25 give account for His claims to being God. If, in this fictitious courtroom, God were to be required to raise His right hand, swearing “to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,” by whom will God swear? Who or what is greater than God and will authorize that indeed God is telling the truth? The Bible says, “Let God be true and every man a liar” (Rom. 3:4). No sinner and liar is in a position to judge whether or not God is telling the truth. The God who is true and faithful stands in judgment over liars. God is self-sufficient in the sense that He does not go outside of Himself to understand Himself. God possesses complete, exhaustive knowledge of who He is. He cannot know anything more about Himself because there is nothing more to know. Thus God cannot learn, grow, or develop, so He will never change. If one is perfect then change cannot be an improvement. If the infinite, limitless God knows all there is to know about Himself, then it follows that He knows everything there is to know about His creation and the humans He created in His image. We as human creatures do not have total knowledge of ourselves because we are finite and sinful. What we know about ourselves we learn by going outside of ourselves. I stand 6’3”, wear size 15 shoes, and have gray hair. I know I am tall because I can look over the heads of most people in a crowd. I know my feet are big because shoe stores usually do not stock shoes my size. I know I am old because when in a classroom of college students, I am the only one with gray hair. As humans we must go outside of ourselves to find out who we are and to identify ourselves. But God does not go outside Himself to discover who He is. God has created humans to be social creatures. We are not meant to live in isolation as hermits. The academic discipline of sociology is the study of the individual and society. But when humans cut themselves off from God and His Word, we are left to the mercy of society to provide us with our identity and meaning. So ultimate social meaning can go in one of two directions: (1) individualism or (2) group association. Individuals will find their ultimate significance in their personal accomplishments: success, popularity, romantic attachments, or freedom to live as they choose. If group membership is the ultimate arbiter for determining significance, then collective identity is the most important feature in life. So people will take pride in their ethnic identity, gender, nationality, religious
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