Dear friend,
That’s like saying, “What’s so bad about a lie?” Basically, this is what a heresy is. What is so bad about it is that it is not the truth. Truth is simply the acknowledgment of what is. The lie is the denial of what is, and eventually is always seen for what it is not. To live without concern for truth is to live in utter chaos.
To deny any truth about God, is to refuse to give Him the acknowledgment we owe Him. This is what worship is: the acknowledgment of the truth of who He is. He came first. So He must come first. He is not just a bigger version of us. That He would actually become one of His creatures and suffer and die for their benefit is beyond our ability to fully fathom. Such a thing would never occur to us. Even the Jews who worshipped the one God didn’t expect such a thing. As Scripture says, ‘ God’s ways are not our ways” (Isaiah 55:8-9)
Your students’ starting point in all this is themselves with their very limited view, and how they see things. It isn’t surprising that they are questioning God and measuring Him by their standards. When we begin with God, we question ourselves and measure ourselves by His standards.
Big difference!
Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.
