What I Believe About God

A few days ago I was engaged in an online discussion about The Lord's Prayer, and in the midst of it I was asked to explain my view of God. That's a relevant question right now - because there's a lot of debate going on in my own denomination about the nature of God. It's also a complex question in a lot of ways - because while as Christians we believe in only one God - the reality is that there are many "gods" in the world which can cause our sight to become a little bit blurry when it comes to actually being able to describe what we perceive about God. In any event, I wrote out an answer to the question and shared it. Another poster described what I had written as "articulate" but "rather traditional." I'm not sure whether that was meant as a compliment or as an insult. In any event, I don't think that we do enough thinking about what we actually believe about God, so I thought I'd share this a little more widely. It's certainly not because I think my words are the last words on the subject. These are only my thoughts, and I'm conscious that, in Paul's words, for now "we see dimly, as in a mirror." Our understanding of God is not complete, and a full understanding of God is probably impossible to the finite human mind. Still my hope is that my words might inspire others to try to formulate in their own minds what their perception and understanding of God is. Here's what I wrote in response to that question:

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I believe God to be spirit. As spirit God does not have physical properties, nor does God exist in a manner which makes God bound by physical properties. I also believe that God is eternal, not bound by time. Indeed, I believe that God transcends time - that God existed before time began and will exist after time ends. (At least, "time" as we understand "time.") God is eternal, not bound by time or space. In a way, you could argue that past, present and future exist together with God. In other words, I believe time to be somewhat of an illusion, if we consider an eternal God to be the ultimate reality.

I believe that God created all that exists. I believe that God is, to some extent, revealed by all that exists - in the same manner that an artist's paintings or drawing reveal something of the artist. I believe that revelation to be imperfect. I believe that, in the words of 1 John, "God is love." I believe that because God is love, and because that love is directed toward the creation, God chose, in Jesus of Nazareth, to become incarnate; to become a part of that which God created - setting aside the salvific implications of the incarnation, I believe that God chose to live among us, to experience our existence and all that accompanies it, up to and including suffering and death. So, yes, I believe in the divinity of Jesus. I believe that God today is both immanent and transcendant. In traditional trinitarian terms, the transcendance of God would be seen in the person of God the Father, the immanence of God would be seen in the person of God the Holy Spirit. Another implication of the words that "God is love" is that God does more than simply watch us struggle. God is intimately present with us as we struggle - comforting, strengthening, guiding. God is also present with us as we rejoice. In other words, because God is love, I also believe that God is present. I do, however, draw a distinction between God and creation. While the creation can reveal God, the creation is not God, nor is the creation (aside from the incarnation) a part of God. Simply put, God is other. I believe that humanity is created in the image of God (not the physical image in my view, but meaning rather that we are created with many of the attributes of God - creativity, compassion, the ability to reason, the capacity for love, etc. etc.)

I believe that in the incarnation we see the primary example of divine intervention into the created realm. I also believe that God inspires some individuals in specific ways to be a further revelation of God - yet another example of divine intervention in the created realm. From a Christian perspective, I believe that inspiration is seen in the Bible. God inspired individuals to write and communities to preserve those writings.Therefore, I cannot deny that God can and has intervened. Whether and/or to what extent God still intervenes is to some extent a matter of debate among theologians. I believe the answer to be yes, but certainly not as directly as was the case through Jesus of Nazareth. I believe that God is capable of performing miracles within the created realm - I also believe that to be the exception and not the norm (otherwise the word "miracle" would lose its significance) nor do I believe that miracles are accomplished by God on command through prayer - that would be to limit God, and turn God into a puppet awaiting orders. I believe that God acts as God chooses to act, sometimes through human agency; sometimes directly. I have no ability to control what God will or will not do. To deny the possibility of an interventionist God with the capacity to act independently as God chooses is, to me, the classic example of limiting God - so I don't understand the logic of those who dismiss the possibility of divine interventionism but who then accuse those who believe in the possibility of divine interventionism of limiting God.

I believe in prayer - not as a way of getting what I want, but as a means of building relationship with God. Thus, my prayers can encompass a great many components - including heartfelt desires that God "do" a particular thing. However, in intercessory prayer, I am guided by what I wrote above: God will act as God chooses to act, and I keep in mind that "no" is as valid an answer to any request as "yes." While some mock intercessory prayer I believe there is benefit to intercessory prayer, not in the sense that it forces God to act in a particular way, but at the very least because I believe it is of comfort to many (both believers and non-believers) to know that they are being thought of by others. Scientific and medical studies have been largely inconclusive on the impact of prayer. Some time ago I did refer to a summary of studies on the issue that had been done which showed results all over the place - some suggest that prayer had a positive impact, some suggested no impact and a couple showed a negative impact. As the summary pointed out, the establishment of the necessary control group (ie, the group "not" being prayed for) is impossible, since the studies tend to revolve around a group of those who will pray and a group of those needing prayer, with some of those in need of prayer being prayed for and some not. Unfortunately for such studies, there is no way of determining how many outside of the study might be praying for those in need of prayer who are not being prayed for by the "praying" group. Such studies are, therefore, of limited value. The results of prayer are therefore largely in the realm of anecdote and personal faith, easily dismissed as coincidence when there is a positive result, and true scientific studies of prayer are largely impossible. Thus, I pray not because I "expect" to get either "stuff" or even necessarily "positive results" (ie, to get my wish) as the result of my prayers, but because I believe prayer is essential to maintaining a relationship with God.