Purpose-> God Is: What God Is Not

God is not a meerkat. Now, though most would think such a commonsense statement deserves little attention, let's not be so presumptuous. For some not only think God created the meerkat, or that a meerkat is a god, but that all is god, including meerkats. There are so many conceptions of God, though reasonably much fewer concerning meerkats; but all these conceptions are so different in crucial respects, it simply cannot be so that all are correct.

Similarly, such claims of 'God the meerkat' are far less farfetched to the worshiper of created things. Such a one might tell me, "No, you have got it all wrong. God is a Sun- or Moon, or some zodiac constellation." I'd respond as such, "I joke my friend. For God is none of those things!"

What I am doing here is presenting the Christian conception of God, and it's deep-rooted contrasts with other belief systems.

Any worshiper of created things, what I'll call a pagan, has fallen far from the Christian marker. By created things I mean things thought to be created by God and things certainly created by humans. I mean the physical universe just as much as I mean Zeus, or countless other gods of ancient mythology. It seems strange that the air around me or the voiceless star beyond would rule me. But I could believe in something that is both around me and beyond. For nothing pagan is like this. Mythology is purely of things beyond, and creation-worship is purely of things around. Who could you call on when the god of agriculture wanted your son for breakfast? Some people even gave into those demands, though who made them is unclear. What is clear is that it was not God. It is not God who sends out solar flares from 93 million miles away nor who pulls in the tides. Christ's words reiterate this: "The Lord your God is one Lord." And equally powerful, "God is spirit."

And to just swiftly make the assertion and keep on walking, God is not dead. He is not dead in the ontological sense (meaning He actually died, and was previously alive), nor in the evolutionary sense (namely that the evolution of man has discovered that God is incompatible with reality). A wise psalmist, calling God the living, even sought an appointment with Him, saying, "My soul thirsts for God, the living God. When can I go meet with Him?" All that we know about ourselves and the world, all the most common questions that men's minds tremble to answer, are answered when we meet God.

Deep in the herculean heart of Asia are witnesses to different things, all of which I only discuss for the sake of their differences with Christianity, not with each other. However, to be a Hindu is often to not be a Buddhist or Jain. For Hinduism has so many concepts of God. Christians certainly disagree on certain details, but to denounce a universally believed doctrine would certainly cause you to denounce Christianity as a whole. Some Hindus believe that all is God, others that there is no God. No such distinction can be made in Christianity while retaining the label; if you believe that God doesn't exist, you cannot be a Christian. To conclude, any conception of God that allows the possibility of His nonexistence is at odds with the Christian conception of God.

Buddhists are essentially in the group called 'God Is Dead.' Buddha saw all questions concerning God or creation as worthless. Therefore, since Christians do not believe such questions are worthless, but because God exists, are of ultimate worth, these two world views are incompatible. Jainism as well denies a divine creator.

I must point out here that my purpose here is not firstly apologetic, meaning I'm not here t make a case for Christianity, but to discover the purposes of God's most important choices.

A Meaning For Everything

I heard a phrase repeating itself around me, like a confirmation reconfirming itself. I'd imagine if I did nothing with it, I'd be that man the joke is made of; the one who drowned when the divinely sent opportunities were ignored. Perhaps it'd be told something like this. "A young man loved the knowledge of God. So, God offered Him the Message. The man passed it down. Then God offered doctrine. Still no response. Finally God offered purpose. After that, as I hope the ending would go, the young man's life was changed." Certainly success would turn the joke on its head, but it would still be a joke. Rather than the Devil telling it, it's me telling it to him.

Anyways, the phrase was spoken as the following: "When you don't know the purpose for something, abuse is inevitable." Perfection is always one, and deviation is always many. And for an awkwardly, obviously crippled species as ours, deviation is practically the norm. And my diction here is precise. We are crippled for we once walked right, and the deviation is only practically normal for us, because it is never spiritually normal. In practice, we see that is appears normal, but in the heart the damage lingers undeniably.

As I pondered this timeless fundamental, it's clarity and richness in sense allowed me to adopt it as a personal tenet at once. After reading Doctrine by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Greshears, and completing the book's study guide, I had a curious idea to merge these two studies. Chapter three of Doctrine, for example, was "Image: God Loves." Out of this curiosity, I wondered why. What is the purpose of God's image, and what does it have to do with love? Or, what are the purposes of God's judgment against sin?

This is my answer to the joke. My answers to the curiosity concerning the divine...man, and the good news surrounding Him, are going to spell themselves out here. I will pick God's brain and investigate with child-like sincerity the point of God's most important choices. For everything He's done has meaning, has purpose. And everything we do should too.