2. God Occupies No Space
Theworldweseewithoureyesisamaterialworldcomposedofatoms.
Everyobjecthasaspecialplaceandspecialproperties,whichvaryfrom
situationtosituation.Distanceplaysaroleintheactionoftheseproper-
tiesandthenearerthecauseistotheeffectthestrongertheeffectis;the
furtherawayitis,theweakertheeffect,untiladistanceisreachedwhere
thecausehasnoactionatall.Toelucidatethispointweshallgiveoneor
two examples.
(a) Thepowerofamagnetisnotthesameatalldistances:thenearer
themetalistothemagnet,thestrongerthepowerofattraction.Ifanail
isplacedatadistanceoftwocentimetersfromamagnet,theattraction
will be stronger than if it is placed at a distance of ten centimeters.
(b) The lightofalampmayreachahundredmeters,butwithinthis
distancetheintensityisnotuniform.Thenearertothelampweare,the
greater the intensity of its light.
Thesetwoexamplesshow thatallthingswhicharesituatedinacer-
tainplacedonothaveanequaleffectatalldistance,thenearerweareto
the center of something, the greater its effect will be, and vice versa.
Does God Have a Center?
Somepeoplemaypossiblythinkthatlikethesunandothermaterial
things,GodhasaplaceandthatHehasaseatfromwhichHeexertsHis
influenceoverHiscreation.However,thisisnotthecase,becauseHisin-
fluenceoncreation,whichisHisown work,isthesameineveryplace,
fromthedepthsoftheoceanstothefurthestpartsofouterspace.There
isnoplacetowhichHisinfluencedoesnotreachinsufficiency.Thisin-
fluenceisnotsuchashasacenter,suchthatthefurtherwegofromitthe
weakeritbecomes,untilwereachapointwherethereisnotraceofhis
influence andchaos reigns. Forif God hada place like othermaterial
things,Hisinfluencewouldvarythroughouttheuniverse.Thereforewe
candeducefromthisthattheCreatorofthisworldhasnolocationand
nocenter.Indeed,GodistheCreatorof“place”anditisimpossiblethat
the Creator should be dependent on what He has created.
Godcannotbe comparedwith aninventor,because,aswe explained
previously,aninventorisnotacreator.Hisonlygeniusisthatheunder-
stands the properties of things and is successful in bringing together