1. God is known by his public but also personal revelation.

God, being who he is, gets to choose how he makes himself known. He could have revealed himself to all people by TV, skywriting, an aduible voice or visions. He hasn't chosen to do that. Instead, he focussed his revelation of himself through people learning about a unique person, called Jesus of Nazareth. You can read about Jesus or hear about him from someone who is already a follower. Jesus demonstated himself to be no ordinary human. He had control over nature and lived a life of love. He gave up his life for the wrong doing of the human race. As God, he was able to pay for the life of anyone who turns to him. He came back to life again from the dead, body and all. He was new and different, yet the same physical man, who was more than just a man.

God has chosen that the way for any human to be forgiven and restored to friendship with him is to trust the person of Jesus: trust that he has wiped out their debt with God; trust that his teachings are the right way to live; trust that he gives his followers a new life now and in heaven.

So Jesus is the focus of God's revelation of himself today. More broadly, God has made himself known in three main ways. They are through the nature, the nation of Israel and the promised Messiah called Jesus. These are objective aspects of the universe and history that are open for investigation. However, Christianity also says that ultimately God remains God in the way we come to know him. He is sovereign in revealing himself so that from his perspective, he makes himself known to those he chooses to. That personal revelation to an individual is something another person may enquire about but in the end it is not something another person can grasp fully. We can't enter another person's head and experience their experience. The personal nature of experience is also true for other things such the subtleties of how you know your parents are displeased with you, how you actually feel in a particular new social situation or why you love a person. Some aspects can be articulated but the total package is quite a personal experience.

So there is a private dimension to God's revelation that means we can't ultimately put God in the science lab for examination. Of course, we'd expect God to remain God, since he is God! This private aspect of God's revelation, will still primarily happen through the route of those three public avenues of revelation: nature, Israel and Jesus. However God is not bound to only use these three normal paths. He may potentially choose to reveal himself to an individual in remote China or Iran through a vision or other means. Those personal experiences may appear to a skeptic like bogus experiences we hear about all the time where the face of Jesus supposedly appeared in the snow. Yet, like it or not, many false trails in the woods do not mean that there isn't any legitimate trails. Also, I don't think we are expected to accept the truth of every extraordinary personal claim. I remain fairly skeptical of most.

So God reveals himself to people – that's from his perspective. However, we can also look at the process from the human side of things as well. From our perspective it is those who actively seek that will find him. Those he has chosen will find him. For those who knock, the door will be opened. This is a real and tangible choice that we make. It carries with it the full weight of responsibility. How the investigation proceeds depends on the inner will and desires of the person. Is she investigating to sincerely find out if there is a God to bow down to and serve? Or is she actually trying to keep God at arms length despite the appearance of seeking.

We might prefer the whole process to be objective from start to the very end but ultimately we don't get to choose how it all works and God's way is God's way. It is easy to say, "That doesn't seem fair or fit with the way I'd expect things to be." However, this is where humility comes in. God is not like us but just a little bit bigger. He is in another category altogether. Can you step aside from your instinctive gut reaction and try to think about it another way?

Even within an atheistic worldview, a similar sort of problem exists. The atheist still has to ask the same question, "When I make a choice is it an illusion or am I actually getting to 'decide' anything for myself." Many atheists, but not all, say "No, we don't have free will, we don't make real decisions – it is an illusion in a deterministic universe." Why whinge against theism when you face the same issues/questions in a godless universe.

Let's do a thought experiment though. Imagine a fish called Jane in a fishbowl. Jane experiences reality. She explores her universe, the fishbowl. She may have a pretty exhaustive knowledge of the bowl but this perspective is limited. Jane is also limited by her mental capacity – she's only a fish with the stereotypical short memory and short lifespan. Clearly she is not going to grasp very much about the human being outside the fish bowl who made the bowl. Of course Jane won't know the mind of the human who is outside her experience. For us, God is just an element of our universe. His presence is well beyond our little "tank", though he is intimately involved here. We can't expect to grasp him totally. Though he has made himself known to us accurately, this is not exhaustive. Our mental capacity is not up to the job of thinking from his vantage point. We are his creatures not the creator. The Bible says we are the clay and he is the potter. Who are we to question God? Humbling isn't it?

We are used to the paradigm where 'control' is an 'either-or'. Either I am in control or you are. The more I give up control to you, the less control I have myself. With God, there are other dimensions he can bring into the equation. He can offer us choice and control, while still retaining choice and control himself. It is a 'both-and' situation for him.

Our whole perspective is skewed since we so easily make simpleminded comparisons to what we already know. When I make a robot, I control it. I can say it is 'out of control' when it doesn't do what I want it to do. However, God has far more resources at his disposal. In fact, the whole universe and much more is at his disposal. So he doesn't need to relinquish control when he also gives control to another.

Jesus saw God's sovereign choice and our responsibility as compatible and wasn't afraid to teach it in public:

And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. John 6:39-40

We have a real choice to make for ourselves. Will we seek Him or not? Will we choose to humble ourselves and come to him on his terms?