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About Jesus - Steve (Stephen) Sweetman Still
Asking What God I am more conscious than
ever to know how people view who God is when they speak of Him these days.
I maintain that words do matter and I think Jesus would agree with
me since He said that "the mouth speaks what the heart is full
of" (Matthew 12:34). What
people say is what they think, whether they admit it or not.
How people speak and thus define God must matter to Christians
because not all define God in Biblical terms.
Every ethnicity, culture and religion has a view of a god for
various reasons and with varying understandings. So
I ask, "What God is being spoken about these days? Christians serve a
specific God, not a generic god. He
is the "God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 15:6)
where Jesus is not only "with God but is God" (John 1:1).
Jesus expressed this divine unity when He prayed "may they
[Christians] be one, just as you Father are in me
and I am in you" (John 17:20 - 21).
What I'm saying is
important because as Christians we must clearly state what God we serve
and proclaim. From my
observation, including surveys I've conducted, many Christians speak more
of God than of Jesus. That
leads me to ask, "What God is being referenced?" Not everyone who speaks
of God speaks of the Biblical God. We
need to use Bible based critical analysis to determine what God is being
referenced. This is especially
true since throughout the West these days people use God to promote all
sorts of social, political and religious causes.
Are they referring to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
or their version of god? I could provide modern
examples of how people use and speak of God for various reasons.
Instead, I refer you to the opening paragraph of the American
Declaration of Independence for your consideration.
"The
unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When
in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to
dissolve the political bands which have connected them
with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the
separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God
entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that
they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation." When the text refers to
the "Laws of Nature and Nature's God," I ask, "What God is
being referenced?" Is it
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, where Jesus exists in an
eternal divine unified state with God?
From my study of western-world history, including American history,
the terms "Laws of Nature" and "Nature's God" were
common terms used by Deists like Thomas Paine throughout the Age of
Enlightenment. This
influential philosophical age penetrated western thought and culture in
the 1600's and 1700's. Influential
Deists like Thomas Paine believed in a Creator God, and thus the term
"Nature's God." Their
god had no association with Jesus, who they considered not to be divine.
So I ask, What God is the Declaration of Independence referencing? I hear people promoting
certain social, political and religious causes these days in the name of
God. I hear many Christians
preaching God with little reference to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Once again I ask, "What God?" Christians must know what
God people are speaking of, and, must clearly make known what God they are
speaking of. My God is the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, where Jesus is not only with God but
in some unexplainable form is God. Then
there's the Holy Spirit, whom we can't forget.
We must never leave Jesus or the Holy Spirit out of the Trinitarian
equation.
Postscript
The
above text is a transcription of the Stone Engraving of the parchment of
the Declaration of Independence on display in the Rotunda of the National
Archives
I
think that maybe one reason for the First and Second Great Awakening
revival that swept across
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