God is… (Gen 1:1-2)

The God Debate

In 1935 George Gershwin wrote the musical Porgy and Bess in which he included the following song-

It ain’t necessarily so, It ain’t necessarily so. The things that your liable  to read in the bible, It ain’t necessarily so!

It is interesting that the current ‘God debate’ – something that we often consider to be a new phenomenon has been going on for years. It may feel hot at the moment but it is by no means new.

60 years ago, the famous thinker and writer C. S. Lewis wrote -

‘The ancient man approached God (or even gods) as the accused person approaches his judge. For the modern man the roles are reversed. He is the judge: God is in the dock. He is quite a kindly judge: if God should have a reasonable defence for being the god who permits war, poverty and disease, he is ready to listen to it. The trial may even end in God’s acquittal. But the important thing is that Man is on the Bench and God in the dock’ C. S. Lewis ‘Difficulties in presenting the Christian Faith to modern unbelievers’ Lumen Vitae, vol III (September 1948) pp421-426.

As we look back from today's viewpoint we can see how right he was, and that things are still the same. In the current heated debate, God is in the dock and man is the judge. The debate seems to be over 2 things. Firstly through the media, politics and popular journalism the nature of God is up for grabs (as seen in our debates over tolerance, different faiths etc). But secondly, the very existence of God is much in debate, chiefly and most loudly through four people.

• The Oxford scientist Richard Dawkins¹ who recently wrote ‘The God Delusion’ has spoken a lot about religion and Christianity. His hypothesis is that the idea of God is a product of evolution that now needs removing. God is but a delusion that leads to wickedness and evil.
• The journalist and author Christopher Hitchens² who wrote a book called ‘God is not great’. He has 4 main objections to the Christian faith and religion; that it completely misrepresents the origins of man and of the universe, that because of this it manages to combine the maximum of servility with the maximum of solipsism (the idea that only the self can be proven to exist), that it is both the result and the cause of dangerous sexual repression, and that it is ultimately grounded on wish-thinking.
• Daniel Dennett³ is an American philosopher who recently wrote ‘Breaking the spell – religion as a natural phenomenon’
• Sam Harris⁴ is a Philosopher and neurologist who has written a number of books including a ‘letter to a Christian Nation’

All 4 of these authors (who appear in a video discussing the opposition they have faced over these books humorously called ‘The four horsemen’ ) have created an awful lot of heat, controversy and publicity for the cause of atheism particularly in the western world.

This talk is not the place for dealing with there arguments in any detail – but some helpful information, links and articles can be found in the appendix to this talk and in the ‘atheism – the current debate’ page on this site.

But for now, it is helpful to say 3 things.

1. This is not a new phenomenon and has been going on a long time. It may be the first time we have felt atheist opposition with such heat, but it has been mirrored throughout history. The church and the gospel still stands.
2. ‘He who shouts the loudest’ … generally has grasped the culture they are speaking into. The low tone for the light house fog horn is used because it travels the furthest, so it is with people speaking into culture. The arguments will be heard and the books sold because the tell our society what our society wants to hear (or else they wouldn’t sell and make money). Of course the same could be said of the church in certain points of history, and there are even points within these books where I have sympathy with some of their arguements as they oppose some extremes of historical Christendom.
3. Does the Church need to worry about it? Does God worry about it? The answer to that of course is dependent upon the God we have.

Knowing God

This debate is one reason amongst many why it is so important to revisit the issue that the Bible claims is the fundamental purpose for humanity – to know God. The nature of God and what it means that we can know him is so important and central that we at Bethany City Church are going to be spending 8 weeks looking at it. And it should be an exciting journey. We will be thinking about the God who is –

1. …creative!
2. …like no-one else!
3. …all-knowing!
4. …the absolute!
5. …multi-personal!
6. …love!
7. …listening!

But, before we worry that we will be bamboozled by theological language and left with an understanding of dry doctrine and theology, lets get one thing straight. This is intensely practical stuff.

Time and time again in the book of Proverbs we hear the phrase ‘the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom’ or ‘the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge’, or ‘understanding’, or it ‘lengthen ones’ life’ (10:27), leads to ‘security’ (14:26) etc. The book of proverbs sees how important to practical living that we have a right understanding and attitude towards God.

That may be well and good we may say, but fear!?

The word fear does not mean “terrified” or consumed. The word the Bible uses for that is a different word. This fear means a right reverence before the awesome God. This is the fear that leads to life.

Look at Proverbs chapter 1.

In v7 we read ‘Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Only fools despise wisdom and discipline’. Later in the same chapter King Solomon revisits the issue but this time by picturing God’s wisdom as a person.

In Proverbs 1:28-33 we hear what wisdom has to say.

Those who ‘hated knowledge and chose not to fear the Lord’ (v29), ‘rejected my advice and paid no attention when I corrected them’ (v30). ‘They will eat the bitter fruit of living their own way’ (v31). ‘But all who listen, who fear the Lord will live in peace and safety, unafraid of harm.’ (v33)

And wisdom is not complementary to those who do not fear the Lord – they are simpletons, fools and complacent.

And that is what we are about in this series. We are faced with a choice – we are confronted with either knowing God, or of living without him – and King Solomon makes clear, the outcomes are intensely practical.

So, lets start from the beginning

God is…

It all starts with the first 4 verses of the whole Bible.

Genesis 1:1 - ‘In the beginning God’

There are many things about the Christian faith that we find hard to understand and difficult to take on board. Personally, I think this is the most significant. ‘In the beginning God’. Before the existence of the universe, before the world was, God. It is that blunt.

Every single atom of every single element or compound or every single planet, star, organism or lump of rock in the universe is made up of subatomic particles – Electrons, Protons and Neutrons. There is no substance in the universe that is not made up of these. But God is not of this – he is wholly other, not confined by the laws of science that dictate how these behave.

Every cell in our body has been made from these subatomic particles. The lens of the eye is needed in order for us to take in information that will lead to our understanding of reality – even lead to our understanding and acknowledgement of God – or not. But God doesn’t depend upon lenses of eyes to see – he just is. Even when the Bible speaks of him ‘looking down from heaven’ it is spoken of in human words (theological word - anthropomorphism) so we can understand from our cell upon cell existence.

We human beings need certain very specific factors to be in place in our environment for us to live. We are extremely fragile beings. The earth has a very thick atmosphere which is what makes it look blue from space. It is the only planet in our solar system in which you can find water in liquid form – absolutely essential for life. The earth’s diameter is approximately 12.700 kilometres and it is 150million Kilometres from the Sun. This means, if the earth were the size of the head on the goal line of a football pitch, the sun would be a tennis ball on the penalty spot. We are dependent upon these dimensions for life on earth to be possible and therefore for us to live. But God is completely other than us, separate, different. He is not dependent upon conditions to be right. He just is.

And yet planets like the one on which we live are just dots in the stretches of space – flecks of sand in the Sahara desert. In fact, there are more stars and planets in the universe than grains of sand on the earth. Just take a look at some of the photos taken by the Hubble telescope.

All of this, from the biggest to the smallest has a beginning, a beginning in the hands of a God who has no beginning – the God who is. What a claim! What a God!

And of course, we can only really know this God, know who he is and what he is like because he has revealed himself to us in and through his creation. He is ‘other’ than the universe he created, he is outside of it but he chooses to reveal himself to us in and through it.

‘I am who I am’

Like in Exodus Chapter 3 – a turning point in mankind’s understanding of God. Even before this point in the plot of history and the bible, God had been known by mankind. He was the God of the ancestors of Moses – and Moses knew him to be an awesome powerful God. But now he reveals himself to Moses in the flames of a bush that is not burning. Moses is terrified (v6).

After God has told Moses the task he has for him – to lead his people out of Egypt, Moses begins to see he potential problems and pitfalls to God’s plan. He needs reassurance

“Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” (v13)

In other words – who are you really? What are you like? What sort of a God are you?

And God’s answering is mind blowing and very telling.

Notice that he doesn’t say’ I am a God like such and such’, he doesn’t say ‘well I’m a little like this, or like that’, he doesn’t give a list of characteristics. What he does say, which is slightly confusing to our ears, is

“I am who I am” (v14)

He then repeats it in shortened form in by saying ‘I am has sent me’.  When God names himself, he names himself with a name that doesn’t so much emphasise the existence of God as the unsearchableness of God, the otherness of God. He is the one who is other. The God who is – ‘I am’.

The Hebrew word we translate as I am means ‘to be’. Because God is!

But God is…what?

Though not fully expanded in Ex 3, the implications from the rest of the Bible are clear. For now, here are four implications.

• God is…always present.  As previously mentioned, God’s name has a clear link with the word ‘to be’. God, as opposed to having a beginning and an end, is – he always has been and always will be. As opposed to many other myths and legends of the birth of the gods, he always has been as we thought a few minutes ago. If you were to sit with a pen and write how many years God has been in existence, you would keep adding zero’s and be here forever. We find this so hard – our finite brains can’t comprehend the eternal. But is that a surprise?

Try putting your two clenched fists together. That is the size of your brain. How could you ever comprehend the God who always has been in that?

God is, that’s all!

But what kind of eternal existence does God have. The context in Exodus 3 helps us to understand that his existence is an active one – he is the God who is always active

• God is…always active.Look again at v12. God says to Moses that he will be with him. This is more than just an acknowledgement that God is behind and in all things (theological word – Omnipresent) as we have just thought, but it is that he is always active. He was actively with Moses. Because of God’s nature, he is always there, acting in line with his character – the characteristics of which we will think about over the coming weeks.

The Psalmist puts it like this –

‘Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.’ (Psalm 139:7-10)

God is actively involved in all things at all times in accordance with his character. Lets be honest, this leaves us with more questions that answers like ‘How can God be involved in disasters, wickedness and evil’ But we should expect to find it a little baffling shouldn’t we - that is what we would expect from the God who just is!

• God is…always independent.  But surely, God didn’t need to say “I will be with you” if that is his nature. The thing is God is also always independent. Later on in Exodus he says this

“I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion” (33:19)

In other words, ‘I show myself, and my grace exactly and only where I choose.’ He is independent

In Psalm 135:6 it says – “The Lord does whatever pleases him throughout all heaven and earth, and on the seas and in their depths.”

God is always independent, he does whatever pleases him, where and whenever he likes.

• God is…always sufficient.  But lots of us are independent minded, but God is also always sufficient. Everything he wants to do happens because he is both independent and sufficient. Which of course means he is always sufficient for everything we need? He is all powerful (theological word – Omnipotent) – as the verse in Psalms 135 said, he does whatever he pleases. When God says to Moses – I promise to rescue you, he does. He is the God of the universe.

I am who I am – the God who is.

Conclusion

So where does this leave us?

There are obviously a huge number of implications – a life times worth in fact, but here are a few to get us going.

Don’t put God in the Dock -

We are going to enjoy this journey of investigation into knowing God together, the God who is. But what we are not doing is what C. S. Lewis condemned right back at the beginning – we are not putting God in the dock. After all we have considered, how ludicrous would that be!

Think hard on knowing God –

Certainly, we have much to think about, much to investigate and we must think hard, but we are not judging God. He is the judge, we are his creation. But just think for a second. We are thinking about ‘Knowing God’. Doesn’t it seem ridiculous and amazing that we can even consider knowing this God? Us, tiny spots on a tiny planet in a huge universe can know the God who is and was and is to come, the God who is always present, always active, always independent and always sufficient but has shown himself to us and revealed himself to us because he loves us and wants to know us. It is a humbling experience to be faced with the reality of the living God.

Worship him -

And we should respond in worship. A right reverent fear of God.

This of course means a number of things – but it means ultimately bowing before him. You might never have done that. He has made it possible for you to do that today, and live, because of his son Jesus. Will you? And it is not a once off experience. We must live lives of worship with a consuming adoration of God, which means exclusive allegiance towards him, God-ward action and service and a Christ-like attitude towards all he has done and made.

As we bow the knee before the God who is.

Looking forward to the journey?

¹  A helpful critique of Dawkins 'The God Delusion' can be found in 'The Dawkins Delusion: Atheist fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine' by Alister McGrath (SPCK publishing, 2007)  There are plenty of other helpful resources online.  Try visiting BeThinking.org.

² Christopher Hitchens brother, Peter has written a response to his book - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/newscomment.html?in_article_id=459427&in_page_id=1787&in_a_source  This is worth a look, from someone very close to him.  For a thorough response from someone who has debated with Hitchens, visit this blog - http://www.markdroberts.com/htmfiles/resources/godisnotgreat.htm  He is an American Pastor and theologian.

³ Daniel Dennett.  Try this for size http://www.breakpoint.org/listingarticle.asp?ID=2442  Dennett has been going for years so there is loads of stuff on the web on his books.

⁴  Sam Harris.  Recently a book called 'Letter to a Christian Nation: Counter point' has been brought out.  Written by R.C.Metcalf and published by iUnivers, INC in the US, it looks interesting.  Metcalf was himself brought up in a atheistic home but is now a Christian and a Scientist.  I've not read it, but it looks good!