Does the Bible teach that
God created
everything or that God is everything?
When the Bible uses the word, God, it means, “a
thinking,
feeling entity who created the universe and who holds each of us
accountable.” But there’s a much
different and very
popular idea of God: The notion that God and the universe are
one
and the same thing. In other words: God is everything! This
idea,
(commonly called Pantheism) is gaining quite a following in modern
religious thought, even though its roots are ancient, some of
them going back to certain sects of Hinduism. A
Christian
says that God made that tree! A Pantheist says that
God is
the tree!” We couldn’t possibly have two
more
distinctly opposite views of God.
Now there are different strains of Pantheism. Some insist that the
God/universe is a non personal phenomenon. The universe
doesn’t think. The universe just
is. It is
almost like saying there is no God at all. There is only
existence.
Other Pantheists will claim that the God/universe does have a
personality. This view suggests that the oceans, rivers,
stars
and planets somehow make up one collective sentient being.
We live in a country that guarantees freedom of religion and I would
never want to see that change. I respect the rights and the
sincerity of people who have a different view of God, be it Pantheist
or any other belief. At the same time, all too often we tend
to
give religious ideas a free pass without taking the time to question
them according to logic or authentication. Why is this? Because the
underlying assumption going into such dialogues is that religion
doesn’t really have anything to do with the truth
anyway.
Supposedly, it’s only a comfortable fantasy.
Telling
someone to choose Christianity over Hinduism or Islam is like arguing
over The Chronicles of Narnia as opposed to Lord of the Rings.
“They’re both fantasies,” people like to
say.
“ So what difference does it make? Just pick the
one you
like.”
When discussing other disciplines, (history, science, math, politics),
people are very interested in facts. But religion?
That’s a whole different story. Should it be? Even
a
religious idea is a truth claim. The founders of most major
religions did not suggest for a minute that they were espousing mere
opinions. The emphatically insisted that their beliefs were
based
upon divine revelation. In other words, they were claiming
truth
! Shouldn’t students at an institution of
higher
learning test all truth claims, religious or otherwise?
Equating God with nature may sound nice.
“It’s not
that God made the forest, God is the forest! It’s
not that
God made the sunset, God is the sunset! It’s not
that God
made the weather, God is the weather. He’s the
rain, the
lighting, the thunder! And he’s the crystal clear
water
pouring over every smooth stone in the bonny
brook.”
Doesn’t that sound nice? It’s almost
poetic!
But do we want to accept an idea simply because it sounds attractive?
Here’s the problem. When we say that God is
everything, we
must admit that everything is a pretty big word. Everything
includes, well, everything! When somebody tells me that God
is
everything, I reply, “You mean, I’m God?
Your
God? Is my wristwatch God? Am I wearing God on my
wrist? When I eat a hamburger, am I eating God?
When I have
my morning coffee, am I drinking God? When I empty the
wastebasket, am I tossing God in the trash can? If I hike
through
the woods and step in some horse manure, am I scraping God off of my
shoe?”
By this time, of course, I hear, “Oh no! I
don’t mean
that all those things are God!”
“You don’t?”
“No!”
“I see. OK. Well, then, when you say that
God is
everything, what do you mean?”
Sometimes, people make the horrifying discovery that they had no idea
what they meant. It just sounded good.
The Bible paints a much different picture of God:
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the
earth.”
(Gen 1:1)
A familiar verse to be sure, but the role of God as creator was taught
throughout scripture, both Old Testament and New Testament:
"Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?" (Job 38:4-5)
“For since the creation of the world God's invisible
qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen,
being understood from what has been made, so that men are without
excuse.” (Rom 1:19-20)
As you see, the Bible does say that we can learn some things
about the creator from His creation, but it is called creation.
The Bible also teaches that our creator will hold us accountable for
the way we live our lives.
“For he has set a day when he will judge the world
with
justice…” (Acts 17:31)
Since Christians base their beliefs on the authority of the Bible, the
credibility and authentication of the Bible is also a fair
game.
For the sake of time and brevity, I will address the accuracy of
scripture in a future column. But for today, let us simply
ask if
the Bible’s view of God makes any kind of sense.
Does it make sense that design implies a designer? The human
body
is a far more complicated machine than any computer or any
automobile. We would have trouble imagining such machines
coming
into existence by mere accident. According to Pantheist View One
(mentioned above) this universe (which some may call God) is
impersonal. Who then designed its complexity? And how do we
account for human personality? You cannot get the personal
from
the impersonal.
As for the idea of a God who holds us accountable, is it not consistent
with our very own societies? Don’t we have laws and
courts
to prevent anarchy? Don’t we forbid people to
selfishly
hurt others? A good case can be made that we drew up such
laws
because we have a conscience inside condemning evil and
making us
feel guilty if we aren’t trying to treat others in a way that
we
ourselves would want to be treated. Where did this conscience
come from? Perhaps our joint intuitive awareness of judgment
and
accountability finds origin in a being who will literally hold us
accountable. It would be very difficult not to at least
consider
such a possibility. According to Pantheist View Two, this conscience
may just be a part of the eternal conscience of the universe. But if
God is everything then he is also everybody, including evil people.
This would make God himself evil or at least partly evil.
Obviously you will not draw any conclusions from one short
article. If this piece has inspired thought or dialogue, if
it
has encouraged you to test any idea, even a religious one, than my
point has been made.
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From the
column, "What About It, Bob?"
By Bob Siegel
© 2002 by Bob Siegel
This article is not to be reproduced without written permission from
the author.
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