God

God Moves in a Mysterious Way
by William Cowper

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs,
And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.

Is it significant that a back-to-front dog becomes God, while a slightly more contorted cat becomes act (probably with a small 'a')?? Must have a word with Sirius (which reminds me, on behalf of all cats, why is there no cat-star?)

Once or twice--well, no, not a god, actually, but a responsive spider. 1. sitting on the ground with her (then)lover, Ted, in some afternoon-filtered sunshine. Late late autumn in a part of the world where winter barely arrives --the sun is still strong on on skin and clothes are still light weight. Ted is leaving soon and they are uncertain of when they will see each other again. Ted sees a tiny spider walking on the leg of his jeans. He says to the spider, »Tie me to Belle--c'mon, I'll give you a quarter.«
Immediately, like a close up slo-motion sequence from a PBS science special: the spider launches a gossamer web thread into the air, with a kind of shower of crystal almost-sparks, the thread sails across the gap between the lovers and connects at Belle's knee. The spider walks across.

'I refuse to prove that I exist,' says God, 'for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing.'

'But,' says Man, 'The Babel fish is a dead giveaway, isn't it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED.'

'Oh dear,' says God, 'I hadn't thought of that,' and promptly vanished in a puff of logic.

'Oh, that was easy,' says Man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is white and gets himself killed on the next zebra crossing.

God, the center and focus of religious faith, a holy being or ultimate reality to whom worship and prayer are addressed. Especially in monotheistic religions, God is considered the creator or source of everything that exists and is spoken of in terms of perfect attributes—for instance, infinitude, immutability, eternity, goodness, knowledge (omniscience), and power (omnipotence). Most religions traditionally ascribe to God certain human characteristics that can be understood either literally or metaphorically, such as will, love, anger, and forgiveness.

An agnostic dyslexic insomniac is someone who stays awake all night wondering if there really is a dog.

I am God. You are God. My cat is God. Well, actually, 'God' isn't really the word I'm searching for. Let's call it 'anima mundi' – world soul.

»God is dead« or so says Nietzsche (sorry about the spelling). But all he really meant was that we need to stop blindly accepting traditional, objective values.

What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge, take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do your friends despise, forsake you? Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms He’ll take and shield you; you will find a solace there.

Blessed Savior, Thou hast promised Thou wilt all our burdens bear
May we ever, Lord, be bringing all to Thee in earnest prayer.
Soon in glory bright unclouded there will be no need for prayer
Rapture, praise and endless worship will be our sweet portion there.

What was this thing, the »Trinity?« Does this mean you believe in three Gods?


No. The Bible tells us in many places that there is only one God (Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 43:10; 1 Timothy 2:5; 1 Corinthians 8:6). But it also tells us that three Persons are this same God‑the Father (John 17:3, 1 Corinthians 8:6; 1 Peter 1:2), the Son Jesus Christ ( John 1:20:28; Philippians 2:6,7, compared with John 5:18, Titus 2: 13; 2 Peter 1:1), and the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3,4, Hebrews 9:14).


But that sounds crazy! How can three Persons be one God?

I'll admit it sounds unusual. We aren't used to seeing any humans who are more than one person, but that doesn't make it impossible. The key is for us to remember that being and personhood are different kinds of things.

What do you mean?

Look around you. You see lots of different beings‑a rock here, a tree there, a building over there, a cow out in the field. All of these are beings, but they aren't persons at all‑they don't have the three attributes of personhood, intellect, emotions, and moral free will. On the other hand, you see some beings that are persons‑every man, woman, and child you see is both a being and a person.

So we know that some beings are not persons at all. and some are one person. But there's nothing that tells us no being could be more than one person.


So long as you remember the difference between being and person, while it may be strange to think of a single being being three persons, it isn't illogical and should not be impossible to believe.


This is why Jesus instructed His followers about initiating people into Christianity and told them to baptize »in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit« (Matthew 28:19).

Maybe it's not illogical, but it's pretty hard to understand.

Shouldn't we expect many things about God to be hard to understand? After all, God has more power and more intelligence than all the universe, and we are only beginning to understand our tiny corner of the universe.