Ground in Eternity- Introduction.

In the beginning God. God is the beginning of all, whether we think of God as another being; impersonal or personal or we think of ourself as a god this seems to be the essence of life and questions surrounding life. Sitting on the bus a few years ago I saw a sign which read, 'Turn your heart into a temple of fire.' I literally started burning, for I knew this sign to be true, we are meant to be a temple of fire. These bodies house something greater than flesh and bones, they house spirit, they house the eternal. The sign was advertising yoga classes however for me the sign was advertising an invitation from Holy Spirit. Would I let myself be a temple of fire? Would I embody the fire of love, would I embody God? I can believe in a God of love or not. I can believe in a creator or in nothing and for this simple mind of mine it takes more courage for me to believe in nothing than it does to believe in a supreme being. In fact it freaks me out to have to conclude I am here by evolutionary chance and my existential questions remain unanswered. I did once, for one day and I didn't survive it. I ran back to the shelter of faith, despite the fact that I felt God was an angry, demanding being and I wasn't at all connected to this God. I grew up in a christian home, my parents were found by Jesus the year I turned five. I had theoretical knowledge of God but did I know God or even like that being, I wasn't so sure.

It is at the age of seventeen that I face these questions despite having been baptised at eleven years old in good baptist tradition. I turned then at the brink of adulthood to address my most pressing questions. Who am I? Why am I here? What is the point of it all? One of my favorite songs at the age of fifteen was Creep sang at that time by the band Radiohead.

This was teenage longing in all its glory and yes I use that word deliberately. These longings for affirmation, purpose and belonging are glorious, they are right. They deserve an answer. The cries of justice rising from the lips of adolescents are the more important cries on this planet and they must never be silenced, why? Because in these cries lies the very heart of God.

You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being. Revelation 4:11

This for me is the bottom line. It is God's will I am here. This for me is a thousand times more comforting than the big bang. Let it be known from the start. I need God. "Religion is a crutch" it has been said, I might agree with that. However the person of God is a different story, oh yes, let this person be my crutch, my biggest crutch, in fact, more than that I unashamedly let go of trusting myself. God is not just my crutch, God is my security blanket and the warm, soft bed I fall into regularly. God is my comforter and and my friend. God is so much more than these things but for now as a starting point I wanted to share how honoured I am to have found such love and warmth in God despite the fact God is more powerful and greater than what I could possibly hope to convey or understand.

In the beginning God created... and He said it was good. And then after he2 had created humanity, namely Adam and Eve. God said they were very good.

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was

morning—the sixth day. Genesis 1:31

Look at the underlined part above, I would like to make clear from the beginning that I don't believe God is 'he', neither do I think God is 'she', God is outside gender. God is transcendent. The dictionary definition of transcendent is:exceeding usual limits, extending or lying beyond the limits of ordinary experience, being beyond comprehension, universally applicable or significant. However because English tradition uses male pronouns I will use 'he' here. In the Finnish language third person personal pronouns do not define gender, one word is used 'hän'. How great it would be if I could use hän? However since this is written in English not Finnish I will use both he and she as the pronoun for God where I deem appropriate.

Read the above verses again. You are very good! You are not bad, unworthy, evil, etc. God declared at creation, humanity to be very good and yet we in some places in the christian community have departed a long way from this declaration of truth. We may 'sin'-miss the mark. However we are good, God says so. The first mention of this word sin is in Genesis 4:7. The hebrew root word is châţâ, it means; to miss, to miss the way, miss the mark, to lose oneself. Jesus came so we would be able to; find the way, hit the mark and find oneself,

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

God loves this world. He loves us. He does not hate us, he loves us. I used to be mad at God. So he created me, he loves me yet I am a sinner and if I don't repent I am going to be thrown into Hell, where I will be eternally tormented. This is what I was taught to believe. Slowly but surely I began to believe the truth. God did not abandon me or us but gave himself. God started all things and God will finish it. Wow! If death came through one man then death was conquered in one man and I am not left alone but I am loved. If I believe this to be true than I already have everlasting life.

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned— Romans 5:12

But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Romans 5:15

The gospel really is good news! We are supposed to experience it, feel it and know it to be good. I like this quote by Athanasius of Alexandria from On the Incarnation, "It was unworthy of the goodness of God that creatures made by him should be brought to nothing through the deceit wrought upon man by the devil; and it was supremely unfitting that the work of God in mankind should disappear, either through their own negligence or through the deceit of evil spirits."

This book is some of my 25-year journey with God. I want to dedicate it to all who struggle in believing that God is good, to those who have been wounded and traumatised by religion and to the next generation. I love you! You are worthy! I want you to know there is a purpose for your life and a God who loves you. 

Go to the resources page for the link to the book. We also like to support other ministries. As He is Ministries will receive support if purchased through Amazon. Thank you.