Where is God? – God’s Nature: Location

/

Lectionary Readings for Nov. 21, 2021                     Reign of Christ, Year B
2 Samuel 23:1-7     King David’s Last Words
Psalm 132:1-12       A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.
Revelation 1:4-8     v8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.”
John 18:33-37 v36 Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.”

But this week we’ll be using numerous verses as we explore the question: Where is God?

Weekly Meditative Exercise

Christianity includes a long and rich tradition of embracing meditative practices as a way of keeping us connected with God, ourselves, and each other. I encourage you to spend some time each week (ideally 10-30 minutes) trying each weekly exercise. You will naturally find some more appealing and effective than others. You’ll like some but not others, and after 6-12 months you’ll better understand what’s available and what helps you.

This week’s exercise focuses on Presence (pages 71-73).
From Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices That Transform Us by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun. InterVarsity Press, 2005.

  • Desire: to develop a continual openness and awareness of God’s presence living in me

  • Definition: Practicing the presence is an invitation to see and experience every moment as a gift of God. It is to live alive to union with God’s presence.

  • Scripture: “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16)

As you engage with this exercise, I encourage you to ask yourself throughout your days, “Where do I feel like God is right now? Does God seem close or far away? How can I perceive God in both distance and nearness?”

Peace through Leadership Quote

“So much depends on our idea of God! Yet no idea of God , however pure and perfect, is adequate to express God as God really is. Our idea of God tells us more about ourselves than about God .”  ~ Thomas Merton (1915-1968)

IF we believe that every person is a child of God, created in God’s loving image to love and to be loved...
IF we believe God is present in and around ourselves and others... those beliefs can powerfully lead us in how we treat ourselves and treat others.
IF we believe that God shares the individual and collective experiences of humanity, THEN we are more likely to seek peace for ourselves and especially for others.

Any time I preach or lead a group, regardless of age, I start the same way. I’m going to say three short sentences. Please repeat each sentence, with enthusiasm.
God made me. God loves me. God has plans for me.

Today’s Message

If you’ve ever prayed with a young child, they may have asked you, “Who are you praying to?” When you answer, “God” a likely follow-up question is, “Where is this God you’re praying to?” Great question! Today we’re going to address a specific aspect of God’s nature: location. Where is God – far away, nearby, or within us?

You may hear people casually say, “God is everywhere.” Cool. And the same people might pray, “Lord, come to us now” or “God, come into our presence.” Which is it? If we believe God is everywhere, then there’s no need to ask God to move closer to us.

This may seem like a minor point to some people, but our understanding of God’s location consciously – or more often subconsciously – plays a major role in how we treat ourselves and others as well as how we understand and deal with life’s major questions and events (ex: birth, death, tragedies, etc).

So today, we’re going to look at several major schools of thought regarding where God is. FYI, each belief paradigm is supported by Bible verses as well as theologians with PhDs, so no matter what you personally think about God, know that there are many incredibly smart, educated, compassionate people who agree with you.

But before we dig into that, here are some concepts I hope you’ll find helpful as you explore the question for yourself and wrestle with what you personally believe and why.

Concept #1: In our conversations, our decision making, and our actions, we are led by Jesus’ Great Commandments (Matthew 22:35-40: love God, love yourself, and love others).

Concept #2: We are also led by John Wesley’s 3 General Rules (do no harm, do good, stay in loving relationship with God). 

Concept #3: Our tradition encourages us to think and to ask questions. Ideally, we use the Wesleyan Quadrilateral (named after John Wesley):

  • What does Scripture say?

  • What has our LONG tradition upheld?

  • How does our reasoning lead us?

  • How do our personal experiences shape us?

Concept #4: Good and Bad Theology - “Good” theology helps us understand, embrace, and share a love of God, love of ourselves, and love of others (in keeping with Jesus’ Great Commandments). Good theology is helpful and healing.
“Bad” (Unhelpful or Harmful) theology causes us to live with fear and hate. Bad theology may lead us to justify harming ourselves or others. Christians, especially Euro-American Christians, have a LONG history of using bad theology to oppress, enslave, abuse, and even kill people they don’t like. The murderous crusades of the 1100s and 1200s were prime examples of that.

This diagram shows the ground we’ll quickly, and frankly superficially, cover today. If I were teaching an academic class on theology, we’d spend an entire week on each one of these. To tease the ending, I’ll point out that most modern Christians embrace one of the last two categories: Dualism or Panentheism (or a confusing mix of the two).

Also, you may find yourself embracing one paradigm but feeling like you’re in a different one; that can be a stressful experience as you try to make sense of what’s happening in your life. For example, recall that when Jesus was hanging on the cross and about to die, He said “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34). Jesus is actually quoting Psalm 22:1 in his time of great stress.

But let’s take this one step at a time so it’s not overwhelming.

A-theism        A = without
“Disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God or gods.” Oxford  https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/atheism

One universal truth seems to be that a certain percentage of humanity rejects the idea of any existence beyond what we can see and touch. Many atheists are incredibly smart and compassionate people who have put great thought into whether or not they believe any kind of deity exists. Rather than ignore or vilify them, we Christians should listen to them, consider their thoughts, and use their observations, objections, and insights to help us clarify what we believe and why.

As you can imagine, there are no Bible verses that support the idea of atheism. The whole point of the Hebrew and Christian Bibles is to teach us the history and importance of our faith in God. But you might recall Psalm 14:1, “Only fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; not one of them does good!”

Sadly, Christians have for centuries surgically removed that verse from its original context and weaponized it to harass, degrade, and abuse atheists and agnostics. They fail to quote the third verse which the clearly annoyed author says, “But no, all have turned away [from God]; all have become corrupt. No one does good, not a single one!” Very few Christians believe that none of does any good; that would be bad theology.

 

Theism          Greek theos = god
“Belief in the existence of a god or gods...” Oxford https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/theism

Every known human culture throughout time has held some sort of belief in one or more gods. Theism helps us answer life’s great questions: Who am I? Where did I come from? What should I do (and not do) while I’m alive? What happens when I die?

From a Judeo-Christian and Islamic perspective, theism starts with Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Everything after that is just... details.

 

Agnostic         A = without + Greek gnōstikos = knowledge
“A person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God or of anything beyond material phenomena; a person who claims neither faith nor disbelief in God.” Oxford https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/agnostic

Within the community of agnostics, there appear to be three distinctions (https://blog.prepscholar.com/agnostic-definition).

  • “Category 1: Strong Agnosticism – there is no way that anyone can know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that God exists.

  • Category 2: Weak Agnosticism – just because something cannot be proven right now doesn’t mean it can never be proven!

  • Category 3: Apathetic Agnosticism – in the end, it doesn’t matter.”

The closest Bible verse I can find to support an agnostic approach comes from the ancient story of Job which includes this exchange between God and an exhausted and confused Job. Here, God challenges Job’s willingness to question God’s nature and motives (Job 38:31-33; 40:3-5). God says to Job...

38:31-33 “Can you direct the movement of the stars – binding the cluster of the Pleiades or loosening the cords of Orion? Can you direct the constellations through the seasons or guide the Bear with her cubs across the heavens? Do you know the laws of the universe? Can you use them to regulate the earth?
40:3 Then Job replied to the Lord, 4-5 “I am nothing – how could I ever find the answers? I will cover my mouth with my hand. I have said too much already. I have nothing more to say.”

Many more Bible stories and verses describe a God who pursues an interactive relationship with us. (ex: Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord...)

 

Pan-theism                 Pan = All
“The belief or theory that God and the universe are identical. [Everything is a part of God.] The word appears to have been coined… in 1705. Pantheistic systems, however, go back to very early times. It is a type of thought especially found in Hinduism. ... Mysticism, with its passionate search for God and desire for union with the Divine, has often been charged with pantheism” (from The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church 3 rev. ed., 2005.)

I can’t find any Bible verse that supports a pure notion of pantheism. Scripture consistently draws a distinction between God and everything else.

 

Deism              Latin deus = god
“Belief in the existence of a supreme being, specifically of a creator who does NOT intervene in the universe. The term is used chiefly of an intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th centuries that accepted the existence of a creator on the basis of reason but rejected belief in a supernatural deity who interacts with humankind” (Oxford https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/deism ).

Remember that the European “Age of the Enlightenment” ran from the end of the 1600s to the start of the 1800s. This was the age of “prove it to me” and rapid advancements in what we would call science and philosophy. Enlightenment “hardliners” rejected any ideas or beliefs that come out of personal experience. They were the opposite of what we would call mystics – people who embrace what they cannot prove, especially in regard to spiritual experiences.

If you’re a fan of this approach, you may like Psalm 19:1-4:

            1 The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship.
            2 Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make God known.
            3 They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard.
            4 Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world.

Nevertheless, the Hebrew and Christian Bibles are filled with stories of God interacting with humanity, often jumping in to save individuals or large groups (e.g. Exodus 14 Moses parting the Red/Reed Sea). Which brings us to...

 

Dualism / Dualistic Cosmology
This incredibly BROAD term means “The division of something conceptually into two opposed or contrasted aspects, or the state of being so divided” (Oxford https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/dualism)

“Christian dualism refers to the belief that God and creation are distinct, but interrelated through an indivisible bond. ... the conflict between dualism and monism has existed in Christianity since its inception. ... The problem of evil is difficult to reconcile with absolute monism...” (Wikipedia Dualism in Cosmology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dualism_in_cosmology).

The concept of dualism takes numerous forms and has been applied to a wide range of topics. But here’s an example within the Christian context: people embrace a Dualistic Cosmology if they believe in “the devil” as an “evil” force opposing God’s goodness. Many people refer to this conflict as Spiritual Warfare. The Bible is filled with dualistic language:

  • Genesis 1:3-5 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.”

  • And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day.

  • Proverbs 15:3 The Lord is watching everywhere, keeping his eye on both the evil and the good.

  • Isaiah 5:20      What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter.

  • Romans 12:21  Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.

Keep in mind, the ancient Jews who wrote the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew and Christian Bibles) were monists, not dualists. They believed that everything came from God – good and bad. (Long story short, the concept of dualistic cosmology was introduced to the Israelites when King Cyrus of Persia freed them from Babylonian captivity (Ezra 1) in 538 BCE and in the process, introduced them to the Zoroastrianism religion. Whew!)

 

Panentheism    pan = all          en = in
“Panentheism is the belief that the divine intersects every part of the universe and also extends beyond space and time. The term was coined... in 1828 ... panentheism maintains an ontological distinction between the divine and the non-divine and the significance of both. In panentheism, the universal spirit is present everywhere, which at the same time “transcends” all things created. While pantheism asserts that “all is God”, panentheism claims that God is greater than the universe” (Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panentheism).

From the panentheistic perspective, God is NOT me, but God is in every part of me – down to the atomic level. God is NOT the tree, but God is present in every part of the tree... or the dog, or the worm, or the rock, or the universe. This means that God experiences our joys AND suffering with us. This also means that everything we do impacts God. That ideas should profoundly impact how we treat ourselves and others.

Here are a few verses that support a panentheistic perspective:

  • Ephesians 4:5-6   There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all.

  • Romans 11:36   For everything comes from God and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen.

  • Acts 17:28       For in him we live and move and exist. As some of our own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

With all of that in mind, what theologies should we embrace and reject?
Every religion throughout history has developed its beliefs over time. Christianity has never “always” believed the same thing – about anything. Peter Abelard (1079-1142) was a French theological prodigy who wrote a book titled Sic et Non (Yes and No) to identify and discuss inconsistencies in church teachings. In all of his research, he could not find a single point on which all Christians have always agreed. Not a single one.

Before your head explodes, here’s what really matters and what you’ll have to determine for yourselves as you decide “where” God is:

  • Where do you find the best connection with God?

  • Where do you find Love, Peace, Joy, and Hope?

As I said before, each belief paradigm is supported by Bible verses as well as theologians with PhDs, so no matter what you personally think about God, know that there are many incredibly smart, educated, compassionate people who agree with you; know you’re not alone with your ideas, beliefs, and questions. Let me leave you with some words of assurance, comfort, and encouragement. Today, Methodists take Jesus’ Great Commandments (Matthew 22:36-40) very seriously. We should love God, love ourselves, and love others.

No matter what you do or don’t believe, no matter how strong or weak you think your faith is, no matter how certain or uncertain you are, no matter what... I firmly believe that God loves you and wants to share your faith journey with you.

Amen? Amen! (And thanks for sticking with me through this long message!)