The World's First Love by Fulton J. Sheen

His papers would have to antedate his coming. If a visitor came from a foreign country to Washington and said he was a diplomat, the government would ask him for his passport and other documents testifying that he represented a certain government. We would have only his word for it, and of course he could be wrong. Reason further assures us that if God did not do this, then there would be nothing to prevent any impostor from appearing in history and saying, “I come from God,” or “An angel appeared to me in the desert and gave me this message.” In such cases there would be no objective, historical way of testing the messenger. The Madonna of Port Lligat by Salvador Dali, 1949īy the extent to which the messenger conformed with these announcements, one could judge the validity of his claims. If God sent anyone from Himself, or if He came Himself with a vitally important message for all men, it would seem reasonable that He would first let men know when His messenger was coming, where He would be born, where He would live, the doctrine He would teach, the enemies He would make, the program He would adopt for the future, and the manner of His death.

Reason dictates that if any one of these men actually came from God, the least thing that God could do to support His claim would be to pre-announce His coming.Īutomobile manufacturers tell their customers when to expect a new model. Reason, because everyone has it, even those without faith history, because everyone lives in it and should know something about it. These tests are of two kinds: reason and history. But as a yardstick external to and outside of whatever is to be measured is needed, so there must be some permanent tests available to all men, all civilizations, and all ages, by which they can decide whether any one of these claimants, or all of them, are justified in their claims. Each of them has a right to be heard and considered.

History is full of men who have claimed that they came from God, or that they were gods, or that they bore messages from God – Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius, Christ, Lao-tze, and thousands of others, right down to the person who founded a new religion this very day.

The World's First Love by Fulton J. Sheen