Is the Natural World Part of God?
Sometimes Christians say things like, “When I see a beautiful flower, I see God.” It is a common experience, when witnessing a thing of great beauty, to comment that it reminds one of God. In fact, this sense of God’s presence is part of the blessing of being a Christian.
However, Christians need to be careful about what we mean when we wax eloquently about God and nature. The Bible teaches that God created the world and is distinct from the world. God is not identified with the world.
Pantheists (e.g., Hindus and New Age believers) believe that God and the world are actually one and the same. God is the world. The world is God. The whole world is composed of God, so God is not distinct from the world.
Christians reject this idea of God being identified with the world, because we believe he transcends the world. He is above, beyond, other than, and more than the world. If God is identical to the world, then he cannot be infinite in being because he would be limited by space, time, and matter – the things that constitute the world.
Although we believe that God is intimately related to the world and present to all parts of the world equally, we reject the idea that God is the world. This idea is completely foreign to Scripture.
Related posts:
- Does God Know What I Will Freely Do? Part 2
- Will You Give Up Your Free Will to Rid the World of Evil?
- Does God Know What I Will Freely Do? Part 1
- Was Individual Resurrection a Common Belief in the Ancient World? Part 1
- Did Jesus Claim to be God? Part 7
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