Unquantifiable; unqualifiable.  The rigidity of words cannot do justice to God’s character, nor can the word ‘justice’ in the first phrase of the sentence adequately serve to display the true injustice.  The words we use, even if they are in our own language, are re-translated by our experiences so that something as simple as ‘good’ is different for every single person.  Admitting this, many would still hope on the existence of an absolute ‘good.’  The danger comes when our subjective definition is put in place of the absolute.

It’s why I can confidently profess that God is good all the time, even while there are wars, disease, and natural disaster.

Likewise, when an adjective we would find most negative is written describing God, one comes to wonder how this God of Christianity ever got to be called good in the first place.  We take our subjective definitions, and convict God of something which He is definitely not.

I’m going to be honest:  I will fail miserably at this post.  I’ve been dreading it because of its size on my list.  I was surprised to see the full-out assault on God’s character placed in the Genesis 4:15 slot.

Nevertheless, I do intend to show how some of the characteristics are completely warped from God.  I’m not going to deny that God is a vengeful God or that He’s a jealous God, but I will try to explain how the Bible does not contradict itself when it comes to these things.

GE 4:15, DT 32:19-27, IS 34:8 God is a vengeful god.
EX 15:3, IS 42:13, HE 12:29 God is a warrior. God is a consuming fire.
EX 20:5, 34:14, DT 4:24, 5:9, 6:15, 29:20, 32:21 God is a jealous god.
LE 26:7-8, NU 31:17-18, DT 20:16-17, JS 10:40, JG 14:19, EZ 9:5-7 The Spirit of God is (sometimes) murder and killing.
NU 25:3-4, DT 6:15, 9:7-8, 29:20, 32:21, PS 7:11, 78:49, JE 4:8, 17:4, 32:30-31, ZP 2:2 God is angry. His anger is sometimes fierce.
2SA 22:7-9 (KJV) “I called to the Lord; … he heard my voice; … The earth trembled and quaked, … because he was angry. Smoke came from his nostrils. Consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it.”
EZ 6:12, NA 1:2, 6 God is jealous and furious. He reserves wrath for, and takes revenge on, his enemies. “… who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and rocks are thrown down by him.”

2CO 13:11, 14, 1JN 4:8, 16 God is love.
GA 5:22-23 The fruit of the Spirit of God is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

A God of Vengeance

In fact, Leviticus 19:18 forbids acts of revenge.  Vengeance today has a terribly negative connotation.  In it lives hatred and murder.  We are trained from when we are young children that violence begets violence, and it’s a never-ending cycle.  Vigilantes are often prosecuted by our courts because the law is not achieved through revenge.

But is there not still a hint of justice in revenge?  At the risk of losing credibility, I give you the comic book hero, Batman.  Modern society has created itself a fantasy hero who is arguably based on revenge.  Batman is one of the darker of the mainstream superheroes, but, bringing us back on subject, I propose this is because of the heavy responsibility of weighing justice and revenge together, a monumental task for a single caped crusader.

Biblically speaking, there are two types of revenge.  The first is revenge motivated by hatred, and the second is justice.

Revenge stemming from hatred is not justice.  It is not a rational hatred, either.  Think back to grammar school when there was a new kid in class.  Sometimes, nothing really happens, but other times, the new student is hazed and outcast as if he had committed some sort of crime.  Now apply that same standard to some grown-up matters, like hate crimes, profiling, etc.  Sometimes, jealousy and bitterness can so invade and divide a heart that we can think another person betrayed the rules of our personal kingdom, and we want to punish them.    A Biblical example of this could be in Jeremiah 20:10, where the prophet claims that his ‘friends’ are waiting for him to be deceived, desperately wanting to report him.  They watch Jeremiah closely, wanting him to slip.  But what had he done against them?  Admittedly, he was a complainer and a fool, but it seems like his ‘friends’ didn’t like the rebuking, and wanted to take revenge on Jeremiah for an unjust reason.  It’s all self-motivated, irrational hatred.  This is what Leviticus 19:18 is talking about.  It includes the phrase love your neighbor for a purpose.

But God is a God of just vengeance.  The concept of vengeance back in the days of the Bible was more likely one of justice.  Today, we have very structured laws and judicial systems.  We live in an un-oppressed, fairly lawful country, and revenge-based justice has little or no place.  It’s considered unnecessary, petty, and, needless to say, negative.  That is far from the situation existing in the Bible, where revenge may be the only form of justice for society.  Think of ‘an eye for an eye,’ etc.  But even further, when I picture this ‘just vengeance’ applied to God, I see passion and compassion.  The Bible does not hide the idea of God having emotions, and here it seems He has a passionate stake in this whole mess.  God is not one of unjust vengeance, nor is He a cold Batman figure, rooted in equal parts justice and revenge.  No.  God is a God of passionate justice.  When God is described as vengeful, the writers are most likely saying that God is following through with His promises of compassion, protection, and justice.  Look again at the verses above.

Genesis 4:15 is the first mention of vengeance in the Bible.  Cain fears for his life because he killed Abel, but God says that he will avenge Cain seven times if anyone killed him.  God effectively promises to protect Cain*.

Deuteronomy 32 :19-27 is a scary portrayal of God’s vengeance against those who turn their hearts from Him.  But the full chapter goes as such:  The LORD is God (v3-4); you abandoned God (5-6); God had nurtured and cared for you and your fathers (7-14); but the once upright people forgot Him and followed other gods and idols (15-18); God will therefore pour out His wrath (19-22); and will all but destroy the unfaithful (23-26); but will not destroy everything or hand them over to the enemy, lest they think themselves victorious over God (27); even the senseless enemy knows God has power (28-33); but vengeance belongs to God (34-35); God will judge the unfaithful so they will turn from their idols and will have compassion on His servants (36-38); The LORD is God, and He will take vengeance on His enemies (39-42); the atonement for His servants will be rejoiced over by His people and the nations (43).  … Why would God be vengeful against His own people?  In the act of abandoning Him, they had given their lives over to sin and detestable practices.  With confidence I can say that the double-whammy of turning themselves over to sin and not having God on their side would have lead to the swift destruction of the Hebrew people.  But through vengeance, God is explicitly bringing His people back to Him, yet still protecting them from their enemies and having compassion on His servants.

Isaiah 34:8 also uses vengeance as a tool of justice, judgment, and retribution.  35:4 gives the reason why:  With vengeance; with divine retribution He will come to save you.

These are three instances of God protecting, sanctifying, and saving His people, and are in no way contrary to His character.

*Just think of the implications of God protecting Cain.  This is another wonderful example of how, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

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Hiding is something for which we humans are naturals.  When I was younger, I tried to show my little brother how to ‘bridge’ whilst shuffling playing cards, and somehow made one of the cards fly into his eye.  My father came storming into the living room, and I bolted – first down the street; but then to some secluded bushes in the park.

Adam and Eve did it, too.  They hide their nakedness from each other, and then they try to hide from God.  Cain tries to hide the truth from God.  God goes looking for them, and surprisingly asks, “Where are you?” or “Where is your brother?”  Does He not know everything?

GE 3:9 God asks Adam where he is.
GE 4:9 God asks Cain where his brother Abel is.
PR 15:3, JE 16:17, 23:23-24, HE 4:13 God is everywhere. He sees everything. Nothing is hidden from his view.

Why would an all-mighty, all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present God ask this?  In the story above, my father and another of my brothers came in search of me, and they all shouted my name.  My brother even passed by my hiding spot at the park, but did not find me because I did not answer.  It can reasonably be assumed that they called out to me because they did not know where I quivered.

God is not like that at all.  He sees anything and everything, and the proof is in the verses above.  Psalmists go as far as saying that wicked ones and evildoers justify themselves by saying that the Lord does not see them (Psalm 94:7, 10:11).  In Psalm 94:8, the writer simply counts those who believe such a thing as fools.  But Psalm 10:4 gives a little more insight as to why one is lead to believe that God cannot see him:  In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.

Us not seeing God is not the same as God not seeing us.  When we convince ourselves that God cannot see us, we’re the fools.  God is pretty indignant in Jeremiah 23:23-24 when people think so little of Him.

So what could possibly be God’s purpose in asking where we are?

The first thing I can think of is to show that He cares.  I imagine an alternate reality where no one came looking for me when I ran away from home; and I imagine a reality where my father sees right through all of the objects behind which I hide, walking directly toward me.  Both are much scarier than the one I actually experienced.  Imagine if God decided to not make Himself known in the garden after the fall, or if God appeared directly behind Adam and Eve, scaring the fig leaves off them.  Both are against God’s nurturing character.  God asks because He cares.

Secondly, we have the sugar cookie explanation.  When I was very young (much younger than the card trick), I reached up onto the table and prematurely ate some of the cookies my mother just baked.  When asked if I had eaten them, I vigorously shook my head, and responded, “No!”  One problem – I had that stupid green crystallized sugar all around my mouth.  My mom took pictures so I would remember this later on in life.  God gives us the opportunity to own up to what we did.  Adam and Eve kind of get this right – they stop hiding and come before God (with a catch, because they proceed to play the blame game).  Cain fails, mouths off to God, and God calls out Abel’s faithlessness in His omniscience in verse 10(b):  Listen!  Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. Although in this case Cain rebelled, God asks so that we can own up to our sins and repent.

Finally, it is so we can understand.  The God of the Bible is a God who repeatedly comes down and reveals Himself to us lesser beings.  In Luke 8:45-48, a bleeding woman touches Jesus, and Jesus calls out, “Who touched me?”  Factually, Jesus knows exactly who touched Him.  Jesus compels the woman (for she knows that she cannot hide) to come forward by asking this question.  He does it so that she can become a credible example of faith to the entire crowd, and even more so to the woman, herself.  Jesus could have stopped, and proclaimed to the crowd, “Look, I just healed this woman without even touching her with my hand!”  But He probably would have scared the woman away or been subject to much skepticism from the crowd.  Jesus asks so that we understand.

God always has a purpose behind asking questions.  That purpose is our benefit, and it does not run contrary to any of God’s characteristics, including His omniscience or the fact that He is all-seeing.

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We are in an interim period, where the battle is won, yet God’s will is not being done. ~ Dr. Gilbert Bilezikian

I currently am without home church.  My parents have recently found a new spiritual home at Willow Creek – a more spacious home with a plethora of resources, and last week I watched them get dunked in that massive hot tub.  So this morning I joined them at the early service in the enormous auditorium, where Pastor Hybels and Dr. Bilezikian joint-taught a message from the Armor of God passage from Ephesians 6.  It wasn’t stellar – Dr. B is a theological reservoir of information, but seemed out-of-place in front of the large audience.  But I enjoyed it…

… Except for the above quote.  The message can be found here, under “Beyond Belief: Spiritual Warfare,” but I went to a different service than the one recorded and posted.

I think it is just semantics.

I know from personal experience and from study that God’s will is always done.  All the time, no matter what is happening, God is sovereign.  Period.  I think what the good doctor was really saying is that there is evil in the world, which is certainly against the character of God.  God’s own personal qualities, if we can dare to qualify them, are not reflected by all of creation at surface value.  God is sovereign over every action, but actions exist contrary to the desire of the spirit’s nature.

Yum yum; food for thought.

Thank God my parents have found a place to learn and worship!

A favorite conversation topic in recent days is the end of the world.  A man on Family Radio my Father and I call “Ra Ra” (actually Harold Camping at 91.9 FM in Chicago) has been predicting the date of the rapture to be May 21st, 2011, and the subsequent end of the world October 21st of the same year.  The horrible plotline of 2012 and it’s Mayan calendar apocalypse also play off our curiosity concerning the end.  Just a short time ago, many were convinced that the collider in Switzerland would destroy the Earth via the same manner in which Vulcan is annihilated  in JJ Abrams’ Star Trek.

But how is one to prepare for the end?  The Christian response has for centuries been to wait; or to wait with our lamps ready, and to prepare our hearts.

What does that look like?

Well, I think firstly that it’s not the same as cleaning the house.  Some have likened preparation for Jesus’ second coming to that of someone coming to visit your home – you subject your house to a massive cleaning and wait.  But this doesn’t sit right for me, perhaps because of the sitting.  Let me explain:  When we have relatives over for Christmas, we clean and decorate like crazy, and usually finish the day of.  We complete the mammoth task a couple hours early, before the cousins and such come, and we end up sitting around in our good clothes doing nothing.  I thoroughly dislike sitting.  And I think sitting around is not the attitude commanded of us.

I would liken it more to the idea of building a house.  It’s similar, but you keep on building and adding wings as time goes on.

It’s like the parable of the talents, where the master leaves for a bit and dispenses his possessions for his servants to use.  I imagine that the guy with five talents had to work his butt off full-time to double his master’s money.  But imagine if the person with five talents had worked really hard and gotten a little lucky, and had turned those five talents into another five with much time to spare.  If he laid back and relaxed for the remaining time, would his master still be happy?  Perhaps.  But I do not think he would like the character of that servant as much.

How would you act knowing your world would end very soon?  Paul famously states that it is better for people not to get married because the end of the world is near – there’s no point.  But Martin Luther gives a different perspective:  If I knew the world were to end tomorrow, I would still plant my apple tree.

This rocked my brain.  What value is there in planting an apple tree?  You’re not going to get any fruit:  Trees grow slow.  Certainly not in a season; definitely not in a day.  And apple trees are particularly slow.

I still don’t fully comprehend it.  But maybe it has something to do with the value today, twofold:  The balance of urgency and patience, and the value of work which we do not get to reap.

In terms of evangelism, most people are worth more than five minute conversations.  Yet, when I think about the more powerful times of spreading the Gospel in my life, I automatically drift back to Mexico, where we could not build long-term relationships with the people to whom we witnessed.  I think the fact that I don’t think of my close friends to whom I have tried to witness for years really reflects the attitude of my heart.  I have no sense of urgency when it comes to friendship evangelism and being a Christian example.  We need long term urgency.

In the same way, I look at the work I do sowing as opposed to reaping.  The reaping moments are powerful.  When I see the fruit of God’s hands, I’m moved.  Yet, is there that same power when I am planting seeds… is there the same power when I am planting seeds as when I am leading someone in the sinner’s prayer?  I can’t say that there is, or at least cannot say my mind remembers it the same way.  We need urgency when we don’t see the results.

Maybe, the whole point of end-times thinking is that we need to have the urgency to plant an apple tree.

I think that very few people know what they ask for when they pray to be set afire.  Light the fire in my soul… bring the fire of Your Spirit… let Your all-consuming fire come.

All.  Consuming.

When God brings the fire, it doesn’t mean that you jump up and down during worship or even that your prayers are intense enough to melt the snow where you kneel.  And it doesn’t mean that you feel like taking the leap and you mention God to that weirdo in the cubicle next to yours.

It means that everything you are is God’s… and everything you are is being used by God.  It’s not burning both ends of the rope – it’s burning the entire rope at once.

But still, God does not let the bush wither.

Stomach flu is my lifetime nemesis.  I haven’t gotten it for five years (maybe I built up an immunity to food poisoning during my dorm years), but it’s always the same.  I wake up feeling weak and confused early in the morning.  Around three in the morning it starts, and then I’m owned.

So this morning I must have upchucked on seventeen different trips.  Trips and not times – I did not count the multiples.  Which they all were.  I could not fall back asleep, because fifteen minutes later, like clockwork, I’m hovering over the commode.

My body shook, and I had to hold in a hernia tear and everything.  I wasn’t sure if my stomach lining or a lung or my heart would go first.  Today was fun.  But around two in the afternoon I started to hold down Sprite, and then I graduated to a few corn flakes, just so I wouldn’t pass out.

I cried out to the Lord many times.  I want to share a couple stories:  One about when I was weak, and one about when I was strong.

During my Junior year of high school, the conference meet for track and field was going to be the highlight of my year.  I had already busted open so many different records, and finally I would be able to stick it to that Waubonsie hurdler and my Nequa and St. Charles East rivals.  And my family and girlfriend would be there and everything was going to be glorious.

But I got this here stomach flu on Friday, and conference was on the following Monday.  Plus, because of district rules, I had to go to practice on Saturday or I would not be able to run.  My flu started to fall apart, and degenerated into a nasty fever and cold, and I was completely miserable for a long time.

I ran on fumes during Saturday’s practice, handkerchief in one hand and praying with my other that the Advil would stay down, and Monday finally came.

I won three individual events and ran a leg in our second-place 4×400 team.  I made personal records in two of the individual events and my split for the relay.  Then I went home and died.

The second story, where I feel strong, was rather recent and I’m hesitant to share because (a) nobody will believe me and (b) it can be pretty self-glorifying.

When I was a leader on my church’s West Virginia mission trip, I worked at this shelter/food pantry/goodwill store.  Oddly, the task of the week was to take 80lb bales of clothing and put them into a larger, industrial baler.  It was ridiculous.

The guy I worked with must have been sixty.  He was a heavy smoker named Harry who would occasionally slice the clothing with his razor blade while opening the smaller bales.  He reminded me of my Grandfather (not just because his name was Harry, but he was a tough, blue collar guy).  Anyway, we opened the small bales, loaded the larger baler with anywhere from fifteen to twenty two small bales, wrapped them in long pieces of wire, compacted the large bale, slip-knotted the wires, and then rolled the finished product onto a pallet (as much as you could roll a cube).  He told me never to go behind this pallet, because if the momentum we used to roll the cube of clothing happened to continue, I could very well be crushed.

Harry and I worked our butts off the first day, and we did pretty well considering he was just showing me the ropes.  I got a few compliments because I caught on quickly and refused to take a break (even though it must have been ninety-five degrees outside).  The second day, Harry’s normal help was back (another older man, perhaps fifty), along with a few new recruits that were much bigger than me.  Like a hundred fatty pounds heavier and a couple inches taller.  They were local guys who were unemployed and wanted to do something good with their spare time.

So while Harry’s normal help was taking a break, Harry deferred to the larger guys.  A logical choice, considering they had longer volunteer spans than I.  My job became to throw out waste and reload the wires.  Once in a while, I got to load the smaller bales onto our human-powered assembly line.

Anyway, the younger guys were going at the small bales real quick, and we all worked up a sweat, but then the time came to again roll the larger bale about three quarters of a turn onto the pallet.  One of the larger guys fumbled the pass coming out of the baler, and all of a sudden the crew lost all forward progress, and the bale started coming back down.  The local guys freaked and dropped it, perhaps afraid because Harry had given them the same warning he told me.

Harry got pinned.  His knee twisted in on itself, and he started to go down.  I was in the position to hand off the smaller bales to the big guys, so I was close, and I jumped in under the middle of the bale and put it on my shoulders, compacting myself into the fetal position.  I screamed like I had never screamed before, and I flat-out raised the one half ton bale of clothing until Harry could get out, and rolled it the final turn onto the pallet.

Harry took the rest of the day off, and he came back the next day with absolutely zero damage to his knee.

God did three extraordinary things:  He put me at the right place and time, blessing my instincts to get in before Harry’s leg was completely under; He used a man with torn ligaments in his knee to roll that bale; and He healed Harry’s knee.

I think God is great; take it or leave it

With the Cubs season long gone and the Bears eagerly awaiting to join the ranks of the under-performing, I take solace in the Chicago Bulls.

I’d love to reminisce about the die hard nature of my fan-dom, but I think I’m going to point out something interesting about this particular Chicago Bulls team:  The three captains.

The three captains are Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng, and Lindsey Hunter.  If the rumor mills are of any indication, they were all not necessarily going to be Bulls this year.  Hinrich and Deng were on the trading block, and Hunter is a veteran journeyman.  While Deng could quite possibly regain his former consistency, it is interesting to me that two bench players and one injury-ridden player are the captains of the young Bulls.

I think it says a lot about what could happen if the season does not go well:  We could lose either the athletes rostered for talent or leadership.

I just confirmed that, through the combined efforts of controlling my posting frequency and choosing tags, I can manipulate my ‘hits’ graph to look like any roller coaster or mathematical function I so desire.

Booya

In other news, my small group is doing praise night (skits), and, depending on whether or not I have a large role, my posting will decrease or increase.

And my iPod is corrupted.  Shucks

See y’all.

When a person is the captain and selecting the members of a sports team from among his or her peers, he or she will pick, all other categories being equal, a friend over a stranger.  When one receives two birthday gifts, although we claim it’s the thought that counts, one is almost certainly more valued than the other.  When the decision of who gets a raise is before the boss, if one person’s personality rubs him or her the wrong way (for no particular reason), that employee is much less likely to get the raise.

Like it or not, we are sinful beings and we play favorites all the time.  Even one with a powerful guiding principle of fairness will at some point be subject to favoritism.  But is God like this?  Does He look with favor upon one person, just for the heck of it?  If two people truly come to Him, will God judge one of them more harshly because of a troubled past?  The following passages seem to say both yes and no:

GE 4:4-5 God prefers Abel’s offering and has no regard for Cain’s.
2CH 19:7, AC 10:34, RO 2:11 God shows no partiality. He treats all alike.

Is God playing favorites?  If two brothers give gifts to their Father, will God like one more because He likes the older brother more?  The younger brother?  If Cain and Abel give gifts to God, does He accept Abel’s simply because He likes the smell of meat?  What’s going on?

Again, as in so many of these ‘contradictions,’ I am finding that they hinge on the isolation of proof-verses.

Romans 2:11 clearly states that God shows no favoritism.  Every person who obeys the law will be favored by God; Jew or Greek.  But elsewhere in the Bible, some people are judged more strictly than others.  James 3:1 says that all teachers will be held to a higher standard.  Luke 12:48 (in conjunction with Romans 3:1-2), says that since we have been entrusted with the very words of God, much more will be expected of us.

Taking all of these things into account, it is clear that Romans 2:11 is not saying that God expects [numerically] equal sacrifice from everyone, but, rather, equal sacrifice with respect to ability and talent.  It is not necessarily a percentage or tithe, but, as Matthew 13:45-46 says, it is everything we have ; as Romans 12:1 says, it is all of us; Exodus 22:29-30 says, it is to hold back nothing – not even your family

How is this act of sacrifice to God symbolized (especially in the Old Testament)?  By the giving of firstfruits.  Firstfruits are the first things that come off the branch; the first animal slaughtered; the first animal born; and the first son born.  Check out Exodus 22:29-30 again and Deuteronomy 26:1-11.  In today’s world, this could mean your first paycheck from a new job.  Firstfruits are costly and important.

Now we will come back to the story of Cain and Abel.  Genesis 4:2-7 reads:

² Later [Eve] gave birth to [Cain's] brother Abel.
Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. ³ In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. ⁴ But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, ⁵ but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

⁶ Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? ⁷ If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”

I can sympathize with Cain, up to this point.  I mean, he’s the older brother, and more is expected of the older brother by earthly parents.  Usually.  He is also growing crops, which is very, very labor intensive.  Since he was doing it by himself, he might have had to work harder than Abel.  In fact, he may have given Abel some grain to feed the livestock that gave birth to Abel’s offering.  He built his barn and started filling it with grain, and then thought it good to offer a sacrifice to God.

But look at what Cain gave:  Some of the fruits of the soil.  Nothing special.

Look at what Abel gave.  Abel doesn’t just give the firstborn, he gives multiple firstborn of his flock, and not just that, the fatty portions of them.  He gave the best of the first; the firstfruits!

God shows no partiality here.  Cain gave God a half-hearted, almost after-thought type of offering, and was self-righteous enough to demand that God favor it like Abel’s wholehearted offering.  God is just.  He shows no favoritism.  He judges according to the law, and according to what has been given us.  He rewards our sacrifice by our ability and our heart.

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…

As a personal challenge, there are two things to take from these passages.  The first is the nature of our sacrifice:  Whole; complete; and best.  The second is our favoritism:  We are to mimic God and not show any partiality.  If you think about it, this means a lot, especially in terms of our human friendships.

The presence of God is a powerful thing, so the Bible proclaims.  The text, especially in the Old Testament, is full of rules to protect people from God’s presence.  Moses can only see God’s back, while walking away from him.  When a man touches the ark of the covenant (which is said to have contained God’s presence) in 2 Samuel 6:6-7, he dies.  The high priest, while entering the holy of holies, would have a rope around his waist so others could pull him out just in case he died while that close to God.  So how did Adam and Eve walk with God in the garden?

Genesis 3:8-10 God walks through the garden.
Exodus 33:18-25; 34:5-7 No one may see God and live

First, let me clarify that no one may see God’s face and live, according to the verses in Exodus.  Moses sees the back of God (whatever that means), and lives.  He is, however, transformed by the event, and must wear a veil to cover the radiance of his face.  Just think about it:  Talking with God and seeing His back made Moses so bright, people could not look him in the face.

So what about Adam and Eve post-fall?  They were already stained by sin, yet God walks among them, and one can only assume that they saw Him.  Why did they not die?

I would add even further verses to this puzzle, so as not to leave them unaddressed.

At this point we have to pause.  Jesus is God, yet people saw Jesus and did not die.  And there are are least 77 people above claiming to see God in the Old Testament.

The key is the true form of God.  I think this is what John and Paul are writing about when the claim no one has seen God – no one has seen God’s true form.  God appeared to Abraham as three men, to Moses as a burning bush, to Hagar and Jacob through an angel, Moses saw only His back, Isaiah and the 73 men seemed to focus on God’s feet; John on the periphery, etc.

The most telling verse is the passage from Numbers, where Moses converses, face-to-face, with the form of God.  I admit, the first thing I think about upon hearing this is when Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker receive Princess Leia’s distress message from inside R2-D2.  It was Princess Leia’s form, but not Princess Leia.  That was a recorded message.  Imagine video chatting:  Although two people are talking ‘live,’ they see only each other’s forms; you only see their image.

It is true that no one can see God in His true form, because any form that can accommodate the true infinity of Himself is unfathomable.  He cannot be contained in form.  John 1:18 is the only verse that comes close to explaining this.  Jesus is the only one to have ever seen God, because He is the only one that has (and can) know Him fully.  Everything else is an incomplete picture of God.

And, bringing this back to Genesis 3:8-10, this, an incomplete form of God, is what Adam and Eve experienced in the garden, as well.  The comment to Moses is referring to God’s true form, which is as humanly incomprehensible as the sum of all knowledge and the depth of God’s plan.  The face of a person is a feature very, very defining.  It might be equivalent in saying, “Let me know all of you.”  That would probably overload our optic nerves and our brains and cause death.   There is no contradiction.

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