Is God Dead?

Recently, I shared with you that what breaks my heart is the thought that some of my family might not spend eternity in heaven with God. I guess I have had this thought, this fear, since even before I came to trust in Christ as my Savior and Lord.

I found the letter below that I had written to my family a few years ago — and I thought I’d share it with you, because perhaps some of you have similar concerns about your family or even yourself:

(Letter to my family dated August 7, 2020)

During some of my youth my family subscribed to Time magazine. The year before I graduated from high school (1966), I remember seeing a cover of Time magazine with the provocative headline, Is God Dead? At that time in my life, I didn’t really give it much thought, but I do recall thinking that perhaps the answer was yes. I have to sadly admit that I didn’t really spend much time thinking about God.

During college I thought about God even less. What thoughts I had were a conglomeration of what I heard years earlier as a child, as well as my own “logic” and imagination. It was Mark Twain who once said, “God created man in his own image and man, being a gentleman, returned the favor.” I think Mark Twain’s statement is a humorous description of a sad but true situation.

A lot of people can look at the complexity and intelligent design of nature and still say there is no God. Maybe some really believe it—and maybe some find it a handy way to justify their unwillingness to submit to an ultimate authority. Some may believe there is (or was) a God, but that he just got the universe started and then he either died or went on vacation. Some people choose to also ignore the existence and claims of Jesus Christ.

To a man about to die of thirst in the desert, how he got lost is no longer the important question. Getting water and getting found are what’s important. Unfortunately, some men will use their last moments cursing God or chasing a mirage.

I’ve shared with you in a previous letter about the fateful night after my first divorce when I found myself staring (so to speak) at the gates of hell—knowing that if I died that night I would spend eternity in hell separated from God and from those I loved. By the grace of God, when I was about to perish in the desert, God reached out to me and showed me the Way to living water. In that moment I chose to trust in Jesus as my Savior and Lord. I found life and I developed a new thirst—a thirst to know God intimately.

Even though we all have a slightly different view of God, He is who He is. One of the greatest lessons I ever learned was in the middle of my crisis when I realized that early in life I had made up a god in my imagination to be the god I wanted him to be.

A few years later while reading a book I highly recommend—The Man in the Mirror by Patrick Morley, I found a quote that profoundly sums up the situation: “There is a God we want, and there is a God who is. They are not the same God. The turning point of our lives is when we stop seeking the God we want and start seeking the God who is.”

What about you? Do you truly seek to know the God who is—or—is your god, in essence a make-believe god you’ve made up based on the parts of the Bible you agree with and that fit your agenda? I pray none of you on your last day on earth find yourself standing before The God of the Universe only to hear him say, “I don’t know you.”

I’ll be the first to admit that so much about God remains opaque and mysterious. Even after reading through the Bible several times —I can barely comprehend him, much less understand all his thoughts. How can anyone comprehend a God capable of thinking the universe into existence? I can’t even comprehend the vastness of the known universe or the complexity of a human cell.

What I don’t know far exceeds what I do know, but what he has made known to us is very beautiful. He has made his gospel (good news) known to us in the person of Jesus. Because I love Jesus and I love you so much, I suggest you earnestly, intentionally and proactively seek to know Jesus. Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No person comes to the Father except through me.”

Jesus also said, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God. A great place to start to get to know about the real God is by reading the Bible—and a great place to start reading the Bible is by reading the four gospels—and a great place to start reading the gospels is by reading the Gospel of John. After the Gospels, I suggest reading Romans. I’ll continue to pray God puts a thirst in you to know Him and to seek a close relationship with Him. (end of letter)

Any thoughts on the subject…feel free to share them on the FATC FORUM or give me a call. Remember our motto “It isn’t just about the fly fishing” means we are more about being a brotherhood of men.

John Muckerman

FATC Inspirational and Leadership Studies Lead