Christianity 101: Session Two GOD THE FATHER

Transcription

1 Christianity 101: Session Two GOD THE FATHER

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3 Presentation of Ponderings Reminders: Lenses Faith and Reason Problem Vs. Mystery Pondering Prompt: Prove OR disprove the following statement: There is a God. Disprove: Prove

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5 Who is the God in whom Christians Believe? The God in whom we believe is the Creator, or Uncaused Cause of all that is, and although we see his handiwork everywhere in nature, he remains hidden. Cause and Effect: Why did THIS happen, because THAT caused it. What began the chain of cause and effect? What caused life on Earth? Answering: Aliens only pushes the question back a step, because I can immediately ask: Who caused the Aliens to exist? There MUST be an uncaused cause that started everything. This thing MUST be eternal and perfect!

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8 The Father Almighty God first reveals Himself to Abraham after the fall of Adam and Eve. Abraham calls God El-Shaddai in Hebrew, which translates as Mighty One or Almighty in English. The title of Almighty recognizes the omnipotent (all-powerful) power of God. He does whatever he pleases. Psalm 115:3

9 GODReveals HIS NAME!

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11 Moses at the burning Bush. Moses asks God for His name. God Responds: Yahweh Which means I AM WHO I AM Is God being sassy?

12 I AM WHO I AM You do NOT control me! My name is a mystery. I am knowable, but you will never fully know me. I cannot be restricted to a category, I am EVERYTHING! I am Being itself. I am eternal: I ALWAYS have been present and I ALWAYS will be present.

13 WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT GOD

14 What DO we know about God? He is Trinitarian! Three persons, ONE God (More on this later) He is Merciful Gracious All-Good All-Powerful (Omnipotent) All-Knowing (Omniscient) All-Present (Omnipresent)

15 CREATOR of HEAVEN&EARTH To Create means to make something out of nothing!

16 SCIENCE Science tells us a little bit of HOW God created the Universe. Theory of Evolution The Big Bang Theory

17 The BIBLE The Bible tells us WHY God created the Universe & what it MEANS to be part of that creation.

18 The BIBLE Loving God creates us intentionally Made in His image and likeness. We are stewards of the Earth. Use for our necessities. Respect the gift that God gave us.

19 SCIENCE & The BIBLE Before the big bang there was nothing, except one infinitely dense and small particle. The Big Bang occurs. in a flash of light the universe comes into existence. In the first few seconds the laws of the universe take shape. Planets begin to form out of the debris left around after stars finish forming. In the Beginning the earth was without form with darkness over the abyss. (Gen 1: 1-2) First Day: God said: Let there be light, and there was light. God separated the light from the darkness (Gen 1: 3-4) Second Day: God makes a dome to separate the sky from the Earth. (Gen 1: 6-8)

20 SCIENCE & The BIBLE Water begins to collect on the surface of the Earth Life starts in the water and slowly evolves becoming more complex. Eventually, creatures begin leaving the water for the land and eventually the sky. Humans are a very late stage evolution Let the water under the sky be gathered into a single basin, so that the dry land appears. (Gen 1: 9) Let the water teem with an abundance of living creatures (Gen 1: 20) This is the first mention of living creatures and is followed by birds of the air, then land animals, and finally humans

21 CREATION There are similarities between the Bible story and the Scientific explanation, but that doesn t even really matter. There are TWO creation stories in the Bible. (Genesis 1 and 2) The ancient writers of the Old Testament were inspired by God, but were not dictating a message from Him. So they used the images and language they were familiar with. It wasn t important for them to get the how exactly right, these things were understood to generally be mysteries, but it was VERY important to pass on the why.

22 is it possible TO SEE GOD in His CREATION? Ponder and discuss amongst yourselves: In what ways do I see God in Creation?

23 Attributes of God in Creation: Beauty Goodness Truth Love

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25 GOD MADE US to FIND HIM When God created Humans He gave us abilities to find Him: Our Senses seek out His Beauty Our Will (the part that makes choices) seeks out His Goodness Our Mind seeks out His Truth Our Heart seeks out His Love When any of these human elements stumbles upon what it is seeking, it rests for a moment.

26 God Our Soulmate

27 God Our Soulmate God also created us with an Infinite Emptiness in our hearts. This is why we ALWAYS want MORE! Why would God make us to feel empty and unfulfilled? Because He made us to be with Him. Only God s Infinite Being can fill our Infinite Emptiness.

28 What ARE YOUR QUESTIONS?

29 PONDERING QUESTION: How does God reveal Himself? In history? To others? To me?

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