ChristianConsFurryGuy
Member
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2019
- Messages
- 58
Since I was neither a pastor or a philosopher, my take on God might seem unprofessional. As a layman thinker my take on God will seem simple to some, but since many who might read this may also be of similar learning, perhaps my insight on the Almighty might have some revelation.
In this world of diversity, we see a lot of people who have different views on God as well as names they believe are his name. Just as there are so many different cultures and races, we also have an assortment of beliefs or lack thereof.
The God I believe in is the one that comes from the Bible; his living word. Some skeptics are willing to say that the Bible is just a fabrication of fallible men and shouldn’t be taken as holy scripture and written through inspiration from God to man. It shouldn’t be a surprise or a shock that people should doubt the bible, despite the fact that it is one of the oldest, most accurate, and best selling book in all of history. Despite this, many still will say that the word of God is nothing but human imagination.
I find that odd cause when I often tell people how the Bible to me is also a source of earthly wisdom, they scoff at the notion as well. When one reads the bible, even if they are not a believer, the words are alien to our form of thought. There is a great deal that scripture conflicts with what we think or believe such as the concept of forgiving those that hurt us. Jesus himself said, “for if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” (Matthew 6:14, Mark 11:25, John 20:23 NIV). Scripture tells us that instead of being bitter and hateful to those who are against us, we should in fact forgive them. How on earth can earthly man consider such a thing? How could fallible men write about something that other fallible men couldn’t comprehend or consider ridiculous? Such a contradiction should be obvious to anyone who tries to read the Bible: If it is not wise to us, then it must be of God. For is it not written: “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom…” (1 Corinthians 1:25 NIV). So if the bible contradicts human wisdom, perhaps it is of a wisdom not of this world, hm?
The truth of the matter is that we all believe in God. Deep down there is that part of us that acknowledges something greater than ourselves. Even an Agnostic or Atheist believes enough in God to attempt to dismiss him. The problem is that our beliefs are as diversified as the cultures, races, nationalities and gender orientation this world carries. We still, however, carry that one tidbit that is ingrained into your psyche: We all acknowledge in some degree to a creator.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that what everyone perceives God is true. Our various religions and beliefs all differ and how we see the world beyond us ranges from the sublime to the strange. Some people believe we all just become reunited with some abstract godhead and become one with the universe. Others believe we just reincarnate and how we lived our past life determines what our new life becomes.
As for me, I see my faith in God a bit differently. Like I showed before, when I compare what the bible says about how we should worship God and conduct our lives, some will see that as stupid. The reason why so many people can’t or won’t understand the bible is cause it doesn’t follow our current way of thinking in this earthly world. Maybe that’s why I feel like the God of the Bible is true—because maybe God, who sees all and knows all, thinks in ways we can’t fathom in our earthly intelligence. Maybe cause God is something more than just an abstract force or being, he might know something more than our linear thinking minds can grasp.
God’s Omnipotence and Omnipresence
Omnipotence basically means “All-powerful”, which states that he can do anything. If you really sit back and think of what that means, It really makes you think about who God really is.
As a student of animation, I see God as an artist, and the canvas he paints on is our existence. God exists outside of the canvas and paints upon it, creating and fabricating a beautiful work of art. He is not bound to the confines of that canvas, and the Canvas cannot dictate to God what he should or shouldn’t paint.
“In the Beginning you laid the foundations of the earth” (Psalms 102:25) Which tells us how God was the creator of the Earth. However in the book of Job “For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings.” (Job 34:21). Also in Proverbs, “For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord…” (Proverbs 5:21)
The same goes for God in our universe. He exists outside of the scope of time, space, and existence—primarily because he created them. Because he created it, he can tell it what to do and not the other way around. We cannot dictate to God that we should have been born as Brad Pitt anymore than a fly can tell God it wants to be a man. If God can do whatever he wants to what he creates, then that gives me a good idea about what makes God all-powerful.
This also has the benefit of his Omnipresence, which is the concept that he can be everywhere and anywhere in the universe. It falls back to the same analogy as the canvas. Since God created all of the universe from his perch in heaven, it stands to reason that he also sees and exists in the same space. He can look at that canvas and see the stars and planets, even the minute details of Earth and the creatures that dwell on it. Every brushstroke that he made is there for him to enjoy.
God’s Omniscience
Time to us seems linear and static. We currently exist, and we remember memories of the past, and look towards the future. Sometimes we see the future with uncertainty and dread. We are born, lived and eventually die. Such is the nature of Time to us.
As I mentioned in the previous section, I describe as best I can how God sees existence like an artist paints on a canvas. God in the same way sees Time somewhat differently than we do since he exists out of time—I mean, he did create time after all. “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega’ says the Lord God, ‘who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.’” (Revelation 1:8) Through this, we see that God states that from the beginning of creation to the end, he is always going to be there, since he exists outside the time he created.
Imagine if you will a flipbook: one of those old paper books that when you thumb through them rapidly, creates the illusion of movement. Now imagine that flipbook as depicting your entire life, from birth to death. We as finite beings in that flipbook can only perceive the now, and remember what was. We cannot look forward to the end of the book. God, however, existing outside of that flipbook, can. In fact, he probably sees it more as taking the flipbook apart and laying out the individual frames all in a neat orderly set, and can see everything from beginning to end.
God once spoke to the Prophet Jeremiah, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee…”(Jeremiah 1:5 KJV) This can only be possible that God would have an awareness of time that only a being that exists outside of time could have. And if God could do this for one of his children, that means he knows all of us before we were born—He loved us even before we ever were born, and he knows when we will live and when we will die. One who meditates on such a statement must also wonder what a intimate depth God knows about us, as well as makes us aware that God knows what we are going to do in our lives. That is why God loves us so much.
Since God who exists outside of time can see the flow of time in our lives, can he not see the beginning and the end of our world? Though my analogy may seem simple, It makes me think of just how different God perceives all of existence from his God-eye view than from our short sighted senses. “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
In this world of diversity, we see a lot of people who have different views on God as well as names they believe are his name. Just as there are so many different cultures and races, we also have an assortment of beliefs or lack thereof.
The God I believe in is the one that comes from the Bible; his living word. Some skeptics are willing to say that the Bible is just a fabrication of fallible men and shouldn’t be taken as holy scripture and written through inspiration from God to man. It shouldn’t be a surprise or a shock that people should doubt the bible, despite the fact that it is one of the oldest, most accurate, and best selling book in all of history. Despite this, many still will say that the word of God is nothing but human imagination.
I find that odd cause when I often tell people how the Bible to me is also a source of earthly wisdom, they scoff at the notion as well. When one reads the bible, even if they are not a believer, the words are alien to our form of thought. There is a great deal that scripture conflicts with what we think or believe such as the concept of forgiving those that hurt us. Jesus himself said, “for if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” (Matthew 6:14, Mark 11:25, John 20:23 NIV). Scripture tells us that instead of being bitter and hateful to those who are against us, we should in fact forgive them. How on earth can earthly man consider such a thing? How could fallible men write about something that other fallible men couldn’t comprehend or consider ridiculous? Such a contradiction should be obvious to anyone who tries to read the Bible: If it is not wise to us, then it must be of God. For is it not written: “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom…” (1 Corinthians 1:25 NIV). So if the bible contradicts human wisdom, perhaps it is of a wisdom not of this world, hm?
The truth of the matter is that we all believe in God. Deep down there is that part of us that acknowledges something greater than ourselves. Even an Agnostic or Atheist believes enough in God to attempt to dismiss him. The problem is that our beliefs are as diversified as the cultures, races, nationalities and gender orientation this world carries. We still, however, carry that one tidbit that is ingrained into your psyche: We all acknowledge in some degree to a creator.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that what everyone perceives God is true. Our various religions and beliefs all differ and how we see the world beyond us ranges from the sublime to the strange. Some people believe we all just become reunited with some abstract godhead and become one with the universe. Others believe we just reincarnate and how we lived our past life determines what our new life becomes.
As for me, I see my faith in God a bit differently. Like I showed before, when I compare what the bible says about how we should worship God and conduct our lives, some will see that as stupid. The reason why so many people can’t or won’t understand the bible is cause it doesn’t follow our current way of thinking in this earthly world. Maybe that’s why I feel like the God of the Bible is true—because maybe God, who sees all and knows all, thinks in ways we can’t fathom in our earthly intelligence. Maybe cause God is something more than just an abstract force or being, he might know something more than our linear thinking minds can grasp.
God’s Omnipotence and Omnipresence
Omnipotence basically means “All-powerful”, which states that he can do anything. If you really sit back and think of what that means, It really makes you think about who God really is.
As a student of animation, I see God as an artist, and the canvas he paints on is our existence. God exists outside of the canvas and paints upon it, creating and fabricating a beautiful work of art. He is not bound to the confines of that canvas, and the Canvas cannot dictate to God what he should or shouldn’t paint.
“In the Beginning you laid the foundations of the earth” (Psalms 102:25) Which tells us how God was the creator of the Earth. However in the book of Job “For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings.” (Job 34:21). Also in Proverbs, “For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord…” (Proverbs 5:21)
The same goes for God in our universe. He exists outside of the scope of time, space, and existence—primarily because he created them. Because he created it, he can tell it what to do and not the other way around. We cannot dictate to God that we should have been born as Brad Pitt anymore than a fly can tell God it wants to be a man. If God can do whatever he wants to what he creates, then that gives me a good idea about what makes God all-powerful.
This also has the benefit of his Omnipresence, which is the concept that he can be everywhere and anywhere in the universe. It falls back to the same analogy as the canvas. Since God created all of the universe from his perch in heaven, it stands to reason that he also sees and exists in the same space. He can look at that canvas and see the stars and planets, even the minute details of Earth and the creatures that dwell on it. Every brushstroke that he made is there for him to enjoy.
God’s Omniscience
Time to us seems linear and static. We currently exist, and we remember memories of the past, and look towards the future. Sometimes we see the future with uncertainty and dread. We are born, lived and eventually die. Such is the nature of Time to us.
As I mentioned in the previous section, I describe as best I can how God sees existence like an artist paints on a canvas. God in the same way sees Time somewhat differently than we do since he exists out of time—I mean, he did create time after all. “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega’ says the Lord God, ‘who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.’” (Revelation 1:8) Through this, we see that God states that from the beginning of creation to the end, he is always going to be there, since he exists outside the time he created.
Imagine if you will a flipbook: one of those old paper books that when you thumb through them rapidly, creates the illusion of movement. Now imagine that flipbook as depicting your entire life, from birth to death. We as finite beings in that flipbook can only perceive the now, and remember what was. We cannot look forward to the end of the book. God, however, existing outside of that flipbook, can. In fact, he probably sees it more as taking the flipbook apart and laying out the individual frames all in a neat orderly set, and can see everything from beginning to end.
God once spoke to the Prophet Jeremiah, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee…”(Jeremiah 1:5 KJV) This can only be possible that God would have an awareness of time that only a being that exists outside of time could have. And if God could do this for one of his children, that means he knows all of us before we were born—He loved us even before we ever were born, and he knows when we will live and when we will die. One who meditates on such a statement must also wonder what a intimate depth God knows about us, as well as makes us aware that God knows what we are going to do in our lives. That is why God loves us so much.
Since God who exists outside of time can see the flow of time in our lives, can he not see the beginning and the end of our world? Though my analogy may seem simple, It makes me think of just how different God perceives all of existence from his God-eye view than from our short sighted senses. “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
