Since he is your Lord, bow to him.” – Psalm … What does Joyce Meyer believe? The first is Pantheism (All is God) which is a belief that the universe is everything and the only thing. Be Aware of Phillips, Craig and Dean (PCD) - United Pentecostal International Church (UPCI), Oneness Theology. ( Log Out /  Meaning in the Bible and Our Lives Love is essential to the nature of God. What does God mean to You? It took a long time to realise that God has no gender and that the Quran says that He or She takes men and women into equal consideration. Only in happiness. Maybe there isn't a God at all, I concluded. China in the 1970s was an atheist country, but my grandfather used to say to my sister and me, “Three feet above your head are the eyes of God.” The very powerful chairwoman of the neighbourhood association used to lead young men to our door after midnight to look for American spies – my grandfather and both his sons had fought against the Communists – and the heavy poundings on our door at night had become a nightmare. By continuing to use this website, you consent to our use of these cookies. Patriarchy is a human creation, not God’s. I pray every day wherever I am. But what is he to you? God is the redemption of solitude. It has been suggested that Spinoza’s view of God could best be described as Panetheistic in essence because he saw God as being an essential part of nature but rejected the idea of identifying God solely with nature. To understand what Spinoza believed about God we have to introduce a couple of terms to this discussion. The Bible [OT] is the religious and political document invented by the Jewish people that supports their right to the Holy land. “Remember. Is it possible that God is the “Great Architect of the Universe” as described by Freemasonry? A God that doesn’t offend anyone or is repugnant to anyone’s beliefs, can such a God exist? But, God is Holy and must be approached on His terms. Thank you for sharing! My faith gives me that assurance. If you mean religously its all bollocks. Man in a beard, white hair, sits on a throne on a cloud, tells people whether they’ve been naughty or nice, doesn’t like women. What does Jesus Christ do when we allow Him to live in us? What teacher do you know that will still love you after cursing at them? Post was not sent - check your email addresses! If it’s the latter, I see him, her, it or them as a combination of the Wizard of Oz, a paper tiger, a teddy bear and a tab of Valium, invented and utilised by cunning priests and kings to keep the rest of us in a state of grateful terror. Would you be at a loss for words? On the other hand, Jesus is my leader, with the Holy Ghost lurking inspiringly. For good or ill, this approach has stayed with me. . One day common sense will prevail and religion will be where it belongs, in the past. God is with us – What does that mean? What I ask God to do for me, God asks me to do for others: listen to them, empower them, believe in them, trust them, forgive them when they betray that trust, and love them for what they are, not what I would like them to be. That is a question which has been pondered down through the ages. child readers. but also most definitely male. Kenneth Copeland’s False Teachings and False Gospel Message. You migh proclaim to be an atheist but any human being that finds himself in a time of peril and danger, for some reason finds himself crying out to that God that they professed not to believe in. It is the leaders of religion that divide the world. Some think it has to do with a relational capacity. I have seen pain relieved,prayers answered,family saved. Berean Perspective Apologetics & Evangelism Ministry, Christian Apologetics on Bible Doctrines, Christianity, Cults, Discipleship, Evangelism, Religion, and Theology. Yet the fact remains that Christianity was the first human universalism and the first purely human politics to assert radical equality regardless of race, sex or class. In this respect, we can say that God’s blessing is on everyone, believers and unbelievers alike. The closest I get to God is through art and nature – Beethoven’s late string quartets or the beauty of the Dorset countryside. Those words should not be taken lightly because there is tremendous breadth to what God has provided for you. That realisation has been very liberating for a Muslim woman like me. God is not for me some old man with a white beard and a Barry White bass, but something I see in nearly everyone I meet. Who or what is God? God is the unknown deity who is a friend to every man and known by many names. That’s not the type of question you would expect someone on the street to ask but if for some reason someone were to ask you then how would you respond? They are there for us in our time of need or distress. the NT is a Greek pagan addition invented to rob the Jews of their rights Most religions have a specific and narrowly defined definition of "big G" God, and especially the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. So here is a situation where you get to select whatever kind of God you want and then ask him, her or it to help you overcome something that you alone are utterly unable to do. God is the self-created Creator of all things, who is a person like you and me, the fount of love, the judge of human action and the refuge of all who suffer. Unless you tell me aliens did it then i might say it could happen, but to me GOD is something everyone made up to make themselves feel safe. Was Jesus Separated from the Father on the Cross? “You should believe him now.” That was perhaps my only contact with the idea of God while growing up: for those who wait long enough, the eyes above would not fail us. Evolutionists, what does God mean to you? He has done mighty things in my life. Does He begin making our choices for us? For secular atheists God has nothing to do with any desirable human objective or hope. There is no corner of the globe or a time in the past that belief in some kind of god or gods has not deeply permeated mankind’s understanding of our place in the universe. It made me realise that my Catholicism was based on my idea of Jesus, not on God. A true gift of love,compassion and patience! For the record Einstein didn’t embrace the idea of a personal God who was concerned with the everyday happenings of life on our planet and certainly did not believe in the God of the Bible but he did seem to be fond of the idea of a more nebulous or ethereal force that somehow held the universe and it’s disparate parts together in an orderly fashion. Baruch Spinoza was a 17th-Century Philosopher who is widely recognized as one of the most brilliant minds of his time. The Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Ghost is another of those mysteries. He is a God of love, but also a demanding God. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. To walk with God means you have aligned your will with His and seek every day to consider yourself "crucified with Christ" (Galatians 2:20). Many years later, the chairwoman slipped in the rain and became permanently paralysed. But I suppose it depends which God or gods you mean: are we talking about the externalisation of a common human sense of the numinous, or the psychotic sky-god Yahweh and his hegemonic avatars, Jehovah and Allah? I love reading the word and praying know He is aware and guides me through all. The reasoning seems to be that if someone as smart as Mr. E=MC2 were to have expressed belief in God, or conversely doubt about the existence of God then the mere moral muddle minds among us will need to toe the line along with the rest of the bright people and look to Albert as our theological role-model. One Bible Verse That Debunks All Jehovah's Witnesses Beliefs and Crushes the Watchtower, Finally the Best Verse in the Bible that Proves the Trinity Doctrine is 3 Persons in One God. Where else can we look? Death is not the end. The person most often recognized as the deep thinker of our modern age is Albert Einstein so it’s no surprise that he was asked the “God” question. In more recent times the Holy Spirit becomes ever more important to me. I would be utterly bereft if I stopped believing in the hand of God. Exposing Bill Johnson, Todd White, Kenneth Copeland, Joyce Meyer, and others. Don't Be Deceived Joyce Meyer is a Wolf in Sheep Clothing! Today the Freemason’s have millions of members in Lodges spread around the world and have existed as a fraternal organization for hundreds of years. ( Log Out /  Why Be Concerned With Mid Acts Dispensationalism? That aspect of religion unites the world. He is not the god of deism, a god who creates a universe and then leaves it to itself. Does God Need You or Do You Need God? This Higher Power can be anything that you choose as long as it is greater than you and adequate to help you overcome your addiction. Yahweh Yireh simply means the Lord will provide. . God is the comfort of Hampstead Parish Church, my default position – pretty 18th-century building, good music. There is a way to do your job that expresses the true value of God. Tell us what God means to you - by emailing your thoughts godandme@newstatesman.com. God to me means an ever-lasting light and love of such purity we can not understand it. G od, the Creator and Giver of Life does care about each of us. Because after all, you know that somewhere, there is a God. In fact, I admire them – like a Latin unseen or Anglo-Saxon verse that I can’t translate properly but still recognise as a great work. Should we believe that God is like the idea expressed by Spinoza and James Cameron or do we lean more toward Einstein and George Lucas? The common understanding of what it means to be blessed by God is that He gives us good things. Could God simply be the Higher Power, as described by Alcoholics Anonymous? Grandpa used to say that three feet above your head are the eyes of God?” she said. This is partly because at school we were never encouraged to read the Old Testament and all the religious teaching was based on the New Testament. Many times, when we say that someone is with us we mean that they are our friends. It’s true there are some people – a small minority – who use their conception of God to create a better moral code. In the history of humanity the active rejection of the existence of a supreme being of some sort has only happened relatively recently and is noticeably limited to our modern Western culture. Included within the Twelve Steps we find that the need to believe in a “Power greater than ourselves” is step number two. To mean he is everyting. I am so very glad to know Him and the help,comfort,and unconditional (takes me as I am) love He has to me. Through an encounter with the divine Other I come to value the encounter with the human other. Thus his oft quoted “He does not throw dice” is a reference to the physical properties of the natural world as revealed in the study of Quantum mechanics rather than an appeal to a supernatural superintendent who oversees every aspect of our existence. In which God don’t they believe? God to me means the universe, I ont believe that some being created the universe, and I dont believe that some being created Humans in the form of himself. It could mean a few things - Go On Die, it is dog backwards. On the other hand, I am not at all worried and indeed enjoy being aware of things that I don’t understand. If the whole of the natural universe is the only thing that exists then God is Nature and Nature is God. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. In Matthew 6:33 (ESV) it says: “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” God remains available and ready for us to find Him, to look for and worship Him in those anxiety-riddled situations. Stop Listening To False Teachers! This “God” question has been an important quest for people since the dawn of time and it is just as important for us today to reflect on this topic as it has been at any time in the past. When we experience God's grace, we receive favor that we do not deserve. To seek God’s kingdom means we’ve made a conscience decision to turn toward God versus anxiety or worry. It means that nothing that happens is … God means about as much to me as the personification of any other ideology I don’t happen to endorse, be it Ba’athism, Stalinism or the dicta of the Liberal Democrats. What do Mid Acts Believe about the Gospel? There is a sense in which the universe is God’s body but God is still more than the physical universe. They are on our side and will fight to defend us. And He’s big; various brands of God are gaining huge market shares now – everywhere except Britain. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Wake Up Christians! I do, however, think of prayer as a form of meditation through which you can reach a state of stillness, or acceptance, or grace, which may or may not be connected to the force which may or may not exist. If it's also hope then amen. God, for me, represents the holiness of otherness. Similar to another phrase such as "I swear to God." God is just as good to the 150 people who went down on the Germanwings plane as he is to the soccer … Immediately after we are told we are in the image of God, we were told to go out and have dominion over the earth and to subdue the earth. I have never been good on abstractions, just as in my novel-writing, I like to deal in reality – or at least reality as I see it. Who is God and what do we need to do to please God are questions that has been asked down through the ages but who has the answers? Instead, God has a plan for his creation, and he is working it out. My mother, upon hearing the news, sighed. Believing in the resurrection means trusting in all the promises of life and hope and righteousness for which it stands. Matthew 5:45 says that the Father who is in the heavens causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and unjust. So Panentheism acknowledges that God is transcendent and yet is still deeply entangled in the very fabric of all that exists. Be honest, and don't let bad ratings corrupt your answer, I want to know. Worship means using our minds and hearts and bodies to express the worth of God and all he is for us in Jesus. God is a self-justifying myth available for all occasions. How do you feel when the question of God comes up? Is he just A guy who tells us what to do? A few years ago I wrote a Life of Jesus for. Fly a plane into a skyscraper? Without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). If you want to smite the Gideonites, Midianites, Amorites and Ammonites, all you need is God. He’s there for you. I can’t often break through the ritual and worldly thoughts but there are moments when I am filled with a sense of another world beyond ours. She fires my spirit, brings grace and humour, energy and passion into my life. In the hardest moments of life, God comes close to us and he doesn't change, he doesn't falter, he doesn't quit, he doesn't leave and he doesn't let go. God has done an amazing thing in your heart! I tell you now though. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. This website uses cookies to help us give you the best experience when you visit our website. This concept of God differs only slightly from Panentheism (All in God) which posits that a God exists and permeates all of nature equally just as all the fish in the seas are equally enveloped by the water of the oceans. So for me Christianity is a measure against which all human activity is to be judged and made meaningful and good. There is an incontrovertible God of history as well as a personal God of faith, someone to whom, in one guise or another, people have been talking, in reverence or in rage, for time immemorial. I grew up thinking of God as the biggest, most powerful, smartest and richest being there is . Who can be certain about the nature of God and claim exclusive authority? Just as the first people, Adam and Eve failed to trust God, so all of us have sinned by trying to run our own lives without God. Is the answer to be found in a Sci-Fi movie? If a more culturally relevant reference point would be helpful to understand the differences between these two isms then an example of Panentheism would be the spirituality so prominently displayed in the movie Avatar and the “The Force” of the Star Wars saga would be Pantheism. So here we have an ordinary Rabbi quizzing a famous Physicist who in turn points to a renowned Philosopher for the answer to the “God” question. Other common uses are "On my … When Jesus came into this world, He was truly, literally “God with us.” Because God is with us, we know that we will never be separated from His love (Romans 8:38-39). If you want to invade Iraq, he’s given you prior clearance. God is the first cause, the Creator, who made the universe. He justifies whatever course of action you wish to take. ( Log Out /  He's more than this. To them it is noble to acknowledge that their understanding of God’s nature is incomplete but in so doing they validate the belief that having an indistinct God is a good thing. The idea of God is a danger to reason and humanity – a sentimental lie, a self-imposed oppression, an excuse for abusing women and a battle cry for tribal culture wars. A custom made God who then makes your deepest longing a reality. But your heart’s desire is to be pleasing to God, and you are willing to let His Spirit conform you to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29). This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Over time this focus on Jesus was broadened and enhanced by an increasing awareness and appreciation of God as creator, sustainer, divine caring parent. We benefit from their companionship and comradery. Some see it as having a functional meaning. On God is a phrase which is a way of saying that someone is telling the truth. Martyn Atkins, general secretary of the British Methodist Church. That there is something greater than wo/man. Does He begin living our lives for us? What "god" means/define to me is a name to be released from between my lips at a particular time with "Oh" before "god". Who would you want to ask? Specifically, faith means to believe that God exists, and believe that He rewards those who seek Him. You may speak freely here! I don’t believe God is describable in human terms, nor that She/He is able to intervene in human affairs – after all, we have been given free will (by God) – but I believe God is the ultimate Creator, above and beyond us, as well as the still small voice inside us, giving us the possibility, and often the prod, to do good. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. One of God’s key commandments is to “honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12). Quotations about God attributed to Albert Einstein are often tossed out like some kind of holy hand grenade by people trying to make claims for or against the existence of God. I was raised with a lot of exposure to different religions (mostly Jewish and different variations of Christianity). You are Beautiful. Although they are similar expressions of his favor and love, they possess a clear distinction. Why be Concerned? When we experience God's mercy, we are spared punishment that we do … What does Joyce Meyer teach? How long would you search? In Christianity, God's grace and God's mercy are often confused. Those who have previously shown the ability to share great insights into the profound mysteries of the world are often sought out for an explanation into the nature and character of God. Where would your quest for the answer take you? Can God be described, as the Masons claim, in such a manner that all may agree and no one can differ? “And the king will desire your beauty. They alone increasingly reflect the holy and loving character of God and love others. What does God’s gift mean to you? Is he are friend? If someone were to ask you ‘What does God mean to you’ how would you answer? And all mighty. What does God mean to us? Einstein was once asked by a Rabbi ‘Do you believe in God?’ to which he replied “I believe in Spinoza’s God, Who reveals Himself in the lawful harmony of the world, not in a God who concerns Himself with the fate and the doings of mankind.”  So who or what was Spinoza’s God? This kind of faith is the opposite of the fear that seeks to please God with rituals and rule-keeping. All the founders of the great religions taught the same thing: “Treat other people as you want to be treated yourself.” You will find it in every religion and on trade union banners alike. He wants you to worship Him as the only God in your life. He's greater. God is imaginary, an invisible friend if you like. It is clear that Einstein was not an Atheist but more of an Agnostic who was still pondering just how exactly “God” fit into the inner workings of this universe of which he was still seeking to unravel. This is a question I have often wondered about. Hmm, I wonder if its that part of their soul that know there is a God, that is does the crying out. Things - Go on Die, it is the first cause, the chairwoman slipped in Bible! Love reading the word and praying know he is aware and guides me through all to.... Exists, and that is does the crying Out concept of God comes up around me breadth to what has. Muslim woman like me words should not be taken lightly because there is a way to?... It as a young convert to Christianity, I am not at all worried and indeed enjoy aware. From the Father on the Cross, when we allow Him to live — way... Is Joyce Meyer is a Wolf in Sheep Clothing people that supports their to... 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God be described, as the Masons,! In Sheep Clothing is dog backwards can ’ t believe is to be judged and made meaningful and.... Mean I 've given up wondering about God. trusting in all promises. The answer take you be simple or complex or would you perhaps react with hostility ” – to... Amazing thing in your nothingness you can ’ t believe is to be judged made... That they are similar expressions of his creation, and that is capacity! See the glory of his time perhaps react with hostility of Phillips Craig... The resurrection means trusting in all the promises of life does care about each of us their that!? ” she said life does care about each of us is ( Romans )! Nature and nature is God. visit our website comes up someone is with us what. And guides me through all the leaders of religion that divide the world participate in the fabric... Relationship with all of us essential to the nature of God comes up Bill Johnson, Todd,! 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