The Nature of God

Light - Love - Holy - Just. There are many words used in the Bible (and other places) to describe God, but as mortal humans it is hard to wrap our heads around how some of the things attributed to him are possible. For example, eternal: just try to think about that for a second.

If you read my last post you know that I believe all of the Biblical descriptions of God are true, but that is a bit of a cop-out here. Instead of simply listing some or all of those descriptions I would like to take you through the way I understand God - in so far as my limited mortal capacities can.

Timeless - I think that is one of the best words in the English vocabulary for this aspect of God. He is eternal, in that He has no end, but He also has no beginning. He has always been, and always will be. In fact, He created time as we know it - so concepts like age, beginning and ending have no meaning for His nature... hence, Timeless.

This I believe is a requisite condition of God as He has revealed himself in the Bible. If He created the world (don't worry, we'll get there) then He had to precede it - and you can't just have created our world without also creating the rest of the cosmos; indeed, the Biblical creation account states that pretty clearly. If we give God any sort of beginning as we humans would understand it then there is just another step behind Him: someone or something must have created Him, which leaves us with a blank question mark. It is much simpler to accept that He is indeed the origin of all things, yet has no origin Himself.

Holy - This one term encompasses a lot. Another contender for this spot would be 'perfect' - but perfection implies a standard above the thing which you are describing... and I believe that God, by his very nature, is the standard. 'Holy' carries that connotation a lot better, while also bringing up the idea that God cannot abide un-holiness. I'll go into it deeper in another post, I'm sure, but I believe this attribute of God is how we have the idea of sin: that which is not in line with God's holiness.

The reasoning behind my belief in God's holiness is again in part based in the Bible, but also stems from logic. If He is indeed the Creator of all things, the One who no one else is above, then no matter what His standards for behavior are (to bring things into human terminology) they would be right. If He was full of death and destruction then those would be right - because there is no higher standard to hold him to. However, I think that our shared human instinct that says such things are wrong points to God's true morals... and the Bible backs that up. He has black and white standards for what is right - that which is in line with his nature and holiness - and wrong - everything else.

Omnipotent and Omnipresent - God is all-powerful, capable of anything that doesn't violate His own nature. He can create universes, endow beings with intelligence, and because He is outside of time (he created it!) He can see all points along that - and every other dimension - simultaneously. In fact, God is everywhere, and sees everything, at all points in time and space (as we understand them).

Again, this is proclaimed in the Bible - but it also follows naturally once you accept that God is the Creator. He exists outside of our universe and authored it, so there is nothing limiting Him but Himself.

That's a good start. There are other attributes, certainly - too many for me to list in a lifetime - but I think these are God's core... at least as best as I can understand it. From these flow all the rest, especially from his Holiness. It is why He loves without equal, why He brings us light and truth, and why He deals out justice so impartially.