To Whom God Belongs

 In "The Last Jedi," Luke tells Rey, "The Force doesn't belong to the Jedi or the Sith." His point was that the Force is bigger than either philosophy or "theology" of the Force to which these groups subscribed. The Force wasn't a figment of their imaginations. It wasn't created by them but was greater than them both, holding the universe together and flowing through everything.

     There is a truth to this where God is concerned. God, as we refer to Him, does not belong to either Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, or any other theistic philosophy or theology. We have our explanations of Him, but He is not our sole possession. No one human being or human understand can possess Him any more than we could actually possess the grand scope of the multiverse itself, and to think we can is delusional. He speaks to whom He speaks, and reveals Himself to whom He reveals Himself in the way that particular individual might be able to comprehend at least in some small way. To those seeking Him, regardless of who they are or what worldview they have, He answers them and reveals Himself within the framework of that worldview as the living God, the Source from which all things come, eternal, infinite, without beginning or end, and reveals Himself as good and love. He reveals Himself as not being the figment of someone's imagination, not being an image someone came up with, and discourages creating any such delusions in lieu of actually getting to know Him. People may call Him what they will, but He remains the same Being.

     We need to keep this in mind, because even when Paul addressed the Areopagus in Acts, he didn't quote the Law or the Prophets. Instead, he quoted their own poets, and called Him the "unknown God" which they already had an altar to within the city of Athens. And the Scripture makes clear that the Apostles firmly decided the same thing that non-Jews did not have to become Jewish to become disciples of Jesus Christ. Paul wasn't requiring the pagan Greeks to suddenly start studying the Torah in order to understand the deliverance brought by Jesus Christ, because the deliverance brought by Jesus Christ, and the Father who sent Him, transcends all religious and theological understanding.