10. Всеобщность веры в бытие Божие как проявление духовной жизни

You ask: “But how do you say that everyone has a spirit with the indicated manifestations, and yet how many nations are there who do not know God?” Those peoples do not know that there is a true God, but they all confess that He exists. Believing that there is a God, and wanting to more accurately define what He is, they were mistaken and called God that which is not God: some are the sun, some are the moon or stars, or something else. Not everyone, however, was so grossly mistaken. When God scattered the nations across the face of the earth after the pandemonium, they all took with them the hitherto faithful concepts of God as an invisible Spirit, Creator, Provider, Judge and Rewarder. That He is the Creator, Provider and Rewarder was preserved by everyone, but that He is an immaterial Spirit was not preserved by everyone, but “changing the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the corruptible image of man and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things” (Rom. 1:23). They understood God, that is, they knew that there is God, but they did not glorify Him as God (Rom. 1:21). Among the eastern peoples, the Persians and Indians (Asian and American) have more exalted concepts of God. The Greeks and Romans crushed God, so to speak. American, for example, Indians call God the universal spirit - invisible, all-encompassing. This is a very high concept, and a spirit left to itself cannot go further than this. The Asian Indians delved deeper into the comprehension of God, but, having retained the concept of His invisibility, omnipotence and omnipotence, when they decided to more accurately define His creative and providential actions, they confused a lot of untenable things and wrote many fabulous stories. So this is the sense in which there are those who do not know God! And not that there are peoples who do not confess the existence of God. Some travelers gave evidence that they met peoples and peoples who did not know God at all and did not worship Him. The only thing that is true in this testimony is that they did not hear the confession of faith and did not see the worship of God - but so that neither one nor the other happened... For this they should have lived more among those nations. In our days, Becker lived for a whole month among some people - near the lakes through which the Nile flows - and did not see worship of God. “But,” he says, “the new moon has come, and I see that the king is going somewhere, and all the elders are gathering, preparing a bull. A certain day came - they went to some hill and sacrificed a bull.” “Had I left,” says Becker, “two or three days earlier, I could have testified with all sincerity that this people does not honor God.” So completely get rid of the idea that there are those who do not recognize the existence of God. There are some scientists who think of doing without God and talk and talk about it, and write books, but when their tongue and pen utter such idle talk, their heart speaks differently. They are trying to show themselves not to believe in God, but it is very doubtful that they will finally succeed in this even before their conscience. Knowing God, everyone shows conscience, and honors God, and prays to Him, and looks forward to a future life, in which everyone will be rewarded according to his deeds. The force that contains all such beliefs and convictions is spirit. Let us assume that in every person there is a spirit - the highest side of human life, a force that draws him from the visible to the invisible, from the temporary to the eternal, from creation to the Creator, characterizing man and distinguishing him from all other living creatures on earth. This force can be weakened to different degrees, its demands can be interpreted crookedly, but it cannot be completely drowned out or destroyed. It is an integral part of our human nature and manifests itself in its own way in everyone. This is the kind of talk you have led me to with your question. But not for the worse. I wanted to write to you not about this, but about what happened and is happening in the soul from the influence of the spirit in combination with it. But more about that until next time. You might be interested in: