Is God Alive?

God created man in His own image, or so the Bible tells us. How far does that image go? I believe that God knows all that has been and is but I would like to believe that He might not know what will be. The reason is pretty simple: if "All the world's a stage,And all the men and women merely players;" then what is the point? Where is the fun?

If He knows what will happen, then where is the anticipation, the joy in having it come out right, or the sorrow in seeing what has gone wrong. Where is the reason for us to "try, try again," so that we can do a better job next time? God gave us free will - the ability to make decisions between various choices.

I believe that life is a path with many doorways and directions. Each decision we make opens one door and closes another.
If we are all truly acting from an unseen script, then what is the point of prayer or pleading with God to help us do some particular thing? For that matter, what is the point of life itself?

We pray or plead for God to take some particular action whether it is to save our life, win a lottery or something else. If all is already "written," then we are just wasting our and God's time by praying. All the promises we ever make are worth nothing - if what will happen is already written.

Another indication that God is alive also comes from the Bible. God became so angry with what was happening that He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. He later chose to destroy all life on earth except the family of one man, Noah.

That's why I believe God is a living, breathing entity who takes an active part in our lives. He is all powerful and can do anything He should wish to do. If He decides to hear our prayers, He can help us win a lottery or save our life and then see if we keep our promises to Him to tithe or do some other good with the that life. If we do, He is pleased. If we do not, then He will be less likely to grant our prayer the next time.

Another corollary is that predestination is not a fact. The concept of predestination is in conflict with the concept of free choice - unless you feel that my writing this article is predestined and I have no choice in the matter.

It follows also that if God is alive, He has a purpose and a goal. I don't claim to understand either but I can only hope that answering my prayer will bring Him a little closer to fulfilling it. I do believe in free choice and that God does answer prayers, even if, sometimes, as Morgan Freeman says in the movie Deep Impact, "that answer is no."