iwitness: is the god of the bible god?

The new challenges we face in sharing the good news

Making the Case for God:Is the “God of the Bible” God?

Is the God who exists the God of the Bible?


“I contend we are both atheists, I just believe in one less god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.”

Is the “God of the Bible” God?

Stephen F. Roberts


God’s we do well to reject:

We reject gods who are as sinful and flawed as we are.



Zeus and the Greek/Roma

n gods


Europe is named after Europa who

was seduced by the god Zeus in the form of a bull and carried away to Crete on his

back.


The Rape of Persephone


High priest Hilmar OrnHilmarssonand fellow

members of the Asatru Association


Odinist Temple in Reykjavik, Iceland

Construction began in

February of this year.


“I can make my god say anything I want him to.”


“God wants Joe Theismannto be happy.”


"Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden '?"



We reject gods who are impersonal and dispassionate.



Baruch Spinoza’s God

“God is the indwelling, and not the transient cause

of all things.”


Eastern Religions and God

My sweet lord (hallelujah)Hm, my lord (hallelujah)My sweet lord (hallelujah)

I really want to see youReally want to be with youReally want to see you lordBut it takes so long, my lord…


What about Allah?

•Is Allah just another name for the God of Christians and Jews?

•What is the nature of the God of Islam?

•Is Allah a loving and personal God?


•Amongst the Yoruba people in Nigeria there has been an attempt to syncretize Christianity and Islam into a single faith.

•This has also been popular amongst liberal theologians.


•Muslims and Christians disagree concerning the Triune nature of God.


•Muslims and Christians disagree concerning the cross.


•Allah is a powerful, but dispassionate God.


“Nowhere in the Qur’an do we find the idea that God

loves mankind. God’s love is conditional.”Pastor Ben Edwards



We reject gods who are limited in power.



“God and I came to an accommodation with each other a couple of decades ago, where he's gotten used to the things that I'm not capable of and I've come to terms with things he's not capable of...and we care very much about each other.”

Rabbi Harold S. Kushner



We reject gods and religions that provide no hope.



Proverbs 13:12

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.


“Since I have come into this world, I must

live. If living means drinking poison, I have to drink it.”


Buddhism’s First Noble Truth

All existence is suffering (dukkha)


“I contend we are both atheists, I just believe in one less god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.”


Stephen F. Roberts


1. A God who is greater than we are.


Isaiah 45:12

I made the earth and created man on it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host.


2. A God who can be known personally.


John 1722 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.


3. A God who can relate to the human experience.


John 1

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.


Hebrews 4:1515 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.


4. A God who really cares about us.


Romans 5:8

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.


5. A God who has things completely under control.


6. A God who gives meaning and purpose to life.


Ephesians 2:10

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.


7. A God who offers true fulfillment.

iwitness: is the god of the bible god?

Spiritual