What does God’s voice sound like?
Diana, 7
We don’t know. Though God has spoken to believers out loud, most of the time He speaks in a “still, small voice” (1 Kings 19:12), an impression on your spirit. Anything God says to you this way will always be in agreement with what He has said in the Bible, which is His written Word.
Ken Horn
How big is God?
Cristan, 10
The Bible tells us that God is everywhere (Psalm 139:7-12). He is limitless, infinite. That makes Him pretty big. But since He is spirit, He does not have a large physical body. His size is spiritual.
Stuart Hamblen wrote a song titled “How Big Is God?” that sums it up well: “How big is God? How big and wide His vast domain? To try to tell, these lips can only start. He’s big enough to rule His mighty universe. Yet small enough to live within my heart.”
Ken Horn
How come we can’t see God?
Chimere, 9
First Timothy 1:17 gives us the direct answer to this: “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen” (NIV).
God is invisible. But why is God invisible? Because “God is spirit” (John 4:24) and “a spirit does not have flesh and bones” (Luke 24:39, NKJV).
But Jesus, who is the Son of God and is God himself, did take on a physical body that could be seen. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory …. No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known” (John 1:14,18, NIV).
So why can’t we see Jesus today? After His resurrection He returned to heaven and is with God the Father (1 Peter 3:22).
Ken Horn
The concept of the Trinity enlarges the concept of God found in the Old Testament and makes certain Old Testament passages more understandable. For example, some 2,500 times the word for God is Elohim, plural, instead of El, singular. There are plural pronouns used to describe the one God: “Let us make man” (Genesis 1:26); “Man is become as one of us” (Genesis 3:22); “Remember Thy Creators” (Ecclesiastes 12:1, literal); “Rejoice in His Makers” (Psalm 149:2, literal).
And, in Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (NKJV), the word for “name” is singular, representing three persons.
The plural pronouns are an indicator of the trinity — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — the Three in One.
Ken Horn
I am having a difficult time explaining to my children how Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit are one person. Can you help?
The Trinity is first-rate mystery.
Augustine said that anyone who denies the Trinity is in danger of losing his salvation, and anyone who tries to understand it is in danger of losing his mind. It is not fully explained in Scripture.
In fact, the word Trinity is not found in the Bible. But, by the late second century it was being used by the church to describe a biblical concept—literally, tri-unity, or “three in one.”
This does not mean three Gods … though Christians have been accused of being polytheists by other world religions. Instead Christians have a unique view of God, one that comes about because they believe both the Old and New Testaments.
There are six basic biblical steps to understanding the Trinity:
1. There is one God. (Deuteronomy 6:4)
Deuteronomy 6:4 is one of the most important verses to the Jews, who believe in one God. It is known as the Shema: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!”
Here is the Hebrew: Shema Yisrael: Yahweh Elochenu Yahweh Echad. The Hebrew language has two words that are translated “one”—Yachid and Echad. Yachid means an absolute one. Echad refers to a united one. Echad is the word used of God in the Old Testament—God is a united one.
2. The Father is God. (2 Peter 1:17)
3. The Son is God. (John 8:58)
4. The Holy Spirit is God. (Acts 5:3-4)
5. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are distinct individuals. (John 14:26)
6. Therefore, there are three Persons in the one Godhead.
A typical, accurate doctrinal statement is this, Assemblies of God Fundamental Truth no. 2: “WE BELIEVE … There is only One True God—revealed in three persons … Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (commonly known as the Trinity).” (See ag.org for all 16 Assemblies of God Fundamental Truths.)
Since the Trinity is completely unique, no analogy really fits. The Trinity is not really “like” anything.
But attempts have been made. The best analogies do not look at the Trinity as three parts that make up a whole, like these examples:
• Shamrock: Saint Patrick, who spread the Gospel in Ireland, used a three-leafed clover.
• Egg: Another common one—eggshell, egg white and yolk.
• H2O: The three phases of H2O—water, ice, steam—are better as an analogy but also fall short since any given temperature produces only one of these at a time. That picture leads to a false doctrine that says the Trinity is really only one person who takes on one of three modes at any given time. This belief is problematic for those who hold it: Just what was going on in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus was praying to the Father? Was He talking to himself?
The best illustration I have seen comes from C.S. Lewis:
• The three dimensions of space: Length, width and height. All coincide in the same place, yet are distinct.
Ken Horn
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