Hebrews 8 10-11 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, "Know the LORD,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them."

It's pretty evident here what the heart of God is. He wants to be known by His people...and who doesn't want to be known for who they are? In every relationship whether it is a friendship, a courtship, a marriage...you want to be known for who you are.

So who IS God? (your answer goes ______ here in your mind...think about it before you read on.)

God is a big mystery, God is simple, God is my Father, God is my friend, God is just a name, God is everything, God is nothing, God is a concept, God is an excuse, God is a farce, God is God, God is...?

Think about your answer...and now think about why you came to that conclusion. Was it because that is what you have heard from others...or did you figure it out on your own? How?

Matthew 16:13-16 Now Jesus and His disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi; and on the road He asked His disciples, saying to them, "<font color="red">Who do men say that I am?</font>" So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "<font color="red">But who do you say that I am</font>?" Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."


John 18:33-34 Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?"
Jesus answered him, "<font color="red">Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?</font>"


Do you want to be known by what others say about you? Or do you want to be known for who you really are? Do you want someone to take the time to get to know you? What would make Him any different?

So the question I would like to see answered is how did you find the answer to the above question...or to put it more simply: How do you know who God is/isn't?

Great Topic forever... please allow me to respond tomorrow.. getting sleepy

Did you mean tomorrow tomorrow? Or today tomorrow?

Tomorrow never comes...when it should it's already Today...

LOL Embie!! Well he didn't say WHAT tomorrow he meant

aleina

When I think of God, I think of the Trinity.

It's odd, tho, cos, I have different adjectives for each person.

God is the Head...The Almighty...The Mystery... The Alpha and Omega. You cannot even pinpoint His attributes or physical characteristics, He's beyond comprehension. You worship Him but do so prostrate, as even a twitch of His pinky finger will send cherubim hurtling through the air. His Power is too immense to even look upon His face.

Jesus is love, sacrifice, redemption. He's the One that will walk with you, talk with you, guide you. He's the approachable Diety, calling, waiting. He's the arms of God outstretched. He's the resolution of aimless searching. He's a best friend and confidante. You can tell Him anything for He already knows.

The Holy Spirit is the fire of God. The Comforter. The Diety who's movement urges us to act, to go with God. The One who facilitates changes of the heart. He is our conscience and convicts us when we rebel and let our flesh come first.

I guess God is the summation of all these for me.

He's the answer to the question "What is Life"?

Praise You Lord /

This is pretty cool Forever!

A.) Everything I know or don't know is directly proportional to how much time I spend with Him. I can see the results of that time materialize in my life on occasion as well.


(that is as short as I can make it.)(and every one cheered! )

See...living proof that God exists!

Now we know who God is to you...but I still don't know how you know that...

Well, I can best explain it by how He has changed me. Only a God of that character and magnitude could have pulled me from the wreckage that was my life not so long ago.

I don't have one of those transformation testimonies like Art does, but mine is one of sustanence. I don't think I would be here today if the Lord hadn't reached in and taken hold of me, mind, body and soul.

I was never a drug addict or alcoholic, though I did often use those. I wasn't a run around, though I did enjoy sex before marriage (oops, maybe enjoy shouldn't be in there ).
I wasn't a cheater, liarer or stealer by nature, though sin springs up even when you're careful.

I had a relationsip with Jesus for as long as I can remember, but didn't call myself a Christian until 5 years ago.

What I did do was just stumble along in this life, kinda numb, not knowing the joy that comes from that intimate relationship only He can give. There is good born out of bad in all things that the Lord purposes.

There was a God-sized hole in my heart that only He could fill. I don't feel that hole anymore, that's how I know...

So you had a relationship with Jesus all that time but still had a God-sized hole? How is that possible?

And how did you know when that hole was filled?

How do you know it was God that filled it and not something else?

Is a person not capable of change on their own?

I think the law in TX only allows two questions per thread...

I'll pick the two I want to answer

About my relationship with Jesus. I was raised in a Catholic home, my dad was Protestant, but converted to Catholicism to marry my mother. Church was a ritual but I really enjoyed Sunday School. I would love to answer questions and often as example, the teacher would point out into the crowd talking about who would go to heaven (based of course on works) I knew I was going to Heaven cos I was a good person. I followed directions and I always helped people. I had never committed one of those "mortal" sins and went to confession and I had made my First Communion. I was golden. I can remember being in a store similar to Claire's where there were tiny trinkets everywhere, just so easy to "pick up". I can see myself now thinking about it and then looking up and saying nope. I wouldn't disappoint my Jesus. And it was a cool relationship that I had with Jesus. I remember the day a close girlfriend's father died unexpectedly. I was so mad at God, I remember questioning why, why? He comforted me and I understood that I wasn't to question why. And then as I grew older and entered high school, I no longer went to Sunday School and my interests drifted toward the more intersting things... boys

Then came young adulthood and experimentation and God was always there, but I felt He understood a rebellious heart.

At the end of High School I got involved with a man that was 10 years older than I was. It was wrong, he should have known better, I was only 17. I was in sin and I knew it and I was ashamed but I was oppressed by this guy and I stayed with the relationship through college. I wasn't allowed to go out with my friends. I wasn't allowed to even have guy friends, he was so afraid that I would "go". I wanted to go. I went to confession and confessed the relationship, and I was told to break it off. When I explained my position, I was told I made a mockery of the confessional because I wasn't going to end it. I stopped going to church but never stopped praying and I knew God was still there, even if the church wasn't. When I finally had had enough, and broke free, I just went wild. I went out to every club I could, stayed up partying, messin around, but the whole time not satisfied. (no comments Allen )

Then came my marriage and that's waay too much for this little bit of cyberspace, but thruout it I remained Catholic, but always searching...My ex, as you know, was Catholic but only by heritage. I longed to go back to church and as things began to fall apart, I felt that if we couldn't turn to God, there was no hope. He wouldn't turn to God, and the hope was gone. So that's when I went back to church on my own. The Catholic church. But as an adult, it wasn't the same as when I was a child. The innocence was gone, I questioned the need for a human intercessor. I began to resent the confessional (which I hadn't seen the inside of in decades) and I missed communion. The Catholic church was no longer enough. I was missing something. I began to seek out the Lord through my own bible study and my close girlfriend invited me to her church. My husband left and I got saved six months later. The relationship I had back then with Jesus was on a child's level, the needs were different. While He was always in the backdrop of my life growing up, I never let Him in. That hole was filled when I gave up the emptiness of the existence that I had been living and let Him have control. He completed me . (of course the work is not complete, but I do not need anything else)

Now, if you ask me again how I know, I know, I'm going to have to hurt you...

PS...About change...you're Foreverchanged, did you do it on your own?

Before I read the rest of your reply, I'll comment on your question at the end of your post...I am not asking you cos I don't believe you or understand...I'm just trying to get thinkin' caps on...so far, you've been the only one who's taken on the questions...(altho there was one person who said they were going to but hasn't yet ) And now, I'll go read the rest of your reply.

I know you weren't just houndin on me, I was teasing you about the questions...

And you're right, it would be nice to get another person's perspective on these things...

Great answers...and I'm almost convinced...but the one that I'm seeing most often is the one you didn't answer.

Let me break it down a little...

I'm talking to this woman who says she speaks to several different gods. She's not schitzo or delusional. She truely thinks that she makes contact with these gods through her emotion. Genuine and real...there is no convincing her that they are not the true source of her happiness.

And another who says that she thinks that she speaks to gods and that they communicate to her. But it could be (she says) that she is creating these gods in her own psyche to fill the voids that she feels. It's perfect! God is of our own making...we ascribe to the sacred Christian God theory because it is what is most familiar to us...It fills the void that we have so well because only we know where our real voids are...those voids, our needs, desires, wants...they are deep within us...and if we can mold a God to be there for us when we are sad and lonely, and one to stand behind us in times of trouble...well then! Power to us...

So, my question is this...how do you know that God is all that you have described him as? One of the above ladies is just as convinced that she talks to two or three of them...and they have kept her from suicide and drug abuse...they help her to attain moral values, but she doesn't label them as God...but as gods.

How do you really know that God is God...that God is not your subconscious psyche taking things that you grew up around, and molding them to fit what you think you understand?

Anybody? (no sunday school answers, please)

Hi popping in for a sec.

If we could "know" in tangible terms other than just experience and His word then we have concrete proof that He exists and would not need faith........... It is kind of a bummer on one hand but that is the qualifying/dis-qualifying factor for Heaven.

As for the woman who is talking to "gods" She probably is. There are other entities out there. God even told us that "I am a jealous God and you should have no other gods before me" Look at the woman who followed Paul and Silas around, she heard things too! It appears as if this woman has fallen for one of the enemies newest lies feelgoodism or "New Age" you can put scientology and even wicca, a form of witchcraft into there. These false religions convince people that as long as they do good and live morally or help
"mother earth" then they become part of the collective conciousness of god and that god is what they make him to be. The founder of scientology tells people that god is your sub-concious and as long as you are doing good to that then you are doing right by god (much paraphrased) Most of the newer false religions are all about self and feeling good about what you do, right wrong or indifferent, if you feel good about it then it is not sin. This woman has evidently believed this lie. Sin is sin, God is real and Hell is foreverand grace is free. Christianity is the only place you can hear that message.

That's all well and good...but God wants us to know Him without taking the word of others.

So for those of us who have no tangible evidence but have faith, I want to know why. How did you get to know God?

But that (the word of others) is exactly what Christ told us to do. "go ye.... teach..." It is in a nutshell our testimony that allows the Holy Spirit to work in someone elses heart. It is our job to plant the seed (give our testimony)

If you haven't you can read mine here CLICK HERE

I was raised knowing God, I mean really knowing God. I can recall one instance where I told my mother (about 5 years old) on a trip to meet my realtives in Oregon for the first time in my life that I knew who David (the one my age) was because we had played in Heaven before. I can to this day still feel that feeling af familiarity that I knew so much better back then. I wandered and my coming back to God in the 90's was an intellectual decision/process then my heart came on board and I came home again so to speak.

1) God is the ultimate good.
2) It's always been with me that thought, although I just recently put it into words.
3-4) Yes, if they know who I am and have good things to say
5) Yes
6) It is no difference. But remember that sometimes it can feel like you have known someone your whole life - it's possible it's the same with God.
7) See 1 and 2

aleina

Steve, understand that I'm not trying to dispute any of that! I wholeheartedly believe in everything you said. I agree with you. I'm playing devil's advocate (so to speak) here, and trying to get people to think...that's all. There's no right or wrong answer...no *ding ding ding* we have a winner!!! I accept embie's answers and yours and aleina's (thank's aleina). And all I'm trying to do is encourage the thought process by questioning...That's all. I'm not looking for tangible evidence...I'm just trying to stimulate the brain here. Some people have never thought about how they know what they know or why they believe what they believe...

Yes, faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. And we are to share the gospel...YES! And then we are to encourage them not to take our word for it, but to go and find out for themselves.

Find our own identity in God. Seek out God's face in our lives...that's all I want to know. How do you chase God? How do you get to know Him? The "who is God" question is for you to think about in your own mind. I want to see the "how do you know that"...not how can you prove that....not what tangible evidence can you give me. But how do you, within yourself, know. How do you put your faith in the unseen into action and really dig in there and get to know God?

Again, thanks to all who have participated and please don't feel like I'm not accepting your answers. I am! I'm just pushing the envelope here, and I want wheels to turn...it's good for everybody...not only those who read it, but those who are thinking about it.

The first time I really felt strong in my faith was when it was tested. I had no idea why I believed what I believed until someone asked...just tryin' to get the sparks flyin...