{"id":4350,"date":"2020-02-25T19:58:58","date_gmt":"2020-02-25T19:58:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wpmu.azurewebsites.net\/nlt\/?p=4350"},"modified":"2021-12-08T09:20:55","modified_gmt":"2021-12-08T09:20:55","slug":"the-beginning-of-it-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/2020\/02\/25\/the-beginning-of-it-all\/","title":{"rendered":"The Beginning of it All"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Article from the <em>New Believer&#8217;s Bible<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.  John 1:1-5, NLT<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eventually every child gets around to asking the question, \u201cWhere did God come from?\u201d And there is no easy answer for that, except to say, God has always existed. He is self-existent. He already existed in the beginning. God has no beginning, nor does he have an end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2019\/03\/kids-girl-pencil-drawing-small.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3455\" width=\"316\" height=\"210\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2019\/03\/kids-girl-pencil-drawing-small.jpg 400w, https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2019\/03\/kids-girl-pencil-drawing-small-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 316px) 100vw, 316px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>It is worth noting that the Bible never tries to prove the existence of God. It just says, \u201cIn the beginning God created the heavens and the earth\u201d (Genesis 1:1). You can\u2019t go back any further than that! Now, certain people would like to eliminate the major player here. They\u2019d rather the verse read, \u201cIn the beginning, the heavens and the earth . . .\u201d But if we eliminate God, then we have a big problem. In the beginning . . . what?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some would say, \u201cIn the beginning, a mass of gases was floating in space.\u201d But that\u2019s not the beginning. Where did the mass of gases come from? Where did space come from? The Bible simply says, \u201cIn the beginning God.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Bible doesn\u2019t tell us when the beginning was; it just says God was already there. And here, John tells us that the Word, Jesus Christ, already existed in the beginning with God ( John 1:2). He was with God, he was God, and God created everything through him ( John 1:1, 3).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"300\" height=\"158\" src=\"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2019\/12\/blueskysmall.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4192\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Sometimes we speak of God by describing his attributes: omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, sovereignty, truth, righteousness, holiness, and love. While these descriptions can help, if you really want to know what God is like, then look at Jesus\u2014God in human form. Jesus did not represent God as a glorified man; he was God himself among us, the Messiah in human flesh, God with skin on. God has a face. Jesus, who embodied all of God\u2019s attributes, walked our planet as a man and breathed our air and felt our pain. He was so knowledgeable he could predict future events, so humble he could get on his knees and wash a friend\u2019s dirty feet, so powerful he could calm the wind and waves with just a word, so approachable that children laughingly climbed into his arms. In Jesus, God spelled himself out in language that every one of us can understand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Article from the New Believer&#8217;s Bible &#8220;In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13,14,15,21,43,44,52],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4350"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4350"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5725,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4350\/revisions\/5725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- LIVE: wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com/nlt//wp-json/wp/v2/posts/4350 -->