Monday, May 16, 2005

Impossible

The questions were shot rapid fire in my direction. "How do you know there is only one God? What about all the other religions? Are they wrong?"

The young man who spoke cocked one eye and smirked. The other students in the room continued to chatter, oblivious to the magnificent questions posed by the rebel. Silencing the whispers I proceeded to restate the questions. The room became almost silent.

I responded with passion welling up in my soul, "The idea of more than one god is logically and philosophically impossible. If there are two gods fighting against each other for power, one would have to be weaker. If one god was weaker it could not be a god at all. The whole point of a god is to be more powerful than anything else."

"Well, I have decided I don't believe in God," was the definate reply.

I love these types of questions. I love philosophy. I love theology. There are just some things in the world of logic and philosophy that are impossible.

There cannot be more than one god. There especially cannot be a god of good and a god of evil at the same time. What do you think of when you picture the idea of a god? Here are the most common responses I have heard:

1- Powerful
2- Good
3- Present everywhere
4- Knows everything
5- Punishes bad people

Now tell me something... how can you have more then one god taking care of these responsibilities? How can you have 2 or 500 powerful gods? How can you have gods that are present everywhere? And my favorite... can you have more than one god that knows everything?

It makes no sense to believe in a god and in the next breath say that there could be more than one god. That eliminates hope and trust. How can I trust a god if I am not sure he is the only one? What if I do not believe in the one that will treat me right? How can I hope that this is the god that will meet my needs or answer my requests?

This is the problem many cultures face. They are told there are many gods. They must worship them all. If they forget about one, they may be punished by that one. They have idols for them all, even to ones they do not know about yet... just to be safe. Just to cover their backsides. But what about the rules? What if the gods contradict themselves? What if one says yes and another says no?

So people drown in hopelessness and fear. They work so hard to obey all gods. There is no peace. There is no confidence in an eternal reward. They worry that they will miss a god or break a rule. This type of lifestyle defeats the whole purpose of believing in a god int he first place!

Therefore, others have decided there are no gods at all. They do not want to follow a bunch of rules and regulations so they disregard the idea altogether. They look at people who believe in a god or many gods as weak. Little do they see that their end result is the same as those who believe in many gods. Hopelessness, fear, no rewards and purposelessness.

The athiestic perspective is as illogical and unphilosophical as believing in many gods. I could get into this, but do not have time.

The Only God
God of the Bible stands alone. God needs no one. God makes the rules. He is all-powerful. His knowledge has no boundaries. He is Perfect. Good. Just. Righteous. Present everywhere. He has no equals. He has no peers. He never fails. There is only one God.

I have hope because He is the Only One where I can place hope. I can trust that what He says is true because He is the Only One that says what is true. I know that He loves me for He is the Only One that is Love. I know He will punish those who do wrong because He is the Only One who has authority to punish. There is no one like Him, so I never have to fear that He will be dethroned or that I will make another god unhappy.

I believe God is who HE says He is. I believe God can do what HE says He can do. I believe He has always been and always will be. I believe in Him alone. Why choose another? Why have several when I have The Only One?

If you do not believe in the only God, do not delay in turning to Him! He loves you with love no one can understand . He cares for your deepest needs. He will forgive you of all you have done wrong. Do you want to know the most amazing thing? He died for you. He died to set you free. He came back to life to show His power over death. Do not waste another day in hopelessness!

"Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me." Isaiah 46:9

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