Who is God? #3 – The Father

In the previous articles in this series, I have shown that God has revealed himself to be three in person, but one in nature.  The persons of the Trinity are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Who is the Father?

The Father
Does God, the Father, really have a big white beard, and look like an old grandfather?

Have you ever stopped and thought about it?  What image comes to mind when you think of the Father? Forget the big white beard, when you picture the father, what color of skin does he have?  Do you even picture a body? Does he have a body?  Is it wrong to picture God this way?

I think most people picture a human father figure when they hear mention of God the Father, and God the Son.  This makes sense because we are taking the experiences we know from our human families and applying them all to God.  When it comes to God the Holy Spirit, however, we usually don’t have a mental image of a body in our heads.  Often times, we don’t picture anything, which is rightfully so, because spirits are not objects.  But in all honesty, all three, God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are by nature Spirit, and do not have bodies.  John 4:24 says, “God is Spirit.”  However, Jesus, the Son, assumed a human nature.  So Jesus, now and forevermore has a human body.  The Father and the Holy Spirit do not.

Malachi 2:10 says, “Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us?”

James 1:17-18 says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.”

Many Christians can easily recognize that God as a Father is good, that he does give to us generously, that he cares for us, and that he meets our needs.  But for some Christians, and for many who are not Christians, this is hard to understand because they did not have an earthly father, or their earthly father was abusive, or negligent, or unloving, or distant.  If that happens to be you, I highly recommend Donald Miller’s book, Father-Fiction, which was previously entitled To Own a Dragon.

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Don’t All Religions Lead To God?

Don’t All Paths Lead to God?

Considering that people who suggest this ideology expect a God who is loving and completely good, and that these people honestly don’t want anyone to suffer for eternity, then sentiments like this one, that all religions lead to God, are easily understood.  Who wouldn’t want everyone to be spared from an eternity in hell?  If Hell is worse than the most painful, brutal suffering of this life extended for eternity, kind and compassionate people probably would have some grace to spare, even for Hitler.  The thought goes that so would an all-loving, good God.

If the question being asked revolves more around Hell and the love of God, then please look for other blog posts and articles. This post will focus more on the plausibility that all paths are equally true and valid paths to the divine or ultimate reality, whatever that may be.

What do the different paths say about the nature of God?

Hinduism essentially teaches that everything in the universe is divine.  Everything consists of the same divine, imperishable source, or energy, known as Brahmin.  This source is essentially impersonal, yet it is the make-up of all things in this life – water, air, earth, flesh, and etc.

Buddhism according to the traditional teaching of the Buddha is considered an atheistic religion with no divine being or source.  Everything, just, is, yet is always undergoing change.

Judaism teaches that the Lord revealed in the Tanakh (the Christian Old Testament) is the one true God.

Christianity teaches that the Lord revealed in the Old Testament is Lord, yet the New Testament reveals God through the person of Jesus Christ.  The Old Testament reveals God to be one in essence but three in person, yet this teaching isn’t fully revealed until the incarnation (the taking on of flesh) of the second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ.

Islam accepts the teachings of both the Old and New Testament according the Quran, however, most Muslims will say that these written words from Allah have been distorted and changed.  Muslims claim that Jesus was not divine, that he was not the Son of God, that Jesus was a prophet and only a prophet.  At the same time, Muslims reject the doctrine of the Trinity.

religious paths
Do they all lead to the same mountain peak?

These are just a brief look at five of the world’s major religions’ teachings on the nature of God.  Based on the law of logic known as the law of non-contradiction, two statements that directly contradict each other cannot both equally be true.  They both can be false, but both statements cannot be true.  To put this into an equation, A cannot equal Non-A.  To plug in two of the teachings just mentioned into this equation, we see that, Jesus is God incarnate (Christianity) cannot equal Jesus Christ is not God incarnate (Islam).  From this example it must be concluded that both of these statements cannot be true statements.  However, both statements could be false.

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Have I been educated? – by Carolyn Caines

Here is the video for those of you who can’t read, or don’t like to read:

HAVE I BEEN EDUCATED? by Carolyn Caines

If I learn my ABCs, can read 600 words per minute, and can write with perfect penmanship, but have not been shown how to communicate with the Designer of all language …. I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I can deliver an eloquent speech and persuade you with my stunning logic, but have not been instructed in God’s wisdom…. I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I read Shakespeare and John Locke and can discuss their writings with keen insight, but have not read the greatest of all books — the Bible — and have no knowledge of its personal importance… I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I have memorized addition facts, multiplication tables, and chemical formulas, but have never been disciplined to hide God’s Word in my heart …. I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I can explain the law of gravity and Einstein’s theory of relativity, but have never been instructed in the unchangeable laws of the One Who orders our universe …. I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I can classify animals by their family, genus and species, and can write a lengthy scientific paper that wins an award, but have not been introduced to the Maker’s purpose for all creation, …. I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I can recite the Gettyburg Address and the Preamble to the Constitution, but have not been informed of the hand of God in the history of our country …. I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I can play the piano, the violin, six other instruments, and can write music that moves men to tears, but have not been taught to listen to the Director of the universe and worship Him, … I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I can run cross-country races, star in basketball and do 100 push-ups without stopping, but have never been shown how to bend my spirit to do God’s will, …. I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I can identify a Picasso, describe the style of da Vinci, and even paint a portrait that earns an A+, but have not learned that all harmony and beauty comes from a relationship with God, …. I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I were to graduate with a perfect 4.0 and am accepted at the best university with a full scholarship, but have not been guided into a career of God’s choosing for me, …. I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I become a good citizen, voting at each election and fighting for what is moral and right, but have not been told of (or believe) the sinfulness of man and his hopelessness without Christ,… I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

However, if one day I see the world as God sees it, and come to know Him, Whom to know is life eternal, and glorify God by fulfilling His purpose for me, THEN I HAVE BEEN EDUCATED!

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Who is God #2

The Doctrine of the Trinity

Scripture provides two truth statements concerning who God is: “There is only one God” and “That one God exists in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit”.   These two statements appear to contradict each other, but they do not contradict.  This is called a paradox.  If the teaching is expressed as God is one, but not one; God is three, but not three, then this would be contradictory teaching, because one must be one.  One cannot not be one! Three must be three.  Three cannot not be three!

There isn’t a contradiction with the Trinity because essentially it is taught that God is one “what” and three “who’s”.  The “what” is the divine substance, or essence, of God.  Substance is the deity.  There are three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who are one in substance.  It could be expressed as saying that God is one (one divine substance) in three persons.  The word person does not refer to being human either.  Person simply refers to someone, not something, who is distinct and recognizable with a self-conscious, able to think and act on his own.  It is with this understanding of “person” that the doctrine of the Trinity states that God is three in person and in substance.

The following video helps to illustrate this doctrine with citations to many verses from the Bible.

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Contradict Movement

“-We just recognize that the religions of the world contradict each other in their fundamental teachings. We are Christians who believe Jesus’ claim to be the way, the truth, and the life– the only way to the Father (John 14:6)”…

For two years I have been going once a week to the “Freedom of Speech Area” at the University of California Irvine and sharing the message in the video I have posted for this project.  There have been about ten different people who I have done this with and we have found this to be a very easy way to begin personal conversations with strangers about the Gospel message of Jesus Christ.

We set-up a table with a “Contradict” banner with various religious symbols spelling the word and we offer all the students passing by free Starbucks coffee.  Plenty of students stop for coffee and each night several of them stay for lengthy discussions about faith differences.  Sometimes, we are mistaken to be atheists, because many people interpret the sign to mean that we are against all religions, but that isn’t the case; we just recognize that the religions of the world contradict each other in their fundamental teachings.  We are Christians who believe Jesus’ claim to be the way, the truth, and the life– the only way to the Father (John 14:6) is true!  This usually creates an interested audience for further discussion, and why not, there is free coffee involved and it’s a personal conversation, not a bull-horn speech.

I have taught World Religions and Christian Apologetics for three years at a private Christian high school in Southern California.  I have found that before the class most of my students know very little about any religion besides Christianity, and I have found that the majority of the college students at UCI are also uninformed about many of the world’s most prominent religions, but that they are very interested to know more.

My goal is to write a book, Contradict -They Can’t All Be True, to equip Christians to share the teachings of various religions by evaluating their apparent contradictions as a catalyst in sharing the trustworthiness of the truth-claim found in John 14:6. The message can be shared in numerous ways as the Holy Spirit leads, but there is a desperate need at this present time to contradict the popular misconception that all religions are true and in fact, lead to the same end goal.

My hope is that there will be as many “Contradict” stickers backed with knowledge and Christ-like hearts as there currently are “Co-Exist” or “Tolerance” stickers. I hope and pray that Christians who have the sticker will be able to share the message that accompanies it.  The message of the love and truth of Christ in a hungry and thirsty world, desperate for unconditional love and grace.

The book is being self-published with WestBow Press, a Christian publishing company that is a division of Thomas Nelson.  Your pledges will contribute to  the vision and cost of self-publishing this first book. If the set goal is surpassed, additional funds will go towards producing more videos and creating artwork within the book.  Once the project is completed on Sept. 13th, I will be given the opportunity by Kickstarter to request mailing information from all backers so I can ensure you receive your reward.  Each person who pledges will receive a “Contradict” sticker to help spread the Word/word.

Update on this blog post: The Kickstarter pledge goal was met, but now you can still get Contradict stickers and endorse the movement at http://contradictmovement.org/t/stickers

Graphic Layout by Daniel Martinez.

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