This April on Sue’s Trifles the theme is the names of God. There may be more than one name for some of the letters. There may be others I have omitted. I hope that by going through the alphabet together we may learn more about the nature of God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Creator (of the universe) describes the Almighty God, who in the statement of belief used in many acts of worship, “made all things seen and unseen”. The Bible gives the story of creation in the early chapters of the Book of Genesis. (Some people say there are two stories there.) One reason often given by atheists and agnostics for not believing in God is that they cannot believe these stories. At the risk of having some believers disagreeing with me, I’d like to point out that many parts of the Bible are written in the style of poetry and picture language. Not everything is meant to be read as a literal account.
My view is that the universe is amazingly complex in design and the odds against it having come into being by a series of random events are very high. A God, who could bring everything into being, is worth investigating. How the universe came into being is far less important than why it did. Having studied scientific subjects to degree level, I find no problem believing in God as the Creator. Science and religion are not mutually exclusive.
Many scientists are believers. In fact, western science developed using the belief that everything worked according to physical Laws, because the Creator had set everything up in an ordered way. Scientists were looking for the details of how the physical world worked. The history of scientific thought has not undermined these principles. More and more detailed knowledge has been gained as better methods have been developed for observing and measuring both smaller and smaller and more and more distant objects. Uncertainty and probability are part of rational predictions in modern areas of research such as quantum physics. (Thanks are due to Gillian Straine @GillianStraine on Twitter for clarifying this.)
Christ is a Greek word meaning Messiah. The Messiah was spoken about by prophets throughout the Old Testament. Jesus claimed to be the Messiah. The two names Jesus and Christ are often linked. Prayers are offered to the Creator through his Son, Jesus Christ. Christ is not a family name, but a title.
Further reading: Introducing Science and Religion: A path through polemic Gillian Straine (This is on my “to read” list. The link is to Amazon, but please buy books from shops/stores if possible.) Update: Gillian Straine is offering her book to you, my readers, at the special price of £9.50 for a signed copy, free p and p in the UK. If you are overseas, please contact her for the postage price. (Any transaction is strictly between you and Gillian. I am just the messenger!)
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