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Please click on a question below.
# 1 What does it mean to say: God is Creator?
# 2 What does it mean to say: God is Eternal?
# 3 What does it mean to say: God is Omnipresent?
# 4 What does it mean to say: God is Omniscient?
# 5 What does it mean to say: God is Self-revealing?
# 6 What does it mean to say: God is Relational?
# 7 What names does God like to be called?
# 8 Does each Person of the Trinity play a special role in relation to human beings?
# 9 How is the Holy Spirit both a Gift and a Giver of gifts?
# 10 Why should we let God lead us?
# 11 What is the established order within the Trinity?
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The first attribute of God revealed in the Bible is that He is creative. The first words of the Bible are: “In the beginning God created…” Nothing existed except God, until God created. Everything that exists now was created by God. God is creative; human beings are creative because we are created in the image of God. However, we create out of something that already exists. God created out of nothing.
Humans can imagine, because we are created in the image of God. God imagined everything that exists before it existed. People can imagine how to put existing things together in new ways. For example, consider the bar scene from the original Star Wars movie. Creatures from far-flung outposts of the universe were gathered together in one place. Such unusual creatures! In that movie, there was a human-like creature with a nose like an elephant's trunk. It was very creative the way in which designers took certain bits of animals and wove them in with certain elements of humans to create “new” creatures. But notice that all of their “creations” were merely based on new combinations of things that have already existed on earth. There is nothing new under the sun.
In accounts of people who have had “life after death” experiences, some have reported that they were in heaven where they saw colors that they had never seen on earth. How intriguing! I have tried to imagine a color that I have never seen before. I can't do it. Oh, I can put the colors I have seen before in new combinations, but I have never been able to imagine a single color that I've never seen before. Think of this: God imagined everything before He created it.
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God has always existed; He exists now, and He will exist forever. This means that God never had a beginning. He just IS. This is a Mystery, meaning that we cannot fully comprehend it with our finite minds. However, it is something that we know is true because God has revealed it. Everything else had a starting point at some time. We wonder: What started God? Nothing! In fact, if something started God, that something would be God! God is God because He has always existed.
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This means God is all-present. He is present everywhere simultaneously. When the astronauts traveled to the moon, they sensed the presence of God in outer space. When I went scuba diving, I sensed the presence of God in the depths of the sea. Not only is God all-present in matter and space, God is all-present in time. He doesn't just remember the past; He is present in the past. He doesn't just know the future; God is already present in the future. And of course, God is present now, in this very moment.
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This means God is all-knowing. He knows our secret thoughts and secret actions, good and bad. He knows the depths of our hearts as well as the answer to every question. He knows every detail from the past, as well as every detail of the present and the future.
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Through the Bible, God has revealed His attributes so we can know what He is like. He is not just a life force; He is life, He is Person. God wants us to know Him in a personal way because we cannot love what we do not know….To know God is to love Him. When we know God, we will love Him, because He is so good. When we know God, we discover He is personal. He wants to be in a Person-to-person love relationship with each of us.
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God is a communion of love, in which each Person in the community is in a love relationship with the other two. God is a Trinity: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. This is a Mystery, meaning that we cannot fully comprehend it with our finite minds. However, it is something that we know is true because God has revealed it. We wonder: If there is one God, how can there be three Persons? If there are three Persons, aren’t there three Gods? No. God is three divine Persons in one divine Nature.
Throughout the centuries of Christendom, people proposed various ideas or metaphors to explain the concept of the Trinity. Tertullian, one of the early Church Fathers, compared the Trinity to the sun. God the Father is the source (the sun). God the Son, Jesus, is like the rays of light which travel from the sun to the earth. The warmth we feel on our skin represents God the Holy Spirit who enables us to receive from the Father through Jesus.
St. Patrick used the shamrock to represent the Trinity. The shamrock is one leaf, as shown by the single stem. Yet in that one leaf, there are three lobes; it is three-in-one.
Here’s another example. Time is one concept, yet it is past, present and future. The past is not the present. The future is not the past. Yet past, present and future are all time.
My favorite example is the egg. An egg is composed of the egg shell, the egg white and the egg yoke. The shell is not the same as the white or yoke, but it is still egg. The yoke is not the same as the egg white or the egg shell, but it is still egg. There are three components but one egg. Likewise, God is three divine Persons in one God. God is Trinity.
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God has many names, including “God,” which is more a respectful title than a personal name. It is like addressing the leader of the United States as “Mr. President.” That works for a formal setting, but you would expect that, in a more intimate setting, the First Lady would call the President by his first name. What does God like to be called? God is a Trinity, three divine Persons in one God. The first Person is God the Father. He really likes it when we call Him “Father.” The second Person is God the Son. Two thousand years ago, God the Son took on human nature and lived among us. At that time, He got the name, “Jesus.” What we think of as His last name, “Christ,” is actually a title, which comes from the Greek word for “The Anointed One,” meaning that Jesus is the Messiah. He likes it when we are on a first name basis with Him, so I call Him “Jesus.” The third Person of the Trinity is the Holy Spirit. He likes to be called “Holy Spirit.” You can talk to any one of the three Persons at anytime. Since all three Persons are God, whenever you talk to any one of the three, you are in touch with God.
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Each Person of the Godhead works in complete accord with the other two. So, in that sense, all three are involved in everything that God does. However, the Bible reveals that each Person plays a special role in relation to human beings:
God the Father is Creator. He created everything that exists, and He created everything out of nothing! Extraordinary! He simply spoke, and it came into being. God's pride and joy is the human race! He created us because He loves us and wants to draw us into a reciprocal love relationship with Him. He is a father at heart, so He wants to adopt us as His very own children and make us a part of His very own family. He wants a BIG family! And He wants us to love Him and to grow to love each other as much as He loves each of us.
God the Son is Savior. Jesus solved our “sin problem” by taking the penalty of sin upon Himself and dying for us on the cross. Long ago, God warned that the penalty of sin is death. I have sinned. Therefore, I was under that death penalty, meaning that I would be cut off from God and incapable of knowing Him personally. I needed a Savior, someone who could take my death penalty for me. Jesus never sinned, not even once. Therefore, Jesus was not under the penalty of death for sin; Jesus was “eligible” to be my Savior. Out of His love for us, Jesus voluntarily chose to be our substitute. He would take our death penalty for sin and give us in exchange His right standing before God. Extraordinary! God declared the Innocent One to be guilty; He declared all of us Guilty Ones to be not-guilty.
God the Holy Spirit is Sanctifier. He wants to transform us so we become like God. The Holy Spirit communicates the will of the Father to us, and then gives us His sanctifying grace, so we can be obedient and become holy, as our God is holy. Extraordinary! When we behave in a way that pleases God, the Holy Spirit whispers in our heart, affirming us. When we sin, the Holy Spirit makes us aware of our sin and urges us to repent. He pours His grace into our hearts, giving us the strength to turn away from sin and to turn toward God. The Holy Spirit wants to draw us into the family of God, which He accomplishes by leading us to accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord. In this way, we become God's very own children. God loves His children at every stage of their development, but He expects His children to grow up! The Holy Spirit cultivates virtues in each of God's children, so that we grow in holiness as we become more and more God-like.
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God is a trinity of three divine Persons in one God, each equal with the other two. The Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, is the Spirit of Love who directs us to the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is the Gift of the Father in Jesus and He is the Giver of gifts to us — individually and collectively as the Body of Christ, the Church.
Jesus indicated that the Holy Spirit is the Gift:
If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you. (John 14:15-17 NAB)
The Holy Spirit is the Giver of gifts:
There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit. To one is given through the Spirit the expression of wisdom; to another the expression of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit; to another mighty deeds; to another prophecy; to another discernment of spirits; to another varieties of tongues; to another interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing them individually to each person as he wishes. (1 Corinthians 12:4-11 NAB)
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God's plan for our lives is tailored for each one of us, custom-designed to bring us the greatest contentment and satisfaction possible in this life. If we are responsive to God's leading, we can live our lives to the full, living what Jesus referred to as abundant life.
The commandments of God are clear; they have been written down in the Bible, and they give us wise directions: Do this; don't do that. However, there are many choices we make that are not specified in the Bible, such as: Do I go to this school or that one? Do I buy this house or that one? Do I take this job or that one?
The choices we make shape the rest of our lives. When we choose a school, a house or a job, we meet people that we would not have met had we chosen the alternative. These people will have a positive or negative impact on our lives, just as we will have an impact on their lives.
God has a wonderful plan for our lives. If we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us, He will lead us into relationships with people that will bless us and enable us to bless others. So we ought to eagerly seek guidance from the Holy Spirit and be attentive to His leading throughout the day, every day.
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Each Person of the Trinity has His own personality, His own preferences, and His own relationships with individuals. Each Person is distinct, yet each Person is equal in every regard. Even though each Person is equal in power and authority, the Persons of the Trinity have lovingly agreed to an established order within the Godhead. Acting in love and out of pure goodness, God the Father reveals His will. Jesus submits to His Father's will, expressing His love for His Father through obedience. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, expressing His love for Them by using His power to bring the will of the Father to pass. Within Himself, God is a community of love. Not out of need but out of pure love, God created us so that He could generously lavish His love upon us. God invites you to respond to His love. God wants you to be one of His very own children.
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