When I was a child I was told, “God is omniscient. He knows everything.”

I wondered, “If He knows everything then there must be nothing left for Him to learn.”

I enjoy learning new things; I confess — it is what I enjoy most. As matter of fact, my ego is quite impressed with the many things I have learned in this short lifetime but yet, there are so many things still remaining for me to learn. Fortunately, it seems there is no limit to the things I don’t know.

But … if I project my mind into infinity … and allow myself to learn everything … absolutely everything there is to know … to become omniscient …

… then … I think …

… I think I will be bored.

Is God bored?

Several of you sent personal emails in response to my last blog entry. Thank you for those! Your comments are profound and valuable. Here are some of them:

Laura: Interesting . . . much like parenting is a concept, when we refer to our mother or father, grammatically we capitalize Mom or Dad when we use it in the place of their name . . . But I see the bigger point [Zac’s] trying to make. And, I also agree that saying the word, god, is soothing . . . probably has to do with our first sounds as children – ga-ga. Curse words often evoke that same fun in the saying!!

Therese: I have to say that I disagree with this all the way through. I have a direct connection with God and I will capitalize His name. He is not a concept; He is our father and our God. He has created us and to capitalize His name is only with respect, even if it is just His name… It is important to me, because I do capitalize for my gratitude for Him of the gift He has given me.

Victoria: Tell Zac that I enjoyed his post. We are all vibration.

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Each of us has a personal concept and name for the All-Encompassing, the All-Knowing. For some, it’s Allah, or Shiva, or God. For others it’s Universe or Spirit. For some it is a concept that cannot be explained. I once heard a guy tell me his concept of God was the sense he experienced when he rubbed a touch-stone he carried with him. I read about scientists researching “dark matter” and in a way, even this is God.

As for me, I believe one is the same as the next. If your “God” is merely a concept – I get it. I accept it.

If your “god” is the peace that comes from focusing on a touch-stone while meditating – I get it. I accept it.

I embrace the idea that any concept of “God” is remarkably similar to another when you dig into the depths of it, however, because of my human condition, I am unable to describe God with my limited language. Nevertheless, I believe that your God is the same God as mine; I think He is big enough to encompass all of that, and more.

My friend Jan put it this way: “God is God and he will do what he wants no matter what human judgments we place on each other, for we are not truly able to understand the awesomeness of GOD.”

Capitalized or not, god is God is Universe is Spirit is….

I accept that. I embrace it.

Respectfully,
David Wine

(Today’s post is submitted by Zac Wine, who continues to challenge my thinking.)

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I don’t capitalize god. I also don’t capitalize him/his/he when I reference god. God is not a name; god is a concept.

A really, really big concept.

Think about this: if you say the word “god,” what does it sound like way down deep in your throat? Or better, how does it sound way down deep in your soul? When you experience the vibration of god, how does it feel in your gut? God, as a sound, has a certain appeal. It’s abstract and intangible like god should be.

On the other hand, when god is manifested in our reality, his name is a materialization of the sound and he has many names—Yahweh, Jehovah, Elohim, Shiva, Vishnu, Brahman, Allah, Jesus…. I capitalize these because I appreciate the idea of the vocalization of god; the sound or vibration of god.

What does pronunciation of Yahweh bring to mind? What does the sound of Elohim make you think of? How does the sound of Jesus make you feel? How does Jesus with the Spanish pronunciation (hey-soos) make you feel? The idea of G-O-D is over-used in our culture and is too misunderstood to break it down as a sound. However god’s manifestations are far easier and more interesting to think about and feel.

I might argue that the name Jesus has too many connotations to be included in the list. Is he the son of god? Too much ego involved in that argument. I’d like to discuss it with Jesus himself—about his name and his source—and and get an answer directly from him that didn’t involve the Romans or Pharisees.

If you want to capitalize god, go right ahead. For me, it feels like I give him much more respect when I treat him non-egotistically; non-human. So with appreciation and honor to him/it/them, I don’t capitalize god.

With respect to god,
Zac Wine

One of my weaknesses is I believe you interpret life the same way I do. I think you think like I think.

Extrapolate this concept to a much grander scale…to the scale of infinity, where we meet God. Somewhere in the grand, human process, we went there, came back and then continued with our day-to-day lives. As we went about our ordinary lives we developed religious and spiritual beliefs in a limited, human state of consciousness. One of these is our definition of God. Most western religions claim to be based on the Bible, which is a source that generates an image of a very human-like God. This result is not surprising with words like, “God created man in his own image.”

Throughout history, we have assigned a “personage” to God which has many human characteristics; we see God in human terms and give him a human likeness. We gave God ears (He listens to us); we gave Him a mouth and larynx (God talks to us); we gave Him feelings like dissatisfied, displeased, and unhappy if we do something outside His rules.

I think God is not a person…especially not in the way that’s been spawned in our minds.

In several books I’ve read recently, God lets us know that he is nothing like we think. In The Shack, he deliberately takes on the appearance of a woman, and then proceeds to call himself “Papa.” In Conversations With God, he very directly states, “I am not what you think.” And although it was not their intention, the authors of Quantum Enigma: Physics Encounters Consciousness gave us the preliminary framework we can use to begin to grasp a possible nature of God. All of these accounts show an image of God that is very unlike anything I have encountered.

For now, I don’t think I am capable of expanding my consciousness to the point of infinity, so I’ll take small steps. I first choose to walk away from my earlier belief that God is human-like. Next, I choose to believe that God is nothing like I imagine. Then I choose to allow God to take any shape He prefers. After all…He is God.

Then again, what do I know? I’m just an ordinary guy with a weakness, who thinks you think like I think.

Curiously,
David Wine

I started watching a 2-hour special on The History Channel recently about the multiple predictions that have been made for December 21, 2012. I was disappointed and turned off the show after twenty minutes. The sensationalism and hype were excessive. There were too many commercials (of course). The show had very little bona fide substance. (Reminds me of politics.)

But I do wonder what will happen in December 2012.

• Will it be the end of the world?
• Does California slide into the ocean?
• Will Earth be struck by a comet?
• Maybe a massive volcano will erupt, creating a massive ash cloud, blocking the sun and starting the next ice age
• Perhaps the north and south poles will literally flip causing another global deluge, like Noah’s flood.
• Or maybe the UFO’s will stop cloaking, come out of hiding and the aliens will take over.
• Could be the second coming of Jesus.
• It might be nuclear war or a continent-destroying tsunami.

I am dramatizing too much. I actually have created peace within myself about whatever happens.

Slanting more optimistically, maybe humans will develop an increased sense of intuition, allowing us to communicate without speech (The Great Shift in Human Consciousness?).

Maybe we’ll talk with angels.

Or perhaps we’ll finally be able to hear God.

That would be a noteworthy transformation.

Curiously,
David Wine

“I talk to everyone. All the time. The question is not to whom do I talk, but who listens.”
— God

In Conversations with God : An Uncommon Dialogue (Book 1) by Neale Donald Walsch.

I no longer claim the religious beliefs my parents taught me, but at times I still ponder them. In those younger years, my friends and I were full of questions like:

“If the Bible tells stories about King David and his many wives–and his son Solomon who had seven hundred wives, and the Bible also says, ‘Go, and do thou likewise,’ then is it OK for me to have several wives?”

We were curious, but mostly just having a little fun with our teachers. They usually gave us a resounding “Pshaw” and continued with their lecture, flipping from one Bible text to another, building “proof” of some particular doctrine or tenet.

Now that I’m older, my new question is: If one Bible text can be used to support another in establishing a system of beliefs, then the “many wives” argument should hold as much weight as any other, shouldn’t it? How would you decide which Bible text supports or “proves” another?

Here’s an example. My teachers thought they had resolved the meaning of Biblical prophecies in Daniel and Revelation, one of which speaks of “2,300 days.” They told us that the 2,300 days in that prophecy are symbolic of 2,300 literal years, and that the “day equals a year” concept is based on two unrelated texts in Ezekiel 4:6 and Numbers 14:34. I think the “day equals a year” concept is taken out of context. But don’t take my word for it. Decide for yourself.

My inquisitive mind wonders why we should limit the “day equals a year” concept to only prophetic passages? Why not use it to explain other time-related stories, such as the story of creation? If read literally, the Biblical story of Creation teaches that the sun, moon and stars, our planet with all of its vegetation, the animals and humans were literally created in 6 days. However, if we apply the “day equals a year” model to the creation story, then maybe God took 6 years to create the Universe, the Earth and its inhabitants. While we’re at it, why not expand our thinking another notch and say “a day equals a billion years” and allow creation to take a literal 6 billion years?

Creation meets evolution!

Why can’t both theories be explained within the same, broad spectrum? I am neither a creationist nor an evolutionist. I embrace both theories…AND the other 6 theories we haven’t even discovered yet.

Actually, I think the missing link is based on a much larger concept.

From God’s perspective, “time” does not exist. It doesn’t matter if God created the world in 6 days or 6 billion years. From His perspective it would have been the same moment either way.

Well, that’s one perspective. Here’s another —

God is capable of anything. He’s able to create an entire Universe, including our Earth, with ‘age’ already existing in its structure. Maybe God did create our earth in 6 days and, while He was at it, had a little fun and made it with 4.6 billion years of “age” already built in.

After all, He is God….

What’s your theory? Maybe it’s one of the other 6.

Inquisitively,
David Wine

When I recently wondered about How Big Is The Universe, I mentioned The Ant’s perspective. I wondered if there are beings who perceive humans in the same way we perceive the ant.

What if an ant could expand its awareness so it could see AND understand humans? I wonder if it would try to communicate with us. Or if it would try to become more human-like by taking on our behaviors or values so as to fit into our culture or understand us better.

From our current human perspective, we have speculated that angels exist; some even say they have seen angels. We speculate that they have wings. We talk of having guardian angels, “assigned” to each of us to protect and guide us. Some of the books I’ve read recently discuss certain tasks angels perform like Healing, Teaching, Guiding, Delivering messages from/to God

In my human finite-ness I don’t personally know much about angels yet, but I wonder if the human-angel connection is similar to the ant-human relationship. If it were possible, would I choose to expand my awareness so that I could perceive and understand angels on an everyday basis?

Inquisitively,
David Wine

Last night I walked through the house, turning off lights as I was heading for bed. In my mind, I prayed a quick prayer asking for blessings and peace to continue filling our home. A moment after the prayer, I happened to glance at the digital clock in the kitchen.

It read 11:11.

At first, I didn’t think much about it, but a few seconds later it hit me. This same thing has already happened to me — three times!

Déjà vu.

I’ve seen a pair of elevens three times in the past couple weeks.

I prayed; I saw 11:11 for the third time; and I’ve read that eleven is a power number.

I wonder what the angels are telling me.

“Who is God” has been done before, but I want to take my turn.

The question and its cousin “Is there a God?” are actually small-minded questions. A slightly larger, and perhaps more meaningful question might be, “How is God” or maybe “Why is God?”

I wrote about Him when he showed up in two of my dreams in my short story A Forever Place. In the book I call Him “The Presence:”

I sense Someone slightly behind me and to the right—Something I know I will not “see” with my eyes, yet is vastly familiar and very different from the “God in a Box” I learned as a child.

Later in the dreams The Presence reveals that He is far beyond my intellectual grasp. He shows that He has a sense of humor, is insatiably curious and takes care to reveal knowledge at a pace I can keep up with (almost).

I spent some time researching “Who Is God” and found a wide assortment of opinions and sentiments ranging from non-emotional denial all the way to angry, pulpit-pounding of the “Fire & Brimstoners.” I found attempts to “prove” God exists using scientific analysis, as well as the not-so-compelling, emotional argument that God exists “because I know He does; I just know it!”

This question is usually discussed along a defined set of religious beliefs. When answering the question, religious enthusiasts quote biblical scripture and atheists use “logic” (supported or not). In my research, I found definitions for monotheism (belief in the existence of one deity or oneness of A God) and pantheism (the concept that the universe and God are equivalent). But at the end of my research I was still faced with the most important question: What do I believe?

My answer to that question is truly the one that matters most for me, just as your answer matters most to you.

I won’t be so arrogant as to tell you what you should believe. Also, I’m not going to be a fanatic on your computer monitor or try to coerce you to believe my way. However, I do challenge you to be willing to change your mind when new information comes along. Insist on adjusting your God-concept as you evolve and learn.

Returning to the original question: Who is God? I think this is a small-minded question so I propose a bigger one: God Is?

My conclusion: Yes, God Is.

How else would I describe God?

Inquisitively,

David Wine