I’m a little confused about what the Christian bible says about who God is. It sounds as though the New Testament considers God to be a being that is separate and distinct from us. A God in heaven sort of looking down and orchestrating things in a way but also allowing free will. But doesn’t the old testament sort of make God out to be more energetic. A set of universal laws in essence that respond to humans choices. Don’t Jews believe this?
I’ve been reading books about the natural laws of the universe… one being the law of attraction. It basically talks about how what you put out you get back and what you focus your mind on your create, etc. So, isn’t that in essence what Jesus was talking about? So, is God just merely the energy of the universe rather than this being that Christianity tries to make him out to be?
It gets confusing to me. If we create our own reality by the thoughts we think, the things we do, etc. Then isn’t that in essence us creating our own destiny and cause and effect creating our outcome… rather than a God looking down on us?
I’ve been going to a Baptist church but I’m confused about this? What’s the truth according to the bible?
For example, when the bible says that we’re created in God’s image… couldn’t that just mean that we possess the same energy… the same power to create and destroy? That ultimately within we are energy??
Look out your window and see evrywhere evidences of a super intelligent but loving and caring person who prepared the Earth for humankind to live a happy and enjoyable life.
Sheer observation of his creation tells much about the Creator. Paul, on another occasion, mentioned an example of this when he told a crowd in Asia Minor:
“In the past generations [the Creator] permitted all the nations to go on in their ways, although, indeed, he did not leave himself without witness in that he did good, giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts to the full with food and good cheer.” (Acts 14:16, 17)
Note the example Paul gave of how the Creator, in providing food for mankind, has borne witness to His personality.
Food for both man and animals results from intricate cycles—including the water cycle, the carbon cycle, the phosphorus cycle, and the nitrogen cycle. It is general knowledge that in the vital process of photosynthesis, plants use carbon dioxide and water as raw materials to produce sugars, using sunlight as the energy source. Incidentally, during photosynthesis plants release oxygen. Could this be termed a “waste product”?
To us this by-product is hardly waste. It is absolutely essential that we breathe in oxygen and use it to metabolize, or burn, food in our body. We exhale the resulting carbon dioxide, which plants recycle as a raw material for photosynthesis. We may have studied this process in a basic science class, but it is no less vital and marvelous. And this is just the start.
In our body cells and in those of animals, phosphorus is vital for transferring energy. From where do we get our phosphorus? Again, from plants. They absorb inorganic phosphates from the soil and convert them into organic phosphates. We consume plants containing phosphorus in these forms and use it for vital activities. Thereafter, the phosphorus returns to the soil in the form of body “wastes” that can again be absorbed by plants.
We also need nitrogen, which is part of every protein and DNA molecule in our body. How do we obtain this element that is so essential for life? Although about 78 percent of the air around us is nitrogen, neither plants nor animals can absorb it directly. So nitrogen in the air must be converted into other forms before it can be taken in by plants and later utilized by humans and animals. How does that conversion, or fixation, occur? In various ways. One way is by the action of lightning.
Nitrogen fixation is also accomplished by bacteria that live in nodules on the roots of legumes, such as peas, soybeans, and alfalfa. These bacteria convert atmospheric nitrogen into substances that plants can use. In this way, when you eat green vegetables, you take in nitrogen, which your body needs in order to produce proteins. Amazingly, we find species of legumes in tropical rain forests, deserts, and even tundras. And if an area is burned over, legumes usually are the first plants to recolonize.
What marvelous recycling systems these are! Each of them puts to good use wastes from the other cycles. The energy needed comes principally from our sun—a clean, endless, and steady source. How that contrasts with human efforts to recycle resources!
Even man-made products that are called environmentally friendly may not contribute to a cleaner planet because of the complexity of human recycling systems. In this regard, U.S.News & World Report pointed out that products should be designed so that their high-value components can easily be recovered by recycling. Is that not what we observe in these natural cycles? So, what does this reveal about the Creator’s forethought and wisdom?
The above-noted systems are just basic examples of the Creator’s handiwork, but do they not reveal him to be a real and intelligent person whose qualities and ways draw us to him?
Of course, we cannot have a face-to-face conversation with the powerful Creator of the universe. Yet, he has revealed much about himself as a real person in a book that is available, in whole or in part, in more than 2,000 languages, including yours. That book—the Bible—invites you to get to know and cultivate a relationship with the Creator: “Draw close to God,” it says, “and he will draw close to you.” It also shows how it is possible to become his friend. (James 2:23; 4:8)
Would you be interested in that?
