{"id":3422,"date":"2017-03-22T13:57:28","date_gmt":"2017-03-22T18:57:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedisciplemaker.org\/?p=3422"},"modified":"2017-03-22T13:57:28","modified_gmt":"2017-03-22T18:57:28","slug":"the-god-you-dont-believe-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2017\/03\/the-god-you-dont-believe-in\/","title":{"rendered":"The God You Don’t Believe In"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When people say they don\u2019t believe in God, I sometimes ask them, \u201cWhat kind of God don\u2019t you believe in?\u201d After they describe their version of God, I often agree with them. \u201cI don\u2019t believe in that kind of God either.\u201d<\/p>\n

The God the new atheists reject is not the actual God of the Bible<\/strong>. They reject a caricature of Him. They think the God of the Bible is some kind of superhero, akin to Zeus or Thor\u2014a limited being inside the universe that theists call on to fill the gaps that science can\u2019t explain. He\u2019s also morally arbitrary and can fly off the handle at any moment.\"\"<\/p>\n

This is the kind of god Richard Dawkins has in mind when he dismisses the God of the Bible. He writes, \u201cI have found it an amusing strategy, when asked whether I am an atheist, to point out that the questioner is also an atheist when considering Zeus, Apollo, Amon Ra, Baal, Thor, Wotan, the Golden Calf and the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I just go one god further.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for Dr. Dawkins, this strategy only highlights his ignorance of biblical theism. The God of the Bible is not like Zeus, Apollo, Baal, and the rest, or even what the Bible calls an \u201cangel.\u201d God is not a created being among other beings inside the universe. He is Being itself and transcends the entire created order!<\/strong> He is the ultimate and sustaining cause of all created things, including angels, human beings, and the material world we call the universe. This kind of God can be known by all people because God has revealed Himself through two books: the book of nature (which everyone has) and the Bible.<\/p>\n

To be fair, many Christians don\u2019t have the proper conception of God either. They think God is something like a big angel or just a bigger version of themselves. Perhaps they haven\u2019t studied the context of certain Bible passages to discover what the Bible actually means by \u201cGod.\u201d The God of the Bible has some of the same attributes of Aristotle\u2019s \u201cunmoved mover\u201d and many, if not all, of the attributes cited by great philosophers and theologians such as Augustine, Aquinas, and Anselm.<\/p>\n

In order to grasp that kind of God, you may need to renew your mind. If you are used to conceiving of God as a big angel or an old man in the sky, then drop the word \u201cGod\u201d for a minute<\/strong> and simply think of the God of the Bible as the Source and Sustainer of all things. The Source and Sustainer of all things is:<\/p>\n