses in Exodus 33,
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pleading Show me thy glory. Look at David writing the
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Psalms, constantly calling for the magnification of God's name
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above all the earth. They are not seeking their own
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glory. They are not seeking their own
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existence or their own comfort as their final goal.
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In their best frames, their souls are crying out for the
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magnification of God. They are seeking the display of
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His attributes. They are desiring His sovereign
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rule to be acknowledged. Their desires aligned perfectly
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with God's desire for His own glory.
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Their lives act as a mirror, reflecting the original intent
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of the creator. But we also know from reading
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the text that even the approved Saints were flawed.
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Moses struck the rock and anger. David committed grievous sins.
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Paul talked about doing the things he did not want to do.
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Right. So the Saints give us a strong
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indication of God's goal, but they are not the perfect,
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flawless proof. For the absolute
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incontrovertible evidence, Edwards must look higher.
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He has to look to the ultimate example.
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Edwards brings the focus squarely on to Jesus Christ.
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He states that the Holy Scriptures teach us that Jesus
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Christ is the head of the moral world.
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He is especially the head of all the good part of it.
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He is the chief of God's servants, appointed to be the
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head of his Saints and angels. Most importantly, Christ is set
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forth as the chief and most perfect pattern and example of
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goodness. He is the flawless watch hand.
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He is the inhabitant who perfectly honors the house.
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Because Christ is the absolute perfect pattern of goodness, we
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may well suppose by all the foregoing logic, that whatever
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he sought as his last end was identically God's last end in
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the creation of the world. What Christ sought is the
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definitive final answer to our inquiry.
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This is where Edwards ties the entire argument back to the
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initial scriptures we discussed. Right back to the.
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When we look at the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ, when
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we read his words in the Gospels, what do we find?
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We find a life entirely consumed with the glory of the Father.
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Consider John chapter 17, Christ's high priestly prayer.
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He prays, Father, the hour has come.
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Glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.
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He says I have clarified thee on the earth.
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I have finished the work which thou gave us me to do.
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Christ's meat and drink was to do the will of him who sent Him.
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In every action and every word. In his submission to the cross,
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Christ sought the Father's glory above all else.
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Christ, the head of the moral world, the perfect pattern of
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goodness, sought the glory of God as his highest goal.
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Therefore, through Edward's unbroken chain of logic, we have
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the final. Proof Christ seeking God's glory
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proves that God making himself his own goal is the central
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driving heartbeat of the entire cosmos.
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It proves that the first and the last, the Alpha and Omega,
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created all things so that his own infinite worth would be
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fully known, loved and praised. Let's do a quick recap of this
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incredible logical chain we have just walked through.
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It is a lot to take in. It is Edward starts by showing
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from Scripture that God is the efficient cause and the final
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conclusion of everything. He establishes the boundary that
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God lacks nothing and does not create to gain existence.
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He proves that God's goal in daily Providence is the same as
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His goal in creation. He uses the analogies of the
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ship and the clock to show that the operation of a thing reveals
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its purpose. He demonstrates that intelligent
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beings are the moral center of the universe, the hands of the
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clock face. He defines our goodness as our
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fitness to answer the Creator's design, meaning our highest goal
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must match His highest goal. He looks at the approved Saints
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to see this in action. And finally, he looks at the
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perfect pattern. Jesus Christ, to conclusively
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prove that the perfect functioning of a moral agent
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points entirely back to the glory of the Creator.
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God is his own supreme goal. The logic is massive and it
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completely reshapes how we view reality.
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As we conclude this analysis, I want to leave you with a
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specific lingering thought drawn from Edward's distinction
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between the physical and moral world.
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What is that? He noted that inanimate
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creatures, the oceans, the mountains, the weather systems
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can only promote God's design passively and eventually.
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They have no choice but to be used by the Gears of Providence.
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But you, as an intelligent creature, are capable of knowing
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your creator. You are capable of understanding
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this massive design and you are capable of actively complying
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with it. That is a huge responsibility.
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It is the question you have to ask yourself, is this.
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Are you living like an inanimate rock, just passively caught in
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the Gears of Providence, being moved along by forces you
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ignore? Or are you utilizing your
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rational mind to actively align your will with the highest goal
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of the universe? Thank you for joining us for
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this deep dive into Edward's logic.
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We appreciate you taking the time to listen and engage with
30:29
this material on reformed thinking.