Unveiling the Divine Tapestry: Exploring the Many Faces of God"

The many faces of God 

By: Fanus du Plooy

Everyone assumes they know exactly what the other person is talking about when they discuss God.

What is this phenomenon that we call God.

From many perspectives out of religion, philosophy, spirituality and even science many has attempted to answer this question.

·         Some say that it is the Source of Reality, and it is a Singularity.

·         Some say that God is the unchangeable love and intelligence of being. – the cause of everything that exists.

·         Some say that God is not a person but a principle, the very first principle of all existence.

·         God is Brahman, the Supreme one, everything else is a manifestation of the Supreme One says the Hindu.

·         Spiritual people say that God is Energy, Life, Force Light, Love

·         Kabbalah holds that the only way to define God is to explain what he is not. God is Ein Sof, which means "without end," devoid of temporal or spatial limitations. God is always shown as being genderless and without human form.

·         There are several conceptions of God in Judaism. Judaism traditionally maintains that Yahweh, the national god of the Israelites and the god of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, freed the Israelites from Egyptian servitude and gave them the Torah, or the Law of Moses, at Mount Sinai.

·         Some basic Christian concepts include Christians are monotheistic, i.e., they believe there's only one God, and he created the heavens and the earth. This divine Godhead or Trinity consists of three parts, the father (God himself), the son (Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit.

·         Islam's doctrine of the Unity of God holds that there is only one, all-knowing, all-powerful God who created everything. God is not impacted by the features of human existence, and he has no race, gender, or children. He also has no physical form.

·         The idea or conviction that there is no such thing as God, the divine, or the supernatural is known as agnosticism. According to another definition, "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient rational grounds to justify either the belief that God exists or the belief that God does not exist."

·         An atheist rejects the idea that God exists. As is commonly stated, atheists hold that either God does not exist or that the existence of God is a highly speculative idea with very little possibility.

“I am the infinite deep in whom all the worlds appear to rise, beyond all form, forever still. So am I”.  Astavakara Githa

Every religious person professes to have a passionate, abiding love for God and is willing to battle or even kill in the service of their god.

And anyone who has the audacity to disagree with one`s own interpretation of God is completely incorrect and ought to be burnt at the stake.

We talk about the attributes of God and then we use words like:

 Eternality, Mercy, Goodness, Omnipotence, Grace, Omnipresence, Holiness, Omniscience, Immanence, Righteousness, Immutability, Self-Existence, Justice, Sovereignty, Love, Transcendence, Eternality and then we claim that only my church, denomination or religion can fully explain the meaning of those words.

Furthermore, we assert that only our church, denomination, or religion is a child of God and that we alone are entitled to God and His/her Kingdom.

One of the fundamental ideas underlying racism, hatred, division, violence, and intolerance amongst nations and people is this philosophy.

 The Well-known Theologian John Shelby Spong once said. “God is not a Christian, God is not a Jew, or a Muslim, or a Hindu, or a Buddhist. All of those are human systems which human beings have created to try to help us walk into the mystery of God. I honor my tradition, I walk through my tradition, but I don't think my tradition defines God, I think it only points me to God.”

― John Shelby Spong

This raises a few questions.

What right do I as a Christian have to keep other people out of God if God is not a Jew, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist?

Why not let others design their own methods for experiencing God if these are merely human attempts to aid us in walking in the mystery of God?

My suggestion is.

Walk shamelessly and unrepentantly in your own tradition while granting others the same latitude without disparaging their conception of God or labeling their belief systems as erroneous.

I want to use the poem by Corry Ten Boom of “Gods Tapestry here.

 

“Life is but a Weaving” (The Tapestry Poem) by Corrie ten Boom

My life is but a weaving

Between my God and me.

I cannot choose the colors

He weaveth steadily.

Oft’ times He weaveth sorrow;

And I in foolish pride

Forget He sees the upper

And I the underside.

 

Not ’til the loom is silent

And the shuttles cease to fly

Will God unroll the canvas

And reveal the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful

In the weaver’s skillful hand

As the threads of gold and silver

 

In the pattern He has planned

He knows, He loves, He cares;

Nothing this truth can dim.

He gives the very best to those

Who leave the choice to Him.

-         - Corrie ten Boom

Similar to how God is weaving a tapestry out of you and me, the same skillful hand is also weaving our religious and spiritual beliefs into our lives. You were born into a specific religious or non-religious idea, and you are free to change your mind at any stage in your life and nobody can hold that against you.

It is your option to follow the religion path you were born into, as long as you live truthfully and are true to yourself. Never let someone make you feel terrible or criticize you for your particular religious, non-religious, or spiritual choice.

With Love and Kindness

Your Spiritual Coach

Fanus du Plooy