THE PERSONAL, KNOWABLE GOD
If you do not believe in a personal God, the question "what is the purpose of life?" is unaskable and unanswerable.
- J R R Tolkien
"No one will be saved solely because of their acknowledgment of God in nature, but many will be lost because of their refusal of Him as revealed there."
- Sam Storms
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The majority of the world believes in 'God'; some form of 'higher power' or intelligence.
The Bible tells us that all know there is 'a God', and calls this general revelation: anyone has the ability to look out at creation, as well as inside at their own conscience, and understand that there needs to be a Creator.
But, knowing about God,
is not the same as knowing God.
Knowing about God, without knowing God, often leads people to create a 'god in their own image', which is ultimately a false god. All cultures at all times have created a god/gods in their own image, to make up for the fact that the effect (creation), begets a cause (Creator).
In most cultures we see a plethora of gods to explain for the plethora of effects; a rain god, a fertility goddess, a god of war and a goddess of love, and so on.
In other cultures, including today's pervading new age/postmodern/secular culture, rather than worshipping a multitude of gods, we have created an impersonal god; a god that is a 'force' that we are all connected to. In this sense, 'god' is the 'one' and everything in existence is this god expressing itself in all its different aspects. God is not personal, but impersonal. In other words; the universe and god are synonymous.
From these different interpretations you can logically start to see why knowing about God, and knowing God, are not the same thing (for when we merely know about God - we are likely to worship a false god).
Knowing God means knowing Him personally and relationally, and it starts with knowing the right, or, one true God.
"The Life-Force is a sort of tame God. You can switch it on when you want, but it will not bother you. All the thrills of religion and none of the cost. Is the Life-Force the greatest achievement of wishful thinking the world has yet seen?"
- C. S. Lewis
GENERAL REVELATION
What can we tell about the nature of God solely from general revelation, meaning creation and our conscience?
GOD IS BEYOND TIME/SPACE/MATTER
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God is infinite; meaning beyond the limitations of time,
space, and matter.
God is timeless (eternal), spaceless (omnipresent),
and matter-less (spirit).
"The next attribute of God to be considered is His "infinity"; when we say that God is "infinite", the meaning is, that He is unbounded and unlimited, unmeasurable or immense, unsearchable and not to be comprehended. This attribute chiefly respects and includes the "omnipresence" and "eternity" of God; these are the two branches of it; He is not bounded by space, and therefore is everywhere; and He is not bounded by time, so he is eternal: and that He is in this sense infinite appears from His spirituality and simplicity, before established; He is not a body, consisting of parts; was He, He would be finite; for body, or matter, is a creature of time, and not eternal; and is limited to a certain place, and so not everywhere; but God is a Spirit: though this barely is not sufficient to prove him infinite; because there are finite spirits, as angels, and the souls of men; these are created spirits, and have a beginning, though they will have no end; which is owing not to themselves, but to the power of God, that supports them in their being; who could, if He would, annihilate them; and they are definitively in some place, and so, on all accounts, finite: but God is an uncreated Spirit; was before all time, so not bounded by it; and was before space or place were, and existed without it; and so not to be limited to it, and by it.
He is the "first Being", and from whom all others have their being; "Before Him there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Him; yes, He is the first and the last" (Isaiah 43:10 44:6) and therefore there is none before Him nor above Him, to limit and restrain Him: He is an "independent" Being; all creatures depend on Him, but He depends on none; all things are "of" Him, "through" Him, and "to" Him, as the first cause and last end of them: all creatures live, and move, and have their being in Him; but not He in them: men, angels, good and bad, are checked and limited by Him; but not He by them." - John Gill
https://www.monergism.com/infinity-god-his-omnipresence-and-eternity
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GOD IS HOLY, OR UNIQUE
THERE IS NONE LIKE HIM
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The most prevalent belief in today's spirituality (which is appropriated from ancient religions), is the belief that 'all is one'. Everything in this universe is God & God is the sum total of everything we see & don't see.
"Pantheism is the philosophical religious belief that reality, the universe and the cosmos are identical to divinity and a supreme being or entity. The physical universe is thus understood as an immanent creator deity, still expanding and creating, which has existed since the beginning of time." Wikipedia
"Pantheism is the belief that God and the universe are the same things rather than separate things. In other words, 'God is all, and all is God. God is total of all that has ever or will ever exist."
Many Taoists, Buddhists, Hindu's, and pagans are pantheists. Usually without realizing it, most people in the New Age have adopted this worldview from these ancient religions. Pantheism is a form of worshipping creation, rather than the Creator.
It is a way of substituting God with created objects, which God calls idolatry.
Because God is infinite, He is also said to be transcendent, which simply means that God is exceedingly far above creation and is both greater than creation and independent of it. - Gotquestions
Creation is a living testimony to God's glory, power, and divine attributes; when we say that creation and Creator are one, we basically remove God all together.
God is a God of order, and hierarchy is part of His divine order. Humans have rebelled against God's divine hierarchy for nearly as long as we have existed; rather than be humbly and happily submitted to God; we wanted to be God(s), when we ate from the tree of knowledge. Satan is the one who promoted and tempted (and temps!) us to rebel against God's divine order; 'all is one' and the end to separations and distinctions; man and woman are the same and even interchangeable; dark and light, good and evil don't exist except in our minds - are all ways we rebel against God's order.
Pantheism is atheism masquerading as spirituality. If everything is sacred; nothing is sacred. If you had sex with your wife, but also with all other women, your marriage doesn't mean anything. Separation, distinction, definitions, and hierarchy is how our cosmos is ordered, by God. To remove these distinctions, is Satan's grande agenda.
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God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.
Genesis 1:4
If everything would be God; there would be no God.
This is what it means that God is holy; He is wholly different, separated from, and infinitely higher than His creation! He is unique, and nothing and no-one is like Him! This, is what makes God, God.
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Satan first, and humans after him, were envious of this fact. To say that Creator and creation are equal, on the same level, is basically to kill God - or at least attempt to....
Science has confirmed what the Bible has revealed thousands of years ago; that the universe had a beginning. Creation is an effect, and an effect begets a cause. If the universe and God were synonymous, it means that someone had to create God.... because creation begets a Creator!
The universe, or creation, is the effect, and God is the cause.
The uncaused cause.
https://www.gotquestions.org/pantheism.html
https://creedalandlovingit.wordpress.com/2017/11/04/a-moral-challenge-to-pantheism/
https://www.ncregister.com/blog/why-pantheism-stifles-science-and-christianity-does-not
https://www.learnreligions.com/what-is-pantheism-700690
https://carm.org/hinduism/the-ethical-incoherence-of-pantheism/
GOD IS INTELLIGENT, PERSONAL & RELATIONAL
Just like a cat is unable to lay eggs, and gravity will never produce art.... intelligent, personal (possessing a mind, emotions, and will), and relational beings (humans) cannot come from an impersonal 'force', but only from a personal creator God.
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Life does not come from non-life.
Intelligence does not come from non-intelligence.
And personal beings do not come from an impersonal force.
Like begets like!
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"Let us make man in our image"
The trinitarian God (Father, Son and Spirit) in Genesis 1:26
https://www.patheos.com/answers/is-god-a-person
https://www.compellingtruth.org/is-God-a-person.html
https://lifehopeandtruth.com/god/is-there-a-god/intelligent-design/dna/
GOD IS MORAL
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Our conscience is one of the most revealing natural revelations!
Our conscience is God's law, written on our hearts.
Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, show that they know His law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it. They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right.
Romans 2:14-15
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Our sense of right and wrong is not arbitrary, nor did it come about by evolutionary processes. Morality is an objective, transcendent truth (yes, even when different people groups seem to have different moral codes of conduct...), and where there is an objective, transcendent law, there is an objective, transcendent law giver!
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Has the wind ever given you a speeding ticket?
Has gravity ever scolded you for telling a lie?
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No. Forces are not personal, whereas moral laws, are.
This means that the objective, transcendent lawgiver, is also, at His core, deeply personal, relational.
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Morality is not a product of sociocultural evolution
Differing opinions on right vs wrong does negate objective moral law
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The moral law is a reflection of God's character
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Darkness and light are not equal!
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A SHOCKING CONCLUSION
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Did you know all we can deduct from natural, general revelation (nature), describes the God of the Bible (YHWH)
to a T?
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This means that even even we did not have a Bible, we could infer from creation (general revelation), that God is;
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transcendent
meaning separate from His creation: the universe - time space and matter - had a beginning. therefore it is not infinite, and whatever (or, Whoever) created it, had to be timeless spaceless and immaterial. we can therefor not say 'God is all and all is God', equating God and the universe with one another (pantheism). this excludes buddhism, hinduism, taoism and all religions and spirituality based on transcendentalism and mysticisms, where we are 'God experiencing itself'.
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holy
unique, there is only ONE God. Why? God is infinite, and there can only be one infinite (supreme, greatest, most high) Being
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personal
our conscience testifies that there is a personal law giver, not an impersonal force, that we are all morally obligated to
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FROM GENERAL REVELATION TO SPECIFIC OR SAVING REVELATION
While general revelation (creation and conscience) can teach us about God, only special, specific revelation leads to saving revelation, meaning, revelation that is sufficient to reconcile us to the God we have separated ourselves from through sin.
God has given us special revelation in the written Word (Scripture) and the incarnate Word (Jesus Christ) as a bridge between acknowledging God and worshipping God; bowing our knee, our opinions, and our conduct to the almighty God.
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Without Jesus dying for the sin that caused separation between man and God, relationship with the living God is impossible. For those who have some awareness of God (through general revelation), this will either lead us into idolatry (creating a false god(s) in our minds), or, if we love the truth, it will eventually lead us to the cross and into a relationship with Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
God never meant to be a far off, esoteric, conceptual God. He wants to be our heavenly Father, the one we call on, cry out to, lean into, and know personally relationally and intimately as the One who formed us in our mothers womb and sustains our every breath and enables our every move.
Outside of Jesus Christ, we can never have an accurate knowledge of God in this current, fallen world and in our fallen state.
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Outside of Christ, we will call God love, or universal energy, or the divine essence of all things.
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Outside of Christ, God will forever remain an anonymous, amorphous, unknown God.
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We will thank our lucky stars, or say things like 'life is so good to me', or 'I am so blessed'...
...without ever knowing the Person behind those blessings.
As Christ, God came to us who had turned their backs and their hearts far from Him.
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As Christ, God died for us like a mother would die for her children so that they may live.
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As Christ, God showed us His true beauty - His mercy and forgiveness.
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As Christ, God gave us a 'face' and a 'name', so that even in our fallen state we may know Him and see Him and follow Him - all the way into His full glory and presence, also known as Heaven.
Only when we accept the free gift of salvation, that Jesus paid for with His own life, can we truly know and worship God, rather than useless idols made in our own image, and enter the kingdom of Heaven, now partially, and in the future for all eternity.....
“Once you become aware that the main business that you are here for is to know God, most of life's problems fall into place of their own accord.” J I Packer
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https://www.samstorms.org/enjoying-god-blog/post/10-things-you-should-know-about-general-revelation
https://www.compellingtruth.org/saved-general-revelation.html