Our Search for Understanding
We humans have searched for God since the beginning of human intelligence. We have been very creative in our interpretation of what or who is a God. Our explanations have typically been drawn from current experience, our fears, and our desires. God is a woman. God is a man. God is an animal. God is a star, the sun, or the moon. God exists on earth. God lives in the sky. God reigns over our universe from a place outside our Cosmos. God is invisible. Human literature and traditions claim God is loving, God demands obedience, God is fickle, and God is steadfast. Our search for what is, or who is, God has produced a plethora of contradictory beliefs that have frequently been the source of human conflict.
Gradually, however, most Christians have come to perceive God as a supernatural being, creator of all that exists in the Cosmos, the source of moral values, and the essence of perfection. God provides us with a message of love, and teaches us how to become one with the transcendent values of the Cosmos. In the final analysis, God is both a teacher of values and judge of individual conduct. For many, faith in the message and character of this God provides life with its intrinsic value.
In order to fully understand God, we must abandon the requirement that all phenomena have a physical material explanation that we can detect with human technology. As human science has proven over and over again, phenomena which we cannot see today are often tomorrow’s new discovery. Atoms did not exist, until man had the tools to find them. Electrons did not exist until man had the means to identify their existence. DNA was only a theory until the end of the 20th century. Human technology has been unable to detect all that is physical, and has thus far proven to be totally inadequate in our quest to understand the spiritual.
We can start our search for God by developing a better understanding of creation. Many cosmologists believe our physical universe was created at a single point of space-time some 14 million years ago. Although there are several theories about the events that occurred, they all acknowledge a moment of creation. That which did not exist suddenly appeared. And here is the point to remember... If there is creation, then there must be a mechanism for creation. Although secular theories try to characterize this moment in mechanical terms, Christians contend the force that created our universe was (and is) far more complex than our deficient scientific knowledge is able to comprehend.
We must also deal with evolution. Our knowledge of the physical universe suggests the reality of an evolutionary process. Our planet had gone through periods of dramatic change. Living things do evolve. Hundreds of species have come, prospered at length, and then disappeared. But it is important to acknowledge that evolution merely describes a very complex process by which things get done. Theories of evolution do not adequately explain the mechanism of creation or how these complex processes managed to yield the results our technology has discovered. For example: When we humans evolved a significant biological improvement, how did this physical change occur for all members of a population at the same time? That would require an external cause. Twenty first century Christians contend that if evolution is reality, then it is a reality created by God.
God is perceived as a supernatural power. There is nothing in current human knowledge to refute this contention. Throughout human history, humans all over our planet have experienced the supernatural. Although it is not well understood, it will not go away. Even science admits experience of the supernatural has occurred. This suggests spiritual phenomena are real. For Christians, one explanation involves the recognition of a power that exists in another dimension or universe. The supernatural is always there. It surrounds us. If we are unable to detect the spiritual presence of God, that deficiency merely demonstrates the limits of our sensory capability.
Our human identification of a moral code and our empathy for other living organisms suggests a set of natural laws that come from a spiritual source. They certainly do not come from our sensation of the competitive physical universe. They have been revealed to us by the epiphanic thoughts of philosophers and theologians for over 3000 years. They are inspired by enlightened thought, intellect and introspection. The universality of these concepts in cultures all over our planet suggests they were created and communicated to us by intelligence outside the experience of our physical universe.
One can ponder these thoughts endlessly. But to no avail if the mind is closed to the enlightened exploration of the spiritual. It is time for us to rethink our perception of God. That understanding which has served us in the past will not suffice for our future. We have lived long enough on this planet to comprehend a more sophisticated system of beliefs. We have been endowed with creative intelligence and a natural curiosity. Let us use these tools to discover a new understanding of God and His relationship with humanity.
If we wish to know God, we must be willing to discover and embrace that which is revealed to us.
Does Love Prove God Exists?
Failure to discover The Holy Spirit is a failure of observation.... Not of Fact
I have a question: Should we reject love because we cannot measure it with precision?
Even though love has no volume, form or substance; it obviously exists. We cannot touch it, smell it, see it, hear it, or taste it; yet we sense love with passion. Love cannot be measured, defined, or quantified using the instruments of human technology; yet we know it is there. Love is the most exciting of human experiences. But although love creates a physical reaction, it is not material. We know it exists, but we only know love by how it feels; we are aware of a conscious connection.
Would we reject love because it cannot be measured with a ruler?
Here is a another question: Should we reject God because the Holy Spirit cannot be studied by the conventional methods of science?
Like love, God the Holy Spirit is not a physical thing with volume, form or substance; yet he exists. We cannot hear, touch, smell, see, or taste God; yet we can sense him. God cannot be measured, defined, or quantified using the instruments of human technology; but he is there. If we want to find God, we must look for God, and the subsequent experience tests our ability to perceive the reality of consciousness. The connection is achieved by becoming aware of His presence.
We humans are certainly conscious beings, and we are capable of experiencing the spiritual as an extension of our awareness. It is a spiritual force that creates the bond of lasting love between two people. Consciousness alone would only allow us to be aware of another person. It takes the energy of the spiritual (however it may be expressed) to initiate and sustain a long term relationship. Spiritual energy, or the energy of the spiritual, is therefore an important constituent of being.
Love, in all its expressions, is a central theme of the message brought to us by Jesus Christ. Thus we find God because He exists as the Holy Spirit. We connect with God because He loves us.
Creation
A rock cannot create life. A rock cannot create light or time. A rock cannot even create another rock. That means a purely mechanical explanation of the Cosmos is unlikely. On the other hand, consciousness is energy and enables awareness. Energy is the basis of all life and matter. Intelligent consciousness is aware of its creative self and the potential of creation. Intelligent consciousness therefore has both the energy and sensitivity to create space, light, time, life and matter.
So I have a question. If our known universe was created by the energy released by a single object, who made this object of creation?
Information
We normally think of our physical reality as energy and matter. But we must remember no living activity would occur without the presence of information. It exists in the DNA of the cell, for example, where it tells a ribosome how to use amino acid building blocks to synthesize proteins. Information transferred within the nervous system enables us to walk, makes our heart beat, controls how we breath, determines our immune system responses, and so on. But then, what is the source of information?
Software instructions may reside as ones and zeroes within the memory cells of a computer, but the information they convey is intellectually separate and distinct from the physical mechanics of the processor. The program in computer memory is information that came from a source outside the computer – the programmer who assembled information into a meaningful set of instructions. Did the programmer create an information reality?
The information that flows through our being (enabling active life) is a natural component of our internal biological processes. But where did it come from? Do cells learn or create new information? Is it possible new information may come from a source outside the human body? Is it OK to believe a mechanism of consciousness and awareness (God) was the information source that created our physical and not physical reality? If not, then where did this information come from (or how did it originate)?
And In Closing
Our Christian concept of God followed the ancient traditions of Eastern Mediterranean religious beliefs. God was powerful and God was male. Descriptions of God and His relationship with man were based on a very limited knowledge of the physical universe. Male centric cultural mores provided a framework for accepted theology. New Testament descriptions of God were based on the idea that God (The Father) and God (The Son)were actual personas in human bodies. We were less certain about our beliefs in God (The Holy Spirit).
Almost 2000 years have passed since the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We humans have learned much about our Ecosystem: physics, chemistry, geology, astronomy, biology, medicine, and over 100 other sciences have contributed to a substantial collection of knowledge. Theoretical mathematics, philosophy, and theology have developed more sophisticated concepts of time, space, matter, energy, and consciousness. Whether this knowledge came from God, or through the diligent pursuit of human curiosity, one thing has become very clear: A living spiritual energy exists throughout the Cosmos, The Holy Spirit exists as the creator and sovereign of the natural laws that govern the physical and not-physical Cosmos.
We will not fully understand the Spiritual until we have the intellectual and emotional tools to realize its wondrous beauty. For each individual, this quest for faith can only be fruitful if we are ready to accept the spiritual nature of God the Holy Spirit.
Ron
Let us unite our perception of the physical with our experience of the spiritual.
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