Hello, Pastor John. My name is Jacob, a college senior. I'm reading your book, A Peculiar

Glory, and looking forward to your new book, Reading the Bible Supernaturally. My question

comes from chapter 12 of A Peculiar Glory. If it isn't God who shines the light into

darkness, how is it that we as humans are responsible then for knowing God? I may have

misinterpreted something along the way, but this seems like a legitimate question in

light of Romans chapter 1 verses 18 to 23. Pastor John, what would you say to Jacob? Jacob

is absolutely right that I argue in peculiar glory that all human beings are spiritually

blind to the superior value of the glory of God, which means that left to ourselves,

we will see the gospel, see Christ, see Scripture, but not see it or see Him for what it truly

is, namely the most beautiful, valuable reality in the world. So we can see, but there's

something wrong with our spiritual capacities to discern the beauty and value of what

we see, so that we always wind up preferring other things over God, seeing we do not see

Jesus said. That's the essence of sin, and it's the plight of every human being, not

just a few. The only hope, therefore he noticed, I argued, for salvation, for recognizing who

Christ is and what his word is, the only hope for this salvation, therefore is that God

would miraculously shine in our hearts with the light of the glory of God, and the text

that he's talking about, mainly I think, at least as the text I go to, is 2 Corinthians

4, verses 4 through 6, where our blindness and God's supernatural intervention is so beautifully

expressed. Let me read that. The God of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers

to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image

of God. Hence, our inability to see the truth and beauty and worth of Christ in the gospel

were blind. Then, verse 6 is the solution. God, who said, let light shine out of darkness,

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