“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. 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. 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. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 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 him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ (Acts 17:22-28)
Back in the day when I was an Evangelical Christian Pastor, I never really took the time to read this passage and really understand everything that Paul was saying.
In summary, what Paul ends up preaching to these idol-worshipping pagans in Athens is this: “There’s a God you don’t know about, and I’m going to tell you who this god is: This god is the One who created the world and everything in the Universe. This god doesn’t live in temples or idols. This god lives and breathes in YOU! In fact, this god loves you and wants you to know them, and is even hopeful that you might reach out and find them. Everyone has their essence and being in this God. This God is everyone’s Father, and we are God’s children.”
I wish I had noticed, back when I was a Southern Baptist minister, that Paul proclaims to unbelieving pagans that God is their Father, that God loves them, and that this God lives in them, and they live and move and have their being in God.” That would’ve blown my mind and seriously challenged my theology. Which is probably why I never really saw it, to be honest.
Here, the Apostle Paul affirms the very same truths that the mystics have and continue to proclaim: God is everyone’s Father (or Mother), and God created everyone from one man (and woman), so that means we’re all in the same family. We are all connected to one another. And, this same God lives in everyone, and everyone lives in God. That means everyone is a child of God, and everyone is filled with the fullness of God.
That’s pretty radical stuff, isn’t it?
But, we’re only getting started.
Next, we’ll look at Paul’s conversion experience in Acts 9 to see what Quantum teachings we can find there.
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My book, “The Quantum Gospel of Mary and the Lost Gospel of Truth” is now available on Amazon.
The book from Keith Giles, “The Quantum Sayings of Jesus: Decoding the Lost Gospel of Thomas” is available now on Amazon. Order HERE>
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