Theology is the study of God... and if we choose to believe… God is revealed to us by the physical universe around us and the spiritual universe inside us. I believe that the universe was created from nothing by a supreme being and is evolving according to design. Still, I wonder... how did the Supreme Being originate? Well, the Bible teaches that God doesn't have a beginning... or an end. In other words, God is infinite and exists independent of our space time continuum... beyond human understanding!
My primary reasons for self-publishing this website is that I wanted to share some of my "ancient" artwork and I also hoped to somehow share my personal experience with Bible study wherein I feel closer to God. I hope that something here might trigger an open minded Bible query of your own if you haven't already done so. I wish for you to share my joyful experience. Seek Him and you will find Love.
I believe God communicates with people in many subtle and not so subtle ways. The Bible is the world's best selling book... and discounting my natural surroundings, the closest I've come to physically talking with Him... interestingly written and produced by fallible humans.
I experience in the Bible... along with the human attributes; God's revelation of Himself, the Teaching and the mysterious Spirit in the midst of the stories messaging to the creation He loves. There are three main subjects in the Bible… (1) Love (verb) (2) Have faith (3) God loves us. None of those messages are simple to do or easy to digest even with an open heart and mind. God doesn’t knock on our door selling belief… it's made available to us through ancient writings and our surroundings. As part of our second (new) covenant, God places His law in our minds and on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:31-34). It's up to us ,individually to discern the message. I think that part of the mystery of why He chooses to not be more physically direct has to do with our free will and how fragile it can become. He's inviting a free will relationship with us... in order that we seek Him out of need and love... not because He is awesome to see and hear… His concert is all around us all the time. The universe is evidence enough of how awesome He is.
One of my favorite Bible books is Job. After living for several decades and reading the Bible with keen interest, Job seems like a good introduction to the other books based on my impression of the overall message it contains regarding life in general and God's revelation of His relationship to us. I can relate to Job in many ways.
I understand that some Bible scholars believe that Job is possibly the oldest book of the Bible. If that is true, then Elihu may be the first documented "preacher". I find Job to be a great lesson on life and I believe God loves and enjoys when we approach Him with the faithful, obedient and loving eyes of a child. You may have already noted that Elihu is the youngest character in the book. Jesus gave us an interesting message when He said that His kingdom in heaven belongs to children "such as these". (see Mt 19:14, Mr 10:14, Lu 18:16)
Elihu is a favorite character for me from the Bible because I find his sermon to be an inspiration plus an excellent human introduction to God’s oracle which begins at Job 38. Elihu’s sermon begins at Job 32. An outline of worldly life is in chapters 1-31. My favorite verse in Job is 42:5-6. My favorite chapters are 38-41. My favorite pastime is admiring God's creation.
Here is a quote that I like from Clement of Alexandria, 150-215 AD, "Those who are particular about words, and devote their time to them, miss the point of the whole picture."
I think Clement is referring to our practice of placing too much weight on the human aspects of communicating inspiration.