The Nature of God

"I am -- of all the boundless Universe --
The Father, Mother, Ancestor, and Guard!
The end of Learning!  The which purifies i
in lustral water!  I am OM!  I am
Rig-Veda, Sama-Veda, Yajur-Ved;
the Way, the Fosterer, the Lord, the Judge,
the Witness; the Abode, the Refuge-House,
The Friend, the Fountain and Sea of Life
which sends, and swallows up; Treasure of Worlds
and Treasure-Chamber!  Seed and Seed-Sower,
whence endless harvests spring!  Sun's heat is mine;
heaven's rain is mine to grant or to withhold;
Death am I, and Immortal Life I am,
Arjuna!  SAT and ASAT, Visible Life,
and Life Invisible!"
(Bhagavad Gita 9)


"And God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.'  And He said, 'Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I AM has  sent me to you.'" (Exodus 4:14).  God introduced Himself to Moses in a mysterious fashion, revealing Himself by that which was hidden.  Mankind had sought for God for many millennia prior to this time with a little success, the Patriarchs included though their religion was radically different from that which Moses brought down from the mountain.  The Patriarchs would not recognize the religion of their descendents, nor would they recognize the God of their descendents.  Though God is the "God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" no one should suppose that Abraham, Isaac or Jacob defined God is the same manner as Moses, David or Isaiah.  If the patriarchs were miraculously transported to Israel circa 950 B.C. they would not recognize Solomon's Temple nor associate the Temple religion with their own religion.

God is an Absolute, God is a constant, the God of Abraham is the God of Christians (and Jews & Muslims) today; yet mankind's concept of God is in a state of perpetual change.   Throughout an individual's life the definition of God changes inevitably and necessarily.   When you were a child you thought about God very differently than you think of God today.  "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things."  Living things change because change is healthy for any living system.  Adult concepts of God ought to differ dramatically from concepts of God held in childhood, adolescence and young adulthood.  If you apply yourself to study and thought concerning God, your concept of God can change on a daily basis as your knowledge and understanding increase and modify over time.  

What is good for the individual is also good for the religion.   The Restoration Movement never received a Divine Imprimatur either directly or indirectly.  God has not obligated Christians to become carbon copies of each other or of any previous generation of Christians whether a century or twenty centuries ago.  God has not forbidden change among His followers.  The early Christians might have thought of God in one manner, reasonable and rational within the context of that culture and time; modern Christians need not have the same concept of God, for we do live in a radically different culture and time.  The world of twenty-first century Christianity is not the same as the world of first century Christians either in Jerusalem, Antioch, Athens or Rome.

Christians have devoted two millennia of thought to the concept of God, beginning when Christianity was a radical underground movement which suffered oppression and persecution and persisting until Christianity became the dominant force and remaining until now in a world which is dominated by Secularism.   The rise and fall of Christianity from its position of political and cultural dominance does cause modern Christians to conceive of God and religion very differently from the Apostles and earliest Christians.  Christians today cannot possibly think about God in the same fashion as those Jews and their Jewish & Gentile converts.  

The only reason why some people assert agreement with our predecessors from twenty centuries ago is because they have never  encountered any of those people directly.  If you were fortunate enough to meet Paul face to face and engage him in a theological conversation you would quickly discover that your religious thoughts & convictions differ.  No matter how conservative, liberal, reactionary or progressive you are, you will undoubtedly find yourself in disagreement with Paul.   If you spent your whole life reading, "comprehending" and accepting Paul's doctrines as revealed in his letters, your encounter with Paul would reveal that you substantial misunderstand him.  You might identify yourself with Paul but don't imagine that Paul would identify himself with you.  

Paul was a human, his concept of God changed dramatically over time.  Christians know that Paul's concept of God changed because the Bible does record his life before and after his conversion.  Encountering God has a way of changing people.  Paul was not the same man as Saul, Paul's God was not the same as Saul's God.  Though God's name and identity remained the same across the divide, Paul's concept of God changed.   Do you suppose that Paul's concept of God following his baptism by Ananias was the same as Paul's concept of God prior to his death?   No, it could not have been the same.  Paul declared to the Galatian Christians, "I make known ot you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man.  For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ."  

God's dialogue with Paul continued throughout his life.  Paul never claimed to possess a perfect or complete concept of God.  "For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known."  What did Paul know?  What did Paul misunderstand?  Paul was inspired but he remained a human.  He could misunderstand, just as Daniel misunderstood: "Although I heard, I did not understand."  Christians today honor Paul, for good reason because Paul deserves honor.  Honor him, but recognize that Paul was a human, just like you and I.   Paul was a human when he preached and he was a human when he wrote.  

Do you know God?  Do you understand God?  That's good.  You should know and understand God.  Do so without presuming that your way of knowing and understanding God is the only way.  Don't imagine for even a moment that your concept of God is complete, perfect and sufficient.  You were born in ignorance and you will die in ignorance.  God is the greatest mystery, a profound a mysticay mystery.  God has revealed Himself to you just as He revealed Himself to Moses, revealing just enough to reveal that what is hidden vastly exceeds what is revealed.  

"This, for my Soul's peace, have I heard from Thee,
the unfolding of the Mystery Supreme
named Adhyatman; comprehending which,
my darkness is dispelled; for now I know --
O lotus-eyed! -- whence is the birth of men,
and whence their death, and what the majesties
of Thine immortal rule!  Fain would I see,
and Thou Thyself declar'st it, Sovereign Lord!
The likeness of that glory of Thy Form
wholly revealed.  Of Thou Divinest One!
If this can be, if I might bear the sight,
make Thyself visible, Lord of all prayers!
Show me Thy very self, the Eternal God!"
(Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 11.
translated by Sir Edwin Arnold)

*****  The End  *****

by

David Mathews

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