The next phrase from the “Summary if the Catholic faith” for children:
When has God revealed himself to men?
God has revealed himself:
— In the first place, to our first parents.
— Later, in the history of the people of Israel, to the patriarchs and the prophets.
—And finally, through Jesus Christ, who is the fullness of revelation. This revelation is contained in the Bible.
This is a natural follow up on the the second sentence “How can humans know God“. What is interesting here is what is not said. This means that we can know God through his works, the creation, the world, but nature itself is not seen as God’s way of revealing himself. So we have to accept that God does not communicate through nature, like many spiritual leaders seems to think. This solves the problem of evil since whatever nature produces, like viruses or earthquakes, or beatiful landscapes and sunsets, are not God’s way of communicating with us. Instead, it seems we are limited to scripture, to the Bible. This put’s of course the authority of anything outside the Bible in doubd, including interpretations made of scripture. And no need to discuss other religions of course. It’s just out of the question. Again, this is a very helpful way of setting limits to speculations about God’s identity.
Why God chose a partical people and time in history to reveal himself is a mystery. My take on this is that it seems to be that the story in reality tells something about humanity and not a particular people. Jesus is not just a person, but an idea personified in flesh and blood. It’s the evolution from being enslaved, then liberated, establishing a written law, a covenance with God, and then convert the law into an idea of human goodness and love for each other as a liberation of humanity enslaved by evil.
