Why God?

God's Overwhelming Love

So many people believe in Jesus Christ or that there is a God as described in the Bible because it makes more sense than the universe appearing from nothing with no catalyst, or because they want to know that there is someone larger than our human perspective in control of the chaos we experience every day. Others want to live with the hope that good things will be designated for their lives or that the suffering inherent to human life might be alleviated if they pray hard enough. Still others live in fear that God does exist and if they don’t recognize Him then they are destined for pain in all eternity.

All these reasons leave us wondering, with more questions than answers. If we believe there is a God just because common sense tells us that something that exists naturally must come from something or someone then all we have is a philosophical building block. It’s a start. That reasoning is simply empirical, though, and a spiritual God has made a creation that has spiritual components. Common sense would tell us that there are emotional and spiritual aspects of life as much as it tells us that the universe couldn’t have just begun to exist without a creator or catalyst. We want more than an empirical experience in life—we want that feeling of falling in love, of being totally at peace, the feelings we get when we do kind things for others or our kids run up to say how much they love us. We know what it feels like to have our hearts ripped apart, to be so anxious we might not know how to keep breathing, or scared out of our wits. There are biological and neurological answers for what happens when we experience those things, but they only explain what happens, not why. Believing we were created with spiritual characteristics by a spiritual being conveniently answers that why. It doesn’t actually do anything about it, though. The belief by itself doesn’t make us happier, less anxious, more fulfilled, or give us purpose.

People also want to know that God is in control because things seem so chaotic. Chaos exists as far back as human existence and is almost universally described as a disorderly, unending storm or sea. Ancient Egyptians believed in chaos—described before the beginning of the earth very similarly to the Genesis origin story, and they had gods and deities that sowed chaos into human lives. The Babylonians and Greeks had goddesses of chaos; chaos was represented in Roman mythology as well as ancient philosophy. The Hebrew description of chaos is very well known as it’s described at the beginning of Genesis. “The earth was formless and void; and the darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters (Genesis 1:2, NKJV).” Formless, nothingness, famine, destruction, barren, deep, unorganized, purposeless. This is what chaos is and the Bible begins by solving it. God brings order from chaos. He creates morning as an antidote to the night, He divides the life threatening, storm filled watery abyss and brings forth dry land. There’s a certain peacefulness that comes from reading the first chapter of Genesis and we get the distinct feeling that God is in control of the chaos that threatens to destroy our lives. Every other culture has their own god-like antidote to chaos, though. People who have never known God have looked out at the chaos that exists in the human experience and wanted a larger being in control to make them feel like they weren’t caught up in a raging storm over an eternal sea, being swept along by chaos. God doesn’t exist just to part the allegorical raging waters and bring forth life-giving dry land.

One of the most common messages in Christianity is that we must believe in God so that we can go to heaven. That’s the familiar meaning to Jesus’ death and resurrection that most Christians around the world hear preached in their churches, the reasoning they received when they came to faith in Jesus, and the purpose we’re supposed to embrace for continuing to believe in God during our day to day lives. However, anyone of us would be hard pressed to find a developed description of Heaven throughout the entire Bible. Revelation 21 is the most common example where it says in verses 1-4, “…I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. …And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away (NKJV).” Note the comment that there will be no more sea. Previous to this in Revelation there was famine, fire, destruction, earthquakes and wind. The “sea” became blood and water became poisonous. That exactly mirrors ancient descriptions of chaos. In John’s vision, Heaven isn’t chaotic. However, there is also a throne room where God is orange, surrounded by a rainbow, and ringed by 24 old men with white thrones. The throne room had another sea made of glass and 4 creatures with six wings that were covered in eyes (Revelation 4, NKJV). Revelation also describes angels and beasts, the literal city of Babylon, dragons, seven headed beasts, and myriad other symbolism. There are a few other verses that reference Heaven, like 2 Corinthians 5:1, Jesus describing it as paradise in Luke 23:43, and John 14:2-4, but nothing like the descriptive imagery in Revelation. Are we then to view Heaven as a happy place with an orange God, rainbows, and weird creatures covered in eyes? Probably not, but it hasn’t stopped the description in Revelation 21 from rising to the forefront of Christian doctrine. Taking that without consideration of the previous 20 chapters has turned into using Revelation 21:1-8 as the cornerstone building block of the Christian message. Verse 4 describes Heaven as a place with no negative emotions or unhappiness. Immediately following, in verse 8, John says “but the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death (NKJV).” Yikes! This quickly turned from a message of believing in God and your tears will be wiped away to that of not believing in God will be punished by being burnt alive forever with murderers and rapists. Jude describes those who will suffer eternal fire as angels who rebelled, those who are sexually immoral, dreamers, those who rebel against authority, and people who speak badly of public figures (Jude 5-8, NKJV). The problem is that Revelation 21 being the foundation for the “why” of Christian faith means that we’re not taking it in context with the rest of the book and introducing subverted messaging that is now all about fear. If going to Heaven is why we believe in God then so is not going to hell. The imagery of hell is more destructively brutal than the imagery of Heaven is relieving, so the message then simply becomes “believe in God so that you won’t be burnt alive in darkness with liars, rapists, and murders for all eternity.” That misses the point entirely, which is confirmed by the fact that no Christian messaging ever includes rebellious people, dreamers, or those who speak poorly of famous people in with the burning group of unbelievers.

To be clear, God is the Creator—if we truly think about it, it’s truly absurd to think that everything that exists developed by itself out of nothing. I would suggest a deeper examination into the science of God’s creation and the book Genes, Determinism and God by Denis Alexander is a fantastic resource into the impossibility that life developed out of an un-living world. In Isaiah 45, which we’re going to examine deeper, God proclaims “For Thus says the Lord, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord, and there is no other (vs 18-19, NKJV).”  God is also the antidote to chaos—one of His primary promises is peace. Romans 15:13 sums up many other passages with the promise, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (NKJV).” In that chapter alone, God is described as a servant, a God of Hope, peace, and joy; these characteristics are literally the exact opposites of chaos.

Our pursuit of God should also not be driven by fear.  Isaiah 40-66 is an overwhelming description of God and His promises of restoration through His righteousness. He promises peace, joy, and guidance over and over, but it’s important for us to understand who God says He is. Going back to Isaiah 45, God shares an awe-inspiring description of who He is in verses 2-8:

I will go before you and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the Lord who called you by your name, am the God of Israel. For Jacob My servant’s sake, and Israel My elect, I have even called you by your name; I have named you though you have not known Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other; There is no other God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me, that from the rising sun to its setting that there is none beside Me. I am the Lord, and there is not other; I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I the Lord, do all these things. Rain down you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together. I, the Lord, have created it (NKJV).

He goes on to declare that “My righteousness is near, My salvation has gone forth (Is. 51:4, NKJV),” and describes His righteousness as being restored with joy and gladness through comfort (Is. 51:3, NKJV);  peace, goodness, and legacy in 48:17-19; joy and comfort in chapter 52, blessings and renewal in righteousness in chapter 54, and joy and peace in 55:12-13.

Finally, God is the source of deep, unfathomable love that results in peace and joy. Jesus establishes in John that the very foundational basis of God’s relationship with His creation is love. He states in John 15:9, “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you, abide in My love (NKJV).” This follows a promise of peace in His love in 14:27 and immediately precedes a promise of joy in verse 11, “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full (NKJV).” John goes on to drive that home in 1 John. Chapter 4:16,18 describes our relationship with God perfectly and then explains how we know: “And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him…There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear is torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.” God is THE incredible source of love, such deep, established, promised love, that if we pursue Him as the Lord our God who called us by name then we can’t help but be overwhelmed by His peace, joy, and goodness.  He is not fear and His promise is that He will open the heavens and the earth for us, His creation, and fill our very hearts with His righteousness through the vast outpouring of His love. God promises this fulfillment, and again establishes that it’s based in love in another overwhelmingly glorious passage in Ephesians 3:16-29:

That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with the fullness of God (NKJV).

God’s glorious love, poured out on us through His righteousness, results in peace, joy, hope, and true fulfillment—that’s the answer.

All biblical references from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.