Who is God?

THE EDITOR, Sir:

The question of the existence of God has arisen again with renewed fervour. Christians believe there is a God who sits in something like a watch tower in a place called heaven, looking over and directing the affairs of man. He also dispenses rewards and/or punishment as He sees fit. Atheists, on the other hand, strongly refute these claims. Both sides, of course, have an arsenal of philosophical and metaphysical arguments to defend their points of view.

As I examine the various arguments for and against the existence of God, I have come to the conclusion that there is really no issue between the two. You see, the God the Christians manifest and proclaim cannot be proven, and no Christian has succeeded in putting forward an unassailable argument because that God, I contend, does not really exist. As the atheists' refutation is of the Christians' claim, they really have no argument either because you cannot prove the non-existence of that which does not exist.

no scholarship reference

As both sides try to prove their points of view, they seem to be suggesting that God exists only in superior scholarship. The one who advances the winning argument, his god is God.

What I find interesting, however, is that there are two incidents in the Bible that deal with this issue, and in both instances, there was not one reference to scholarship. In the first instances, Elijah simply called upon God to manifest Himself (1 Kings 18). Argument put to rest! In the second one, Jesus simply says, "You see me, you see the Father" (St John 14:9).

As these arguments rage on, I wonder, naively, why God does not defend Himself. Then, it occurs to me that He is indeed defending Himself. You see, He is speaking through those who call themselves atheists to disabuse our minds of the false image, which has been fed to us over the years: an absolute God etched immutably in the pages of the Bible or other religious literature.

Atheists, however, through the possession of an insidious ego, misunderstand the message and instead, rage a war of opposition. Here again, He is defending Himself, this time through the agnostics. Through them, He reminds us that our finite minds cannot comprehend God absolutely. Absolute knowledge of anything is not possible within a finite mind, within a finite space and finite time. God is simply too ineffably vast.

The question still remains, however, who is God? We are the image and likeness of God. We are gods. We are His heart, mind, senses, and body. He manifests himself through us. To show God is to be like God.

How does God show mercy, justice, love, peace, forgiveness, tolerance, kindness, wisdom, knowledge, and understanding? Through us, of course!

If we only could let go of our proprietary views and dogmatism, we would never have to ask to see Him because each human encounter would be a godly one and many, if not all, of the ills of society would be no more.

E. Elpedio Robinson