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[In My Opinion]

Where is God? If your answer is "heaven", where is that? If your answer is "everywhere", what does that mean?

[jimwalton]

God's omnipresence has never been adequately defined. In the Old Testament is comes across more in the sense of "there is no place to which God does not have access." In the NT it comes across more like "God is everywhere at the same time," though both ideas occur in both testaments. We also know from the Bible that God's presence in places can seem to change in its intensity and quality, as in when "the presence of the Lord descended on the temple." Um, wasn't he already there if he is omnipresent? Yes, but now he's present in a different way. All of this is to say that there is an indistinct answer to what it means that God is everywhere.

But I'll still try to answer your question. "Heaven" is generally described as the home of God, though there's every reason to believe at this point it has no materiality, or at least a different kind of materiality (Jesus was material after his resurrection, but he could walk through our solid wood doors as if they weren't there). God is non-material; we have no idea about the materiality or spirituality of angels, cherubim, seraphim, etc., but if they are "material," they probably exist in the same kind of different materiality that Jesus does.

So where is God? He's everywhere, as you say. There is no place He is not, though His presence can be different in quality or intensity, so to speak, from place to place. He is more present in Christians than in general. He was more present in the Holy of Holies in Solomon's temple than he was elsewhere. But part of the point of biblical teaching is that God was not contained by the temple.

If you're thinking this is starting to sound a little weird, some recent observations of quantum mechanics have determined or observed that a molecule can exist in more than one place at a time, and that some molecules can pass through other molecules as if they aren't there. These scientific announcements have a "Twilight Zone" aspect to them, but they're current science. We believe that God is everywhere at the same time. Mostly by that we mean nothing escapes his knowledge, nothing is outside of the capability of his power, and there is nothing that can evade his eye, so to speak—hide from him.

[In My Opinion]

So, God is a subatomic particle(s)? Does this mean he can be detected? Because we can do that with subatomic particles, despite their weird quantum properties. Why is he "more" present in Christians than others? How can someone be more or less present? Unfortunately your answer seems to raise more questions than it answers. And I only had one!

[jimwalton]

> So, God is a subatomic particle(s)?

No. It's analogy from another discipline of study.

> Why is he "more" present in Christians than others?

Because God comes to live inside of those who turn to Him for relationship. So His presence in them is different from his general omnipresence.

> How can someone be more or less present?

This is never explained to us. We know that God's holiness is always the same, but He gets to choose whether or not He's going to use his power, and in what way. So things like his holiness and love are constant, but things like his power and presence seem to be changeable. While they are always there, they are there to differing degrees and quantities.

> Unfortunately your answer seems to raise more questions than it answers

Most good learning does this, including a lot of science and history.

[In My Opinion]

Why are all your answers so vague?

[jimwalton]

That's an interesting response. I didn't think they were. But I did start out with "God's omnipresence has never been adequately defined," so tight specificity is not possible. But I didn't think I was being vague.

God comes to live inside of those who turn to him for relationship. The Bible uses the word for living in a house: he comes to live inside of us. I don't know what's vague about that.

So his presence is different from his general omnipresence. He is, we might say, living inside Christians with a commanding presence rather than a general presence. Christians make him Lord of their lives, which gives Him the capability to direct their lives differently than He directs the cosmos. I don't understand what's vague.

"How can someone be more or less present?" I said right off the bat that this is never explained to us, so I don't know how I can be more concise when more succinctness is illusive.

Let me know what you want more about. I hate to just write long and deep if most people don't want to read that much.

[In My Opinion]

Can't you just give a straight answer to the question? Where is God?

[jimwalton]

Sure. He's everywhere.

"What does that mean?" you ask. It means He is present at all points of time and space. God penetrates every dimension. He is not identical to everything (pantheism is not a biblical theology). God is wholly present in every part of this universe (and beyond, if there is a beyond).

[In My Opinion]

Then why can't we see him?

[jimwalton]

He's not composed of matter, and he has no material substance. Maybe like light waves, dark matter, time, and memories (though all analogies fall short somewhere eventually). These things exist, but can't be seen.

The Bible says God is spirit (not "a spirit," as if he's a ghost; he's not). We take that to mean he has no materiality, just as some forms of energy have no materiality.