What’s special about God

In my Core 101 lecture today, I was reminded of something I’d nearly forgotten: that the God of the Bible, the Christian God, is totally different from any other idea of God out there. Christianity is different from other religions.

The Bible is definitely old. But my professor said something I don’t really understand: “The Biblical view of God doesn’t come out of nowhere.”

I think he’s saying that the Bible has many sacred stories in it which are found in texts written before the Bible. I think this just proves that these stories are probably true, having been remembered, retold, and written down shortly after they actualy happened. But I’m not too sure, because my Prof. also says that it is a minority view.

What he means by that is that nearly all other religions of the time were polytheistic. They had many gods, which reflected on the state of humanity. These religions, I understand, are made up. People fabricated these stories to comfort their minds, perhaps people held onto the original ideas because it gave them something to trust in during times of confusion.

But the Bible, on the other hand, goes in a different direction than the ancient near-east gods. But today, our perceptions have shifted dramatically. As a Christian nation, we find certain things about the Bible to be abnormal. For instance, why does it take God so long to send his son and provide us salvation? If he was going to do it, why not do it sooner?

Well, I’m sure there are reasons, but the point is this: Everything we take as abnormal was normal, and everything we take as normal was abnormal during the time the Bible was written!

The Bible is one really unique text.