God is present all around us

Q: Hello, I am a junior at Mercy High School in Middletown, Conn. I haven't really thought about this before, but was God a real person? I understand that His son, Jesus, was, which got me to wonder if God ever stepped into His own creation? Thank you for your time! -- from K

A: The question as to whether Jesus was a person or was God who appeared as a person has divided Christian theologians for centuries. It is called the Arian Controversy, and the side that believed that Jesus was just a person lost out to the group that believed that Jesus was both human and divine. So, if Jesus is God then Jesus was one way God entered creation.

The question of how God enters creation (which is your question) was also very important to Judaism. The Bible begins with God entering creation by actually creating everything. That creation is accomplished by God's words alone. God said, "let there be light" and there was light.

After creation God continued to be an actor in the biblical drama. God was not believed to be a person but somehow God was able to speak to biblical figures like Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses and the prophets. God's words are not human words but a kind of revelation that special chosen ones and prophets are allowed to receive and hear by God's will.

Even though God is never described as a person entering creation, there are verses where God seems to have human form (anthropomorphism) or human emotions (anthropopathism). God is described as walking through the Garden of Eden "at the breezy time of day." It's hard to walk without legs. At the time of Noah and the flood, God is described as "regretting" having made human beings. Regret is a human emotion not appropriate to an all-knowing God. However, with these few exceptions God is described as entering creation -- but not in human form. In fact when Moses asks God to let him see God directly, God refuses and says, "no man may see me and live" (Exodus 33:20). This may have implied that God has some form but we can't see it without melting or it could mean that God is invisible and therefore cannot be seen while we are alive.

The height of God's involvement in creation in the Bible is the Exodus from Egypt where God forces the Pharaoh to let the Jewish people go free from slavery through many miracles and signs and wonders. Then God remains present to the people in their journey through the desert as a pillar of smoke during the day and a pillar of fire at night, guiding their way to the Promised Land.

Whatever people believed in the biblical period it is clear that as history moved on God moved farther and farther away from being directly involved in human affairs. God gave the law of life to Moses to give to the people and God thought that this was enough. God may have been wrong. The powerful presence of God in history was so alluring and so addictive, the people came to depend upon it. Eventually in the time of the prophet Ezra, prophecy ends. Christians, of course, believe that God re-enters creation in the person of Jesus, and Muslims believe that God/Allah re-enters creation in the person of the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.

The point today is that God remains present in the orderly and life-giving forces of nature that is the foundation of creation. God also remains present in the hopes and prayers and souls of all people who let God into their lives. God is everywhere in nature and God is in every person who let's God in.

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Q: Rabbi Gellman, hello! I am a high school student from Mercy High School and I have a question for your column. Nowadays, new technology and innovations govern our lives. How do the Biblical texts fit in and apply to our modern society? Thank you. -- from B

A: God is about living things not manufactured things. Technology is just a tool. It helps us to do things faster but it does not teach us how to do things better. Whether we use technology to help people and feed people and teach people and heal people depends upon us. That is the thing with things. They can be used for good or ill. Fire could burn or cook. Your smartphone can connect you to the world or it can isolate you from the world if using it cuts you off from other human beings. Technology can master us or help us to master the world. The choice is ours.

(Send ALL QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS to The God Squad via email at godsquadquestion@aol.com. Rabbi Gellman is the author of several books, including "Religion for Dummies," co-written with Fr. Tom Hartman.)