By GEORGE HOLLIS / Guest Columnist

One of the age-old difficulties about Christianity is determining the dividing line between the issues God desires us to debate and the issues where God desires us to simply rest in the mysteries of the Divine.

For instance, you and I might debate a religious issue like free will versus predestination. God enjoys his creation using their minds to debate, not argue, the things that concern them.

Then there are other times when we are to know that God’s ways are not our ways, and we simply cannot know the things of God.

Lee Strobel in his book, “Case for the Creator,” points out that there are 26 universal constants, of which gravity is one. If you were to stretch out the value of gravity over the width of the universe, a change of one inch would eliminate life.

Say God saw me reaching for the gravity dial saying, “An inch to the right might be better.”

God might gasp and grab my arm and pull it back. Then in God’s love he might say, “Maybe it is time for you to go and play in the garden.”

When Lazarus was raised from the dead, Jesus was born of a virgin, the Red Sea parted, the blind made to see, the lame walked, and Jesus walked out of His own tomb, is it time to debate or rest? We all know that there is not one person on the planet that can credibly explain the miracles in Scripture.

But, the best of our scientists also cannot explain why the 26 constants are the values that they are. Because we do not understand something, does that mean we are to debate its validity?

No, sometimes it means that it is now time to rest in awe at the marvelous beauty of God.

The Rev. George C. Hollis is pastor of the Cahaba Valley Church, 5099 Caldwell Mill Road, in Shelby County. You can reach him at 531-3652.