Who is God?

Rita: Who is your god?

Bubba:  God is the Almighty. He is the creator of all things. He rules over everything. God is everywhere, sees everything, knows everything and is all good.

Rita: God is everywhere?

Bubba: Yes, Jeremiah 23:24 says “Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord?”

Rita: That sounds more like a question than an answer. In 1 Kings 19:12 we hear: “And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire...” God was not in the fire. God is not everywhere.

Bubba: God is everywhere.

Rita: And in Genesis 4:16: “And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.” God is not in the land of Nod.

Bubba: Yes, but God is all powerful. God can choose to not be somewhere.

Rita: Okay, god is everywhere except where he chooses to not be. But god still knows everything?

Bubba: ”For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.” Psalms 139:4.

Rita: In Genesis 18:21, god talks of Sodom and Gomorrah saying “I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.” God will only know after he goes down and checks. Before checking, he does not know.

Bubba: God is all powerful. God can choose to not know things.

Rita: Okay, god is everywhere except where he chooses to not be and he knows everything except what he chooses to not know. Is your god all good?

Bubba: “The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.” (Nahum 1:7)

Rita: But in 1 Samuel 16:14 we discover that “But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.” Your lord is responsible for the evil spirit?

Bubba: God is all powerful. God chooses when to punish evil. We must trust in God.

Rita: But how can you trust a god who lies?

Bubba: God does not lie.

Rita: “And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie.” (2 Thessalonians 2:11)

Bubba: God is all powerful. God can do what needs to be done. We must trust in God.

Rita: You keep saying that god is all powerful. Is that how it is then, your god can do anything, even not be what you say god is?

Bubba: Yes, God is omnipotent. He can be or do anything.

Rita: Not true. Your god is exceedingly weak. In Judges 1:19 we learn: “And the Lord was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.” (Judges 1:19) How can a god who is stymied by iron chariots be relevant today?

Bubba: God is everywhere, knows everything, is all powerful and is all good.

Rita: According to the Bible, your god is none of those things.