The Answerer

My dictionary says of God: ’superhuman being worshipped as having supernatural powers, object of worship, Supreme Being, creator and ruler of universe.’ (Collins Gem Dictionary 1997).

About 2 billion Christians, 2 billion Muslims, and around thirteen million Jews worship this being we call ’God’ (not sure about Jewish numbers). He has many other names. But that’s a sizeable number of people and all the above people claim Abraham as their earthly ancestor. Phew!! That’s a bunch of people – and a very large variety of opinions, ideas, beliefs, prejudices and hates among them all.

King David, when in serious sickness and other troubles – even from a close friend, wrote: ‘Bless the Lord, the God of Israel, who exists from everlasting ages past and on into everlasting eternity ahead. Amen and Amen!’ (Psalm 41:13).

King David was no ‘angel’ (he had a man murdered and took his wife for himself but paid a very heavy price for his selfishness). But David loved God and sought and got forgiveness). Jesus is recorded as: ‘born of David’s line.’ (from the same tribe as David).

Please note that the faults in Bible characters are not ‘glossed over’, or omitted. The Bible tells the truth about its people – warts and all.

God had Isaiah write in 700 BC quite a lot about Jesus: his birth and suffering for us. There are over 300 references to Jesus in the Old Testament, that’s before Jesus was even born.

Jesus himself, when the time was close for his arrest, trial and crucifixion asked His Father God: ‘Father, if you are willing, please take away this cup of horror from me. But I want your will not mine. Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him for He was in such agony of spirit that he broke into a sweat of blood.’ Luke chapter 22 verses 42 to 44).

Jesus knew full well that crucifixion was ahead, but that is what He came to earth for – to help us into heaven – because we are not good enough to get there by ourselves. God made this world, and had Jesus show us the way to heaven and has planned heaven for us…those of us who want to go there. The Bible has been the worlds ‘best seller’ for ages. Millions believe it to be true. That is COOL!

I hope that explained a little about God.

Mostly anything that they have taught by their parents, because everybody needs, even long, to believe in a god of some sort because the human heart: ‘…has an empty space that only God can fill.’

There are many people in developing countries; (that is a nice way of saying that those countries have few schools, most cannot read and write, very poor roads, almost no hospitals or knowledge of hygiene (like toilets and fresh water), still have Shamans who are trusted like we trust doctors. Some could be called ‘witch doctors’. They consult dead chickens insides, old bones and a variety of ‘charms’ or trinkets they carry in a bag. Of course they charge good money for their advice.

In parts of Asia some of those people sell ground up rhinoceros horn. It is regarded as a powerful medicine for sexual problems and strength. It is only keratin – the same material as your hair and nails – yet it is worth thousands of dollars for a tiny bit of it, and rhinoceros could soon be extinct – except in zoos – because poachers kill them for their horns. Those animal poachers worship money.

Quite a few cultures still sacrifice live chickens to please their ‘spirit gods’ who, they believe, are all around them. Some cultures are referred to as ‘Christo-pagan’ because missionaries have told them of the God of the Bible and the Christian way and they believe some of it but the Pagan ‘spirit-world’ is still a real fact of life…a part of daily living.

Middle-Eastern and North African countries like Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Bahrain, Jordan, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco etc. are mostly Muslim and worship Allah (God). In India there are thousands of ‘gods’ worshipped by Hindus, Sikhs, Brahmans; and others in Asia worship Buddha. Many Japanese worship Shintoism, which involves ancestor veneration or worship. There’s an awful lot of them out there. Jesus told his disciples: ‘I have been given all authority in heaven and earth. Therefore go and make disciples in all nations, baptising them into the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit and then teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you and be sure of this, I will be with you till the end of the age.’ (Matthew chapter 28 verses18 to 20) So, in most countries there are Christians, the same as here in Australia because of missionaries. Quite a few are hated for bringing Christianity to a country and thousands have, and still are, killed every year for their efforts.

In some ‘advanced’ (maybe backward really) ‘First World’ countries the God of the Bible is sort of worshipped but money, expensive cars and huge costly houses are worshipped more. Much of the money to buy these things comes from poor people all over the world. That is true, and it is bound to bring real trouble one day – maybe soon. God could very well judge them and punish them.

God is good, kind and forgiving but there is a limit to how much oppression rich people can put on poor people and God has been known to punish those who know what they should be doing, but refuse to do it. That makes God angry and he does not forget.

In a book I have on current world money problems it says that 1,000 very rich people run the world economy. When you’re older, look out for one, or all of them…they want your money and may even want to run the world!! Yes! Do not believe all you hear on the TV. Learn to THINK about what you are told…or hear.

Great question and I cannot fully answer it. I know that He sees everything because He is omnipresent (everywhere at once).There are quite a few Bible verses that mention this.

Remember, God is not bound by human limits like we are so He does not get tired of watching. Jesus said: ‘God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.’ (John chapter 4 verse 24).

‘God is spirit’ – not a spirit. Spirits can be angels or devils.

Maybe there are 20 billion angels who can slip from heaven to earth instantly and report everything of importance to God.

The book of Job tells of some of those angels: ‘One day when the angels had gathered around the Lord, and Satan was there with them, the Lord asked, “Satan, where have you been?” Satan replied, “I’ve been going all over the earth.”’ (Job chapter 1 verses 6 and 7).

It would take a whole book to tell of all the times in the Bible when it says: ‘…and God looked and saw that…’ such and such a thing was happening. Like Jacob’s 12 sons and their families (now grown to around 2 million) who were slaves in Egypt. God got them all out after a few lessons to the Pharaoh as to just who was the real ‘Boss’. That’s in Exodus, and in the Movie: The Ten Commandments.

Because most people don’t think, don’t care and just maybe, ‘We’ don’t deserve this once beautiful planet!! I say: ‘Send all polluters on a one way trip to Mars.’

Not a pleasant thing to say of my own country but it’s the truth. Animals do not foul their own nest – humans do! I cannot explain why humans drop rubbish when our surrounds can be so beautiful.

Much of the rubbish comes from ‘stuff’ that we buy that is claimed to ‘make us happy’. What a load of old cobblers (rubbish). It does not make us happy. My street has 65 houses. Each year I estimate that ‘verge collections’ amount to about four tonnes of old TVs, tables, chairs, fans, computer screens, bicycles, microwave ovens and so on. What we bought a year or so ago is now rubbish! My city has one and a half million people. All China has 1.3 billion people!! ‘How would it be if every house in China put out tonnes of rubbish like we do?’ They would drown in the stuff! Too many humans cannot, or will not think, of what is happening and that there will be consequences. I am glad to know that you will not be one of them.

Greed, stupidity and the love of money!! The pollution begins with our parents who do not, or will not, teach their children good and clean habits. This carries on into adulthood when maybe the child is grown up, has a business and is making money, what our parents taught us carries on there too.

A pretend case: If this business man has a lot of waste, then he must decide how to get rid of it. Some pay registered business people to take the ‘muck’ away and pay them for it. Others will, and do, tip it into the river as night. Fish die, the river stinks and is dangerous for a while, but the guy saved, say $1,000.00, as the cheapest way to get rid of the ‘muck’. This has happened a lot in the past but some people, and yes, good kids do join in to put a stop to such people polluting our water. Scientists can now discover exactly what the chemical was and who deals with that chemical, and heavy fines are the result. It is helping a lot, but much damage has built up in our rivers and oceans. Fast food outlets can be a problem with littering from the packaging. Do your bit (tell them off) to embarrass them and reduce visual pollution in our streets. It can be done if enough people like you who care, and demand that it be stopped. More heavy fines for people who drop litter – or send ’em to Mars.