Sermon Library
“What Is God Like To You?”
Rev. Dr. Gregg R. Anderson
July 18, 2010
Service Theme: Pentecost VIII-2010
Source: 1st John 4: 7 – 12
Pentecost VIII-2010 July 18, 2010
What Is God Like To You?
1st John 4: 7 – 12
Alvin Plantinga
What is God like to you? This question was initiated by Simone Franklin’s wonderful and very well written essay. I thank her for this. It is a very basic question and one which I suspect every human being has wondered about since the beginning of human beings. Dr. Alvin Plantinga, Professor of Philosophy at Notre Dame states, “The concept of God is deeply embedded in the human psyche. The vast majority of the world’s population now and throughout history believes that there is such a persona as God. It’s part of our cognitive nature to think about God. The basic idea is that God is a being who is also worthy of worship, who deserves our worship. What is it about God’s nature then that makes God worthy of worship?”
Professor Plantinga’s special interest is Epistemology which is the study of how we know. He continues, “The basic idea is that God has to be very, very powerful, and in fact, God has to be thought of as he who has created the universe . . . and hence also very, very knowledgeable. And if God is really worthy of worship, God must also be perfectly good, a God of love . . . It’s important to think about God being a perfect being. This combination of perfections makes God worthy of worship. I guess such a being would have to be the greatest possible being, such that there couldn’t be any being greater than God. So you quite quickly can go from the notion of this being who is worthy of worship to the classical Judaic-Christian-Islamic conception of what God is like.”
And what is God like? Does God have a nature? Is God always good? How can we know anything about God? Is God always in charge? How can God allow evil and suffering? Does God act in our world? Does God know God’s name is God? As much as humanity has yearned for God, to know God and be close to God – we have far more questions about God. The fact that people have always thought about God is an incredible phenomenon. Somehow our human brains have been programmed to contemplate God or some higher power from our very inception or conception. When we really think about it carefully, this in and of itself is a great mystery and phenomenon. Even an atheist’s position is still one which is in relationship to God. I believe that because we do think of God – there is a God. Just as Descarte said, “I think, therefore I am,” I would say because we naturally think of God – God is.
Stephen Hawking
I have attended about a half-a-dozen lectures by Stephen Hawking at Paepcke auditorium in the past. One that has been most significant for me was entitled Does God Throw Dice in Black Holes? It was essentially about the universe being random or determined. This lecture has made a lasting impression upon me and I have talked about it often. This is a most essential question and is most similar to the question, Is there a god or not? It is completely possible that the universe is random and a complete fluke. But it is also possible and even more plausible as Hawking affirms that the universe is determined with a pattern and intentionality. If the universe is determined, it begs the question of a “determinator.” This was the last question asked Professor Hawking and he replied by saying yes. “Does that mean God?” asked another person immediately. After that brief pause for Dr. Hawking to program his computer, he replied again, “Yes, but my concept of God is different than many other views. I believe in a God, but not a personal God.”
I interpreted this end of the lecture answer to mean that there is a determinator or God behind this creation, but it is not a God with whom we typically anthropomorphasize. It is most natural to think of God and to wonder about God’s nature and therefore to also hypothesize about God and God’s nature. For this is what we do. If there is a creator, a determinator, a God who is omnipotent and omniscient, we must realize that our finite projections of the infinite are only that, finite and transitory.
Sunday School Teacher
I remember a Sunday School teacher telling me that we really cannot understand the mind of God any more than an ant can understand the mind of a person. The fact that I remembered that lesson must be significant and I do believe it is still true for me today. If God is God and we are human beings, it is more than likely that there is a difference between God and people. And I would dare say that is what we hope. We want this God to be God.
Yet, God Remains Present
And yet, as ineffable as God may be, we still feel that God is present and can be known. This is also an incredible phenomenon. As elusive as God is, God’s presence and reality can still feel very real. I suspect this is mostly through the reality and tangible existence of nature itself. Creation and nature is our foremost teacher. God is found within creation. This has been true for all the prophets before us, the revelations of inspired sages, and especially within our own experiences. So much of our Bible is filled with images of God and nature. Moses found God on the top of a mountain. The Psalms are prolific with God and nature metaphors. Jesus’ parables are essentially from the earth. God and nature have a symbiotic relationship and this has been a consistent theme of God and nature. Somehow, God and nature are our greatest teachers.
Natural Theology and Creation Spirituality
In recent years two new theological terms have been coined. One is “natural theology” and the other is “creation spirituality.” Both are in contrast to much earlier and dualistic philosophies when God was above, hell was below and earth was in between. Heaven was good, hell was bad and earth was in jeopardy. Our modern minds no longer operate like this. Today we see a more wholistic view of the universe and beyond. We see the vast inter-connectiveness of the universe as well as a wholistic and unitive projection of the universe. Today, earth and heaven are not separated. Today, God is not out there, but in here. God is not longer a metaphor of a man with a beard living on cloud nine overlooking the earth, but now a metaphor of the whole of the universe and the earth. God is seen within the earth and the universe. Our perspective of God has evolved and this is good. As we grow in perspective and truth, so too do we grow in our perceptions of God. This is all good.
Paul’s Address at Athens
In the book of Acts, the Apostle Paul speaks about a new vision of God. We read, “So Paul, standing in the middle of the Areopagus, said: ‘Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all men life and breath and everything. And he made from one every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their habitation, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after him and find him. Yet he is not far from each one of us, for in him we live and move and have our being; for we are indeed his offspring.” (Acts 17: 22 – 28)
Potthoff’s Fish Story
Throughout all of my own studies, when I think about the nature and substance of God, my mind explodes in a multiple of directions, but this one story came to mind which has given me comfort and clarity. I also think it essentially gives an answer to this everlasting question. It is from another favorite Professor, Dr. Harvey Potthoff.
Once there was a fish who lived in the great ocean, and because the water was transparent, and always conveniently got out of the way of his nose when he moved along, he didn’t know he was in the ocean. Well, one day the fish did a very dangerous thing, he began to think: “Surely I am a most remarkable being, since I can move around like this in the middle of empty space.” Then the fish became confused because of thinking about moving and swimming and he suddenly had an anxiety paroxysm or attack and thought he had forgotten how to swim. At that moment he looked down and saw the yawning chasm of the ocean depths, and he was terrified that he would drop. Then he thought: “If I could catch hold of my tail in my mouth, I could hold myself up.” And so he curled himself up and snapped at his tail. Unfortunately, his spine wasn’t quite supple enough, so he missed. As he went on trying to catch hold of his tail, the yawning black abyss below became ever more terrible, and he was brought to the edge of a total nervous breakdown. The fish was about to give up, when the ocean, which had been watching with mixed feelings of pity and amusement, said, “What are you doing?” “Oh,” said the fish, “I’m terrified of falling into the deep dark abyss, and I’m trying to catch hold of my tail in my mouth to hold myself up.” So the ocean said, “Well, you’ve been trying that for along time now and still you haven’t fallen down. How come?” “Oh, of course, I haven’t fallen down yet,” said the fish, “because, because – I’m swimming!” “Well,” came the reply, “I am the great ocean, in which you live and move and are able to be a fish, and I have given all of myself to you in which to swim, and I support you all the time you swim. But here you are, instead of exploring the length, breadth, depth, and height of my expanse, wasting your time pursuing your own end.” From then on, the fish put his own end behind him, where it belonged, and set out to explore the vast and great ocean.
Amen.
Gregg Anderson
Aspen Chapel
0077 Meadowood Drive
Aspen, Colorado 81611