Understanding theChristian God: MyPerspective.
If I am asked, anytime, what
man’ s greatest invention of all time is, without hesitation, the
cyberspace (internet and
websites and all that soft-tech
shebang) would be one of my
immediate answers. I started my
memorable “webcapades” when I was barely into my teens,
consider the simple fact that
browsing the internet was five
shillings per minute and my lunch
money was worth a mere four
minutes at the cyber café. Anyway, I digress. When it comes
to questioning the existence,
“personality” and the nature of the Christian God, I am a
fundamentalist. I simply believe
that God is good, all the time.
And all the time, God is good
and that is His nature. Period.
Questioning my theism is a no- no. However, this has not been
without its fair share of
challenges. Last week, while listening to Kris
Kraayenoord’ s masterpiece, God of the moon and stars, some
atheist, or better put, a
humanist, commented and
questioned the very rationale of
Christianity. Wrote he, “He created Adam. Tempted him to
the tree of knowledge, by an
apple, through the woman. He
succumbed to the serpent and
fell. He banished them from the
Garden of Eden and put fiery angels to guard the garden.
Then He killed his son to save
the same man…that is the Christian God for you.” I was shocked to say the very least.
The atheistic courage and
inquisitiveness of this man’ s imagination was beyond my
understanding. I paused for a
curious minute to fathom the
pithiness in these words, if any. I found a lot of frailties and
misinformation in the words of
the curious cat. One, God never
tempted Adam to the tree of
knowledge. God simply armed
Adam with the best gift He gave man. Choice! Man shares in
God’ s moral nature (or does not). Sigmund Freud believed
that the constant conflict
between man’ s id, ego and super-ego determines whether
we indulge in morality or
otherwise. I agree with both the
Freudian psychodynamic theory
and the logic behind it. Adam
was responsible for the original sin, and we are responsible for
our subsequent sins which
hitherto have created a pitiable
continuum of illicit sex, murder,
abortion, hatred, you name it.
So, dear curious cat, God did not choose for Adam. Adam
chose for Adam. The Christian
God is a one of love and choice
is part of love. Two, God did not “kill” His only begotten son for the sake of it.
For your information, Jesus died
for our, yours and mine, sins. If
it were not so, then, we would
have been banished from the
very love that God has for us. The love that the father has
for us is beyond mortal
understanding. Casting Crown’ s Who am I? asks the question as
to why God would be so kind,
merciful and gracious to forgive
us of our sins, even as we
continue committing them, by
omission and commission. What love? Romans says we all have
sinned and fallen short of the
glory of God, but the hand of
God again, is not so short as
not to bless! Neither is his
hearing impaired that He cannot hear. God let Jesus die for us,
because He loved and loves us.
The greatest trait of
Christianity certainly is love. And,
God is love. Over the years, people have
associated the Christian God,
with several “ungodly” traits. Some says He is harsh. Example?
He withdrew His spirit from Saul
after he offered sacrilegious
sacrifice against His will. But
what does the Bible say about
this perspective of Him? Obedience is better than
sacrifice. If only we could be
willing and strong enough to
follow the laws of God, how
wonderful would the world be?
At times, I agree that our spirits are indeed willing but our flesh
is weak, but certainly we can
push ourselves a little harder
and see the benefits of waiting
upon God and obeying His word. Some say He is jealous. Very
true. God says He is a jealous
God and adds that we are not
to have other God’ s besides Him. That is self-explanatory. We
cannot sublet our hearts
between God and other wants.
As hard as it may seem, giving
God our hearts is not all that
hard. It only takes a prayer and belief. So, dear, let go of the
common excuse of “God will understand”. If only we could give Him our all. How marvelous
would it be? Idolatry does not
have to entail falling prostrate
to other God’ s and idols. No. It means loving something or even
someone more than your
spiritual God. Pal, reconsider. Finally, the Bible has created a
lot of questions about the
nature of Christian God. Problem
is, while most of us are so up to
speed with such questions from
the Bible, very few of us are willing to seek the answers from
the same book that poses the
questions. Reading the Bible is a
complex process. Read the poem
below, (from the New King James
Version of the Bible). I believe, partially, this note demystifies
the nature of the ever-loving
God for you. Moreover, read
your Bible. Day by day. The very
nature of God will be revealed
to you. Bit by bit. All the best as you consider this worthwhile
endeavor. HOW READEST THOU? It is one thing to read the Bible
through,
Another thing to read to learn
and do.
Some read it with design to
learn to read, But to the subject pay but little
heed.
Some read it as their duty once
a week,
But no instruction from the Bible
seek; While others read it with but
little care,
With no regard to how they
read, nor where.
Some read it as a history, to
know How people lived three thousand
years ago.
Some read to bring themselves
into repute,
By showing other how they can
dispute; While others read because their
neighbours do,
To see how long ‘ twill take to read it through.
Some read it for the wonders
that are there,
How David killed a lion and a
bear;
While others read it with uncommon care.
Hoping to find some
contradictions there!
Some read as though it did not
speak to them,
But to the people at Jerusalem. One reads it as a book of
mysteries,
And won’ t believe the very thing he sees.
One reads with father’ s specs upon his head,
And sees the thing just as his
father said.
Some read to prove a pre-
adopted creed,
Hence understand but little that they read;
For every passage in the book
they bend,
To make it suit that all-
important end!
Some people read, as I have often thought,
To teach the book instead of
being taught,
And some there are who read it
out of spite
I fear there are but few who read it right.
So many people in these latter
days,
Have read the Bible in so many
ways
That few can tell which system is the best,
For every party contradicts the
rest!
But read it prayerfully, and you
will see,
Although men contradict, God’ s words agree.
For what the early Bible
prophets wrote,
We find that Christ and his
apostles quote:
So trust no creed that trembles to recall
What has been penned by one
and verified by all.
man’ s greatest invention of all time is, without hesitation, the
cyberspace (internet and
websites and all that soft-tech
shebang) would be one of my
immediate answers. I started my
memorable “webcapades” when I was barely into my teens,
consider the simple fact that
browsing the internet was five
shillings per minute and my lunch
money was worth a mere four
minutes at the cyber café. Anyway, I digress. When it comes
to questioning the existence,
“personality” and the nature of the Christian God, I am a
fundamentalist. I simply believe
that God is good, all the time.
And all the time, God is good
and that is His nature. Period.
Questioning my theism is a no- no. However, this has not been
without its fair share of
challenges. Last week, while listening to Kris
Kraayenoord’ s masterpiece, God of the moon and stars, some
atheist, or better put, a
humanist, commented and
questioned the very rationale of
Christianity. Wrote he, “He created Adam. Tempted him to
the tree of knowledge, by an
apple, through the woman. He
succumbed to the serpent and
fell. He banished them from the
Garden of Eden and put fiery angels to guard the garden.
Then He killed his son to save
the same man…that is the Christian God for you.” I was shocked to say the very least.
The atheistic courage and
inquisitiveness of this man’ s imagination was beyond my
understanding. I paused for a
curious minute to fathom the
pithiness in these words, if any. I found a lot of frailties and
misinformation in the words of
the curious cat. One, God never
tempted Adam to the tree of
knowledge. God simply armed
Adam with the best gift He gave man. Choice! Man shares in
God’ s moral nature (or does not). Sigmund Freud believed
that the constant conflict
between man’ s id, ego and super-ego determines whether
we indulge in morality or
otherwise. I agree with both the
Freudian psychodynamic theory
and the logic behind it. Adam
was responsible for the original sin, and we are responsible for
our subsequent sins which
hitherto have created a pitiable
continuum of illicit sex, murder,
abortion, hatred, you name it.
So, dear curious cat, God did not choose for Adam. Adam
chose for Adam. The Christian
God is a one of love and choice
is part of love. Two, God did not “kill” His only begotten son for the sake of it.
For your information, Jesus died
for our, yours and mine, sins. If
it were not so, then, we would
have been banished from the
very love that God has for us. The love that the father has
for us is beyond mortal
understanding. Casting Crown’ s Who am I? asks the question as
to why God would be so kind,
merciful and gracious to forgive
us of our sins, even as we
continue committing them, by
omission and commission. What love? Romans says we all have
sinned and fallen short of the
glory of God, but the hand of
God again, is not so short as
not to bless! Neither is his
hearing impaired that He cannot hear. God let Jesus die for us,
because He loved and loves us.
The greatest trait of
Christianity certainly is love. And,
God is love. Over the years, people have
associated the Christian God,
with several “ungodly” traits. Some says He is harsh. Example?
He withdrew His spirit from Saul
after he offered sacrilegious
sacrifice against His will. But
what does the Bible say about
this perspective of Him? Obedience is better than
sacrifice. If only we could be
willing and strong enough to
follow the laws of God, how
wonderful would the world be?
At times, I agree that our spirits are indeed willing but our flesh
is weak, but certainly we can
push ourselves a little harder
and see the benefits of waiting
upon God and obeying His word. Some say He is jealous. Very
true. God says He is a jealous
God and adds that we are not
to have other God’ s besides Him. That is self-explanatory. We
cannot sublet our hearts
between God and other wants.
As hard as it may seem, giving
God our hearts is not all that
hard. It only takes a prayer and belief. So, dear, let go of the
common excuse of “God will understand”. If only we could give Him our all. How marvelous
would it be? Idolatry does not
have to entail falling prostrate
to other God’ s and idols. No. It means loving something or even
someone more than your
spiritual God. Pal, reconsider. Finally, the Bible has created a
lot of questions about the
nature of Christian God. Problem
is, while most of us are so up to
speed with such questions from
the Bible, very few of us are willing to seek the answers from
the same book that poses the
questions. Reading the Bible is a
complex process. Read the poem
below, (from the New King James
Version of the Bible). I believe, partially, this note demystifies
the nature of the ever-loving
God for you. Moreover, read
your Bible. Day by day. The very
nature of God will be revealed
to you. Bit by bit. All the best as you consider this worthwhile
endeavor. HOW READEST THOU? It is one thing to read the Bible
through,
Another thing to read to learn
and do.
Some read it with design to
learn to read, But to the subject pay but little
heed.
Some read it as their duty once
a week,
But no instruction from the Bible
seek; While others read it with but
little care,
With no regard to how they
read, nor where.
Some read it as a history, to
know How people lived three thousand
years ago.
Some read to bring themselves
into repute,
By showing other how they can
dispute; While others read because their
neighbours do,
To see how long ‘ twill take to read it through.
Some read it for the wonders
that are there,
How David killed a lion and a
bear;
While others read it with uncommon care.
Hoping to find some
contradictions there!
Some read as though it did not
speak to them,
But to the people at Jerusalem. One reads it as a book of
mysteries,
And won’ t believe the very thing he sees.
One reads with father’ s specs upon his head,
And sees the thing just as his
father said.
Some read to prove a pre-
adopted creed,
Hence understand but little that they read;
For every passage in the book
they bend,
To make it suit that all-
important end!
Some people read, as I have often thought,
To teach the book instead of
being taught,
And some there are who read it
out of spite
I fear there are but few who read it right.
So many people in these latter
days,
Have read the Bible in so many
ways
That few can tell which system is the best,
For every party contradicts the
rest!
But read it prayerfully, and you
will see,
Although men contradict, God’ s words agree.
For what the early Bible
prophets wrote,
We find that Christ and his
apostles quote:
So trust no creed that trembles to recall
What has been penned by one
and verified by all.
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