I Believe in the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven & Earth

Myself I am the metal, spirit the furnace fire,

Messiah is the dye that body and soul inspires.

My dear reader, how can one begin when there is no beginning?  How can one begin discussing the eternal Truths within if the very process of discussion leads one to potentially alter the reality of these Truths? Must one enter into the nothingness for the purpose of understanding the mysteries of faith? What remains of a mystery if it becomes known, and what does it mean to know? Questions such as these hint at what lies in the core of this paper regarding my theology, philosophy, ministry, and identity. Though I do not intend on answering these questions one by one, they do however represent my love for and reliance on speculative mystical theology. As you dive into my soul, allow me to faithfully guide you as Virgil does for Dante, through the thick and thin realities of my existence. Enjoy this existential tour of mine that is the process of my internal and eternal spiritual alchemy, because I have definitely enjoyed the ride thus far, and there is still much further to go.

This timeless eternity that we humans call life spun out of itself for the purpose of itself, and what greater purpose is there than to know Love. My friend, the eternal question for most philosophers begins with how one understands the creation of the universe. Indeed, how one answers this simple (but most difficult) question reveals his/her understanding of God. Whether their God is the deistic watchmaker who creates and watches time tick by without any interference; or the monotheistic creator that created existence from non-existence (ex nihilo); or a demiurge following the order of a more supreme being; each religion and tradition has its own creation account that helps define its belief in how a God or gods interact with the created existence. As stated above, I believe in God the father almighty who is creator of heaven and earth; of all that is seen and unseen.

You should first know that the statement “God the Father” has a profound impact on my identity. Though at times I call God ‘mother’ and understand God as gender neutral or genderless, I do not condemn calling God ‘father’. God is my Father. He is the one that, no matter how far I run or how much of my inheritance I spend, he will always run out to me, meeting me wherever I am during my return to His house, welcome me with open arms, and have a splendid feast and party upon my arrival. Moreover, my identity as a cis-gendered heterosexual male allows me to identity fully, look up to, and yearn for the father figure as God. It represents the continual searching of a much needed fatherly figure in my own worldly life. Both my father and ex-stepfather have had important roles in my life during my adolescent, teenage, and young adult years; yet, the more I grew spiritually, physically, and mentally the more I realized that I will never be like them nor do I want to.

Ever since I was a child without a father, I turned to the Father Almighty through prayer, though I did not know what I was doing at the time. As a child, I felt a sense of security in knowing that there is an eternal Father in heaven which will always love, gently guide, and wait patiently if I erred in life. Moreover, there are certain expectations for a cis-gendered male growing up in the bible belt regarding how one is supposed to act--i.e. manly. Though, because I was raised by my single mother for most of my life, who threatened me if I ever treated a girl wrong, the impression of God as the parental Father was never the jealous, angry, or punishing God; rather, as I mention above, He is gentle, loving and patient, and that is still how I view God as my Father to this day.  

Now, let us journey into creation itself. Beloved, imagine yourself at the beginning of the creating of creation. At first, there is nothing. Indeed, there is neither nothing nor not nothing! The only thing that is, is not, and that not/nothingness is God itself. God as the eternal non-existence that exists without relying on creation to exist. The more one tries to describe this non-existent existence, the further away one gets from actually defining it. It is not that God is the ‘something’ within the nothing or that the nothing is something, but rather God is the nothingness that actually exists. Bear with me dear reader, for we have entered into the mystery of the soul itself! The Ground of all Being!”

Why should God even exist? Why does there have to be something that is nothing from which everything came? This is not to say that God is dead and does not exist; nor do I mean that since we have not seen the universe being created we therefore cannot conclude that there is no creator. Rather, there is a nothingness that has formed itself into creation for the purpose of knowing itself; for one cannot know something without experiencing whatever this something is. Saint Augustine says, “Of all visible things, the universe is the greatest; of all invisible realities, the greatest is God. That the world exists we can see; we believe in the existence of God.” This reliance on philosophical inference--i.e. that because creation exists, therefore, there must be a creator-- allows for a greater invisible/non-existent existence (God) which created the material universe; and we humans can know an invisible God through its visible creation. Saint Bonaventure also offers this type of cosmogony when discussing the Journey of the Soul into God. Indeed the first step of his meditations for the purpose of theosis is contemplating creation itself.

Concerning the mirror of things/perceived through sensation,/we can see God/not only through them as through his vestiges,/but also in them/as he is in them/by his essence, power and presence…the macrocosm, enters our soul, which is called the smaller world, through the doors of the five senses as we perceive, enjoy and judge sensible things. (Bonaventure, Souls Journey into God)

As mentioned above, creation spun out of its non-existent self for the purpose of knowing itself through Love. God embodied itself to know and love itself through the creation of the universe, but also through humanity.