God Is... Spirit

By Nick (My Experience As...)

Worshiping that which we cannot know

Back in the day I was very much into arguing.  I know, people are shocked and surprised at this admission but it is true.  Ok maybe I would be better off saying I was even more into debate than I currently am.  Over the course of a year or so I got into several online debates with a Mormon who was both rude and insulting. This is not to say all members of LDS (I did learn that many of them don’t like the term Mormon but the abbreviation LDS, for Later Day Saint, is less offensive) are rude or insulting, but this guy was.  It started on an old blog of mine, and moved to other blogs I participated in.

A key LDS belief is that God is a corporeal being so this guy often mocked the Christian belief that God is Spirit.  At one point he took a picture of his “Bubba Keg” and said he trapped our God in it since clearly God’s spirit has no mass or volume.

This argument doesn’t follow for many reasons, but at the very heart is a complete misunderstanding of what “spirit” really is.  Most people seem to assume it is some kind of ethereal energy, something like sentient electricity. This is an error in classification based on the assumption that “spirit” is something related to this natural order.

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Who Is Smart?

By Pat

"Do not be wise in your own eyes, but fear the Lord and shun evil." (Proverbs 3:7)

I am not a very educated person, I admit, and I have often wished I had gone farther with my schooling. I feel easily intimidated when I am talking with someone I feel is smarter than me, but oddly, the older I get, the more I realize what true wisdom really is.

I may not know all the world capitals and the directions on how to get there, but I do know the greatest capital of all is Heaven, and God made the instructions for safe arrival very clear for all of us in the great map called the Bible. I doubt I could name all of our presidents and other country leaders, past or present, but I can tell you without hesitation that the ultimate leader, the unmatchable ruler, the final judge, is God. I need not know more than that. It's very unlikely that I could recite the rules contained in the Constitution and the various amendments, but I have memorized the Ten Commandments, and I try very hard to follow them. I know that the rules Jesus taught us are much simpler, way fewer, definitely harder to follow, but much more worth learning; to love, forgive, and to serve God tirelessly.

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God Is... In His Being

By Jason V

Infinite, Eternal and Unchangeable in His Being

Thinking About the Unimaginable: God's Self-Existence

My kids have a hard time with the whole "Who made God?" question.  We've been over and over it, but my oldest son, Andrew (age seven) is still wrestling with how it can be possible that no one made God.  The Bible does not explain or defend the self-existence of God.  It simple begins, "In the beginning, God..."  So, at the very beginning, when creation first began, God already was.  Of course He was, because He made everything.  How else would He be able to make everything if He did not already exist before everything else?

God is- absolutely!  Properly speaking, we cannot say that God exists.  We have to say that He self-exists.  Why?  Well, to further blow our minds, to "exist" literally means to emerge, to come out of, to appear, to come into being.  I exist.  I have appeared and have come into being.  God, however, always was and always will be.  He did not appear or come out of anything, so He does not exist.  He ALONE is self-existing, needing no cause and no origin.  He IS.  Isn't that what He told Moses in Exodus 3- "I AM"?

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Feeding Sheep

By Pat

In John 21:15-19, Jesus is having a conversation with Peter. Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves Him. Each time, Peter answers yes, and each time Jesus commands Peter to "feed his sheep."

It's easy to proclaim our love for Jesus, but the true test is the feeding of the sheep. Are we obeying Jesus? Reaching out to others in need, offering a word of comfort or encouragement? Giving unselfishly, sharing our faith, and praying with genuine concern for our brothers and sisters? These are just some of the many ways in which we feed His sheep.

Following Jesus requires more than lip service. Faith requires movement, and love requires action. We need to find a way each day to feed God's sheep, to minister to a world greatly in need of kindness and love. We need to take every opportunity to feed the sheep around us, in whatever way it can be done. We are the hands and feet of Jesus, and therefore must take action and touch the world with God's love. Telling Jesus we love Him is great; showing Him is even greater!

Pat is a good friend who is passionate about her faith and her family. She works from home supporting a family business, and loves to read, write and garden when she can, and spends every spare moment with her grandkids.

God Is... Power

By Dusty (Reflections on the Life of a Christian)

I am held in awesome wonder at the power and majesty of God. As scriptures teach, so I believe:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (John 1:1-5)

"For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm." (Psalm 33:9)

This world we live in is a living breathing example of God's power. Borrowing a line from an old Christian song performed by Sandi Patty and entitled "Because of Who You Are":

"You spoke the words and all the worlds came in to order, you waved your hands and planets filled the empty sky, you placed the woman and the man inside the garden, and though they fell they found compassion in your eyes. Oh Lord I stand amazed at the wonder of your deeds and yet a greater wonder brings me to my knees. Lord I praise you because of who you are, not just for all the mighty things that you have done."

His power revealed through creation is beyond our comprehension. It is the stuff of fantasy. God spoke and things came into being. God spoke and they were rearranged. He spoke and light dawned. He exhaled and life began.

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