GOD
Dianne Dawson
Columbia, S.C.
How many of you like a GOOD MYSTERY?
I bet everyone does! Who of you did not listen intently when it was announced that Princess Diana had been in a car accident, or John Kennedy’s plane was missing, or that a 747 had fallen from the sky over Nova Scotia, or that a hurricane was coming across the Atlantic and MIGHT hit the U.S.? These were all mysteries (some still are).
GOD IS A MYSTERY
2 kinds of arguments for God’s existence. 1) Reason
2) Historical existence of Christ
Reason begins with the argument that the world cannot explain itself.
In other words, the world itself cannot tell us where it came from.
We know that Earth revolves around the Sun, but the sun is not the center of the universe. Scientists are continually discovering new planets, stars and galaxies.
We know that Man adds to our universe by sending up satellites using rockets. When a new satellite goes up we want to know Who? What? Where? When? Why? Etc.
We want an explanation! And we remain unsatisfied until we find out
The same instinct demands to know Who put Earth into orbit and Who put us on it! To answer that the earth is - just there - leaves us unsatisfied because it offers no explanation.
BECAUSE we know that there is no effect without a cause.
In other words - Nothing happens without a cause.
Common sense is always looking for a cause to explain an event.
What or Who caused the Earth? Scientists are trying to explain it with the “Big Bang” theory. But Who or What caused the Big Bang?
Nothing happens without a cause. And No cause can be less than its effect.
In other words, Whoever or Whatever caused all of this MUST BE BIGGER THAN ALL OF THIS!
We are obviously dealing with an immense Power of some sort.
What sort of Power can it be? Who caused this Power?
If this Power is the effect of another Cause, the then what about the Cause behind IT! Ultimately there must be a First Cause - the cause of everything
He must be without a Cause because He IS - of Himself and not of another.
Ultimately there must be a Being Who Is,
a Supreme Cause Who depends upon no other for His existence.
That Supreme Cause is GOD! He tells us so in Holy Scripture when he says, “I am.”
Exodus 3:14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO AM."
And He said, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"
God is a Mystery - so our belief in God must be based on Faith. He tells us that we must “walk by Faith and not by sight”
For many of us cradle Catholics our first unforgettable lessons about God came from the Baltimore Catechism:
Q. Who made the world?
A. God made the world.
Q. Who is God?
A. God is the Creator of heaven and earth, and of all things.
Q. What is man?
A. Man is a creature composed of body and soul, and made to the image and likeness of God.
By creating me in His image and likeness, God lets me share in some of His Attributes such as Mercy, Compassion, Love and Goodness and these make me more like Him
Q. Why did God make you?
A. God made me to know Him, to love Him, to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in the next.
Although God is a mystery to us, He has revealed certain things to us - in Holy Scripture and through Christ.
Close your eyes and picture God in your mind and heart.
If asked, we would all probably have a different picture of God.
One of the things that God has revealed is the fact of the Trinity - one God, three Persons.
(The Trinity will covered in another lesson.)
But let’s concentrate on God the Father.
Close your eyes and picture God the Father in your mind and heart
Some of these pictures might seem to be the same
- Artists usually picture God as an old man with long white hair and a beard.
Sometimes as a gentle, kind grandfather type,
sometimes as a stern disciplinarian evicting Adam and Eve from the Garden
- as we concentrate on God the Father the picture evolves.
How it evolves depends on what we know about Him and our experiences of Him.
God has many qualities.
To me, His main quality is Perfection. To me this explains every other quality of God.
His Son has revealed the nature of that perfection - LOVE
Because God is Perfect, thereby being Perfect Love, God expresses that Love by creating us. He didn’t create us because He was lonely, but because He Loves us.
Some people say, “If God exists and He is so loving why do bad things happen?”
They happen because He gave us Free Will - the freedom to choose right over wrong. He’s not an indian-giver. He loves us so much that He won’t take away our Free Will.
Does God exist?
To paraphrase an old song: every time “I hear a new born baby cry, or touch a leaf, or see the sky, I believe”... in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth...
In the words of another song: “When the blackbird starts to sing, do the flowers hear him too, when he’s pouring out his heart, tell me what do roses do, do they cast their scent upon the air, is fragrance just a rose in prayer, giving thanks to God above for the blackbird's song of love.”
If you are interested in someone, you want to know more about them. You spend time with them. You visit their house and invite them to yours.
The more you know about someone the more you love them. Love spawns intimacy
God is the First Cause. When God speaks, it happens. God made us His sons and daughters. Not in a legal sense but in a REAL sense. We are not adopted, orphans. At His word We ARE His sons and daughters.
As we mature spiritually, we want to know more about God - we want an intimate relationship.
We can have that personal relationship because we are the sons and daughters of God.
There is much more I could and want to tell you but our time is up for this week....
Any questions?
In order to really know God, we must enter His world. And that is a world of SILENCE - a world of prayer
Let’s us now pray; OUR FATHER....