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"And He made from one every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their habitation, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after Him and find Him. Yet He is not far from each one of us..." The Bible, Acts chapter 17, verses 26 and 27 |
What is God's viewpoint of us human beings and of this environment we are born into? Why are we here at all? What does God, if there is a God, require of us? These questions are rarely considered seriously, and yet we really are here on this earth for a definite reason!
Wouldn't it be nice and simple to have a website written by God himself to tell us his views? But life is not like that. Many people think they know what God's viewpoint is on any given subject but the majority have absolutely no idea. If God exists and if he really has a viewpoint which we human beings can understand, how can we find out what it is? God has expressed his viewpoint in the Bible but how does that work out in everyday life?"
This website attempts to throw some light on these questions. For most of my 71 years, this subject has become increasingly important to me. I was "born again" at the age of 15. Now, after more than 50 years of "seeking and feeling" after God (often very half-heartedly), I offer here a variety of thoughts and experiences on these topics. I hope that these thoughts will be of interest or help to other people. Your comments are welcome.
As you read these pages, you will probably find that you know something about the subject which I don't. Please contact me if this is so. I will be glad to hear from you and will be interested in what you say. My email address is at the bottom of each page.
I would like to hear of any true stories which provide practical illustrations to the topics discussed. Theological theories are of little use to me, nor are long and complicated words, so please keep it simple!
There are many "gods" in the world today. I must therefore define which "god" I refer to in these pages. When I use the word "God," I mean the one and only God who made the heavens, the earth and everything else, including us. There can be only one such God and my ideas of Him are taken from The Holy Bible, which I believe is His unique and inspired word to us mortals. He is therefore the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob and the Father of Jesus Christ.
The God of the Bible is a Person who comes across as loving, just, merciful, kind, eternal, omnipresent, all-powerful and with many other qualities. He loves people so much that he created everything just so that human beings might have the chance to turn to him and do things his way. They are nevertheless free to choose (and they obviously often do) not to turn to him and do things his way.
Shakespeare's concept of life as being like a stage is very accurate. We enter stage left, perform our little tasks, and exit stage right. Individuals are continually entering at stage left and exiting at stage right but how many seriously wonder what this life is all about?
We could learn a great deal from people who are older than us and nearing the "exit." We rarely do this though, because, when young, we tend to think we know everything. We therefore reject lots of valuable experience and have to learn those same lessons for ourselves as we insist on re-inventing the wheel.
To think about God and whether he exists; to wonder if he really did make us; to consider whether or not he is even remotely interested in all of us busy, ant-like creatures scurrying about on this planet; to wonder what God is like; to raise such questions as these usually produces only embarrassment, antagonism, disbelief, patronisation or mockery!
And yet, if there really is a God who created us, and if he does have a plan for our lives, we ought to know about it. We are foolish to ignore the fact that such a possibility may exist.
Anyone who considers such things seriously becomes only too aware of the obstacles which arise. No-one seems really interested and churches rarely do more than touch on the subject. Our daily routine, our work, watching TV and our involvement in many other pursuits, all work against such considerations. When we speak with other people, there seems to be an unspoken understanding that there is no God, and we speak and act accordingly.
God is blamed for the problems created by man's foolish actions and for all the suffering in the world. People talk themselves into such a state over the perceived shortcomings of God, that they become violently opposed to any notion of God at all, let alone the possibility that he may have some sort of claim on their lives. It can even be bad for ones' life and career to talk about such things.
God's point of view, as revealed in the Bible, is the view that really matters. This wonderful planet, with all its continents, islands and nations, exists simply to provide an environment in which people can seek God and feel after him. It is obvious that most of us do not understand this, nor do we actively comply with this basic requirement.
Nevertheless, God has placed within each one of us the need to seek something higher than ourselves. This desire, wrongly directed, is at the heart of every false religion, philosophy and tyranny which exists in the world today. All of us constantly seek for something higher than ourselves and it helps to understand that we do have this compulsion within us.
The words "seek" and "feel after" plainly imply that we will not necessarily find full and complete answers to our questions. Many things will always remain hazy and mysterious to us. The Bible tells us that "we see through a glass darkly."
We are required to seek and to feel only after God. Because God is infinite and has made everything which exists, seeking and feeling applies to every area of our existence. For example, Science is clearly a seeking and feeling after Truth. God is Truth and so it follows that the root of Science is seeking and feeling after God! Problems arise, of course, when the atheistic Scientist becomes more concerned with the path and its sidelines. His "evidence" is interpreted in compliance with his adopted mindset and he rejects the real truth as foolishness. Ironically, many Theologians have a similar problem!
From God's point of view then, this life of ours is designed to be a life of faith in the things he says, and of learning about him on his terms rather than ours. We then have the assurance that "He is not far from each one of us," whatever our creed or culture. God is God and he knows when we really want to seek and feel after him. He can reach us anywhere, at any time and under any circumstances.
At this point, God will bring about in some way or other, the vital step of introducing you to his only Son Jesus. Why? Because the Bible tells us that there is only one way for man to have a continuing relationship with God, and that is by means of his Son, Jesus. Click HERE here to find out more about this.
If we are serious about seeking after God, we find ourselves in the position of trying to understand the infinite with our finite capabilities and resources, and it cannot be done. In fact, as Job discovered, God can even seem to hide himself from us! Job complained bitterly because God would not appear to him face to face so that he, Job, could speak with him. At the end of the book of Job, God eventually appears and says, in effect, "Well, here I am. What did you want to say to me?" Job could then only mutter that he had said too much already! He had heard about God before, but now, when God appeared, it was all too much for him. The finite cannot contain or understand the infinite.
When we accept that the main purpose of our existence here is to seek and to feel after God, we will try to find out what he is like and how he thinks. This is not easy, and as we attempt it, we find ourselves struggling. As God himself says in Isaiah chapter 55 verses 8 and 9, "'My thoughts are completely different from yours,' says the Lord. 'And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.'"
We are making progress when we begin to understand what the words "seek" and "feel after" really mean in this context. We will be doing what we were created to do, and our understanding and expectations will gradually become more realistic. We will discard the silly ideas that we can fully grasp the meaning of everything that happens to us on this planet, and that we can find full and complete answers to all our questions. Nevertheless, we must still try to understand!
The other pages on this website continue the theme of seeking and feeling after God in more detail. Each page explores the subject in relation to ordinary, everyday life.
Click on a subject to access a page:
| About God | About Jesus |
| About Satan | About the Bible |
| About Faith | Communicating with God |
| Relationships with Other People | About Attitudes |
| About Possessions | About Suffering |
| Death and the Afterlife |
I have several other other web sites that you may like to visit:
For the neglected British classic car the Standard Vanguard: The Standard Vanguard
For the remarkable 1957 Morris Oxford De Luxe visit The 1957 Morris Oxford
For Robin Hood visit: Robin Hood, Sherwood Forest and Edwinstowe
For my National Service visit: National Service, RAF Marham, V-bombers and 207 Squadron
For my early life visit Life in the Swindon Railway Village 1937-1958 (or the Memoirs of a Swindon Nobody)
Home address of this page: http://www.johnw55.freeuk.com/
Page updated 22 July 2008
Page created with Notepad (for the HTML) and Photopaint 8 (for the graphics)