The Pen is Mightier than the Sword
Does God Really Exist?
Down through the centuries there have always been those who have sought for an answer to the question posed by the title of this article. Nothing has changed. There are still those today who are searching in a Big Universe for a Big God. It may even be that you, as you are reading this article, are asking that very question right now. On the other hand, it could be that we are asking the wrong question in the first place! We shall see.
We have to begin somewhere
If we are going to embark on a detailed search, whatever the subject of that search might be, we will have to begin somewhere. A logical statement, maybe, but the problem very often is – where? Not everyone will begin at the same place. Not everyone will know where that place is, anyway. So before we even begin we have a problem.... where to begin!
It makes some sense, I suppose; though someone is bound to say, “begin at the beginning.” That’s not always as simple as it sounds. We may have to find the beginning before we can begin there! So now we have another problem... where is the beginning?
We opened this article with the statement that there are still those today who are searching in a Big Universe for a Big God, so let us embark on that search and see where it takes us. As we have to begin somewhere, then why not with what could turn out to be quite a provocative question.
Does God really exist?
Here it is, then, the question to stir up a hornet’s nest – does God really exist, or is He a figment of someone’s fertile imagination, which must have been way back in the dim and distant past, for the idea of God has been around a very long time? Alternatively, perhaps one of our early ancestors “planted” the “seed thought” of a Deity, others have worked at it through the centuries, and the idea of God simply “developed” into our present concept.
It certainly is a big question (if indeed it is the right question), and I suspect the answer is an even bigger one, but at least we have started.
I also said the question was a provocative one. There are those reading this article – I can almost hear them already – who are provoked into saying immediately and emphatically, “of course God exists; what a shocking thing to even suggest, to have such thoughts in your mind; how dare anyone cast doubt upon God’s existence” – and they will countenance absolutely no argument or suggestion to the contrary.
My ears are certainly beginning to burn! Serious objections are being raised at this point under the headings of “sacrilege” and “blasphemy”, of “profanity” and “impiety”, and my name is being linked with them all
The hornet's nest is really beginning to stir!
But let me make a sincere request. To those who are seriously objecting (and maybe considering closing this article down without reading further, or even logging off from the Pen4God Ministries website altogether, vowing never to return to it again), will you please reserve judgement until you have read a little further... Preferably to the last sentence! I am no atheist – if there is such a class of person, which I very much doubt (but that is another subject! ) – who is trying to “kill off” God; I am honestly searching in a Big Universe for a Big God and setting my “search” down in this article.
This word “search” does, I realise, imply that the object of such an exercise (in this case, God) must be “lost” in the first place. It is nothing more than implication, I can assure you. In no way have I lost my faith nor have I lost my God. (I know the end from the beginning! I know the outcome of this search! I am playing devil’s advocate!) This “search” is an attempt to validate all that we so often take for granted without question. Just taking things for granted like this – especially taking God’s existence for granted – is not always healthy. Not only do we need to know what we believe, but why we believe is as equally important, too.
The question, then, is simply this: does God exist? There is this first group we have mentions who say “YES” immediately and emphatically, probably without a moment’s thought or hesitation, a spontaneous reaction. Just to say “yes” like this is not satisfactory enough, however. It is too complex a question for such a simple answer. As we have said, it is not healthy. It leaves the way open for the critics of the Christian Faith to say that Christians are “brain washed” into their beliefs. We must be careful.
There are many throughout the world – and by “the world”, at this point, we mean just the earth – who make up our second group, believing in the existence of a Supreme Deity, although the actual name they use may vary from that of simply “God”. It may be Jehovah or Allah, for instance, but at least they believe in Someone “out there” – where ever “out there” happens to be! We might say this second group belong to the POSSIBLY brigade.
A probable third group consists of those who are not very sure about the whole subject anyway, and probably not very bothered, either. They generally prefer to come down on the side of the believer “just in case”, if they are forced to come down at all, that is. They want to “play it safe”, and who can blame them? The world is full of DON’T KNOW folk today. They are in the majority.
Now those who give a positive “NO” (almost as emphatically as the first group’s positive “yes”), God most definitely does not exist in any way, shape or form, and never has existed are very few and far between. I would even venture to suggest that, if they are really honest with themselves as well as with other people, even this minority group at times have their doubts about being so positive, in a negative sort of way! Yet the nagging possibility that there just might be a God somewhere is not sufficiently strong enough for them to join the “maybe, just in case” group.
Basically, then, we have four main groups for this question of God’s existence. They are:
1. The DEFINITELY YES Group; no doubts, no questions, no arguments, no thinking about it, just an unequivocal “yes!”
2. The POSSIBLY YES Group; they may not always use the name “God”, but do accept the existence of a Supreme Deity somewhere.
3. The DON’T KNOW Group; they are not quite sure but will not risk joining our fourth group.
4. The DEFINITELY NO Group; those who probably have a few doubts now and again even though they would never admit it to anyone, not even themselves!
Having provoked a response with the question, and set my ears burning into the bargain, perhaps this is not the best place to begin after all! We may have identified our four basic groups, but we are no nearer to answering our thought-provoking question. Perhaps we are going in the wrong direction!
Where do we go from here?
The Bible says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). But is this acceptable? For the moment it is not! Yet, if we leave aside the Bible, what do we know of God? Precious little, you may say; so where else do we begin if not with the Bible?
In fact, this prompts another question – is the God of the Bible big enough for a big Universe anyway? Think about it for a moment. The Bible confines Him initially to one particular nation – the chosen people, who “came into being at a certain point in time as a league of tribes united in covenant with Yahweh, which subsequently existed as a nation, then as two nations, and finally as a religious community”, as John Bright describes the Jews in his book, A History of Israel. And if you say that God becomes much bigger, more universal, through the advent of Jesus Christ and the birth of Christianity, which is for the whole world (John 3:16), the question then arises: which world?
I said the answer to our initial question would be far more complex than a simple “yes”... or “no”, for that matter. So, which world? Just the earth? What about the Big Universe, and not just our own solar system, either, but all the countless millions and billions of stars and planets way out beyond space, further even than our most powerful telescopes can reach?
Where does God fit in to all this? Should we even try to fit Him in to anything? Have we any right to confine Him to our planet even?
It is logical, I suppose, to assume that the Universe didn’t “just happen”, that behind the regulated order of things (and there is certainly a very precise order, ask any astronomer), indeed, the very act of creation itself (there must have been a beginning of our present system at some time, so let us just call it – for the want of a better word, if there is one! – “creation” for the moment) there must be an intelligent force – or should that be a Superior Intelligent Being who is known to us as GOD, or Jehovah, which is a derivation of Yahweh, or Allah, or any of the many names used by different people?
So we come back again to God... or do we? And is it not a little arrogant of us earthlings to assume also that intelligent life only exists on the planet Earth and no where else in the Universe, and that we alone claim the exclusive right to this Superior Intelligent Being we call God?
(Incidentally, I have my own views concerning the exclusivity of God to Planet Earth, written elsewhere on the Pen4God Ministries website, and which I will divulge later in this article. In the meantime I will continue to play devil’s advocate!)
It may help us to get this matter into perspective. Man’s original conception for countless centuries was that the Earth was the centre of the Universe and that the heavenly bodies, the sun, the moon, the stars, revolved around it daily. Then almost five hundred years ago a man called Copernicus shattered man’s concept of this planet. He stated that the Earth moves around the sun as well as turning on its own axis. The centre of the Universe was therefore moved from the Earth to the sun, and so it remained until comparatively recent times.
During the Twentieth Century this concept has undergone even further radical changes. As Robert Jastrow wrote in the Forward to Neil McAleer’s book, The Cosmic Mind-Boggling Book, “Copernicus removed the Earth from the centre of the Universe and put the Sun in its place. Others took the second step; they removed the Sun from the centre of the Universe and put nothing in its place. There is no centre, they said; the Universe is infinite, and contains an infinite number of stars. Each star is a sun like ours, each has a family of planets.
“These thoughts led finally to the modern picture of a Universe populated by innumerable suns, innumerable earths, and, perhaps, innumerable forms of life. In that image we see the ultimate truth: Man stands at the summit of creation on the earth, but in the cosmic order his position is humble.”
Where, then, does that leave Planet Earth? Way out in space, I suspect! It appears that we must broaden our thinking. Neil McAleer really sets the Earth in its proper place, and channels our thinking into the bargain! “We live in a giant spiral star system, the Galaxy (derived from the Greek word gala, meaning milk, hence the name Milky Way), which has been one of the splendours of the Earth’s night skies since there were eyes to see it. Only in the last half-century has its true nature and size been determined by the patient and persistent work of hundreds of astronomers.
“The Milky Way Galaxy is one of an estimated 100 billion galaxies in the Universe, and one of 30 billion spiral galaxies. It represents about one-trillionth of the Universe, which is like comparing a very small metal screw with the mass of the 100,000-tonne ship of which it is part.”
If we are able to believe that our God is the God of the Universe – we are searching for a Big God in a Big Universe, remember – then He is also God of those who may live on Planet X or Planet Y as well as on Planet E! So where do we go from here?
Ignore the Bible!
I assume (or at least hope) that the hornet’s nest has settled down a little after my request to reserve judgement to the end of this article, so before they start their buzzing again with the rather provocative heading to this section, let me set their minds at rest... and save my ears from further burning!
For the purpose of our search for a Big God it is necessary for us to ignore the Bible for a brief moment. Naturally we must come back to it later, even though this statement presupposes the outcome of our search. At least it proves that there is no deliberate attempt to provoke unnecessarily. We will come back to the Bible, I have no doubt, and quite soon, but not yet.
“It is important for everyone to have a clear understanding of what the Bible teaches about...” These are the words of the opening sentence from a Christian book taken at random from my bookshelf. Similar statements expressed in different ways can be found can be found in many other books on that same bookshelf – the Bible is important and our understanding of it is important, too.
But what is so special about the Bible? Why is it so very important to understand anything from it? Can we not get by without the Bible altogether? I mean, and let us be really honest about it, I can sit down and write a book, liberally pepper it with a selection of “thou shalt’s” and “thou shalt not’s”, season it with some history and pop in a little poetry, flavour it with a few passages of philosophy, then begin with the statement that “it is important for everyone to have a clear understanding of what my book teaches about...” and so on.
What makes the Bible so special? I know it says that every word is is inspired by God the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16), but this is only what the Bible says about itself; and neither does this take into consideration other Holy Books – the Koran, for example, to mention just one. In any case, until we have “discovered” a Big God, the Holy Spirit has no authority in our thinking to inspire anything, let alone the Bible. This is assuming, of course, that the Holy Spirit is part of this Big God, and therefore included as a vital part of our “search”. We shall see!
I know, too, that the Bible is a Book which has been miraculously preserved down through the ages; that men and women have been dramatically transformed by what they have read in its pages – mind you (still playing devil’s advocate), I could name a few other books which have transformed people’s lives, too! But does this make the Bible anything more than simply a unique book?
As we asked earlier, and so we ask again, is the God of the Bible (or the Koran, or any other Holy Book for that matter) big enough for a Big Universe anyway? You could be forgiven at this point for thinking that the heading of this section is turning out to be a bit of a paradox! We begin by suggesting we ignore the Bible, yet we seem to have done nothing in this section so far but talk about the Bible. What qualifies the validity of the heading is that we are talking of the Bible negatively, trying to give reason s for ignoring it.
Christians believe that God reveals Himself to mankind through the Bible. This very belief makes it necessary for us to ignore the Bible at this point and its claims at this stage of our search. This in no way suggests that the Bible is wrong. Indeed, as we have already intimated, if our search for a Big God takes us in the direction I suspect that it might, we will be forced back to the Bible sooner or later – probably sooner.
I must emphasise once again that this is definitely not a blasphemous attempt to “kill off” God. Too many have tried to do that in the pas... and failed! It may even surprise you to know that I firmly belong to the first group described earlier, with the exception I am prepared to seek for a reason to say “definitely yes” rather than give an unequivocal “yes” and simply leave it at that. Incidentally, if I didn’t know myself what this article is setting out to establish, then I, too, would be buzzing around like a hornet trying to defend my God!
Yet, in a sense, this is precisely what I am trying to do, not that God really needs defending. How can the finite defend the infinite? How can a mere mortal defend the Almighty? But remember, we are seeking for a Big God in a Big Universe, so please continue to reserve judgement, join the search, and let us see where it leads us! Be assured, the only provocation in this article is deliberate – it is to provoke fellow Christians into thinking for themselves about a Big God, rather than just blindly accept because we have always done so through the years. Let us make this a personal search.
Your God is too small!
Who creates a puny God? Not the unbeliever. It is the Christian who tries to fit God into his particular mould, presenting so often but a mere shadow of His true glory and majesty. Followers of other Faiths are just as guilty, although we are essentially concerned with the God of the Bible, the Christian concept of God, in this article, even though we are presupposing again. We are looking for a Big God; we may only “find” Him through the eyes of Christianity.
I have met many Christians, and I am sure you have, too, who claim to know all the answers. But do they? God is even forced into a denominational role by some, whilst others make Him exclusive to their particular sect, claiming that they have all the answers. When it really comes down to it all the answers relate to a very small God indeed. Certainly too small for our purposes.
This is no new idea on my part. I make no claim to originality. Others have thought along similar lines. The late J. B. Phillips, for instance, writing in the introduction to his book, Your God Is Too Small, says that “the trouble with many people today is that they have not found a God big enough for their needs.” This is often very true; the fault does not lie with God; so that is why we are engaged in this article in searching for a Big God.
To begin with, neither the Christian Church in general nor the Bible in particular – especially the Bible – will help us at the moment; they will defeat our purpose right at the very beginning. So after all we have said so far, we are back again to asking where we begin; and that is the most difficult question we have asked so far.
I know where we do not begin!
We do not begin by assuming that God exists. We have asked the question right at the outset – does God really exist? – and the immediate answer is neither “yes” nor “no”. The immediate answer must surely be... let’s find out!
The obvious place to begin any investigation or systematic search is at the beginning. So where is the beginning? It is not “in the beginning God” – not yet, at least; but it is “in the beginning Universe”. Perhaps they are one and the same thing. We shall see, providing we know what we mean by the word “universe”, of course.
To start so far back is extremely difficult. There was no one around at that time who can tell us with any accuracy – or was there? Light is beginning to dawn. Have we actually come to the end of our search without realising it? With all our ramifications through this article have we been making discoveries that have answered our question? I believe this may be the case. My personal and immediate reaction is that God was there in the beginning, and He is still around today! So in spite of all the foregoing, can we honestly divorce God from creation? The answer to that has to be NO! When we say, “In the beginning ...” we have to put something there; or should it be Someone? The answer to that has to be YES!
Do you recall my words earlier in this article when I said I had my own views concerning the exclusivity of God to Planet Earth, words that were written elsewhere on the Pen4God Ministries website, and that I would divulge these views later in this article? In the meantime I said I would continue to play devil’s advocate! It is time now for me to come down off the fence! The words written elsewhere really answer our initial question, and confirm (for me, at least) that God really does exist.
The Bible confirms that God alone is the creator of the whole universe – “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). It is interesting to note that of our solar system alone with its many planets, and man’s quest to discover life on these other planets – past life and possible present life forms – that the earth is the only planet referred to in the Bible by name. Jesus Christ came to earth to die for mankind – no other planet is mentioned. Could it be that there never was and never will be life on any other planet, neither in our own solar system nor in any other, because those who inhabit the earth alone are the focus of God’s love?
So there we have it. God created the Universe. It is a Big Universe. It is God’s Universe. Therefore He must be a Big God. We have found our BIG God in this BIG Universe – not that He was ever “lost” in the first place. It may be a cliché with which to end this article, but I believe it is a valid one. If you cannot “find” God in this Universe, if you feel you have “lost” God in your life, if your personal experience at the moment is that God is far away from you, ask yourself this question – who moved?
We have to begin somewhere
If we are going to embark on a detailed search, whatever the subject of that search might be, we will have to begin somewhere. A logical statement, maybe, but the problem very often is – where? Not everyone will begin at the same place. Not everyone will know where that place is, anyway. So before we even begin we have a problem.... where to begin!
It makes some sense, I suppose; though someone is bound to say, “begin at the beginning.” That’s not always as simple as it sounds. We may have to find the beginning before we can begin there! So now we have another problem... where is the beginning?
We opened this article with the statement that there are still those today who are searching in a Big Universe for a Big God, so let us embark on that search and see where it takes us. As we have to begin somewhere, then why not with what could turn out to be quite a provocative question.
Does God really exist?
Here it is, then, the question to stir up a hornet’s nest – does God really exist, or is He a figment of someone’s fertile imagination, which must have been way back in the dim and distant past, for the idea of God has been around a very long time? Alternatively, perhaps one of our early ancestors “planted” the “seed thought” of a Deity, others have worked at it through the centuries, and the idea of God simply “developed” into our present concept.
It certainly is a big question (if indeed it is the right question), and I suspect the answer is an even bigger one, but at least we have started.
I also said the question was a provocative one. There are those reading this article – I can almost hear them already – who are provoked into saying immediately and emphatically, “of course God exists; what a shocking thing to even suggest, to have such thoughts in your mind; how dare anyone cast doubt upon God’s existence” – and they will countenance absolutely no argument or suggestion to the contrary.
My ears are certainly beginning to burn! Serious objections are being raised at this point under the headings of “sacrilege” and “blasphemy”, of “profanity” and “impiety”, and my name is being linked with them all
The hornet's nest is really beginning to stir!
But let me make a sincere request. To those who are seriously objecting (and maybe considering closing this article down without reading further, or even logging off from the Pen4God Ministries website altogether, vowing never to return to it again), will you please reserve judgement until you have read a little further... Preferably to the last sentence! I am no atheist – if there is such a class of person, which I very much doubt (but that is another subject! ) – who is trying to “kill off” God; I am honestly searching in a Big Universe for a Big God and setting my “search” down in this article.
This word “search” does, I realise, imply that the object of such an exercise (in this case, God) must be “lost” in the first place. It is nothing more than implication, I can assure you. In no way have I lost my faith nor have I lost my God. (I know the end from the beginning! I know the outcome of this search! I am playing devil’s advocate!) This “search” is an attempt to validate all that we so often take for granted without question. Just taking things for granted like this – especially taking God’s existence for granted – is not always healthy. Not only do we need to know what we believe, but why we believe is as equally important, too.
The question, then, is simply this: does God exist? There is this first group we have mentions who say “YES” immediately and emphatically, probably without a moment’s thought or hesitation, a spontaneous reaction. Just to say “yes” like this is not satisfactory enough, however. It is too complex a question for such a simple answer. As we have said, it is not healthy. It leaves the way open for the critics of the Christian Faith to say that Christians are “brain washed” into their beliefs. We must be careful.
There are many throughout the world – and by “the world”, at this point, we mean just the earth – who make up our second group, believing in the existence of a Supreme Deity, although the actual name they use may vary from that of simply “God”. It may be Jehovah or Allah, for instance, but at least they believe in Someone “out there” – where ever “out there” happens to be! We might say this second group belong to the POSSIBLY brigade.
A probable third group consists of those who are not very sure about the whole subject anyway, and probably not very bothered, either. They generally prefer to come down on the side of the believer “just in case”, if they are forced to come down at all, that is. They want to “play it safe”, and who can blame them? The world is full of DON’T KNOW folk today. They are in the majority.
Now those who give a positive “NO” (almost as emphatically as the first group’s positive “yes”), God most definitely does not exist in any way, shape or form, and never has existed are very few and far between. I would even venture to suggest that, if they are really honest with themselves as well as with other people, even this minority group at times have their doubts about being so positive, in a negative sort of way! Yet the nagging possibility that there just might be a God somewhere is not sufficiently strong enough for them to join the “maybe, just in case” group.
Basically, then, we have four main groups for this question of God’s existence. They are:
1. The DEFINITELY YES Group; no doubts, no questions, no arguments, no thinking about it, just an unequivocal “yes!”
2. The POSSIBLY YES Group; they may not always use the name “God”, but do accept the existence of a Supreme Deity somewhere.
3. The DON’T KNOW Group; they are not quite sure but will not risk joining our fourth group.
4. The DEFINITELY NO Group; those who probably have a few doubts now and again even though they would never admit it to anyone, not even themselves!
Having provoked a response with the question, and set my ears burning into the bargain, perhaps this is not the best place to begin after all! We may have identified our four basic groups, but we are no nearer to answering our thought-provoking question. Perhaps we are going in the wrong direction!
Where do we go from here?
The Bible says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). But is this acceptable? For the moment it is not! Yet, if we leave aside the Bible, what do we know of God? Precious little, you may say; so where else do we begin if not with the Bible?
In fact, this prompts another question – is the God of the Bible big enough for a big Universe anyway? Think about it for a moment. The Bible confines Him initially to one particular nation – the chosen people, who “came into being at a certain point in time as a league of tribes united in covenant with Yahweh, which subsequently existed as a nation, then as two nations, and finally as a religious community”, as John Bright describes the Jews in his book, A History of Israel. And if you say that God becomes much bigger, more universal, through the advent of Jesus Christ and the birth of Christianity, which is for the whole world (John 3:16), the question then arises: which world?
I said the answer to our initial question would be far more complex than a simple “yes”... or “no”, for that matter. So, which world? Just the earth? What about the Big Universe, and not just our own solar system, either, but all the countless millions and billions of stars and planets way out beyond space, further even than our most powerful telescopes can reach?
Where does God fit in to all this? Should we even try to fit Him in to anything? Have we any right to confine Him to our planet even?
It is logical, I suppose, to assume that the Universe didn’t “just happen”, that behind the regulated order of things (and there is certainly a very precise order, ask any astronomer), indeed, the very act of creation itself (there must have been a beginning of our present system at some time, so let us just call it – for the want of a better word, if there is one! – “creation” for the moment) there must be an intelligent force – or should that be a Superior Intelligent Being who is known to us as GOD, or Jehovah, which is a derivation of Yahweh, or Allah, or any of the many names used by different people?
So we come back again to God... or do we? And is it not a little arrogant of us earthlings to assume also that intelligent life only exists on the planet Earth and no where else in the Universe, and that we alone claim the exclusive right to this Superior Intelligent Being we call God?
(Incidentally, I have my own views concerning the exclusivity of God to Planet Earth, written elsewhere on the Pen4God Ministries website, and which I will divulge later in this article. In the meantime I will continue to play devil’s advocate!)
It may help us to get this matter into perspective. Man’s original conception for countless centuries was that the Earth was the centre of the Universe and that the heavenly bodies, the sun, the moon, the stars, revolved around it daily. Then almost five hundred years ago a man called Copernicus shattered man’s concept of this planet. He stated that the Earth moves around the sun as well as turning on its own axis. The centre of the Universe was therefore moved from the Earth to the sun, and so it remained until comparatively recent times.
During the Twentieth Century this concept has undergone even further radical changes. As Robert Jastrow wrote in the Forward to Neil McAleer’s book, The Cosmic Mind-Boggling Book, “Copernicus removed the Earth from the centre of the Universe and put the Sun in its place. Others took the second step; they removed the Sun from the centre of the Universe and put nothing in its place. There is no centre, they said; the Universe is infinite, and contains an infinite number of stars. Each star is a sun like ours, each has a family of planets.
“These thoughts led finally to the modern picture of a Universe populated by innumerable suns, innumerable earths, and, perhaps, innumerable forms of life. In that image we see the ultimate truth: Man stands at the summit of creation on the earth, but in the cosmic order his position is humble.”
Where, then, does that leave Planet Earth? Way out in space, I suspect! It appears that we must broaden our thinking. Neil McAleer really sets the Earth in its proper place, and channels our thinking into the bargain! “We live in a giant spiral star system, the Galaxy (derived from the Greek word gala, meaning milk, hence the name Milky Way), which has been one of the splendours of the Earth’s night skies since there were eyes to see it. Only in the last half-century has its true nature and size been determined by the patient and persistent work of hundreds of astronomers.
“The Milky Way Galaxy is one of an estimated 100 billion galaxies in the Universe, and one of 30 billion spiral galaxies. It represents about one-trillionth of the Universe, which is like comparing a very small metal screw with the mass of the 100,000-tonne ship of which it is part.”
If we are able to believe that our God is the God of the Universe – we are searching for a Big God in a Big Universe, remember – then He is also God of those who may live on Planet X or Planet Y as well as on Planet E! So where do we go from here?
Ignore the Bible!
I assume (or at least hope) that the hornet’s nest has settled down a little after my request to reserve judgement to the end of this article, so before they start their buzzing again with the rather provocative heading to this section, let me set their minds at rest... and save my ears from further burning!
For the purpose of our search for a Big God it is necessary for us to ignore the Bible for a brief moment. Naturally we must come back to it later, even though this statement presupposes the outcome of our search. At least it proves that there is no deliberate attempt to provoke unnecessarily. We will come back to the Bible, I have no doubt, and quite soon, but not yet.
“It is important for everyone to have a clear understanding of what the Bible teaches about...” These are the words of the opening sentence from a Christian book taken at random from my bookshelf. Similar statements expressed in different ways can be found can be found in many other books on that same bookshelf – the Bible is important and our understanding of it is important, too.
But what is so special about the Bible? Why is it so very important to understand anything from it? Can we not get by without the Bible altogether? I mean, and let us be really honest about it, I can sit down and write a book, liberally pepper it with a selection of “thou shalt’s” and “thou shalt not’s”, season it with some history and pop in a little poetry, flavour it with a few passages of philosophy, then begin with the statement that “it is important for everyone to have a clear understanding of what my book teaches about...” and so on.
What makes the Bible so special? I know it says that every word is is inspired by God the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16), but this is only what the Bible says about itself; and neither does this take into consideration other Holy Books – the Koran, for example, to mention just one. In any case, until we have “discovered” a Big God, the Holy Spirit has no authority in our thinking to inspire anything, let alone the Bible. This is assuming, of course, that the Holy Spirit is part of this Big God, and therefore included as a vital part of our “search”. We shall see!
I know, too, that the Bible is a Book which has been miraculously preserved down through the ages; that men and women have been dramatically transformed by what they have read in its pages – mind you (still playing devil’s advocate), I could name a few other books which have transformed people’s lives, too! But does this make the Bible anything more than simply a unique book?
As we asked earlier, and so we ask again, is the God of the Bible (or the Koran, or any other Holy Book for that matter) big enough for a Big Universe anyway? You could be forgiven at this point for thinking that the heading of this section is turning out to be a bit of a paradox! We begin by suggesting we ignore the Bible, yet we seem to have done nothing in this section so far but talk about the Bible. What qualifies the validity of the heading is that we are talking of the Bible negatively, trying to give reason s for ignoring it.
Christians believe that God reveals Himself to mankind through the Bible. This very belief makes it necessary for us to ignore the Bible at this point and its claims at this stage of our search. This in no way suggests that the Bible is wrong. Indeed, as we have already intimated, if our search for a Big God takes us in the direction I suspect that it might, we will be forced back to the Bible sooner or later – probably sooner.
I must emphasise once again that this is definitely not a blasphemous attempt to “kill off” God. Too many have tried to do that in the pas... and failed! It may even surprise you to know that I firmly belong to the first group described earlier, with the exception I am prepared to seek for a reason to say “definitely yes” rather than give an unequivocal “yes” and simply leave it at that. Incidentally, if I didn’t know myself what this article is setting out to establish, then I, too, would be buzzing around like a hornet trying to defend my God!
Yet, in a sense, this is precisely what I am trying to do, not that God really needs defending. How can the finite defend the infinite? How can a mere mortal defend the Almighty? But remember, we are seeking for a Big God in a Big Universe, so please continue to reserve judgement, join the search, and let us see where it leads us! Be assured, the only provocation in this article is deliberate – it is to provoke fellow Christians into thinking for themselves about a Big God, rather than just blindly accept because we have always done so through the years. Let us make this a personal search.
Your God is too small!
Who creates a puny God? Not the unbeliever. It is the Christian who tries to fit God into his particular mould, presenting so often but a mere shadow of His true glory and majesty. Followers of other Faiths are just as guilty, although we are essentially concerned with the God of the Bible, the Christian concept of God, in this article, even though we are presupposing again. We are looking for a Big God; we may only “find” Him through the eyes of Christianity.
I have met many Christians, and I am sure you have, too, who claim to know all the answers. But do they? God is even forced into a denominational role by some, whilst others make Him exclusive to their particular sect, claiming that they have all the answers. When it really comes down to it all the answers relate to a very small God indeed. Certainly too small for our purposes.
This is no new idea on my part. I make no claim to originality. Others have thought along similar lines. The late J. B. Phillips, for instance, writing in the introduction to his book, Your God Is Too Small, says that “the trouble with many people today is that they have not found a God big enough for their needs.” This is often very true; the fault does not lie with God; so that is why we are engaged in this article in searching for a Big God.
To begin with, neither the Christian Church in general nor the Bible in particular – especially the Bible – will help us at the moment; they will defeat our purpose right at the very beginning. So after all we have said so far, we are back again to asking where we begin; and that is the most difficult question we have asked so far.
I know where we do not begin!
We do not begin by assuming that God exists. We have asked the question right at the outset – does God really exist? – and the immediate answer is neither “yes” nor “no”. The immediate answer must surely be... let’s find out!
The obvious place to begin any investigation or systematic search is at the beginning. So where is the beginning? It is not “in the beginning God” – not yet, at least; but it is “in the beginning Universe”. Perhaps they are one and the same thing. We shall see, providing we know what we mean by the word “universe”, of course.
To start so far back is extremely difficult. There was no one around at that time who can tell us with any accuracy – or was there? Light is beginning to dawn. Have we actually come to the end of our search without realising it? With all our ramifications through this article have we been making discoveries that have answered our question? I believe this may be the case. My personal and immediate reaction is that God was there in the beginning, and He is still around today! So in spite of all the foregoing, can we honestly divorce God from creation? The answer to that has to be NO! When we say, “In the beginning ...” we have to put something there; or should it be Someone? The answer to that has to be YES!
Do you recall my words earlier in this article when I said I had my own views concerning the exclusivity of God to Planet Earth, words that were written elsewhere on the Pen4God Ministries website, and that I would divulge these views later in this article? In the meantime I said I would continue to play devil’s advocate! It is time now for me to come down off the fence! The words written elsewhere really answer our initial question, and confirm (for me, at least) that God really does exist.
The Bible confirms that God alone is the creator of the whole universe – “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). It is interesting to note that of our solar system alone with its many planets, and man’s quest to discover life on these other planets – past life and possible present life forms – that the earth is the only planet referred to in the Bible by name. Jesus Christ came to earth to die for mankind – no other planet is mentioned. Could it be that there never was and never will be life on any other planet, neither in our own solar system nor in any other, because those who inhabit the earth alone are the focus of God’s love?
So there we have it. God created the Universe. It is a Big Universe. It is God’s Universe. Therefore He must be a Big God. We have found our BIG God in this BIG Universe – not that He was ever “lost” in the first place. It may be a cliché with which to end this article, but I believe it is a valid one. If you cannot “find” God in this Universe, if you feel you have “lost” God in your life, if your personal experience at the moment is that God is far away from you, ask yourself this question – who moved?
© 2010 Denis A. Wheadon. All rights reserved. Website: http://www.Pen4God.co.uk. This document is the property of the Author and
must not be displayed on any other websites without permission. Copies may be downloaded and printed for personal use only. Any contact with
the writer or comments concerning an article, can be made by email addressed to: denis.wheadon@Pen4God.co.uk
must not be displayed on any other websites without permission. Copies may be downloaded and printed for personal use only. Any contact with
the writer or comments concerning an article, can be made by email addressed to: denis.wheadon@Pen4God.co.uk
