WHO IS GOD?
Who do you think God is for you? Most of us would say that,
He is the ultimate, invincible, omnipotent being constantly monitoring our actions whether we act according to His will or against it. If you are the latter, then you will be punished and sent to hell and burned in eternal damnation.
We also would describe Him as,
A Supreme Entity Who is eternally loving and merciful.
When we say eternally loving and merciful, we would mean somebody with overflowing and endless outpouring of unconditional love and mercy.
Both definitions are accepted and presented by major church leaders to their followers. However, these definitions are contradictory to each other which lead us to this question,
‘If God is eternally merciful, and eternally loving, why does he send me to hell? Will He not show mercy to me? I thought He has unconditional love and mercy.’
And this other question,
‘If He is eternally merciful, and eternally loving, why does He include innocent children dying in calamities?’
Another definition would be,
‘He is the Powerful and Ultimate maker Who can create anything and can do everything.’
which also leads to this question,
‘If God is so powerful and can CREATE ANYTHING and can DO EVERYTHING, can He create a stone so heavy that He can’t lift?’
Answering yes or no to the above question would usually end up jeopardizing your belief because, let us face it, how can a God who CAN CREATE ANYTHING and CAN DO EVERYTHING not be able to LIFT a heavy stone that He created when in fact He is supposed to be able to DO ANYTHING? I think this becomes already so confusing that we need to dissect the question one at a time. Here are the arguments:
Let us say that you accept as a fact that God is powerful and can create anything and can do anything because if you don’t, there is no point of arguing. Since you agree to that belief, hence, your answer would be a resounding YES to the following questions:
Do you believe that God can create anything?
YES
Do you believe that God can do anything?
YES
Since He can create anything, can He create a stone?
YES
Since He can do anything, can He lift that stone that He created?
YES
Here is the tricky part,
Can He create a stone so heavy that He can’t lift?
If your answer is YES, then,
Can He lift that stone?
If your response is No, then your God CAN’T DO EVERYTHING. Since He is unable to lift that stone, therefore your God is not that powerful after all.
If your answer is “Yes, He can lift that stone”, then your God CAN’T CREATE ANYTHING since He was supposed to create a stone so heavy that HE CAN’T LIFT. Therefore, your God is not that powerful.
Ask your local priest or pastor on this, surely you will be answered with “You can’t put God in the context of human understanding”, and other alibis that won’t answer your question at all. The easiest way for them to answer these types of queries is to blame it to God, like “That is how God wants it to be. He wants to remain a mystery”. Or the worst thing that could happen will be a reprimand from your church leader for questioning God’s power. Or, are they just giving you vague responses because they don’t know the answers at all? Well, He is a mystery alright, but it does not mean that you don’t have the right to ask about His being.
In order for us to answer these questions, we need to understand who God really is.
Who is God?
Traditionally, we understand God as a separate entity who oversees everything. He is the creator, and other religions may view Him as a destroyer as well. He is the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega. He is the one who created Adam and Eve, as well as the one who cast them away out of Eden
Most people view calamities as punishment or God’s wrath. Some people can’t even help but blame Him for including innocent children in disasters.
“If He really is omnipotent, ever loving and merciful, why the need to include these innocent kids?”
These are typical characteristics of God whom most people believe in. We are brought up to revere a God who provides abundantly, but punishes furiously. We can’t discount the fact as well that this belief has helped mold our society. We have effectively instilled a fear in everybody that if they are not doing God’s will, they will surely be sent to the fiery pits of hell.
However, don’t you think God deserves more than just human qualities? God is far better than what we usually think of Him.
Now, I will introduce you to a God who has helped me a lot in understanding myself, and more importantly, the universe and how it works. Don’t get me wrong. You might think that I am introducing a new religion. No. I am not going to create a new religion.
This may sound strange, but what I am going to present to you is a concept of my personal God since, in the end, it is not a matter of what you believe but your personal relationship with your God. Let me just reiterate that I am not asking you to share the same ideas with me. I just want you to be open. Who knows, we might just be sharing the same views about God.
What if I will tell you now that God is actually a Goddess? This statement will surely freak you out especially if you are a male chauvinist. I warned you that this would not be that easy. As I have mentioned earlier, we will not be talking about a traditional God.
How about this? “The true God is the Sacred Tree being venerated by some nature worshippers.” What do you think? You might be wondering right now if I am making sense but the truth is, you would agree with me if you believe that,
GOD IS EVERYTHING
AND EVERYTHING IS GOD
When I say, God is everything and everything is God, what I mean is that God is the totality. He is the summation of all seen and unseen. He is the universe. To put into an analogy, God is like a human body, where in you, me, the trees, the birds, the air, the planets, the stars, the moons, the galaxies, the atoms, the cells, and everything you can ever imagine, form part of the body of God. You are a part of God. The tree is a part of God.
God can be everything because everything is God. And since God can be everything, He can be a She, or a Tree, or a Sheep, or a Stone. Hence, don’t discriminate those people who worship the trees, or the birds, or a Goddess because in a way, they are still worshipping, in essence, God.
Is it now making sense to you why people would say God is in the trees, or in the air, or in the person of your neighbors? There was a movie that presents this type of God as well which mentions
“The kingdom of God Split
Also, the Bible passage [Matthew 25:40],
“The King will reply, I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me”,
would also now make sense because if you injure others who are actually part of God, then you are harming God as well.
Going back to the question stating that,
“If God is so powerful and can CREATE ANYTHING and can DO EVERYTHING, can He create a stone so heavy that He can’t lift?”
Can we now answer this question? Interestingly this query can be answered easily. However, since they are not able to find a suitable response that will satisfy our inquisitive minds, religious fanatics, and even church leaders, would waste your time in arguing the validity of the question itself rather than focusing on providing you the answer you need.
It is undeniable that the question seems to be an example of the Fallacy of Contradictory Premises – two or more statements accepted to be factual but with opposing declarations. However, if you do understand who God is and if you really believe that He can do anything and can create anything, your answer would be this:
“Since God can create anything, He can create a heavy stone. And since God can do anything, God can make Himself a fragile being and then tries to lift the stone."
Would He be able to lift that stone? As a weak individual, of course not! But He would be able to do it if He would change Himself to an Almighty Weight Lifter. With this answer in mind, God will always remain all powerful. That was easy, right?
We have already tackled, shall we say, the “physical characteristics” of God. This time we shall try to discuss His “emotional properties”. However, before I proceed, you might notice that I am referring to God as a male entity, using pronouns such as “He”. I am not trying to be gender-biased here but I am just referring to God as majority of the people would generally refer to Him, as Him.
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