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WhatlsGod?
(Continued from page 6)
reason, psychologically, why they
want to avoid the subject. Jn other
words, the average person has an
unrealized passive hostility against
God. Without realizing it actively,
they want God to "keep his nose
out of their business"- except at a
time when they are in deep trouble
and they cry out for God's help.
Spiritual things-inv isib le
things- are a mystery to them.
They do not understand those
things, real though they are,
because tbey cannot see them.
T hey remain a deep mystery so
they deny their existence.
There was a cause for this wi ll ing
ignorance. And the Bible clearly
tells us that cause, which is dual :
1) what occurred prehistorically;
and 2) what God himself instituted
following the original sin of Adam.
All this (to be explained in the next
two chapters), and the CAUSE of al!
the escalating evils of today's world,
are clearly revealed by God Almigh–
ty in his Word the Holy Bible, This
will be made plain as we progress.
But first, what does the Bible
reveal about WHO and WHAT is
God?
1t
is
only
in this inspired
book that God reveals himself. But
mankind in general has never
believed God-that is,
what God
says!
God spoke face to face, per–
sonally, to Adam and Eve, the first
created humans. T hen he allowed
Satan to approach them. Satan got
to Adam through his wife. Our
original parents believed Satan
when he said, "Ye shall
not
surely
die," after God had said , "Thou
shalt surely die" upon stealing the
forbidden fruit.
When Jesus Christ spoke on
earth 4,000 years later, only 120
people believed what he said (Acts
1:15), though ·he preached his mes–
sage from God to multiple thou–
sands.
No wonder, then, not one of
these religions, sects and denomi–
nations, except the small and perse–
cuted Church founded by Jesus
Christ (A .D. 3 1), starting with that
120, believe God, which means
these others do not believe what
God says in his Word. God's Word
plainly reveals who and what God
is! But there is a reason for their
October 1985
ignorance. This will be made clear
as we proceed.
Just WHO and WHAT, then, is
God? How does he reveal himself?
Already I have quoted the apostle
Paul saying to the Athenian intel–
lectuals that God is the Creator,
who designed, formed, shaped and
created MAN.
The prophet Isaiah quotes God
himself, saying: "To whom then will
ye liken me, or shall
l
be equal?
. . . Lift up your eyes on high, and
behold who hath created these
things, that bringeth out their host
by number: he calleth them all by
names by the greatness of his might,
for that he is strong in power; not
one fai leth" (lsa. 40:25-26) .
Read this in the J ames Moffatt
translation in modern En-
law- his
way of /ife- is
the way of
GIVING, not GETTING, which is the
way of this world.
But what is God
like?
WHO is
God? There have been many con–
ceptions. Sorne believe God is
mere!y the
good
or good intentions,
within
each human-merely sorne
part of each human individual.
Sorne have imagined God was sorne
kind of idol composed of gold or
silver, or carved ou t of wood, stone
or other material. The Israelites
thought, whi le Moses was com–
muning with God on Mount Sinai,
that God was, or looked like, a
golden calf.
Many think God is a single indi–
vidual supreme Personage. Sorne
thi nk he is a spirit.
glish:
e
l
" 'To whom will you -.._•
....¡~----------------"
compare me, then, and
equal me?' asks the Majes-
t ic One. Lift high your
f you
kDOW
what a man
eyes, look up; who made
1 k t•k
k
h
t
•
these stars? he who mar-
00 S 1
e, you
DOW W
a
IS
shals them in order, sum-
the form and shape of
moning each one by name.
For fear of him, so mighty
God, for he made man in bis
and so strong, not one fails
image, after bis very likeness!
to appear."
Further, God himself
says to the skeptics: "Now, the Eter–
na! críes, bring your case forward,
now, Jacob's King cries, state your
proofs. Let us hear what happened in
the past, that we may ponder it, or
show me what is yet to be, that we
may watch how it turns out; yes, Jet
us hear what is coming, that we may
be sure you are gods; come, do some–
thing or other that we may marvel at
the sight!- why," taunts God to the
doubter, "you are things of naught,
you can do nothing at all!" (Isa.
41:21-24, Moffatt.) These scriptures
reveal God's power, but not what
God is, in a manner to make him real
to the reader. Other scriptures must
do that.
God, Creator of Universe
God is Creator of ALL-of every–
thing in the vast universe- the
stars, the galaxies in endless space,
this earth, man and everything in
the earth.
That is WHAT God is- what he
does!
He CREATES! He designs,
forros and shapes. He gives LIFE!
He is the great GIVER! And his
But the generally accepted
teaching of traditional Christianity
is that God is a "Trinity"- God in
three Persons: Father, Son and
Holy Spirit, which they call a
"Ghost." The word
trinity
is not
found in the Bible, nor does the
Bible teach this doctrine. But more
about that later.
God in Prehistory
Now let' s go back to the very
beginning, in prehistory.
If you were asked where in the
Bible to find the very earliest
description of God in point of the
time of his existence, you probably
would say, " Why, in the very first
verse in the Bible, Genesis l : l , of
course." Right?
Wrong!
In time-order the earliest revela–
tion of WHO and WHAT God
ÍS
is
found in tbe New Testament: John
l:
l.
"In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. Al!
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