I'm going to get a little technical in this post. Something has bothered me semantically for a long time and I've never really written about it or said it out loud. After re-reading my first few blog posts, this same semantic problem keeps nagging at me, so I want to share it with you and see if you (particularly Christians) have had the same concern about it. I also want to post this to try to clear things up a bit for non-Christians who may read my posts. Hang in there with me until I get to my trouble with semantics.
First of all, I need to make the point absolutely clear that I believe in only ONE God - THE God of the Universe. He is The Alpha and Omega, the eternal God; nothing came before Him and nothing comes after Him. He is Truth and He is the Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; He's not 3 gods, He is ONE God in three parts. I do not and cannot recognize the existence of any other god because the very nature and being of The God of the Universe cannot share His Omnipotence with any other god. He cannot be contrary to His nature and being.
I do recognize that people believe in other gods -- man-made gods that have no power, no plan for salvation and no relationship with humans. I recognize that different groups in history, including some mentioned in the Bible, worshiped other gods, but again, these were man-made gods. Even God Himself recognizes that people believe in other gods, for He gave the very specific commandment: Thou shalt have no other gods before me. By giving this commandment, God was not recognizing that other gods existed in the sense of all-powerful beings. Rather, He recognized the fact that humans have a sinful nature that tends to turn away from the ONE True God in order to make other gods to worship instead. When He says "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," He is referring to anything that we make more important in our lives than the Lord: money/wealth, fame, seeking your own desires, relationships, husbands, wives, children, career success, alcohol, the earth itself, etc. The Israelites put other idols/gods (such as lust, wealth, and military strength) before THE God, but they also created literal idols out of materials they had and worshiped the works of their own hands.
I LOVE the book of Isaiah! Check out Isaiah 44:6-20, which speaks specifically about who God is and how man-made gods have no power or competition with the Lord of the Universe!
6 “This is what the LORD says—
Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty:
I am the first and I am the last;
apart from me there is no God.
7 Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it.
Let him declare and lay out before me
what has happened since I established my ancient people,
and what is yet to come—
yes, let them foretell what will come.
8 Do not tremble, do not be afraid.
Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago?
You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me?
No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.”
9 All who make idols are nothing,
and the things they treasure are worthless.
Those who would speak up for them are blind;
they are ignorant, to their own shame.
10 Who shapes a god and casts an idol,
which can profit nothing?
11 People who do that will be put to shame;
such craftsmen are only human beings.
Let them all come together and take their stand;
they will be brought down to terror and shame.
12 The blacksmith takes a tool
and works with it in the coals;
he shapes an idol with hammers,
he forges it with the might of his arm.
He gets hungry and loses his strength;
he drinks no water and grows faint.
13 The carpenter measures with a line
and makes an outline with a marker;
he roughs it out with chisels
and marks it with compasses.
He shapes it in human form,
human form in all its glory,
that it may dwell in a shrine.
14 He cut down cedars,
or perhaps took a cypress or oak.
He let it grow among the trees of the forest,
or planted a pine, and the rain made it grow.
15 It is used as fuel for burning;
some of it he takes and warms himself,
he kindles a fire and bakes bread.
But he also fashions a god and worships it;
he makes an idol and bows down to it.
16 Half of the wood he burns in the fire;
over it he prepares his meal,
he roasts his meat and eats his fill.
He also warms himself and says,
“Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.”
17 From the rest he makes a god, his idol;
he bows down to it and worships.
He prays to it and says,
“Save me! You are my god!”
18 They know nothing, they understand nothing;
their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see,
and their minds closed so they cannot understand.
19 No one stops to think,
no one has the knowledge or understanding to say,
“Half of it I used for fuel;
I even baked bread over its coals,
I roasted meat and I ate.
Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left?
Shall I bow down to a block of wood?”
20 Such a person feeds on ashes; a deluded heart misleads him;
he cannot save himself, or say,
“Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?”
So, I've laid out my first two starting points:
1) I believe there is only True God, and there is actually no other god in existence, and
2) I believe that other people do believe in other gods of various forms.
Now, I'd like to lay out my third point: in terms of God's existence, it doesn't really matter what I believe or what others don't believe. He IS who He IS regardless of our belief in Him. He always has been and always will be The God of the Universe -- omnipotent, omnipresent, sovereign, eternal, holy, mighty, glorious...and relational. Regardless of our sometimes worldly pursuit of truth, God is Truth; without seeking Him, we cannot know Truth.
In terms of our eternal salvation, it does matter what I believe and what others believe because without a living relationship with the Living God of the Universe, we have no hope for eternal life: we can only expect eternal darkness. For God is Light and does not dwell with darkness.
Now that I've laid out all of my starting points, I can get to my concern about the semantics surrounding the usage of pronouns and articles when referring to God in our writing and speech. My concern is as follows: that a simple matter of semantics when referring to God in our writing or speech may result in confusion or misunderstanding on the part of nonbelievers. Now, let me get into some of the nitty-gritty of what I'm talking about.
When I say something like "God is a God of forgiveness," I'm not implying or acknowledging that there are other gods at all. Here are a few other examples that are speaking about THE God but in which semantics may result in a misunderstanding:
"I'm so glad my God is faithful!"
"Your God will come to your aid."
"The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob..." (this one is from Scriptures)
Based on my reading of the Scriptures, I can only guess that we adopted some of this language/semantics from the Bible (such as the third example above). Any time I or someone else uses language like this to refer to God, I feel the urge (but never act upon it) to clarify to any nonbelievers present that we are not actually implying or acknowledging the existence or power of any other god. I wonder sometimes if any other Christians have ever thought about it this way? It's just one of those things that always comes to my mind at the moment, but then I never mention out loud or forget to say anything (until now). : )
When I use the term "my God," I say it not because I acknowledge that there are other gods, but I say it for the very reason that I have a personal relationship with The One True God. It is a very special way to recognize my intimate relationship with my Creator and Savior. He has a unique relationship with everyone who believes in Him and accepts Jesus as Lord in their heart!
When I use the term "your God" when talking to a Christian brother or sister, I do so to recognize his/her personal relationship with The One True God!
When I say something like "I'm glad my God is a jealous God," woah! Two in one sentence! : ) (I plan on doing another post sometime later to talk about God being a jealous God, so hold tight on that one!) Once again, neither "my God" nor "a jealous God" imply that I'm acknowledging the existence or power of any other gods. I explained the implications behind saying "my God" above, so hopefully that made sense. When I say "a jealous God" (or any other attribute about God), it is a way of recognizing and worshiping one of the many wonderful attributes of God - the very attributes that illustrate to humans that He alone is God and none other! When I say it this way, it is a reminder that God's attributes are perfect while human attempts to create gods are futile and imperfect.
Sooo, that's all I think I wanted to clarify on the semantics issue regarding the use of articles and pronouns when talking about God. I hope some of it made sense, and it may not make much of a difference to some. Some of it may just boil down to imperfect human attempts to define an infinite God! Haha, see? There's another one: "an infinite God." It's just one of those things that has always bothered me because I always wonder how nonbelievers perceive phrases like those when they hear it.
Lastly, I end my discussion about these semantics with this thought: Praise God that He is fully capable to and DOES work through any confusing semantics to reach those who do not know Him! :)
very insightful-your posts are educational =) thanks for sharing letty
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