Ten Things to Know About God

What can we know about the one true God? How do we find it? Should we speculate or rely upon what God has told us personally? Of all the defining characterizations of the nature and being of God, these are my top ten.

I. God has a name, "I Am" and he told Moses this at the burning bush in the Biblical account of Exodus. Moses asked God, and what shall we call you? God was pretty definite about the answer Moses was to give to Pharoah about in whose name Moses was preforming all those miracles to help free the slaves. "Tell them I Am" has rather vast and provocative philosophical overtones. It goes to the heart of what existence means on a singular level. Remember the famous quote, "I think therefore I am," that philosophers rely upon for justifying our own existence? Well, God is saying the same here only God's existence is not dependent or predicated upon anything!

2. God has an image, us. Genesis tells us that mankind (all men AND women) were created in God's image. This means that our nature and being must somehow replicate the nature and being of God in some way. Not necessarily the physical, but perhaps the spiritual. There is a passage in the Bible which refers to God walking in the Garden of Eden during the cool of the evening looking for Adam and Eve, but this may simply be the literary license of the early Biblical writers to convey a message. There are so many references to God's eyes going to and fro, God's mighty hands and of course the physical being of Jesus Christ who many believe was God on earth, that we can at least agree there is some kind of connection between us and God. It might be simply the mental, metaphysical, spiritual or nontangible elements of mankind, but we can communicate one to another which means there is a meeting of the minds and understanding of our inner selves by God.

3. God is greater than anything or anyone else. This means there is no comparison and God is in charge. God gets to be creator, judge, decision-maker and provider to prayer. God is present everywhere at every time, can see and know everything, can do anything including going beyond the laws of nature (miracles) or altering nature and creating new creatures and events daily. God is not confined by time or space and answers to no one.

4. God has a personality. God can be humorous (just look at some of God's creatures), artistic (double rainbows) and jealous according to the Bible. God knows all there is to know about math, psychology and sociology - not to mention philosophy and theology. God is not going to give away trade secrets, but God certainly wants us to know, understand and love God and one another in the same way God does us.

5. God loves. This is probably one of God's best attributes. No one is more forgiving, charitable, merciful and loving. God will always be your first and last friend unconditionally regardless or inspite of ourselves.

6. God answers prayer. God loves companionship. That is why God created us in the first place. God may not always answer you right away or give you exactly what you asked for, but it will be in your best interest in the long run always. We can trust God's promises. You can do what God says you can do and have what God says you have "a hope and a future."

7. God shuns sin and evil. God understands that it is better to have loved and lost, but really does not want to lose a single soul of creation. Pain and suffering are one thing; but such brought about due to pride, greed, lust and coveting by mankind are quite another. Accidents do happen, people make mistakes, but out-and-out blasphemy or disregard for God's creation are definitely frowned upon. Continuing in sin and evil means God must look away and separation from God is simply another word for hell on earth.

8. God is impartial, fair and unbiased. Whether you are rich or poor, male or female, black or white, all religions including atheists all get God's love and attention. In order to BE God, God would have to be equal and unprejudiced towards all creation. Whether folks accept God or not, God is still in control of their lives.

9. God is wisdom. God has intelligence in God's being which is revealed to mankind. The educated elite, intelligensia, smart-alecks or even lucky common sense adherents do not measure up or compare to the wisdom which is God. You cannot buy it, steal it, work for it - but God does say you can "mine" it like gold or precious pearls. Of course it is a gift from God and one must look to God to find true wisdom.

10. God can and does change things like God's mind. Many in the Bible prayed for things like winning wars, longer life, childbirth in old age and the like so we know God can alter natural law. God has the final word on everything since God created it and us in the first place. This is why one should always pray and have hope. God's being and God's word and promises never change throughout eternity, but God loves faith and conviction and can be convinced to act otherwise.