And once again about the commandments The Sacrament of Baptism in modern practice The apostolic practice of performing the Sacrament and its distortion Preparing adults for Baptism: theory and practice   ABOUT GOD AND THE HOLY SCRIPTURES – Peace be with you. Our conversation today will be about God. Who is He, what is His nature? Often, when people speak of the Almighty, they are in terrible ignorance.

When a person claims to believe in God, it is always necessary to specify which one, because often for the interlocutor the cosmos, or conscience, or energy, or something else is a god. One person even said that God is an invention of people who want to have meaning in life. And this is the one who has come to be baptized! We will baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and therefore anyone who believes otherwise cannot be baptized.

Once the baptized person said that he did not believe in the Trinity, but "there is something there." I told him that I would not baptize "into something". I want to know how you believe in God. Who is God? "A higher power. "What is this Power higher?" Above the ceiling? Or "higher" in the sense of being higher? And if it is simply a Power, then how can it be higher than us, who are conscious of ourselves and sometimes in control of ourselves? No!

This definition, although correct, is far from sufficient. — The Creator. — That's right, but what other definitions can be given? "Almighty, Almighty, Omnipresent..." Let's break it down. I prefer to call God the Creator first. Why? This is the most accurate definition with which martyrs usually began their preaching.

When a Christian was arrested and brought before a judge for interrogation, he was asked: why do you not bow down to our gods – idols, idols, gold, silver, stone? He answered, Why bow down to the works of human hands? I worship God the Creator, who created all living things. And the prophet says: "... the gods who did not create the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under the heavens" (Jeremiah 10:11).

Whoever acknowledges the Creator is inwardly free from created things. From faith in the Creator one can deduce all His other attributes. We see that the world is one. He exists according to the same laws, which means that His Author, God, is one. There are no many gods. Otherwise, they would be in a state of constant confrontation, destroying the world. But here it is necessary to introduce a clarification, without which we can get confused further. What does the Creator mean? What is the difference between creation and birth? Is there a difference between these concepts? — No, I don't. "No?"

That is, making a stool and giving birth to a child are the same thing? Are the stool and the child fundamentally different? — They are different. "With what?" Fundamentally different? Yes, both the child and his parents are people. After all, we do not expect to take a burrowing mouse or an unknown animal from the hospital. And a stool, a tape recorder, a picture are inanimate objects. Their essence is different.

Using this analogy, let us see what the concept of creation implies. Creation has a different essence than the Creator, just as a stool is different from a carpenter. And since the Creator is different from creation, we obviously cannot find the Creator Himself within creation. Her photographer himself is not in the photo, if it is not a self-portrait, but the thoughts and feelings that he wanted to express are there. This is very important.

God is not gold, not silver, not air, not earth, not space, not stars, not cosmic energy, not cosmic intelligence. Why? Because the cosmos is created and the Creator is outside of creation, then God is not a cosmic intelligence. He cannot be a star, so the stars do not rule a person. Astrology is the worship of the luminary instead of God, idolatry, you cannot believe in it. Nor is God a man.

He is not the highest part of man, not his soul. Therefore, the statement "God is in my soul," which assumes that God is a part of the soul, is wrong. Do you understand why? God is the Creator of the soul, but not the soul. God is the Creator of man, but not man. Is God the Father of all people? "For everyone. — Not exactly. Let's figure it out. We agreed that only one who has the same essence as the one who gave birth can be born.

God is the Father of Christ and through Him He adopts us as sons. This adoption is given by Baptism. "So we are not children of God?" — Yes, God is not the Father for the unbaptized. An unbaptized person cannot read the Lord's Prayer, because he does not have God as Father. For him, God is only the Creator, Who, of course, cares about him, Who loves him and cares for him.

But it is better to pray with the words of the Psalms, turning to God the Creator. God is outside the universe, since He is not a creature, but its Creator. So He's beyond space and time, doesn't that matter? The universe exists in space and time. And since God is outside of space, He is also outside matter, which means that He is not material, so we call Him Spirit, that is, a Being who does not possess a material body.

As early as the fourth century, the Church condemned the heresy that asserted that God has a body like a man's. Do not think that God is an old man sitting on a cloud. Of course, He has no taste, color, smell, or form, because these are material characteristics. It cannot be depicted.