ben | Musings

Knowing God

‘Hi, how are you?’

Ben stared at the girl before him. Unperturbed, she continued, ‘I’ve been quite busy recently.’

Ben mulled over the options in his mind. He had no idea who was communicating with him, but she obviously seemed to know him. It was uncomfortable and somewhat embarrassing to ask her who she was, so he decided to play along and try and work it out.

‘I see. I’m fine, quite busy, too. Where are you headed?’, he asked, fishing for some details.

‘To see my Aunt, who lives on the other side of the city. And you?’, was the less than revealing replied.

‘Oh, I’ve got some things to do in the city centre.’

‘OK. It was nice last summer, wasn’t it?’

Now, things got tricky. What did she mean about last summer? She was a teenage girl, so it could only have been to do with church, or maybe they had bumped into each other somewhere? It was difficult being a foreigner in a place where there weren’t many foreigners. Everybody remembered meeting an Englishman in a place where you don’t regular meet Englishmen, but it was hard for him to remember every Moldovan he met, as he was meeting them every day, and many of those meetings were just brief!

As Ben was hesitating about his response, a bus pulled into the bus stop. The girl turned to check the number and then looked at Ben.

‘That’s mine. Nice seeing you. Bye!’

And with that she was off, whisked away from Ben’s presence by the number 25 bus, leaving him to speculate who this mystery girl might have been…..

In life, there are many people all around us, but most of them are unknown to us. In order to know someone, it is necessary to find out some information about them, whether it be directly by communicating with them, or indirectly from other sources.

The same could be said to be true of the spiritual realm. To know what’s there and indeed to know any beings that exist there, it would be necessary to have a source of information. Thus, many ancient peoples used nature as their source of information about the Gods. They saw that there was a bright object that rose every morning to give warmth and light to the earth, thus they concluded that this was a God who by day roamed over the Earth and by night entered the underworld. Alternatively, they saw that there were seasons of the year when it rained a lot, so they developed the idea that there was a god who needed to be pleased in order to give rain at the right time to water their crops.

These ideas however were human speculations based on observing the world around. As a result, these gods were often very human in their characteristics, which is shown by stories of their power struggles amongst themselves such as Zeus’ battles with the Titans and various woes connected to his wives and their offspring.

There would be a different way of looking at things though. What if there was a god who knows us and seeks to make contact with us? Many religions present to us different ways that humans have developed to understand and communicate with the gods. But what if there is a god who knows each one of us and wants to tell us what he’s like and what he requires of us? This is the very claim of the Bible.

The gods of various religions are usually distant from humans, occupying a different plain of existence. Indeed, there is even a way of viewing god as simply a force that set things in motion, but now is not directly involved in his creation.

However, how would it be if the god who set things in motion was also intimately involved with his creation? Again, this is what we see in the Bible.

In the beginning, things weren’t created randomly out of various interactions or whiles and whims of the gods, rather than was an intelligent mind behind it all, who intentionally created a certain order.

Firstly, light, then sky and the water below and thirdly, land with vegetation and sea. Then, in a sort of symmetry, on the fourth day, the great light of the day and the lesser light along with the stars to govern night, on the fifth day, he populated the sky with birds and the seas with fish. Finally, on the sixth day, he filled the land with living creatures, capping off his creation with human beings, who were the masterpiece created in his image to rule over this creation.

More so than this, we see that he didn’t just create things and then sit back to let them be. He interacts with his creation. He interacts with humans, giving them commands about what to do (and what not to do!) and after they break the rules, he seeks them out to find out why and gives out punishments, banishing them from the good, perfect creation and condemning them to live in a fallen, broken world. This is by no means the end of his dealings with them. Indeed, it is just the beginning.

Straight after this, we see humans, Cain and Abel seeking to repair their broken relationship with their creator by offering sacrifices to him. God interacts with them, accepting Abel’s sacrifice, but not Cain’s and hen speaking with Cain. In other words, he is not a far-removed god, but rather a god who is very much concerned for and involved with his creation. From here on, we could say that the Bible is actually the story of how God restored His relationship with His creation that was damaged by human disobedience. There are a number of stages in how He does this.

Firstly, He interacts with certain individuals. Cain, as mentioned, who doesn’t obey God’s words. Alternatively, there is Noah, who does listen to God’s words and sets about building the ark. After this, there is Abraham who again listens to God by leaving his home and travelling to the land God shows him and, in spite of some difficulties, also trusts in God’s promises, even if they are not easy to believe (such as a son being born to him in old age).

God also interacts with a number of others, including Moses to whom He gives His law, which is a covenant meaning that people who obey it will be blessed and those who don’t, will be cursed. A very significant event in Moses’ time is the building of the tent of meeting. This is a specific place where Moses could go to meet God (Exodus 33:7-9). This tent of meeting was ornately reconstructed to become the tabernacle. Again, the location of God’s presence on Earth, a place symbolising the relationship between God and man as God resided in the Holy of Holies, the centre of the tabernacle. Humans were required to offer Him very specific sacrifices and just once a year could a certain person, the High Priest, enter into the Holy of Holies, God’s presence, to offer a sacrifice of atonement for the people’s sins.

Thus, humans were now able to interact again with God, but in a limited way. The interaction increased as God chosen different people, prophets, through whom to communicate His message to people. Beyond this, the portable tabernacle, became a fixed building, the temple situated in Jerusalem.

This is the Old Testament period and the overall idea here is that God was present with His people in a limited way. He was present in a set location; He communicated His message only through a few chosen people and there was a very complicated way in which people could approach via a process of bringing various sacrifices.

However, we see things changing in the New Testament. An important verse is John 1:14. Here it says:

‘And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.’

The word has already been presented as God (John 1:1 contains the words ‘the Word was God’, pretty clear although some would debate the translation) and this verse tells us that this Word, i.e. that God became flesh and dwelt among us. This dwelling can be translated as ‘tabernacled’ among us, which is a clear reference to the fact that in the Old Testament God was present with His people in the tabernacle, but now He is present with them in Jesu Christ. Thus, God’s presence on Earth is no longer connected to a set place, i.e. the temple in Jerusalem, but rather it was now localised in Jesus while He was on Earth.

But Jesus is no longer with us on Earth so where is God’s presence now? An important event occurred as Jesus died on the cross. In Mark 15:38 we are told that:

‘The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.’

As mentioned above, this curtain separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple and so signified the separation that exists between a Holy God and fallen human beings. The significance of Jesus’ death though, is that this barrier is now torn in two. The tear begins from the top, showing that it is God who initiated the breaking of this barrier. As a result, due to the work done on the cross, we humans can now have direct access to God. We no longer need to approach Him via the intermediary of sacrifices.

More so, Jesus promises in John 14:16 another helper from God, who was to come after He left. This in verse 17 is called ‘the spirit of truth’ that is the Holy spirit, the third member of the trinity. When we truly approach God via the sacrifice of Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to live in us and so God’s presence on Earth is now not confined to a place, neither is it confined to a certain person, but rather it is inside everyone who trusts Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins.

This means that we can not just know somethings about Him by speculating from nature, but we can actually know Him personally. I can know a little bit about the Queen of Anglia but reading the news and observing her from a distance, but to truly know what she is like I need to communicate with her, so that I can I know her as a person. Likewise, many people know somethings about God, but there are those who know Him personally because they have entered into a direct relationship with Him via Jesus’ sacrifice, which broke down the barrier as described above.

This is not all though. At the end of the Bible in Revelation, we see the completion of this proves of the restoration of the relationship between mankind and our creator. Here, we are shown in chapter 21 God’s new creation. The key feature of this is the Holy city, the new Jerusalem, but this Jerusalem doesn’t have a temple because:

‘And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.’ Revelation 21:3

God is no longer confined to the tabernacle or temple, or to a specific person or even inside His people, but rather He Himself is living on the Earth.

When people approach us to talk, we may or may not recognise them. Even with the wonders of modern technology, there are still many problems communicating with others (whoever has used zoom knows that!). Often, we don’t understand what others say, even if they are speaking our language.

Likewise, even though God has opened up the possibility of direct communication with Him, there are still many barriers to fully knowing Him. There is much to distract our attention in and around us. However, the hope of Revelation is that one day these barriers will be fully removed, and we will return to the perfect harmony with God that was lost from the garden of Eden.

Faith

Ben looked down and baulked. From the ground it hadn’t seemed quite so high, but now that he was at the top, he felt the blood racing and his knees quivering. The professional mountain guy who was coordinating the activity beckoned to him. Ben hesitated.

‘Come on, it’s your turn. Just step over here and I’ll get you hooked in,’ said the man, smiling as if he was suggesting a stroll in the park. Ben totteringly peered over the edge of the cliff face. This didn’t look like a stroll in the park to him. There must have been at least 30 metres to the bottom and besides that, Ben preferred his strolls horizontally rather than vertically.

‘Hurry up. We’ll miss dinner at this rate,’ said the mountaineer, trying to motivate Ben. Ben however felt like this evening’s dinner was one that he could get by without.

‘Well, if you won’t get a move on, you’ll have to let the next person go.’

Ben was all too glad to allow the little girl that was waiting behind him go on before him. He watched carefully as the mountain guy attached her harness to the rope which was tied to hefty looking tree. The man gave her some final instructions and then she courageously leaned back over the cliff edge and began pacing backwards down the cliff face. Abseiling, who would have ever thought that it was so easy!

The girl, although uneasy at first, at least once almost losing her footing, nevertheless recovered well and was soon into her stride. Effortlessly she glided to the bottom of the rock face as the onlookers below encouraged. As she arrived at the bottom, another mountain guy approached to release her from the rope, while what were presumably her parents came forward to take a picture and offer many hugs. It seemed so simple when other people did it.

Ben gathered himself together, buoyed on by this sterling example of bravado. If she could do it, then sure he could too! Then the call came.

‘Right, now, it’s definitely your turn.’ Ben heard these words and they began to ring around his mind. He edged towards to the starting point. He felt like falling down onto his hands and knees, but he steeled himself and managed to remain upright. He focused his attention on the mountain guide, whose instruction was what he was now basing himself on for survival.

‘A little closer,’ encouraged the man. Ben felt like he was quite close enough to the edge, but the man couldn’t quite reach the crampon of his harness yet. Ben became very conscious of how small the people below appeared and how dangerous it would be if he slipped. He had though no intention of slipping. Finally, after what seemed like an age the man said, ‘Got it.’ He reached out, grabbing the crampon and then hooking it on to the rope and fastening it up. He gave it a shake to check that it was well connected. Ben would have preferred him not to.

‘Great, now turn around, lean back and start stepping backwards. That’s all there is to it. Easy as pie!’.

Ben wasn’t keen on pies. Nevertheless, mustering all that he had, he managed to turn himself around. He suddenly became aware that there was nothing behind except for a 30 metre drop to the ground. He didn’t need to do much speculating in his mind to reach the conclusion that it wouldn’t be good for him to fall from here. All that was preventing that unfortunate occurrence was the rope that he was attached to, which in turn was tied to just a tree, albeit a sturdy looking one. Ben began reflecting on how he got himself into such situations as this, but now was not the moment for introspection.

‘Go on, just step back!’ yelled the mountain man.

That’s easy for him to say, thought Ben, he’d probably grown up somewhere that Heidi would be proud of, but Ben was from the city and he didn’t remember seeing many cliff faces there!

‘It’s now or never!’

Ben was aware of that. He summoned up all that he had, leaned back and he was off. He took his first backward step, wondering if it had taken more or less to perform his first step as a toddler. As he placed his foot back down, he felt it losing its grip. All of a sudden, he lost control and collapsed into a heap on the edge of the cliff. Fortunately, the harness locked tight, as it was supposed to, and Ben remained there teetering on the edge.

‘Good, the harness worked well,’ called out the mountain man.

Ben didn’t want to think about what would have happened if the harness hadn’t work well.

‘It’s nothing. Get up and carry on!’ were the mountain guides instructions.

Easier said than done thought Ben, as he scrabbled to lift himself to his feet. With some considerable difficulty, he eventually managed to get himself into position again. By now, the fear he felt insidewas nauseous, but it was too late to turn back. He was at least a little reassured by the fact that the harness had held him.

Realising that there was no other way to go now, he simply let himself go. As he leaned back this time, he felt the rope becoming taught. This somehow reassured him even more. Encouraged by this he took another step. This time more confidently and managing to firmly set his foot down at the end. A third step followed. Then a fourth. He began to build up confidence as felt the rope holding and gradually got into his stride.

One step after another ensued as if he had been doing this all his life and he gracefully strolled to the bottom of the cliff face, even having time to stop to pose for a photo on the way.

Later, when reflecting on this experience, Ben realised that here he could learn something about the difference between belief and faith. When he was on the ground below watching others as they abseiled down the cliff face, he certainly believed that the rope would hold, and everything would be alright. But it was a different matter when it was his turn to get hooked up to the rope. At this moment, it was now practical rather than theoretical. Before, he intellectually thought that the rope was strong and that everything would work out ok, but now he was being practically challenged to test things out for himself. In other words, it was one thing to agree in his mind that something was true, but it was quite another to entrust his wellbeing to that something.

This could then be extrapolated to someone’s perspective on God. There are many people who believe in God that is to say intellectually accept that He exists, but there are less people who have faith in Him i.e. entrust their lives to Him. Another way of putting it, would be to say that faith is belief put into action. I might believe that a chair can support my weight, but faith is actually sitting down on the chair!

Ben concluded from here that belief in God was acknowledging that He was there, but faith meant asking God what he wanted Ben to do and then being willing to do whatever the answer seemed to be.

Introduction

Romania Reminiscences

Ben was on a journey that he would never forget. He’d heard about the country of Romania for sure. Unfortunately, a lot of it was negative, connected to Communism and all of its consequences. And then, of course, there was football. Without football, Ben’s knowledge of the world would have been poorer. But as it was, he was well clued up on geography having watched matches from all sorts of places. Bucharest was one of them. He had vague recollections of Rapid Bucharest, whose players, fortunately, weren’t so rapid as to give West Ham the run-around.

And then, there was the World Cup. Ben was old enough to remember red-shirted players giving some Columbians a few problems. Lăcătuș was one of them if Ben wasn’t very much mistaken. A funny name if ever there was one, Ben had thought at the time. Ireland had put pay to their progress in the end, though.

Next, there was the World cup in the USA. This was a golden time for the Romanians’ golden generation. There had been a flaw though. They’d allowed some players into the team whose surname didn’t end in -escu, which had obviously disrupted team unity and led to their quarterfinal exit. I mean look at Bulgaria, hardly anyone whose name didn’t end in -ov ever got into the team and they made it to the semi-final and, by Ben’s reckoning, really deserved to be in the final, which they could have won. They even beat Germany on the way.

Such football reminiscences could have gone on for a long time, if it were not for a sudden jolt. This woke Ben out of his deep football-related meditation. It was probably a good job too, as he was getting close to ’98 and 2000 in his thoughts, not happy years for English football fans as far as Romania is concerned.

The jolt was from the train coming to a stop in the middle of nowhere. Well at least to Ben it seemed like nowhere. The train spent many a minute standing still for apparently no reason and with no announcement to illuminate the passengers as to what was going on. Gradually, Ben was to learn that this was not an uncommon occurrence, but no problem, Ben was from Britain after all. And maybe it was better to not know that you are waiting because there are the wrong type of leaves on the line.

While he was waiting, it gave Ben a chance to reflect on his surroundings. The train looked like it had seen better days. Ramshackle was a word that came to mind. Sadly, the same could be said of many of the passengers. Old people who looked like they’d had hard lives and young people who looked like they were having hard lives. The man sitting beside Ben was typically plump and middle-aged with not so designer stubble and an ominous-looking bottle by his side, the size of a large coke bottle, but brown and three-quarters empty.

There were also beggars. One little child had a sign with her, ‘Mor de Foame’. With the help of his bi-lingual dictionary, Ben had worked out that this meant starving. He’d compassionately given her his last cheese sandwich, although she obviously wasn’t quite that hungry and instead of scoffing it down, had put it in her pocket saying ‘mersi’. Well, Ben thought it was quite a merciful act, although he would have been happier if she’d eaten it ‘cos he had slaved ages to make those sandwiches and now he too was quite hungry.

Part 2 – The Journey