Editorial December 23, 1996 Issue

Is God changing—or are we?

William E. Moody

Much of the world was locked in ice. Thirty thousand years ago the Northern Hemisphere would have been a hard place to earn a living. Nomadic bands of people ranged over the countryside, gathering small berries and nuts, hunting huge woolly mammoths, and tracking the seemingly endless herds of reindeer. Meanwhile great glaciers were slowly grinding their advance and then retreating, changing the face of the land forever.

In this harsh climate, people often took refuge in the caves of Europe. There, they developed ceremonies and rituals, music and art. Recorded on the walls of those caves is remarkable evidence of a very early search for the sacred. The people were surely trying to come to terms with the forces that shaped their world and their lives.

What was God to these early seekers? We can only conjecture. But by the time of the first written history in the Middle East, we do know that primitive peoples were worshiping a number of gods—gods of the mountains and forests, of the fields and the stars. Then the Old Testament of the Bible tells of a people—Hebrews they would be called—who eventually centered their worship on one God. "Hear, O Israel," their cry became, "The Lord our God is one Lord" (Deut. 6:4). Still, four thousand years ago, this Jehovah—though a mighty presence in the people's lives—seemed a changeable deity, sometimes wrathful, sometimes merciful. Sometimes sending destruction to the world, sometimes renewing and saving it. Yet, here also was the emerging concept of God as the great Lawgiver. Commandments and covenants were realized. His moral laws guided the people and showed them a way of progress.

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