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Meaning in Life in the Framework of Eternity

 

Chapter 2
Who God Is

Who God Is

Let us now see who God is. Below are some of the main things about God that many people who study the Holy Bible believe.

 
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 God is -- and will always be -- greater than anyone or anything in the universe (Revelation 11:17).
 
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God is eternal (Deuteronomy 33:27; Genesis 1:1; Revelation 11:17). He existed before eternity, He exists now and He will always exist.
 
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God created the universe, the Earth, vegetation, animals, human beings and so on (Genesis 1 and 2).
 
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God is holy (Leviticus 11:45). When we disobey God's commands, we are doing evil (committing iniquities or committing sin) in God's sight. That sin causes separation between God and us (Isaiah 59:2).
 
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God's judgments are righteous -- God is fair (Revelation 16:7).
 
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God is love (1 John 4:8).
 
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God Loves Everyone in the World (John 3:16), but He doesn't like it when we disobey His commands, as mentioned earlier.

To summarize the above statements, God is the supreme power in the universe and everyone and everything is inferior to God. Basically, God determines the consequences of every action in the universe -- He determines what truth in the universe is. God Loves Everyone in the World, but He doesn't like it when we disobey His commands.

God is Fair

Some people who read the above statements about God's righteous judgments and His love immediately have a question in their minds. The question may go something like this: If God is love, why is there so much suffering in the world? 

I believe that God will righteously judge everyone. Even though people don't have any access to the Bible, Romans 1:17-21 says that they are without excuse, because God's eternal power and divinity can be seen by the things in the universe that He has created. Because of this, people, who don't have access to the Bible, can't say they have no understanding of God.

I believe as we start to understand what the Bible teaches, we will find that God is more than fair. Basically, He promises a lot of things, but many of the promises have conditions. He also requires us to trust His righteous judgments, even though what we see doesn't seem to be fair. Many times He allows things to happen, so that the end result may be a lot of positive things. He has higher purposes that we can't see. Some of the things that are discussed in this document (especially at the end of chapter 6, "How to Have Meaning in Life") should bring some understanding to this issue.

How God is One and Three

On the important issue of who God is, there are different viewpoints -- even among people who base their beliefs on the Bible.

God always existed and is omnipotent (all-powerful) (Revelation 19:6).

Many people believe that, according to the Bible, there is one true God. As Deuteronomy 6:4 [green emphasis is mine] says:

   
…The LORD our God is one LORD:

The Bible also teaches that God is one but at the same time is three divine Persons. The three divine Persons are God the Father, the Son of God (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit (Holy Ghost). Refer to Matthew 28:19 below.
   
…in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

It is not easy to understand that God is one and at the same time three. The reason for the difficulty may be that God is so much greater than our minds can understand. An explanation of God being one and at the same time three is found on the Assemblies of God webpage
( http://ag.org/top/Beliefs/Statement_of_Fundamental
_Truths/sft_full.cfm#2 (accessed August 4.2009)).

People who believe that God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are three and yet one often refer to God as the Trinity. The term Trinity is not found in the Bible, but many Christians believe it is a good term when referring to God.

Some Things about the Three Divine Persons

God the Father is love (1 John 4:8) and all-powerful (as mentioned earlier).

The Son of God (Jesus) is Lord (Philippians 2:9-11), Saviour (2 Timothy 1:10) and the Lamb (that takes away our sins) (John 1:29). Jesus has all power (authority) (Matthew 28:18). Jesus has authority over death (Revelation 1:18) 

The Holy Spirit is our Teacher and Comforter (which has a meaning of one who can bring aid) (W. Vine's dictionary) (John 14:26).

The Most Important Things About God

The explanation on the webpage mentioned above may not be the true explanation of God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit being three and yet one. The true explanation may be something else.

The main thing to understand in this chapter is that God is the supreme power in the universe and everyone and everything is inferior to God.

The next section will discuss God and Creation and a possible Re-Creation.

  
-- End of Chapter 2 --
 

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Meaning in Life in the Framework of Eternity
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ISBN-13: 978-0-9819197-4-4

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