YHWH: Purest Poetry

I am taking a break from my "series" on "The Bible: Chauvinist Propaganda?"

One of my ESL students wrote a brilliant poem contrasting Christ with Satan. She used "eyes" as the vehicle to convey this tenor. During the last period of the day, while we discussed her poem and just God in general, something occurred to me. Nothing new, but...I felt compelled to share it.

I know when people think of poetry, most of the time they think that sappy, lovey-dovey or purely emotional blather that happens to rhyme, repeat the same phrase a million times, or get so "deep" you are caught between not understanding it at all or making it mean anything. However, the strongest poetry is by definition "condensed thought." Those statements that hit you between the eyes and keep you thinking long after you've read them or heard them. That's pure poetry.

So as we were taking her poem apart, we were both trying to think of "the right words" for each line....if you can use one word instead of three, or if you can use a word that has two meanings instead of merely one....it makes a much stronger, provocative poem. Condensed thought. It becomes a game. It is as thought the poem already exists and you must find the correct words to unlock it.

Anyway, I'd been reading through Exodus recently and thinking about God's name, YHWH, and what it means and while my student and I were critiquing her poem, something clicked. The greatest condensed thought of all time is found in Exodus 3:14. "I AM." We've all read it and thought about it many times, yet...it still gives me shudders. "I AM." YHWH. God's very name. It is the shortest sentence in the English language and yet...the entirety of the Bible, the universe, and everything all at once.

While the "be" verb is the only verb that is not a visible action, without it there would be no action. It is the concept behind all linking verbs--verbs that connect the predicate directly to the subject--and the potential for all action verbs. The "be" verb is our way of conveying--not our actions, but rather our trappings of three spatial dimensions within the time dimension.

God saying "I AM" means He is NOT trapped by time or space. I'm no Hebrew scholar, but apparently, based on all translations of "YHWH," the Hebrew language must have the very same condensed concept as we have in the words: "I AM." It is translated: "I AM THAT I AM," "I AM THE ONE WHO ALWAYS IS," "I AM THAT WHICH I AM," "I EXIST BECAUSE I EXIST," "THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A TIME NOR WILL THERE EVER BE A TIME WHEN I AM NOT," "I WAS WHO I WAS, I AM WHO I AM, I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE," etc.. A constant time-transcendant existence, that is most clearly exhibited in the present tense. Basically..."I AM."

Can ANYONE you know say that they exist b/c they exist? Can ANYONE you know speak with that authority? Can ANYONE exist of their own will? Can anyone never begin or never end? Of course you can commit suicide and thereby "choose" when you will die, but can anyone "choose" to be born? (Incidentally, can anyone else die and come back to life by himself? This is another grammar nerd thought: for anyone to come back to life, he would have to be raised from the dead--as the object of the transitive verb "raise". Christ was the ONLY person to rise from the dead--no object. He did it to and of Himself. The intransitive verb "rise.")

I suppose there have been many who have claimed that they chose to exist. Cults have leaders, right? But seriously, the problem lies within proof. No one can prove that he has always existed. A person has to be taken at his word! What is God's proof then? We are. This creation is. The potential to learn about God existed before we (and cult leaders) existed b/c the Bible was there before we were. The universe existed before the Bible. And God existed before the universe. But....it doesn't stop there. Think of the hundreds and hundreds of Biblical prophecies that have been fulfilled and are being fulfilled to the "T"! No other "god" has that kind of power or that kind of proof. Even if you deny this body of evidence...it's a greater body than any other being can claim! And b/c of the fulfilled prophesies, you need proof to deny this proof!

A person cannot claim "I AM," b/c that person has a beginning...even if he claims that he existed on another plane and just appeared on earth at the "right" time..."Oh!" you say, "but isn't this what Christ did?" Yes. He also rose from the dead. That's proof. He has ultimate power over existence. He and the Father ARE one. They ARE. He IS. "I AM." That would be out and out blasphemy for ANYONE else to even consider saying!

This brings us, of course, to Rene Descartes and the "I think, therefore I am" statement. I know people who claim that this is man's attempt at blasphemy b/c of the words, "I am." But consider this: this is as condensed a thought as humans can EVER have about themselves. However, it is vastly limited compared to simply stating, "I AM." This is b/c of the huge limiting qualifier in the sentence: "I think..." God does not need to think to exist. Also, our thinking doesn't cause US to exist. You didn't think before you existed, but since you now exist, you are able to think. However, that thinking and reasoning does actually little more than set you apart from the animals when you consider how great God is. Animals think, of course...but, does an animal understand what I'm talking about right now? Um...no.

Now, don't get me wrong. The human mind is by all rights astoundingly complex...however, without that Genesis "breath of Life" and image from God, there would be no "thinking" to be therefore "I am-ing" in the first place. Mr. Descartes was pointing out an unavoidable truth (whether or not his intent was blasphemy), yet...as complex as his statement is, the further condensed statement--"I AM"--is infinitely more complex, even though it takes three less words to say.

This is also why cloning is a ridiculous "playing God" argument. You are not playing God until you can first of all exist all the time, none of the time, out of time, in time, by creating time, by yourself, etc.. Forget the "ex nihilo" (creating something from nothing) argument. No one in any time, place, or dimension can ever EVER "play God" b/c we need many elements in order to exist. God needs none but Himself.

God is, all the time. This shows un-thinkable power. However, the very fact that He said these words to Moses shows His ultimate compassion and love. That a Being such as this would deign to reveal Himself in two words...How? Why? He subjects Himself to time for our sake. He subjects Himself to language and concepts that we can understand so that we can come to Him. Even if we cannot fully comprehend not having a beginning or end, we can still understand it by concept. We exist. We understand "am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been." That a Being could be all of these at once, be the very Source of that existence, and furthermore use them in a way that we cannot fully fathom or hope to replicate--that a Being like that would love us? He can. He does. He is.

I know people say that John 3:16 is the Bible in a nutshell...but really, if you condensed and whittled away that verse down to its core concept, you would have "I AM." Think about the elements of John 3:16. "For God so loved the world..." God is the ultimate Source of unfathomable power who created the universe--by Him all things consist. He loved the world. How could Love ever happen without ultimate Truth to back it up? Love would be meaningless without Truth. How could Truth ever happen without a Source of Truth that has always been? Truth by very definition is something that never changes and always exists. "...that He gave His only begotten Son..." We wouldn't know about Jesus if the Bible didn't tell us so,...but we'd never have the Bible if God wasn't first the "I AM" behind it. Also, sacrificing His own un-ending self in the person of His Son--that's eternal love that could only be ultimate if the Being giving it was eternal! "....that whosoever believeth in Him..." As Hebrews 11:6 states, we cannot believe in God until we first believe that He "is"! No-brainer. "...should not perish..." Surely the only One who can keep life from perishing in the flames of hell, is the One who sustains existence. "...but have ever-lasting life." What is the only inevitability for everyone who has ever existed? Death. Except One. That is God and He is the only one capable of giving eternal life, b/c not only is He inside the time-related concept of "eternal," but also He transcends it! He is not even bound by our narrow concept of infinity! He exists!

I could go on and on and on to explain God's existence even further and I would never completely scratch the surface of it's meaning. I would come to the same conclusion Dorothy came to at the end of that movie. I don't have to look any further than my own backyard. The answer is right there. The most condensed thought known to man. The purest poetry by which all other poetry consists and is founded. The explanation is right there. He is. "I AM."