Who is God?

[Gary K]

It seems to me that there is a distinct correlation between a person's theology and their perception of God. So, who do you think God is? Is He exactly who He says He is? Is He really all-powerful so that anything He says He's going to do He can do? Does He keep His word? Is He the embodiment of honesty, forthrightness, justice, honor, mercy, graciousness, etc... ?

How does your theology portray God?

Secondly, does your view of God affect how you read the Bible, and the conclusions you come to from your study? Which way should this work? Should our theology define how we see God, or should our picture of God define our theology?

Last of all, should we be flexible enough, and understand our own theology well enough, to both recognize the picture of God we paint with it, and to be able to modify our theology if the picture of God that we paint with our theology doesn't fit God's own description of Himself given in both the life of Christ and God's own words given about Himself through His prophets?

[Woody]

God has His hands tied. For instance ... all promises are conditional. If a person doesn't meet the qualifications God is totally powerless to provide them because He is bound by law.

[Sonny]

God is love (agape)

[Gustave]

God is; Father, Son & Holy Spirit...

...The source of everthing that is and was and ever shall be.

...God's power is beyond the understanding of any of us.

...He is absolute perfect life and love.

...An infinite God who communicates with His finite creation man.

[Gary K]

God has His hands tied. For instance ... all promises are conditional. If a person doesn't meet the qualifications God is totally powerless to provide them because He is bound by law.

Okay, let's accept your theology at face value for the moment. What does that say about who He is?

[Gary K]

God is; Father, Son & Holy Spirit...

...The source of everthing that is and was and ever shall be.

...God's power is beyond the understanding of any of us.

...He is absolute perfect life and love.

...An infinite God who communicates with His finite creation man.

OK. You're describing what God is. What does that say about who God is?

For instance, I can describe my neighbor by saying he's a logger, a casino ower, a dog owner, and has very skillful hands in many areas of work. However, that doesn't tell you who he is. I'm looking to see who we think God is. Just who is this God you trust to save you?

[Gary K]

God is love (agape)

This is once again a description of what God is. Who is He? He, like all of us have attributes, but we are also, like God, a person, and we, and He, are not our attributes.

Who is this person God?

[BobRyan]

Before any intelligent being was ever created God sovereignly chose a few things.

1. God chose that the intelligent beings in his soon-to-be-created universe would have free will. No robot or slave obedience. Which means that his creation would be

free to suffer the consequence of wrong choices if they wish.

It means that faith + compelling evidence are the motivators for reaching right decisions.

2. God sovereignly chose to be a God of love so He would have rules that promote the best for all beings.

3. God sovereignly chose not to reveal all facets about Himself at once - so a gradual unfolding over long ages of time would be invovled in knowing more and more about who/what God is.

4. God chose to be both just and merciful.

5. God chose that His Law cannot be broken without punishment - for the sake of the stability of the universe.

in Christ,

Bob

[Gary K]

Before any intelligent being was ever created God sovereignly chose a few things.

1. God chose that the intelligent beings in his soon-to-be-created universe would have free will. No robot or slave obedience. Which means that his creation would be

free to suffer the consequence of wrong choices if they wish.

It means that faith + compelling evidence are the motivators for reaching right decisions.

2. God sovereignly chose to be a God of love so He would have rules that promote the best for all beings.

3. God sovereignly chose not to reveal all facets about Himself at once - so a gradual unfolding over long ages of time would be invovled in knowing more and more about who/what God is.

4. God chose to be both just and merciful.

5. God chose that His Law cannot be broken without punishment - for the sake of the stability of the universe.

in Christ,

Bob

But, WHO is God? You're describing what He's done. Not who He is. In a certain sense, what you do is who you are, but it is not a full description of who you are.

It's a cop out to not say who you think God is, just because He hasn't chosen to reveal everything to us. The Bible tells us that God has revealed Himself to us through the prophets and through Jesus Christ. So, since He has revealed Himself, who is He?

[BobRyan]

By their fruits you shall know them.

In reading the writing of God's inspired prophets - we observe the choices of God at the very start - as step one.

I was establishing the baseline context for the rest of our observations.

in Christ,

Bob

[ClubV12]

God's character, who He is, is revealed in His law. The ten commandments aren't just about us, it's about Him, it's who He is. His laws, His character, have ever been and will ever remain.

[skyblue888]

"Without faith it is impossible to please Him; for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." Heb.11:6.

God is, period. That is His name. "I AM." HE IS!

"Well it is wonderful to me, every day I live, and the longer I live the more wonderful it is to me, into how small a space, and how simple a truth, all the truth is resolved. Whoever comes to the recognition of this fact, and holds himself to it, has all the truth there is in the universe. God is, and there is no other. Go where you will in the universe, and there it can be said, He is. You know it says in Psalm 139:7, 'Where shall I go from Your Spirit? Where shall I flee from Your presence?' He is an ever-present God." E.J. Waggoner. (Jeremiah 23:23)

"The greatness of God is to us incomprehensible. 'The Lord's throne is in Heaven' (Ps.11:4; yet by His Spirit He is everywhere present." C.O.L.132.

sky

[Gary K]

God's character, who He is, is revealed in His law. The ten commandments aren't just about us, it's about Him, it's who He is. His laws, His character, have ever been and will ever remain.

OK. That's start, but.... How do the commandments tell us who He is, rather than just what He stands for?

[Gary K]

"Without faith it is impossible to please Him; for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." Heb.11:6.

God is, period. That is His name. "I AM." HE IS!

"Well it is wonderful to me, every day I live, and the longer I live the more wonderful it is to me, into how small a space, and how simple a truth, all the truth is resolved. Whoever comes to the recognition of this fact, and holds himself to it, has all the truth there is in the universe. God is, and there is no other. Go where you will in the universe, and there it can be said, He is. You know it says in Psalm 139:7, 'Where shall I go from Your Spirit? Where shall I flee from Your presence?' He is an ever-present God." E.J. Waggoner. (Jeremiah 23:23)

"The greatness of God is to us incomprehensible. 'The Lord's throne is in Heaven' (Ps.11:4; yet by His Spirit He is everywhere present." C.O.L.132.

sky

OK. God just is. What does that have to say about WHO He is.

[skyblue888]

"There was a time when men knew God but they did not like to retain Him in their knowledge. So they deified names. Everything was a god; and there was a god of the tree, a god of the wind, a god of the waves, and another god in the earth. Every manifestation of power was a different god. And we have gone on, and the world has gone on, for these hundreds of years, devising names, putting names in the place of God. Now what true education is, instead of giving these all names in the place of God, and deifying them as if the name did the thing--cohesion, adhesion, gravity, magnetism, etc., it is to put there the Name that is above every name, to see God there in Christ by the Spirit and worship Him." E.J. Waggoner.

Nature is not God but God is perpetually at work in nature.

Physicists have devised many subtle scientific names in the place of God. For example, they talk of a molecular force between particles within bodies and substances that acts to unite them. They call this molecular force "cohesion". But what is cohesion? To these scientists it is a mere impersonal force or energy. Without knowing it, these so-called scientists deify nature as if the name "cohesion" did the thing. This is science falsely so-called.

The Bible teaches that Christ through the Spirit is "cohesion" to all things for "In Him all things hold together." Col.1:17; Psalm 139:7.

"Not only is He the Originator of all but He is the life of everything that lives." Education, p.197.

"In Him we live and move and have our being." Acts 17:28.

God is!

sky

[Gary K]

OK. So far everyone is giving theological descriptions of God. Is God just a theological description to you?

Here is who God is to me.

He's by far the best friend I have ever known. When I fail He doesn't condemn me. He forgives me and then says, go back and try again, in everything in life. He's supported me through darker days than most people can imagine. I can turn to Him with anything. I've been mad enough to yell at Him quite a few times and He didn't turn away. I share with Him my sorrows, my griefs, my hopes, my aspirations, my desires, my disappointments, and my happiness, and He never mocks or gets sarcastic with me. I've even told Him I don't want to talk to Him anymore and He's still been there for me.

That's who God is to me. My theology reflects that, and helped shape that friendship.

Who do you think God is? Is He just a theological concept to you? Don't you know Him well enough to say who He is?

[skyblue888]

"God is" and "God is Love." And the moral law is a transcript of His character.

God is the Originator of all and the life of everything that lives.

That says pretty much who He is but we still don't know or understand who He is in the sense that He did not have a beginning because to us everything must have a beginning at some point. But the fact that God always was is a mystery to us, an unfathomable mystery.

sky

[Gary K]

"God is" and "God is Love." And the moral law is a transcript of His character.

God is the Originator of all and the life of everything that lives.

That says pretty much who He is but we still don't know or understand who He is in the sense that He did not have a beginning because to us everything must have a beginning at some point. But the fact that God always was is a mystery to us, an unfathomable mystery.

sky

So, God is a mystery to you? How can that be? Jesus said, if you have seen me, you have seen the Father. Have you no relationship with Jesus? Don't you even know who He is?

[skyblue888]

OK. So far everyone is giving theological descriptions of God. Is God just a theological description to you?

Here is who God is to me.

He's by far the best friend I have ever known. When I fail He doesn't condemn me. He forgives me and then says, go back and try again, in everything in life. He's supported me through darker days than most people can imagine. I can turn to Him with anything. I've been mad enough to yell at Him quite a few times and He didn't turn away. I share with Him my sorrows, my griefs, my hopes, my aspirations, my desires, my disappointments, and my happiness, and He never mocks or gets sarcastic with me. I've even told Him I don't want to talk to Him anymore and He's still been there for me.

That's who God is to me. My theology reflects that, and helped shape that friendship.

Who do you think God is? Is He just a theological concept to you? Don't you know Him well enough to say who He is?

Here is what someone has said about God that would be similar to what you have just said except that it goes even deeper than we have ever realized as to who God is:

"It has been a wonderful help to me to think that there is not a thing that touches humanity--there is not a thing that touches me, there is not anything that I feel, that oppresses me, that hurts me, or causes me pain, physical pain, or any other kind of pain,--there is nothing of which I am conscious, or that affects my system that I am unconscious of, but that it touches the Lord Jesus Christ. If I am sick, every pain that racks my body touches the Lord, and He feels it. He is my life. There is something in this that can lift a man up, and enable him who is weak to become strong." E.J. Waggoner.

"Christ feels the woes of every sufferer. When evil spirits rend a human frame, Christ feels the curse. When fever is burning up the life current, He feels the agony." D.A.823.

Because He is there. He is the life of everything that lives.

"The sin I have committed, He felt it more than I did, because I enjoyed it, and He did not. I loved the sin, but He did not love it, it was disgusting to Him, but He felt it all. It fills my heart with shame and regret, and at the same time, with a most wonderful love for the Lord to think that in all the sins I have been committing all those years, I was making the Lord bear them; that I was worrying Him with them. 'You have made Me to serve with your sins; you have worried Me with your iniquities.' Isaiah 43:24. Because He does not love sin. It is distasteful to Him; it is disgusting to Him; and yet He allowed His life to bear these sins." E.J. Waggoner.

'The greatest burden that we bear is the burden of sin. If we were left to bear this burden, it would crush us." D.A.328.

"But it should fill everybody with love to think of His longsuffering, that in order to deliver us from these sins, He is willing to stay with us year after year, with these things that we are piling upon Him, and still remain there, waiting and waiting for us to recognize that fact." E.J. Waggoner.

sky

[Gary K]

Originally Posted By: Gary K

OK. So far everyone is giving theological descriptions of God. Is God just a theological description to you?

Here is who God is to me.

He's by far the best friend I have ever known. When I fail He doesn't condemn me. He forgives me and then says, go back and try again, in everything in life. He's supported me through darker days than most people can imagine. I can turn to Him with anything. I've been mad enough to yell at Him quite a few times and He didn't turn away. I share with Him my sorrows, my griefs, my hopes, my aspirations, my desires, my disappointments, and my happiness, and He never mocks or gets sarcastic with me. I've even told Him I don't want to talk to Him anymore and He's still been there for me.

That's who God is to me. My theology reflects that, and helped shape that friendship.

Who do you think God is? Is He just a theological concept to you? Don't you know Him well enough to say who He is?

Here is what someone has said about God that would be similar to what you have just said except that it goes even deeper than we have ever realized as to who God is:

"It has been a wonderful help to me to think that there is not a thing that touches humanity--there is not a thing that touches me, there is not anything that I feel, that oppresses me, that hurts me, or causes me pain, physical pain, or any other kind of pain,--there is nothing of which I am conscious, or that affects my system that I am unconscious of, but that it touches the Lord Jesus Christ. If I am sick, every pain that racks my body touches the Lord, and He feels it. He is my life. There is something in this that can lift a man up, and enable him who is weak to become strong." E.J. Waggoner.

"Christ feels the woes of every sufferer. When evil spirits rend a human frame, Christ feels the curse. When fever is burning up the life current, He feels the agony." D.A.823.

Because He is there. He is the life of everthing that lives.

"The sin I have committed, He felt it more than I did, because I enjoyed it, and He did not. I loved the sin, but He did not love it, it was disgusting to Him, but He felt it all... It fills my heart with shame and regret, and at the same time, with a most wonderful love for the Lord to think that in all the sins I have been committing all those years, I was making the Lord bear them; that I was worrying Him with them. 'You have made Me to serve with your sins; you have worried Me with your iniquities.' Isaiah 43:24. Because He does not love sin. It is distasteful to Him; it is disgusting to Him; and yet He allowed His life to bear these sins. 'The greatest burden that we bear is the burden of sin. If we were left to bear this burden, it would crush us." D.A.328.

But it should fill everybody with love to think of His longsuffering, that in order to deliver us from these sins, He is willing to stay with us year after year, with these things that we are piling upon Him, and still remain there, waiting and waiting for us to recognize that fact." E.J. Waggoner.

sky

Once again, sky, you're giving us someone else's view of God, who God was to him, not who God is to you. Don't you know Him well enough to say who He is to you?

EJW, demonstrates HIS relationship with, and knowledge of who God is, not your relationship with God and your knowledge of who He is. You're parroting someone else's thoughts, not giving your own. EJW's personal relationship with God does you no good. You must know Him for yourself.

[Gail]

Quote:

Once again, sky, you're giving us someone else's view of God, who God was to him, not who God is to you. Don't you know Him well enough to say who He is to you?

EJW, demonstrates HIS relationship with, and knowledge of who God is, not your relationship with God and your knowledge of who He is. You're parroting someone else's thoughts, not giving your own. EJW's personal relationship with God does you no good. You must know Him for yourself.

It's really a treat when skyblue shares his testimony.

[Gail]

OK. So far everyone is giving theological descriptions of God. Is God just a theological description to you?

Here is who God is to me.

He's by far the best friend I have ever known. When I fail He doesn't condemn me. He forgives me and then says, go back and try again, in everything in life. He's supported me through darker days than most people can imagine. I can turn to Him with anything. I've been mad enough to yell at Him quite a few times and He didn't turn away. I share with Him my sorrows, my griefs, my hopes, my aspirations, my desires, my disappointments, and my happiness, and He never mocks or gets sarcastic with me. I've even told Him I don't want to talk to Him anymore and He's still been there for me.

That's who God is to me. My theology reflects that, and helped shape that friendship.

Who do you think God is? Is He just a theological concept to you? Don't you know Him well enough to say who He is?

Yes, yes, yes!!! I'm so glad to find someone who speaks from the HEART as well as their head! THAT is what EGW means by appropriating His merits! It is when they beome REAL in the life! I totally love it! It is praise for God from your very being, like the Psalmists did :)

[Gail]

This is where Gail gets very excited! Please excuse me if you feel like roling your eyes, like, Here she goes again!

God became real to me, possibly even before I beqame a Christian, as I wandered the streets as a child without direction. I think that I have alwys been a spiritual person, but at that time I just hadn't hooked up with God yet. from the moment a neighbour kid invited me to a small Baptist church, when I sat inside the church I felt a peace drawing me.

Then at 18, pregnant and living in the drug dealer's house, I decided to leave that life and seek God. I just had it in my heart that Christianity would fill my soul needs. I joined the church and with a Bible a whole new world opened up to me!

Life did not get easier, in fact it got way more difficult. But God provided for our needs- protection, food and help when needed. In my darkest hour on my knees I received a wonderful gift- that of a spirit of praise. Not only did that help my depression over my dark valley, it has given me hope for ever after

And it just keeps getting better! Every time a bigger understanding of salvation or God's love and character is revealed to me through a deeper understanding of God's word I am totally awed. I LOVE those utterances of praise that the elders and beasts around the throne of God lift up. Even though I would not call my earthly life perfect by any means, I feel just like them- praising His holiness, strength, honor, glory, mercy, righteousness...

Do you want more? LOL You probably got way more than what you asked for!

[Sonny]

5. God chose that His Law cannot be broken without punishment - for the sake of the stability of the universe.

Punishment doesn't do any good. It's fear based.

[Sonny]

God's character, who He is, is revealed in His law. The ten commandments aren't just about us, it's about Him, it's who He is. His laws, His character, have ever been and will ever remain.

I don't buy this. The law doesn't show who God is....The law is a brief set of rules to show mankind that he is a sinner in need of a Savior.