Acts 17:22-34
God of the Heavens and Earth
22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” 33 At that, Paul left the Council. 34 Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.
Jeremiah 1:5
God Knows Us Before We are Born
5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
Hebrews 13:8
Jesus is the Same Yesterday, Today, and Forever
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
When Paul was once in Athens, he made the point that we are not here on earth out of chance or randomness...God is a Living God who is the Maker who gives us life...He Created Adam and all men...God is not far from any of us...And God has appointed Jesus as the Man who someday will judge us and the world...We are body and spirit and seek God, and reach out to Him...
Paul stated that God made the world and everything in it...He is the LORD of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands...God is not served by human hands...Rather, God Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else they need...From one man He made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands...God did this so that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from any one of us...For in God we live and move about and have our being and our self...As some of the Greek poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’...Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill...In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent...For God has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed...He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead...
But those who do not believe like Paul and believe that there is no God -and if that if true, then I am here completely by chance, and here just randomly writing this text about Jesus…Who I am with, and my family are all just related to me by pure chance and evolution…Somehow I just got here approximately two thousand years after Jesus walked the earth (using Him as a time point in my reference)…And then God is not near anyone, because He does not exist...But if there is a God, then I am not here by chance at all, and I am here writing this text with and writing it for a purpose…Who I am with, and my family are here because God knew me before I was even born, and He has been near me and helping me, if I prayed and followed the Holy Spirit as I have access to my Creator and His Son through prayer…
Paul's speech to the Athenians is a tribute to God... He makes the point that there is Something Higher, Someone Higher, Something more complex, and is real and is near us...God appointed our times and places on earth...God is indeed in control of the past, present, and future...He is the major force of what it is to be human...After all, if my writing this today and my love of the ideas and impressions that arise from reading are mere chance, randomness, and evolution with a random outcome, then my mere responses and not real experiences...I would not even know what kind of experience that is...If my experiences and these words you are reading are mere random chances, then I must ask myself, "How can this be?"...I am left wondering if even my thoughts are nothing more than some blind random chances reacting to billions of years of old and past thoughts that are just reacting to a random evolutionary outcome...I feel something (and where did feelings come from)...So, to me, this feels to be a human experience, and these words are also a tribute to God...