GOD

DEFINITION: The Supreme Being, whose distinctive name is Jehovah.
The Hebrew language uses terms for "God" that convey the idea of strength,
also of majesty, dignity, and excellence.  In contrast to the true God,
there are false gods.  Some of these have set themselves up as gods; others
have been made objects of worship by those who serve them.


ARE THERE SOUND REASONS FOR BELIVING IN GOD?

Ps. 19:1: "The heavens are declaring the glory of God; and of the work of his
hands the expanse is telling."

Ps. 104:24: "How many your works are, O Jehovah! All of them in wisdom you
have made. The earth is full of your productions."

Rom. 1:20: "His invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world's 
creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made."

        NEW SCIENTIST magazine said: "The lay view persists--of scientists 
having `disproved' religion.  It is a view that commonly expects scientists
to be nonbelievers; that Darwin put the last nails in God's coffin; and that
a succession of scientific and technological innovations since have ruled out
the possibility of any resurrection.  It is a biew that is wildly wrong."--
May 26, 1977, p. 478.
        A member of the French Academy of Science stated: "Natural order was 
not invented by the human mind or set up by certain perceptive powers.... The
existence of order presupposes the existence of organizing intelligence. Such
intelligence can be none other than God's."--DIEU EXISTE? OUI (Paris 1979),
Christian Chabanis, quoting Pierre-Paul Grass'e,p.94.
        Scientists have identified over 100 chemical elements. Their atomic
structure displays an intricate mathematical interrelationship of the 
of the elements.  The periodic table points to obvious design.  Such amazing
design could not possible be accidental, a product of chance.
        ILLUSTRATION: When we see a camera, radio, or a computer, we readily
acknowledge that it must have been produced by an intelligent designer.  
Would it be reasonable, then, to say that far more complex things--the eye,
teh ear, and the human brain--did not originate with an intelligent 
Designer?

DOES THE EXISTENCE OF WICKEDNESS AND OF SUFFERING PROVE THAT THERE IS NO GOD?

        CONSIDER EXAMPLES: Does the fact that knives have been used to 
murder prove that no one designed them?  Is the use of jet aircraft to drop
bombs in time of war evidence that they had no designer? Or is it rather the 
use to which these are being put that is causing grief to mankind?
        Is it not true that much disease is a result of man's own poor 
living habits and his spoiling of the environment for himself and others? 
Are not the wars fought by humans a major cause of human suffering?  Is it 
not also true that, while millions suffer from lack of food, there is more
than enough in other lands, so that one of the underlying problems is 
human greed?  All these things give evidence, not that there is no God, but
that humans are sadly misusing their God-given abilities and the earth 
itself.

DOES GOD REALLY CARE WHAT HAPPENS TO US HUMANS?
        Yes, indeed! Consider the evidence: The Bible tells us that God gave
man a perfect start. (Gen. 1:27,31; Deut. 32:4) Man's continued enjoyment of 
God's favor, however, depended on obedience to his Maker. (Gen. 2:16,17)
If man was obedient, he would continue to enjoy perfect human life--no 
Sickness, no suffering, no death.  The Creator would provide man with needed
quidance and would use His power to safeguard mankind against any calamity.  
But man rejected God's guidance; he chose the course of self-rule.  In
trying to do something for which he was never designed, he has brought
calamity upon himself. (Jer. 10:23; Eccl. 8:9; Rom. 5:12) Yet, over the
centuries God has been patiently seeking out those who, because of love 
for him and his ways, are willing to serfe him.  He sets before them the
opportunity to enjoy all the blessings of which they have been deprived 
because of man's imperfections and misrule. (Rev. 21:3-5) The provision God
made by means of his Son to redeem humans from sin and death is a marvelous 
evidence of God's great love for mankind. (John 3:16) God has also set an
appointed time when he will destroy those who ruin the earth and will cause 
lovers of righteousness to enjoy life in harmony with his own original 
purpse.--Rev. 11:18; Ps. 37:10, 11.

IS GOD A REAL PERSON?

        Heb. 9:24: "Christ entered... into heaven itself, now to appear 
before the person of God for us."
        John 4:24: "God is a Spirit."
        John 7:28: "He that sent me is real," said Jesus.
        1 Cor. 15:44: "If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual
one."

DOES GOD HAVE FEELINGS OF THE SORT THAT WE ASSOCIATE WITH LIVING PEOPLE?

        John 16:27: "The Father himself has affection for you, because you
have had affection for me and have believed that I came out as the Father's
representative."
        Isa. 63:9: "During all their destress it was distressing to him....
In his love and in his compassion he himself repurchased them."
        1 Tim. 1:11: "The happy God."

DID GOD HAVE A BEGINNING?

        Ps. 90:2: "Before the mountains themselves were born, or you 
proceeded to bring forth as with labor pains the earth and the productive
land, even from time indefinite to time indefinite you are God."
        IS THAT REASONABLE? Our minds cannot fully comprehend it. But that is
not a sound reason for rejecting it.  CONSIDER EXAMPLES: (1)TIME. No one can
point to a certain moment as the beginning of time. And it is a fact that, 
even though our lives end, time does not.  We do not reject the idea of time
because ther are aspects of it that we do not fully comprehend.  Rather, we
regulate our lives by it. (2) SPACE. Astronomers find no beginning or end to
space. The farther they probe into the universe, the more there is. They do
not rejict what the evidence shows; many refer to space as being what the 
evidence shows; many refer to space as being inginite.  The same priciple
applies to the existence of God.
        OTHER EXAMPLES: (1 Astronomers tell us that the HEAT OF THE SUN at 
its core is 27,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit (15,00,000 'C.). Do we reject that
idea because we cannot fully comprehend such intense heat?  (2) They tell us
that the SIZE OF OUR MILKY WAY is so great that a beam of light traveling at 
over 185,000 miles per second (300,00 km/sec) would Require 100,000 years to
cross it. Do our mindes really comprehend such a distance?  Yet we accept it
because Scientific evidence supports it.
        WHICH IS MORE RESONABLE--that the univers is the product of a living,
intelligent Creator? or that it must have arisen simply by chance form a non-
living source without intelligent direction?  Some persons adopt the latter 
viewpoint because to believe otherwise would mean that they would have to
acknowledge teh existence of a Creator whose qualities they cannot fully
comprehend.  But it is well known that scientists do not fully comprehend 
the functioning of the genes that are within living cells and that determine
how these cells will grow. Nor do they fully understand the functioning of
the human brain. Yet, who would deny that these exist?  Should we really 
expect to understand everything about a Person who is so great that he could
bring into existence the univers, with all its intricate design and 
stupedous size?


IS IT IMPORTANT TO USE GOD'S NAME?
        Rom. 10:13: "Everyone who calls on the names of Jehovah will be 
saved."
        Ezek. 39:6: "People will have to know that I am Jehovah."

        Jesus said to his Father: "I have made your name known to them 
[his true followers] and will make it known."--John 17:26.

IS IT IMPORTANT WHICH GOD WE SERVE, AS LONG AS WE HAVE SOME RELIGION?

        1 Cor. 10:20: "The things which the nations sacrifice they sacrifice
to demons, and not to God."
        2 Cor. 4:4: "The god of this system of things has blinded the minds
of the unbelievers, that the illumination of the glorious good news about the
Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine through."(Here the Devil is
referred to as a "god." See 1 John 5:19; Revelation 12:9.)
        Matt. 7:22,23: "Many will say to me [Jesus Christ] in that day,`Lord,
Lord, did not prophesy in yur name, and expel demons in your name?' and yet
then I will confess to them: I never knew you! Get away from me, you workers
of lawlessness." (Even professing to be a Christian is not a guarantee that
we are acceptable serving the true God.)

IF JEHOVAH IS "THE ONLY TRUE GOD," WHAT KIND OF "GOD" IS JESUS?

        Jesus himself referred to his Father as "the only true God."(John 17:
3) Jehovah himself said: "Besides me there is no God."(Isa. 44:6) The apostle
Paul wrote that, to true Christians, "there is...one God the Father."(1 Cor.8
:5,6) So Jehovah is unique; no one else shares his position. Jehovah stands 
in utter contrast to all such objicts of worship as idols, deified humans, 
and Satan. All thers are false gods.
        Jesus is spoken of in the Scriptures as "a god," even as "Might God."
(John 1:1; Isa.9:6) But nowhere is he spoken of as being Almighty, as 
Jehovah is. (Gen. 17:1) Jesus is said to be "the reflection of [God's] glory,
" but the Father is the Source of that glory. (Heb. 1:3) Jesus in no way 
seeks the position of his Father. He said: "It is Jehovah your God you must
worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service." (Luke 4:8)
He exists "in God's form," and the Father has commanded that "in the names 
of Jesus every knee should bend," but this is all done "to the glory of God
the Father."--Phil. 2:5-11.



     This excerpt was taken form
     "REASONING from the SCRIPTURES"
     published by
     International Bible Students Association
     Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.
     Copyright 1985

Although this excerpt was taken without permission no copywrite infrigment
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Should no problem arise future text's will be
evolvcre.txt--- a detailed study of the evolution/creation argument
bibletru.txt--- can we trust what is written in the bible?

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