|
About Jesus - Steve (Stephen) Sweetman Existing
In God's Omnipresence It appears to me that
the general assumption is that God exists in heaven, somewhere far beyond
our atmospheric limits. I
suggest that Acts 17:28 says otherwise.
"'For in him [God]
we live and move
and have our being.' As
some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'" The apostle Paul was
well informed in both Judaism and the Greek philosophical trends of his
day. We read one example of
his expertise in Acts 17:19 through 33, when in Athens, he entered a theological discourse with some Epicurean and Stoic
philosophers. The above verse
is part of that dialogue where he quoted Epimenides as saying "in Him
we live and move and have our being" and Aratus as saying "we
are His offspring." Paul took the
opportunity afforded him by Athens' many objects of pagan worship to
explain that the Athenians' unknown god was the Creator God who does not
live in manmade temples. He
said that God is actually not far from them, and if they desired, they
could reach out to Him in the hope of finding Him.
Paul went as far to say that in God we live, move, and have our
being, our very existence. To
Athenian pagans, this would suggest that God doesn't exist among the stars
as did their gods. Even though Paul said we
exist in God, I am sure he would agree that as humans we also exist in a
material, time space reality. God,
however, is not a human being. He
is not confined to our material, time space reality.
He is a spirit (John 4:24) that exists in a spiritual reality
(Ephesians 1:19). When
thinking of a spirit dimensional reality, I'm reminded of quantum
physicists who believe there are eleven or more dimensions of existence.
If that is true, I think one of them would be spiritual.
Christian theology
states that God is omnipresent. He
simultaneously exists everywhere at the same time, and that would include
quantum physic's eleven dimensions. Just
maybe, then, there is more to Paul's "in God we exist" assertion
that could be understood in his day. Whatever
the case, despite existing in our material, time space world, we really do
live, move and exist in God.
I'm not a pantheist that
claims God is His creation. God
is separate and distinct from creation that can't escape His omnipresence.
It is clear to me, then, that God and the spiritual realms are
active in our material, time space reality.
It is why Paul wrote that our real fight in this life is not with
other humans but with spiritual beings in the spiritual world (Ephesian
6:12) that I say saturate our material, time space world.
I believe that God is
closer to us than we realize and is actively involved in our material,
time space reality. He can be
found by anyone who is reborn spiritually by His Spirit.
God is omnipresent. We
might, then, want to rethink our general assumption that God and heaven exists beyond
our atmospheric limits. Post
Script You might remind me that
upon His ascension, Jesus disappeared into the clouds (Acts 1:9)
suggesting to many that He kept ascending beyond the clouds.
Jesus did disappear into what I believe were literal clouds, but
that is where the text says the disciples last saw Him.
Nothing is written about a farther ascent beyond the clouds.
While in the clouds, could Jesus have been transformed,
transfigured, or however you want to say it, into the spiritual dimension
that permeates our earthly reality? Does
He exist right now alongside God in whom we live, move, and have our
being? I think so.
|