Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

• Genesis 1:1

Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

• Genesis 2:7

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

• John 1:1-5

He also says,
“In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth,
    and the heavens are the work of your hands.
They will perish, but you remain;
    they will all wear out like a garment.
You will roll them up like a robe;
    like a garment they will be changed.
But you remain the same,
    and your years will never end.”

• Hebrews 1:10-12

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

• Revelation 1:7

“Aquinas addressed himself with exceptional insight to the question of what it is for something to exist. If a thing is only essence it has the potential for existence, but its existence is not yet actual. Assuming that God made the world in accordance with his wishes, the world’s essence must have preceded its existence. But God’s own essence cannot have preceded his existence – so God must be, so to speak, pure existence.”

• Bryan Magee, The Story of Philosophy

“Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered.”

• C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

The book’s author finally makes a statement that God exists.  Of course, he is paraphrasing Thomas Aquinas.  I wrote in an earlier post that he hardly touches Thomas Aquinas, but I was thrown off by his arguments of God’s existence.  Then he went back to add more of the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas.

But what is also telling is that he paraphrases Thomas Aquinas and moves on.  The statement that God is existence is not substantiated.  But the first half of the first sentence in the Bible gives us a clue.  “In the beginning, God …”  The Bible is stating that God existed before the heavens existed, before the earth existed, indeed before time and space existed.

God describes Himself as “I am who I am.”  Being the “I AM” means that at whatever point in our time and space limited world, God is.  The statement of “God was, God is, and God will always be” might be a layman’s phrase to explain it, but it is inadequate.  God is outside of time and space, and the terms “was” and “will always be” lose meaning in such an environment.  Yet, in the statement by Jesus to John on Patmos, “He was” as in Jesus was born, had His ministry, and died on the cross (although Jesus was with God the Father from the beginning {John 1:1-5}.  “He is” because He is presently inside time and space, talking to John.  And “He will be again” in that Jesus will return for the millennial reign.

And why do we have a consciousness of our existence and our essence?

Because God breathed life into our nostrils.  It does not say anywhere else in the creation story that God breathed life other than with mankind.

But I can see Thomas Aquinas’ thought process here.  He perceives what he calls an essence, but then to truly exist, we need to possess existence.  Yet, God exists.

But due to God being outside time and space, I think we need to go beyond the concept of God is existence.  That might be a good philosophical term supported by sound argument.

But I have a different way of looking at it.  Each of us has a beginning.  We will all die on this mortal coil.  Some of us, who reject God will die a second death by being thrown into the lake of fire.  The rest will be with Jesus in Paradise.  But God?

God transcends existence.

Being outside time and space, God exists in a form that mere existence cannot explain.

If you like these Tuesday morning essays about philosophy and other “heavy topics,” but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Tuesday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.