"Your God is Too Small?"*1
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Genesis 1:1-5
Genesis 1:1-5
1In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.2And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And theSpirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.3And God said , Let there be light: and there was light.4And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.5And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
People often struggle with Genesis 1.
This message concerns1- how God created the universe, ... from nothing 2- how in the current world there is considerable 'intelligent' thought seemingly contrary to Genesis as to how the world was created,3- how the differences can be seen in a compatiable manner.
In modern terms of people's discovery about creation much is proposed as known, and generally accepted:
1- Most creation research scientists consider the world between 13.5 billion to 15 billion earth years old.
2- We have theories of evolution, especially those of Charles Darwin that mistakenly indicate the belief that we evolved from some sort of biological soup. 'Modern' Evolution theories have existed for about 150 years and the interesting part, there is still no physical scientific proof yet many high school and college books still teach this myth as 'fact'. It clearly is convoluted myth.
3- There is evidence and it is generally accepted by creation scientists that in a 50 million year period starting about 543 million years ago that most plant and animal groups (called phyla) came into being during what is called the Cambrian Period. Fifty million years is entirely a far too short time span for evolution to have produced all the different plants and animals on the earth.
4- There is so much more that could be said about the universe forming, the big bang theory, the creation of our body cells/DNA, and the development of the universe that science can define based on scientific principles.
With all that is 'known' about the universe, it would seem that when a person believes the Bible is the inspired word of God then the known confirmed science would have to be thrown out as meaningless words; but, if a person believes the science then the notion of the Bible being the inspired Truth and Word of God seems to be wrong. The question is how do Christians connect Genesis 1 with clear, concise, and generally acceptable science that seems to indicate most differently.
The reality of the matter is that most people's idea of God is found in the words, "Your God is too Small" (*1).
When we expand our concept of God, His unbelievable intelligence, and and His infinite power we find new concepts as to what is scientifically discovered about the universe is perhaps not out of sync with Genesis 1.
Consider the phrase we hear often from the pulpits of the world, "God is all powerful". This is undoubtedly true but is an understatement of the truth. Consider this: God is so powerful that He can do absolutely anything we could think of or discover but more than that, His Power, His Intelligence, His Abilities are infinitely beyond what we could ever think of.
With that, we must expand our concept of God:From Genesis 1, we read the word 'day'. What does 'day' really mean to God? We must not confine or limit what God can do in terms of defining what a 'creation day' can be! After all, God created time as we know it and a day on the earth is not the same amount of time as a day on any other planet! We cannot limit God in our definitions of time!
Next consider Genesis 2:2- "And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made ; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made ."
We limit God in our minds if we confine him to creating the universe in six twenty-four hour periods. Remember, He is "all powerful" totally beyond our ideas, concepts, and understanding. I hope no one can argue with this: "God is so powerful in His creativity, that He could have created this universe in any manner He chose to do." If you cannot agree with that, then "Your God is too Small"! But, He could also have created just as in Genesis and made it look like 13.5 billion years! But, read on.....
The Essence Creation in Genesis1,2-
1- God is All Powerful.2- God is a God of Creativity -
and just by speaking He creates everything from nothing!3- God is- God that can do anything in any manner He desires.
4- Because God created us in His image and because we love what we create, so too He loves His creation, namely us. In addition, we know God loves us from the scripture John 3:16.
5- Since the beginning of time mankind has sought the desire to understand our creation. It is no wonder that the redactors/writers of Genesis were inspired to put first and foremost the creation of the world as the first chapter in a manner that people could understand.
6- Genesis is clearly and simply written for people to understand but that does not mean creation is/was simple.
Rather, the creation of the world was highly thought out by God and created in a manner for us to discover. The most important discovery ever made is that as scientist discover more about the world, we see just how creative and powerful God truly is. The more scientists discover, the more we understand, the more scientist understand, the more they know there is more and more to discover.
God's existing universe demonstrates infinitely endless creativity. We can never know all there is to know about what has already been created. That is just how powerful and creative God is!
7- Finally, Six days or 13.5 billion years?:
The beginnings and genealogies of the Old testament go back to about 4500 years ago. Some would possibly argue that is about when time began, time that God created. For this discussion let's say time began about 5000 years ago or 10,000 years ago if you prefer. I will not argue with that because-
God is so absolutely unbelievably powerful, so inconceivably creative, so boundless in what He can do that He could have created the universe 5000 earth years ago, again exactly as in Genesis, and made it look like it was created 13.5 billion years ago and exactly how science views it today. God is more than that powerful! He has to be more powerful than what our puny little minds can think of!
Even science today agrees with Genesis 1:3-
"And God said , Let there be light: and there was light.".
All theories of special relativity by Albert Einstein and discoveries of other scientist in the last 50 years indicate that the first visible part of creation was nothing less than light.
Above all: Do not let your God be "too small"!
------
God - Creation - Jesus
The Bible in Genesis tells us that God's Word created the universe. John 1:1-3 and John 1:14 tells us-
It is clear from the Gospel of John that Jesus was 'in the Beginning', that He too is the creative force behind the world and "all things" were made by Him (vs 3), and He (Jesus) is the 'Light of the world' and He (Jesus) truly redeemed and bought back what He created by shedding His blood on the cross.
Do not put limits on what God is, who Jesus is, and what you think God and Jesus can do,
"Trust God, Trust Jesus",
and most of allDon't let your God be "too small".
Thanks Be to Godlonnie
© lonnie coggins
People often struggle with Genesis 1.
This message concerns1- how God created the universe, ... from nothing 2- how in the current world there is considerable 'intelligent' thought seemingly contrary to Genesis as to how the world was created,3- how the differences can be seen in a compatiable manner.
In modern terms of people's discovery about creation much is proposed as known, and generally accepted:
1- Most creation research scientists consider the world between 13.5 billion to 15 billion earth years old.
2- We have theories of evolution, especially those of Charles Darwin that mistakenly indicate the belief that we evolved from some sort of biological soup. 'Modern' Evolution theories have existed for about 150 years and the interesting part, there is still no physical scientific proof yet many high school and college books still teach this myth as 'fact'. It clearly is convoluted myth.
3- There is evidence and it is generally accepted by creation scientists that in a 50 million year period starting about 543 million years ago that most plant and animal groups (called phyla) came into being during what is called the Cambrian Period. Fifty million years is entirely a far too short time span for evolution to have produced all the different plants and animals on the earth.
4- There is so much more that could be said about the universe forming, the big bang theory, the creation of our body cells/DNA, and the development of the universe that science can define based on scientific principles.
With all that is 'known' about the universe, it would seem that when a person believes the Bible is the inspired word of God then the known confirmed science would have to be thrown out as meaningless words; but, if a person believes the science then the notion of the Bible being the inspired Truth and Word of God seems to be wrong. The question is how do Christians connect Genesis 1 with clear, concise, and generally acceptable science that seems to indicate most differently.
The reality of the matter is that most people's idea of God is found in the words, "Your God is too Small" (*1).
When we expand our concept of God, His unbelievable intelligence, and and His infinite power we find new concepts as to what is scientifically discovered about the universe is perhaps not out of sync with Genesis 1.
Consider the phrase we hear often from the pulpits of the world, "God is all powerful". This is undoubtedly true but is an understatement of the truth. Consider this: God is so powerful that He can do absolutely anything we could think of or discover but more than that, His Power, His Intelligence, His Abilities are infinitely beyond what we could ever think of.
With that, we must expand our concept of God:From Genesis 1, we read the word 'day'. What does 'day' really mean to God? We must not confine or limit what God can do in terms of defining what a 'creation day' can be! After all, God created time as we know it and a day on the earth is not the same amount of time as a day on any other planet! We cannot limit God in our definitions of time!
Next consider Genesis 2:2- "And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made ; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made ."
We limit God in our minds if we confine him to creating the universe in six twenty-four hour periods. Remember, He is "all powerful" totally beyond our ideas, concepts, and understanding. I hope no one can argue with this: "God is so powerful in His creativity, that He could have created this universe in any manner He chose to do." If you cannot agree with that, then "Your God is too Small"! But, He could also have created just as in Genesis and made it look like 13.5 billion years! But, read on.....
The Essence Creation in Genesis1,2-
1- God is All Powerful.2- God is a God of Creativity -
and just by speaking He creates everything from nothing!3- God is- God that can do anything in any manner He desires.
4- Because God created us in His image and because we love what we create, so too He loves His creation, namely us. In addition, we know God loves us from the scripture John 3:16.
5- Since the beginning of time mankind has sought the desire to understand our creation. It is no wonder that the redactors/writers of Genesis were inspired to put first and foremost the creation of the world as the first chapter in a manner that people could understand.
6- Genesis is clearly and simply written for people to understand but that does not mean creation is/was simple.
Rather, the creation of the world was highly thought out by God and created in a manner for us to discover. The most important discovery ever made is that as scientist discover more about the world, we see just how creative and powerful God truly is. The more scientists discover, the more we understand, the more scientist understand, the more they know there is more and more to discover.
God's existing universe demonstrates infinitely endless creativity. We can never know all there is to know about what has already been created. That is just how powerful and creative God is!
7- Finally, Six days or 13.5 billion years?:
The beginnings and genealogies of the Old testament go back to about 4500 years ago. Some would possibly argue that is about when time began, time that God created. For this discussion let's say time began about 5000 years ago or 10,000 years ago if you prefer. I will not argue with that because-
God is so absolutely unbelievably powerful, so inconceivably creative, so boundless in what He can do that He could have created the universe 5000 earth years ago, again exactly as in Genesis, and made it look like it was created 13.5 billion years ago and exactly how science views it today. God is more than that powerful! He has to be more powerful than what our puny little minds can think of!
Even science today agrees with Genesis 1:3-
"And God said , Let there be light: and there was light.".
All theories of special relativity by Albert Einstein and discoveries of other scientist in the last 50 years indicate that the first visible part of creation was nothing less than light.
Above all: Do not let your God be "too small"!
------
God - Creation - Jesus
The Bible in Genesis tells us that God's Word created the universe. John 1:1-3 and John 1:14 tells us-
1 In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was with God
in the beginning.
3 Through him all
things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
14 The Word became flesh and made his
dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who
came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
It is clear from the Gospel of John that Jesus was 'in the Beginning', that He too is the creative force behind the world and "all things" were made by Him (vs 3), and He (Jesus) is the 'Light of the world' and He (Jesus) truly redeemed and bought back what He created by shedding His blood on the cross.
Do not put limits on what God is, who Jesus is, and what you think God and Jesus can do,
"Trust God, Trust Jesus",
and most of allDon't let your God be "too small".
Thanks Be to Godlonnie
© lonnie coggins
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REFERENCES:
*1- "Your God is too Small" by John B. Phillips published 1952
The trouble with many of us today, writes J.B. Phillips, is that we have not found a God big enough for our modern needs. In varying degrees we suffer from a limited idea of God. Phillips exposes such inadequate conceptions of God as "Resident Policeman," "Grand Old Man," "Meek-and-Mild," and "Managing Director," and explores ways in which we can find a truly meaningful an...more
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34486.Your_God_is_Too_Small
REFERENCES:
*1- "Your God is too Small" by John B. Phillips published 1952
The trouble with many of us today, writes J.B. Phillips, is that we have not found a God big enough for our modern needs. In varying degrees we suffer from a limited idea of God. Phillips exposes such inadequate conceptions of God as "Resident Policeman," "Grand Old Man," "Meek-and-Mild," and "Managing Director," and explores ways in which we can find a truly meaningful an...more
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34486.Your_God_is_Too_Small
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© Lonnie Coggins
ldcoggins@gmail.com
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lonnie
Publication 0184
intro-
Far too often, people think to low in terms of who or what God is. He is not a "resident policeman" or the "big guy with a flyswatter" ready to pounce when we sin. God is beyond our descriptions with better things to do than blow a whistle or pounce. I hope this message will expand your vision of the loving God. Click the link below and if you like share on your fb page.
http://lonnieadailythought.blogspot.com/2013/11/your-god-is-too-small.html
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