What Or Who Is God?

Continued from yesterday…

Jeffrey Kluger, an author and senior writer at Time Magazine, invokes God in an article, when he states that science is “grappling with something bigger than mere physics, something that defies the mathematical and brushes up…against the spiritual.”

Talking about God, however, can be like walking among landmines. I make reference to God different words because we all seem to enter a discussion with certain religious and cultural perceptions, biases, and preconceptions.

In an attempt to be inclusive and rethink the whole concept of God, I, therefore, use various words to describe this indescribable essence: Spirit, Divine, Infinite, Transcending Reality, Ground of Being, Being, Supreme Being, Father, Creator, One, Love, Life, Light, and a whole host of other words. Not to confuse, but to simply suggest that it’s impossible to reduce what is indescribable into one word. Needless to say, many of the words used to describe God have a deeper meaning.

One such name of God is the Father. Jesus often spoke of God as Father. The word was not meant to describe a man with two legs, nor was it meant to be a slight against mothers. But the word father in Hebrew consisted of two letters (alef and bet), which interestingly enough were the first two letters in the Hebrew alphabet.

In other words, the word father suggested the beginning of all. The letters of the Hebrew language were originally written as symbolic images. So, for example, the two letters that formed the word father contained two images. The first one looked like an ox and symbolized strength because the ox pulled the plow so seeds could be sown in the ground.

The second letter (bet) was pictured as an open house where the ox found its domain. So using the word Father to describe God directly conveyed that God is the foundational strength that permeates the universe. As we have learned, Paul confirms this omnipresent view of God when he writes that the Father is one, and is over all, through all, and in all.

To be continued tomorrow…

Adapted from Section 3 of Awakening To I Am Love by David Youngren