In conversing with the Samaritan woman at the well, in John, chapter 4, our Lord Jesus Christ made an extremely enigmatic statement. Here is what He said, “God is Spirit, and they that worship Him in spirit and in truth.” God is Spirit? What exactly does that mean? The Bible makes it abundantly clear throughout that there are two modes of objective reality: one is physical and one is non-physical; one is material, the other immaterial. While the Bible affirms in both Testaments that the spiritual, or non-material, exists as definitely as does the physical, many today do not believe this to be true. Those denying the very existence, or objective reality, of the spiritual are called “physicalists”, or naturalists, or materialists. Because the spiritual, or nonmaterial, is not subject to laboratory examination…can’t be weighed, measured, dissected or analyzed under their microscopes…they deny the nonmaterial even exists.
Not all in the scientific community take this position, and there are many reputable, well-credentialed scientists firmly committed to the objective existence of non-matter. Yet, for a large part of today’s scientists, their attitude is, “If it isn’t physical, it isn’t.” All atheists, naturally, hold this position, and, they reason, if you cannot see it, feel it, hear it, weigh it, or measure it, it does not exist. Applying this to man, their conclusion is man is purely a physical being and that’s all he is, composed of only a physical body, his death is the cessation of his being in its entirety…no heaven, no hell, no afterlife of any kind anywhere. Applying this physicalist concept to God, they simply define Him out of existence.
Remember Yuri Gagarin, the first Soviet cosmonaut launched into space by the Russians? His famous quote chided believers who had always said God was in heaven. “Well,” says Gagarin, “I was there in space, in the heavens, looked all over for God and didn’t see Him anywhere. Urgo, there is no God, not in the heavens, and not anywhere else. End of argument.” Not so fast, Mr. Gagarin. You made the flawed assumption that only the physical has objective reality. Christ made it clear two thousand years before you were born that God is such a One who cannot be seen. God is Spirit, so don’t go into outer space peeking behind stars and planets expecting to bump into God. Because God is Spirit, He does not occupy time nor space. He created time and space, and the reason He did so was to accommodate the physical and material He had already created. God does not swell in time nor space. He is apart from these. Spirit does not occupy time and space because they are physical realities while spirit is not. Doesn’t it sound terribly arrogant for those who admit they don’t fully understand time or space, yet insist they know enough about the spiritual to deny it even exists?
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