In the next series of postings, I will be discussing God.  There are many perspectives on God across Western culture.  This is because of the diversity of cultures that make up Western culture.  In my 23 years of life so far, I have heard several of those different perspectives.  Although I understand that I cannot force my perspective on anyone else, I must at the same time be forthright in rejecting many of those perspectives.  In this introduction, I may come over as negative or intolerant.  First, let me say that though I firmly disagree with many non-Christian perspectives on God, I am not intolerant of those views.  If you do not agree with what I write in the next series of posts, I will not think you any less a person than myself.  I do not harbor hatred for anyone, not even my "enemies".  Second, I wish to get the negative out of the way because I wish my arguments to focus on the positive.  In other words, I do not want to spend a lot of time attacking someone else's point of view.  I would rather show the weakness of those views by exalting the view that God Himself wants us to have of Himself.  This leads me to my third point in this introduction, that the point of view I will defend is not about Christians being right and everyone else is wrong and on their way to hell.  It is about what God says about Himself, and part of that message is what God did for all humanity through Jesus Christ so that we don't have to go to hell.  

I could not possibly cover every point of view on God that exists throughout the world.  So, I am going to make some general categories.  Again, I do not want to exhaustively argue in the negative.  In the first category, are points of view that say God is some vague, impersonal higher force or power.  Some who resemble this theology may not believe in God, but in so "higher power" or who might say that the universe itself is that power.  Some may believe in God, but don't believe that He is a personal God; rather He is watching us "from a distance".  This view is probably quite common.  Again, I have not covered every variation of this view.  Yet I would argue that God is not just some higher power or force, He is not equal with the universe (or vise versa).  He is an infinite living Spirit who has personality, He is in fact a person.  God is not impersonal or merely watching from afar.  Indeed, in a sense He is far off, but He is also very near; those who believe in Jesus Christ, His Son, know how near He is.  When we believe in Christ, He sends His Spirit to live in us.  

Now while God lives inside of believers in Christ, He is not in everyone or everything.  This is our second category.  We might this the naturalistic view of God.  Again, some may believe in God; yet they believe that God is a part of everything and or that everything is a part of Him.  Then there are those who do not necessarily believe in God, but who believe that nature itself (of herself) is divine (hence the idea of Mother Earth or Mother Nature).  Some even take this to the extreme of saying that we ourselves are God or divine (even some popular television preachers teach something similar).  Yet, even though God is omnipresent, He is not in everything, nor is He everything.  He was before there was anything.  In fact, He made everything; He created the natural world.  A potter may have intimate contact with his pottery, but that does not make the pottery equal in nature with the potter any more that the potter becomes equal in nature to the pottery.  God wants to be intimately involved in our lives (which He gave us), but our relationship with Him does not make us equal in nature to Him.  We do not become God, nor does He become us.  

The third category is what we might call the philosophical view.  This includes everything from agnosticism and atheism.  These are people who have genuine philosophical questions about God, but are unwilling to accept the finality of God's revelation of Himself in the person of Christ.  Or these are those who philosophically or intellectually deny that God exists.  God is reduced to a concept or a metaphor.  Anything beyond the natural world is myth or superstition, so this naturally includes the invisible God of the Bible.

The God of the Bible.  You see, the reason that each of these categories "miss the mark" in theology is because they all ignore, deny, or distort what God has disclosed about Himself in the Scriptures.  Of course, many within these categories may deny the truthfulness of those Scriptures.  Regardless of how one views the Scripture (perhaps after this series, I will do a series on the reliability and authority of the Bible), God has disclosed certain information about Himself in the Jewish/Christian Scripture.  We will explore this disclosure in the days and perhaps weeks to come.  Let me again say that I am not out to offend anyone or force anyone to believe anything.  I, as one who has experienced God in a personal way because of what Jesus Christ did on my behalf, am obligated (and privileged) to share with others the good news that you can know the God who created the universe.  Another misunderstanding about God is that you have to do certain things to be accepted by God or to go to heaven.  No one is going to heaven on account of how many times they go to church, how often they tithe, or how good a life he or she lived.  The only reason anyone is going to heaven is on account of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Because of what Jesus did, everyone is accepted by God when they believe in His Son.