God!!!

First things first... this is not going to be an attempt to proove God exists, nor is it an attempt to answer any questions about the bible... if what you want to read is more along those lines, then I suggest you visit a site for apologetics (a site dedicated to those sorts of questions). The link below takes you to one such site:

(click to get to Answers in Genesis' Apologetics Page)

(obviously, this isn't God himself, but rather an amusing interpretation of him by a Mr.T. Gilliam from Monty Python and the Holy Grail... a rather hilarious film)

Ok... right. this is a difficult subject to tackle, I mean, how do you begin to describe God? He is, after all... well... God! I don't want to make this sound like a cop-out, but you could get through the whole of your life, knowing him for as long as you can remember and still you would not know him completely because he is just too huge!

Anyway, I'll give it a go, but many people have expressed it much better than me, in many diverse ways, from Handel's Messiah, to Michelangelo's Creation of Man on the roof of the Sistine Chapel and to one of my favourite songs, Jars Of Clay's, Liquid. The least I can say is that in my experience, God is not some big-bad-wolf figure. He is not, as many people seem to think, sitting up in heaven looking down upon us, totting up stuff we do wrong and banning us from doing fun things. God is love (1 John 4:8). That means that in 1 Corinthians 13, when Paul states that "Love is patient and kind. Love does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. Love is not rude, or self-seeking, it is not easy to anger and keeps no record of wrongs. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.", he is also talking about God. This is God, who is patient, kind, slow to anger and keeps no record of wrongs. Never failing.

Michelangelo's Creation of Man

In fact, his love for us is so great, that he came down to die for us to save us from the mess we keep getting ourselves in (well... I don't know about you, but I keep messing stuff up!). Many people want to know why God had to die for what they've done wrong. One reason is that heaven is such a perfect place that nothing bad could exist there. In other words, only what is perfect can enter heaven. God knew that people could not go through their lives without making mistakes and so he made an agreement with the Jewish people that when they messed up, they could offer a sacrifice of a lamb or a dove or something which would take the punishment that their wrong-doing deserved and needed in order to make them clean again. This was not a perfect system, as some people had taken to following the rules simply because they were rules, and did not develop a relationship with God. A sacrifice was still needed to cleanse the people from the things they had done wrong, but this time, God decided that instead of many small sacrifices, one big sacrifice would be sufficient for all time. God chose his son, Jesus to be that sacrifice, and Jesus went willingly. When he died on the cross, the punishment which all the world needed, and would ever need, to purify it was placed on him. Jesus became the one, perfect sacrifice so that we, having accepted what he had done, could enter heaven.

God likes guitars... (can you tell this picture's here merely to fill space?)

This, when you grasp hold of it (no... not the guitar), is an amazing thing!* God chose our lives over his own son's life... we actually mean something to him; enough for him to decide to die for us! It's incredible to think that God did this for you personally, that he "loved the world so much that he sent his only son, so that whoever believed in him would not die, but have eternal life!!!" (John 3:16) (my exclamation marks... but i'm sure God wants them there!), but the truly mind-blowing thing is that God does not want it to stop there. He actually wants a relationship with us, wants to get to know us, and wants us to get to know him, as friends!!! I don't know about you, but i consider it an incredible privilege that the almighty creator of the universe wants me to be his friend. His offer of friendship is open to all. * for all you guitarists out there... yes i know... guitars are amazing too...

Anyway, that's a brief perspective on the view of God that he's revealed to me... obviously there's much more to it than that... my view comes from my life up until now and my experiences. i'd be foolish to suggest that what i've tried to share with you is God... it is merely one aspect of God. Any christian you meet would tell a different story because their experiences of God will all be different to mine and to each other, simply because God is too holy, too powerful and too huge for us to come to understand in our lifetime. He is almighty.

If you want to know more about what God has done for me personally, and how i came to know him, then you can click the link on the left, which will take you to my testimony.

(click here to see my testimony)

If you want a link to an online bible search, you can click the link on the right, which will take you to one hosted by the Gospel Communications Network, and it's free!

(click here to search the bible)

If you want to ask any questions, you can e-mail me (stooberry@yahoo.com) or you can click the link on the left which will take you to a christian chat site... you just have to sign up (that's free too!) and then you can begin chatting at chat.crosswalk.com.

(click here to go to Crosswalk.com)

Or-r-r-r......... ...if you don't want to do any of that (or, indeed, you already have!), you can click some of the links below!!!

email me!!!