There are a few questions that trip up just about everybody. But every question has an answer. I have been asked a number of these, and some I didn’t have the answer to at the time. So, I’ve looked up a few and I want to share those, so that you can have the answers, too, and so you can tell anyone else who asks you.
1. If God made everything, then who made God?
“To whom then will you liken Me
That I would be his equal?” says the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes on high
And see who has created these stars,
The One who leads forth their host by number,
He calls them all by name;
Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power,
Not one of them is missing.
(Isaiah 40:25-26)
God is not something that we can compare to anything. That includes time. God created “time” for us; something measurable by which we can gauge our life. God is not limited by time, space, distance, etc. He is limitless with few exceptions: He can do no wrong, and He cannot be out-done. Other than that, God is limitless. To ask where God came from, you have to assume there was a “where” to come from. If we ask who made God, we are falsely assuming that there was someone to make God, and that God was made. He was not. Before God made the earth, there was no billions and billions of years; there was no time, as we know it.
We usually picture time as a line, because it simplifies our explanation. To God, time is more like liquid. Imagine a big bowl of water. You live in one drop of that water; that’s your “time” on earth. Other drops are the Creation of the world, the great flood, the Tower of Babel, the Crucifixion of Jesus, the 1980 U.S. Presidential elections, the moon landing, the last world war, the future rise of the antichrist, the Battle of Armageddon, the final trumpet sounding, the new earth, etc. In that bowl of water, God can see everything clearly, and it is all fluid to Him. He holds the bowl in His hands, and can touch any event or era at once. God can see your sin at the same “time” He is judging you, at the same “time” He watches His Son, Jesus, die on a cross for you. God is not limited to time as we are.
So, who made God? No one. He’s always been, for as long as time as we know it has existed.
Where did God come from? There was no “where” for Him to come from, until He made it.
Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. (1 Timothy 1:17)
I realize that this is a concept that is very hard to understand. We think about everything using time. Hours, minutes, dates, ages, anniversaries, and the list goes on and on. You can’t understand God fully; just accept that much- its okay. What is important is that you have faith that God is. Just believe in Him to be in control over time, and over your life.
2. What does God look like? Why doesn’t He show Himself to us?
So many kids have asked me this question, and “No one knows” is never a satisfying answer. That is the short answer, because we cannot stand face to face with Him and get details, but the Bible does offer us an idea of how God would look. Our first clue comes from the first chapter of Genesis.
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness… God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Genesis 1:26-27)
So if you want to see God, you can look in a mirror. Since you and I are made in His image, we are a reflection of Him. God looks like us, each and every person who ever has, is, or will live is made in God’s image.
Daniel had a vision of God, although he did not physically see God, this is the image in Daniel’s vision:
“As I looked,
“thrones were set in place,
and the Ancient of Days took his seat.
His clothing was as white as snow;
the hair of his head was white like wool. (Daniel 7:9)
The truth is that we cannot see God; no one has, except Jesus. John 1:18 says,
No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.( NIV)
Jesus affirmed these words in John 6:46, and John wrote again in 1John 4:12 that “no one has ever seen God”. There was also a time when Moses found favor with the Lord. Moses asked God to show His glory. He didn’t want to continue on without the presence of God.
Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!”
And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you…” But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!”
Then the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.”(Exodus 33:19-23)\
Following this experience, Moses’ face shone so much, the Israelites put a veil on his face. Just the passing glory of God has such a dramatic effect on a person, it is no wonder we cannot see His face and live. The beauty and glory is far too powerful for our human bodies to stand.
Others have had occurrences with God. Adam and Eve walked with God in the Garden before their fall into sin. (see Genesis 3:8-13) God appeared to Abraham (see Genesis 18:2-33), to Jacob (see Genesis 35:7, 9), to Solomon (see 1 Kings 3:5; 9:2; 11:9; 2 Chronicles 1:7; 7:12), to Isaiah (Isaiah 6:1-5), and to Ezekiel (see Ezekiel 1:26-28)
The Lord has also appeared as a symbol or sign, such as the burning bush (Exodus 3:2), as fire (Exodus 19:16-24) and clouds; He has shown himself by miracles, such as stopping the sun in the sky, setting a rainbow in the sky, tearing the temple veil, parting the Red Sea, providing food where there is none, writing on a wall, earthquakes, and much, much more.
One of the main reasons for God appearing symbolically is established in the first letter to Timothy:
Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen. (1 Timothy 1:17 NIV Underline added for emphasis)
God has what we would consider a physical appearance; He does look like something, but the invisibility is in respect to an audience of humans. God’s invisibility toward us is by His choice. It encourages faith. Rather that showing up and forcing belief, God chose to remain at a visual distance so that we can choose to seek Him and believe. It allows us to decide whether or not we will follow Him, or the ways of the convenient world.
3. Who wrote the Bible?
Many people who are critical of Christianity or religion in general, argue that we don’t know who wrote the Bible. A little studying goes a long way, as we now know almost every author. Some continue to argue that the Bible is written by mankind, so we cannot trust it as being “from God”. We know, however, that:
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, (2 Timothy 3:16)
So without further ado, here are the authors who penned the words of God-
|
BOOK |
WHO WROTE IT |
|
Genesis |
Moses |
|
Exodus |
Moses |
|
Leviticus |
Moses |
|
Numbers |
Moses |
|
Deuteronomy |
Moses |
|
Joshua |
Joshua |
|
Judges, Ruth, 1-2 Samuel, 1-2 Kings, 1-2 Chronicles, Esther, Job |
Debated or unknown authors |
|
Lamentations |
Jeremiah |
|
Psalms: A composite of many authors’ work. Of the 150 psalms, 116 are provided with a title |
|
|
Psalms 3-9, 11-32, 34-41, 51-65, 68-70, 86, 103, 108-110, 122, 124, 131, 133, 138-145 |
David |
|
Psalm 42, 44-45, 47-49, 84-85, 87 |
Sons of Korah |
|
Psalms 50, 73-83 |
Asaph |
|
Psalm 72, 127 |
Solomon |
|
Psalm 88 |
Heman the Ezrahite |
|
Psalm 89 |
Ethan the Ezrahite |
|
Psalm 90 |
Moses |
|
Psalm 119 |
Ezra |
|
Psalms 120-134 |
Hezekiah |
|
Psalm 137 |
Jeremiah |
|
Psalms 146-147 |
Haggai and Zechariah |
| Proverbs- Again, the book is a composite, so far as authorship is concerned. | |
|
Proverbs 1:1-24:22 |
Solomon |
|
Proverbs 24:23-34 |
Attributed to “the wise” |
|
Proverbs 25:1-29:27 |
Attributed to Solomon, but were collected and recorded by “Hezekiah’s men”. |
|
Proverbs 30:1-33 |
Agur |
|
Proverbs 31:1-31 |
Lemuel |
|
Ecclesiastes |
Solomon |
|
Ezra-Nehemiah |
Author unknown, though Ezra’s chapters 7-9 apparently were written by Ezra, since they are in the first person. |
|
Song of Songs |
Solomon |
|
The following were written by the person whose name they bear. |
|
|
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai |
|
|
Zechariah |
Chapters 1-8 written by Zechariah; Chapters 9-11 by Jeremiah; Chapters 12-14 are titled “an oracle” and are attributed to no one. |
|
Malachi |
Some believe Malachi was the name of a specific prophet, but it is also the Hebrew term (mal´aki) for “my messenger”, used for priests and prophets alike. Thus, based on Mark 1:2-3, Malachi may have been written by Isaiah |
|
Matthew |
Matthew |
|
Mark |
Mark |
|
Luke |
Luke |
|
John |
John |
|
Acts |
Luke |
|
Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy. Titus, Philemon |
Paul |
|
Hebrews |
Possibly Paul |
|
James |
James |
|
1 Peter |
Peter |
|
2 Peter |
Peter |
|
1, 2 & 3 John |
John |
|
Jude |
Jude |
|
Revelation |
John |
There are a few questions that trip up just about everybody. But every question has an answer. I have been asked a number of these, and some I didn’t have the answer to at the time. So, I’ve looked up a few and I want to share those, so that you can have the answers, too, and so you can tell anyone else who asks you.
1. If God made everything, then who made God?
Kingdom Advancers 