Good morning! Welcome to another beautiful Sunday.
For those of you who are following the series, this is the latest post in the "Is God Testable?" series I started last month. These early posts are being transferred to #Steemit from Narrative, which is in the process of sunsetting. This is the last of those. For anyone who wants to catch up, here are the previous posts:
With further ado, I'll just jump right in.
Image from Pixabay.
In summary
This series is following this basic outline:
- Believing that God exists
- The study of God where God exists
- Alignment with God's purpose
- Checking for results
We are now entering the discussion on the study of God, which is tricky because many people think about studying God as an excursion into theological dogmas. While it might be helpful to study #theology, it isn't necessary. Anyone can believe in God without formal training. It's not necessary to delve into formal classroom exercises to undertake a study of God (although, I wouldn't discourage it).
Initially, I envisioned this discussion centering around one concept: Studying God where He exists, but I decided to expand it to also include where He has been. That's important, I believe, because, while God is not time-bound, has no physical being, and does not exist in material space, it is important to understand that He does, and has, interacted with His creation.
Now that I've made you spill your beverage, let's continue.
God is Not Natural, But Does Have a Nature
Everything that exists has a nature. That #nature consists of the essence and the substance of the thing. Merriam-Webster defines nature this way:
the inherent character or basic constitution of a person or thing
"Natural" is a word with various meanings but generally is used to convey that something is and of nature, nature being the order of the physical and material world. The concept is wrapped up in the Greek word kosmos, which the #Bible often translates into English as "world" but conveys much more than that. The actual, literal meaning is "an ordered system," but in the case of God's creation it refers to everything that was created by the hand of God, which is, literally, everything. In other words, the cosmos themselves, the universe, all of creation.
But there is another meaning of the word "natural" that helps us understand the nature of God. In a legal sense, natural conveys the idea that a child is born to a set of parents rather than adopted by them. Colloquially, we may say "legitimate" rather than "illegitimate," which has a derogatory connotation. But the idea is parallel to the meaning I'm working with now. Again, I'll consult with Merriam-Webster:
having an essential relation with someone or something : following from the nature of the one in question
In other words, to be natural means to derive one's essential substance from nature. A tree, for instance, is natural. Humans are natural. Water is natural. Space and celestial bodies are natural. God is not natural because He created nature, not the other around. As such, nature derives its essence and substance from God, not vice-versa.
These distinctions are important for laying the groundwork on the study of God. Because He has a nature, He can be studied. He can be known, although not perfectly understood.
In Exodus 3, God appeared to Moses in the form of a burning bush. He commanded Moses to deliver the Israelites from Egyptian slavery. When Moses asked God what to say when the Israelites asked him who commanded such a thing, God responded by saying "I am who I am."
God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” (Exodus 3:14, Berean Study Bible)
The "I AM" has been understood by Jewish and Christian scholars for centuries to be an expression of God's self-existent nature. He is the only thing that is, that always has been, and that was never created. His existence is not based on anything outside of Himself. Christ uttered the same expression in John 8: 58 when he told the Jews questioning him that he existed before Abraham did. They asked him if he had seen Abraham and he responded, "Before Abraham was born, I am." This is why Christians can say with confidence that Christ was God in the flesh.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. The point here is, God has a nature and can be studied. Where he can be studied, and how is the question. I will attempt to answer that question in the following segments.
Where the Study of God Should Begin
Wherever God is, or has been, that is where is He can be studied.
That's a bold statement, but what does it mean? Where is God? Where can He be found?
I will use an analogy to kickstart this part of the conversation: If we want to learn about an artist--Vincent Van Gogh, for instance--where would we go? My suggestion would be to start with his #art. Sure, we could read books about Van Gogh, learn where he lived, who his parents were, what year he was born, etc., but what value would any of that have if we don't understand who we are learning about? A proper study of an individual should begin with the intrinsics that make that individual who he or she is. Therefore, we should begin with what makes Van Gogh particularly Van Gogh and that is, namely, his art.
It is for this reason that I recommend a serious study of God begin with His creation: Nature itself.
In Romans 1:20, the Apostle Paul wrote:
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship, so that men are without excuse.
The book of Romans is an explication of systematic theology. The letter was written to Christians in Rome, made up of both Gentiles and Jews, probably some time between 54 A.D. and 57 A.D. In the first chapter, Paul lays the groundwork for the rest of what is to follow for 16 chapters. Beginning in verse 18 (Chapter 1), he begins to explain why God's wrath on the unrighteous is just. The gist is, because of man's idolatry; but underlying that idolatry is the fact that primitive man refused to recognize the imprint of God in His creation and subsequently gave up worshiping the creator for worshiping the creation instead. This indicates that humans need nothing more than to look at nature itself to see evidence of God.
In our day, many a natural scientist has begun the study of their specific discipline with the assumption that there is no God. This is a mistake. Their assumption further leads them to believe that the claims of science prove that God doesn't exist. Again, the assumption is a mistake for no man-made system, which science is, can determine the existence or non-existence of a being outside of that system. Such a notion is as absurd as the potato eaters rising up to declare that Van Gogh doesn't exist.
So, the study of God should begin with an exploration into His handiwork--the "workmanship" of His creation. But it shouldn't end there.
Image from Pixabay.
Where Else Can God Be Studied?
All study is the intentional, thoughtful, and sober attention to experience. When applied to the study of Van Gogh's art as alluded to above, it means to undertake a deliberate appreciation of the expressions the artist poured out on his canvas. It does not mean reading books about the art. It means experiencing the art firsthand. The same can be said of the study of God's masterpiece. The study of nature is the deliberate and attentive approach to experiencing nature as it was designed, or as close as we can get from our vantage point.
That does not mean, however, we cannot read books about the art. I simply recommend not starting there.
Most people can tell you that Van Gogh cut off his own ear, but few people can tell you the circumstances around that event. In other words, they have a fact but no context. This is how most people approach the study of God. In my own faith tradition--evangelical Christianity--one will often hear how important it is to study the "word of God," the phrase being a reference to the Bible. While I admit such a study is valuable, simply reading the Bible to extract facts from it about our creator (and ourselves) is akin to knowing that Van Gogh cut off his ear without knowing why or how. This is why I believe it's important to begin with experiencing nature, but not ending there.
A proper study of God must move beyond the experience of the expression on the canvas and to other indications of His presence, motivations, and purposes. There is not just one go-to source to gather up all of the information we can obtain about the subject. Rather, there are various sources, and knowing where to find them and how to use them is important.
The following list is not meant to be exhaustive. Being fallible, I may forget a few things and leave them off the list. There may be other things I have not discovered. For that reason, I'll simply list a few ways a proper study of God can be undertaken based on my current understanding and drawing from past experience.
But first, let me answer this question: Why is studying God necessary for testing God's faithfulness?
It's a fair question, and I'd say the answer lies in the nature of God Himself. Since we're talking about the God of the Judeo-Christian mythos, it's prudent to discuss the attributes of God as understood from that perspective. One of those attributes is faithfulness. God is faithful to keep His promises. We know this, first, because of the testimony of the scriptures concerning Him (Deuteronomy 7:9, New American Standard; Hebrews 10:23, Berean Study Bible), but we can test it and know it by experience, and that is the kind of testing that I am talking about.
- Holy Scripture - Since we're talking about the faithfulness of the Judeo-Christian God, it's important to study the Judeo-Christian religious texts. This includes the Old Testament and New Testament of the Holy Bible.
- Extra-canonical texts - While Christians believe that those texts which have been canonized are inspired by God, there are some non-canonical texts that are helpful. These include The Apocrypha, the Didache, religious writings from saints of the past, Bible commentaries, handbooks, Greek and Hebrew lexicons, and other study helps.
- Prayer - Prayer is often thought of as making requests of God, or "asking God for favors." To be sure, there may be times when asking God for things may be appropriate, but a proper understanding of prayer has more to do with listening to God than speaking to God. Although, to be fair and honest, if we believe that God is a person, as is the belief in Christian ethos, then prayer is, by definition, a two-way communication with God and involves both listening and speaking. As such, supplication is an excellent way of testing God's faithfulness, but only insomuch as requests are made that align with God's will.
- Meditation - I'm sad to say that many Christians in our day have forgotten about, if they ever knew it at all, the incredible value of meditation. Many in the church today seem to prefer the noise of crowds over the solitude of God's presence. Quaker author and pastor Richard Foster calls meditation "the ability to hear God's voice and obey his word" (Celebration of Discipline). But this simple definition can be misleading--it is not prayer, although it is closely related. Where prayer is outward-looking, communicating with (speaking and listening to) the God external (the omnipotent, omniscient God in the heavenly places), meditation is inwardly-focused on listening to the God internal. This only makes sense if you believe in the filling of the Holy Spirit as has been church doctrine for over 2,000 years. Unlike Eastern meditation, where the practitioner is taught to empty the mind, in Christian meditation, the practitioner fills the mind with thoughts centered on God, His nature, the beauty and mystery of God, His word, and communion with the Holy Spirit.
- Fellowship - Fellowship with other Christian believers is another way to test God's faithfulness. In John 17:21 (Berean Study Bible), Jesus, praying to God the Father, expresses his desire that his followers will be as united as He was (and is) with His Father. The idea of fellowship for the Christian has its roots in the understanding of fellowship and unity in the Trinitarian nature of the Godhead. From that unity flows the fellowship of believers. We test God's faithfulness by showing our love for one another as expressed in Christ on the cross, sacrificing our own desires for the other and submitting to one another in the spirit of Christ-like humility.
- History, and books - Though separate, I'll put these two into the same category simply because history is the story of fallen man. Wars, rumors of wars, and much of the good and bad that men have done from time immemorial have been recorded in the annals of imaginations--symbolized by books. We can learn a lot about God, and ourselves, by studying what men through the centuries have said about it, experienced it, and demonstrated it with their own lives.
- Obedience - Finally, the ultimate way to test God's faithfulness is simply by being obedient to His commands. What God has commanded, man must obey. That is the great imperative, universal in nature, and puts God's faithfulness ultimately to the test because God's commandments come with promises. By obeying His commands, one puts God's promises to the test.
Again, as stated above, this is not an exhaustive list. But it does contain some of the "big rocks" on the mountain climb of faith.
In the coming weeks, I'll expound on these various means of studying God in more detail (I will not discuss them all, but enough to give as good a picture of the topic as I am able), but I'll try to keep the discussion focused on its relation to testing God's faithfulness. Taking these methods one at a time, I'll show how studying God is a means of testing God, and why it is important to do so. I may not be able to maintain the weekly posting schedule as I had originally intended due to the amount of time it takes to research and formulate my thoughts on these topics. For that, I'll apologize in advance, but I do hope you keep reading.
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