Ancient cultures from around the world saw gods as superhuman. The gods of Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Norse and the like were always presented as stronger, smarter and more clever than humans. They were immortal too. Consider Thor and Loki, Norse gods who show up in the Avengers movies. These religious figures represent images of fallen angels and powers and principalities, not the God of the Bible. They have flaws and weaknesses. But we may subconsciously embrace these concepts and inject them into our faith and understanding of God.
Popular culture and its thought leaders also seek to define who God is or should be. These sources stir our discussion of a supreme deity or power and cause us to question whether this is even relevant to our lives. Most current ideas are echoes of past concepts.
Some believe all power resides in the universe, as explained in movies. The Star Wars saga is laden with The Force, a dualistic good/bad consciousness concept. The Tree of Souls, the goddess Eywa and the concept of conscious connectedness are woven into the storyline of the Avatar movies.
The novel The Shack portrays God as three beings living in community in a Northwestern shack. The descriptions of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit do not square with Scripture, yet the concepts will no doubt increase the confusion we have about who God is. This portrait is an unbiblical extrapolation of ideas, which can quickly lead to heresy or idolatry.
Man’s attempt at defining God is inaccurate. The central issue is that God is not made in our image. We were made in God’s image. The God of the Bible is greater than all we can conceive. Consider these thoughts: God stores all the oceans in a storehouse (Psalm 33:7). God sees time in its entirety. Scripture suggests the heavens are like a scroll (Isaiah 34:4). Our limited human knowledge of size, weight, space, time and the act of creation restricts us from understanding that moving mountains for God is like us handling a grain of salt.
We can only know God through His revelation of Himself. Only God can describe Himself to us. He has done this by speaking through His prophets and through His Son, Jesus (Hebrews 1). Consider the attributes and character that God reveals about Himself. God is the Trinity: One God in three persons, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Here are some things the Bible tells us about God:
- God is Creator: All three persons of the Trinity were active in Creation. (Genesis 1:1–2, Colossians 1:16)
- God is Spirit. (John 4:24)
- God, the Son, came in the flesh. (John 1)
- God is love. (1 John 4:8)
- God is eternal and everlasting. God has always been and will always be. (Revelation 1:8, Psalm 90:2)
- God is Other. We are made in God’s image, but He is more than us. His thoughts are above our thoughts. His ways are above our ways. (Isaiah 44:6, 55:9)
- He is unchanging. God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. (Hebrews 13:8, James 1:17)
- He is King and Sovereign and above all. (Philippians 2:10, 1 Timothy 6:15)
- God’s character and attributes include holiness, righteousness and being all knowing and all powerful. (Revelation 4:8)
Is God Real?
Yes. God is real and eternal (Psalm 90:2). God is Spirit. He is not like images of Zeus or Shiva (John 4:24). The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, is likened to the wind (John 3:8). Is the wind real? We can experience the wind and see its effects, but not grasp or hold it. God sent the second person of the Trinity, God the Son, to earth. His name was Jesus (John 1:1–18). Jesus helps us know God in understandable ways as recorded in the Gospels. The Apostle John, in 1 John 1:1–3, stated that the disciples saw, touched, felt and beheld the Living God in a physical way. God has intervened in history, provided prophecies of events hundreds of years before they were fulfilled, performed supernatural acts, answered prayers and personally interacts with us through His Holy Spirit. God continues to demonstrate His reality to those who seek Him.
