Who or what is God?

for ages 5-13

In this class we find out how God is just like water

Sometimes things aren't what we expect.

Sometimes it is hard to understand exactly what people mean, and sometimes for the biggest questions in life everyone has a different answer.

When people talk about God and what we are doing here on earth, for example, you'll find that most people don’t agree on very much at all.

If you have heard of the word religion, you might know that there are many different beliefs about who God is or whether he or she exists at all.

Atheists don’t believe in God.

They say that there is no scientific proof for God's existence. Other people believe in a God that is like a really nice person who loves us all, or that God is just another name for the universe and existence - it just IS.

But do you know what? We think every one is right. How can that be?

Have you ever thought about all the names that water has? We know the liquid is called ‘water’, it is wet and it is easy for us to see. Then there is ‘ice’ – it is frozen water and it is so hard it can be like a rock. Then if you heat water up it becomes a ‘vapour’ or ‘steam’ and is practically invisible.

Lets think about God like water for a minute.

Sometimes he (or she, or it) is invisible like a vapour but if you were to stop and look really closely you would be able to see tiny water droplets in the vapour.

Other times, God is like a liquid, that you can swim in and other times God is so real, it is like a block of ice right in front of you.

Sometimes you can’t actually see the water, but it still exists. Everything on earth needs water for life. Plants need it, animals need it.

We are all like that too, we all need love for our lives too. To be simple, love is another name for God. So some people say that they don’t believe in God, but they still believe in love.

So they experience God that is very hard to see, like vapour.

Then there are others that say they can see God like an energy, swim in him, like a liquid. For them God is just as real as drinking water.

Then there are still others that believe that God is as real as a block of ice. If you ran into a block of ice you would crash into it. For some people, God is like that, so real you can’t miss her.

Then there other names for God. I might call God - 'love', but someone else says no is he is a person like you and me and his name is 'God', or 'Supreme', or 'Allah', or 'Rama' and others say that God is not a male or a female, that God is more like a 'force' or 'energy'. Do you see what i mean about all the different names for water? ...and all the different ways people think of God?