14 May Week 1 Assignment: Who is God Dialogue

One of the central questions that cultures have asked throughout human history is Who is God? This week, you have spent time reading and studying about this very question in the context of Mesopotamia and Egypt. This has allowed you to reach the first two categories of historical analysis–the Descriptive and the Interpretive. As the faith-integration model states, as Christians, we must move to the third level of analysis as well–the Evaluative. We must evaluate our historical findings with Christian Truth. While the Israelites/Hebrews originated in Mesopotamia and were slaves in Egypt for hundreds of years, they had a worldview and religious understanding in sharp contrast to these two ancient civilizations. The Hebrew understanding of God, ethics and the individual would have far more lasting impact on Western Civilization than the Mesopotamian or Egyptian Empires.

Using the lectures, readings and the Old Testament book of Genesis, discuss some ways (at least two) that the Israelites differed from their Mesopotamian and Egyptian neighbors.

Your initial response (250-300 words)

PROVIDE SCRIPTURAL INTEGRATION FROM THE BIBLE AS WELL.

The Scriptures provide a picture of who God is. The following attributes of God (not exhaustive) are documented by Wayne Grudem in his Systematic Theology. God is:

· Independent (self-existence): “God does not need us or the rest of creation for anything, yet we and the rest of creation can glorify him and bring him joy.” God did not create human beings because he was lonely but the Bible indicates that persons of the Holy Trinity—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—had perfect love and fellowship prior to the creation of the world (John 17:24). God’s self-designation as “I AM WHO I AM” indicates this independence (Exodus 3:14). While God does not need us, he has created human beings to glorify himself (Ephesians 1:11-12).

· Unchangeableness (immutability): “God is unchanging in his being, purposes, and promises, yet God does act and feel emotions and he acts and feels differently in response to different situations.” The unchangeableness of God is consistent throughout both the Old and New Testaments. James 1:17 tells readers that “there is no variation or shadow due to change” in God. The immutability of God’s being also assures he is unchanging in his purposes and promises.

· Eternity (infinity): “God has no beginning, end, or succession of moments in his own being, and he sees all time equally vividly, yet God sees events in time and acts in time.” God’s eternity is suggested by numerous passages in Scripture such as Rev 1:8: “’I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” Scripture indicates that God sees all time equally vividly; that is, he stands outside of history and is able to see all human history at any given moment but may act within history (Psalm 90:4, 2 Peter 3:8, Isaiah 46:9-10).

· Omnipresence: “God does not have size or spatial dimensions and is present at every point of space with his whole being, yet God acts differently in different places.” The fact that God is not limited by space is perhaps most beautifully articulated by David in Psalm 139:7-9: “Wither shall I go from your Spirit? Or wither shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!”