God a creation of the mind of man? A comforting and consoling thought that maybe there is someone who can help us in time of need? Or is God much more?
Did God create man in His own image—or is it the other way around? What do you know about this question? Have you simply, perhaps even carelessly, accepted what other people have told you without really thinking about it? If so, consider this question carefully, because the implications for your life are huge
Materialism and humanism
In the world today, millions of people hold to the beliefs and conclusions of materialism and humanism. According to these ideas, physical matter—and the laws of physics and chemistry that act on matter—are everything. As the famous astronomer Carl Sagan summed it up, “The cosmos is all that there is or ever was or ever will be.”
In this way of thinking, there is nothing beyond matter—no God, and certainly no God who can be known personally. Such teaching has become widespread, especially in the Western world, in the last two centuries.
But is there more to understanding God?
What is God? If left to ourselves, we humans simply speculate, guess and wonder about how to answer the question. Or we turn it over to other people to do our thinking for us—and we inevitably end up in a futile pursuit for understanding. But the question of who and what is God is far too important to be left to whatever shifting philosophical fads currently exist or to the prejudiced ideas of skeptics or, for that matter, even to radical religious zealots.
Another way to understand God is to be willing to take a close look at what He reveals about Himself in the only book that can be seen as a legitimate source of information about Him. Most people own a Bible, but most people—even Christians—have never really honestly or thoroughly examined the Bible to see what it reveals about God. You will likely be very surprised to see what God says about Himself!
In the pages of the Bible are the following revelations from and about this one and only true, eternal Creator God. In each case, we have included some of the scriptures that are the basis for these statements. Please take some time to read these verses of the Bible and to think about them and their eye-opening conclusions. They are, in all respects, at dramatic odds with the teachings of materialism, humanism and, yes, many common ideas of religion as well.
What is God? What is He doing?
Here are some of the most critical answers to understand:
God is a family. At the God level two Beings exist in a family relationship—a Father and a Son, both of whom are eternal, spirit, uncreated. In the Bible, both members of the God family are referred to as “God” (John 1:1-3, 14; John 4:24 ; John 20:17, 28 ; Ephesians 3:15; Hebrews 1:1-2).
God is a Father who has a purpose—a plan—for every human being who has ever lived. That purpose is to become, eventually, in the working out of God’s plan, the spirit-born sons and daughters of God—children in that same family that now consists of the Father and the Son (Genesis 1:26; 2 Corinthians 6:18; Hebrews 2:10; 1 John 3:1-2).
God has given humanity His law, which is a reflection of His righteous character; and violation of that law is what He defines as sin (Psalm 119:172; Romans 7:12-14)
Again, these are only some of the things to understand about God, and only an overview at that. It is true that we cannot fully understand all there is to know about God. God is not limited by time or space as we are.
In the Word of God (the Bible) and through the “Word” of God (Jesus Christ), we find very logical answers to what is God, and what is He doing. The member of the eternal God family who is known to us now as Jesus Christ came to declare the truth about the Father and Himself, to set an example of how we are to live and to offer His life as a sacrifice for our sins.
Consider the following passages from the Bible
Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me’” (John 14:6).
All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him” (Matthew 11:27).
Now that you know the answer, what. should you do?
You can understand more about God if you are willing to take an unbiased look into His Bible with a heart to learn. The apostle Paul told the idolatrous Greeks that humans “should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:27-28)