What can we learn of God's internal character by looking at the world around us?

1. The first thing we see is that all races, nations and cultures treasure the love in the family unit. This love is universal and the need and desire for love is fundamental in every human being. Where does this love originate? From our cause God. God is a God of true love.

2. Each person has a conscience driving him or her to seek beauty, truth and goodness. People love art, music, dance, paintings, literature and poetry. It is human nature to seek beautiful clothes, hair styles, cosmetics and jewelry. This desire for beauty is an effect of God. God is a God of beauty.

Men and women seek truth. This is why people read, express themselves in writings and go to libraries and bookstores. There is a deep desire in mankind to see children receive an education. We are all born with an innate need to learn, explore and expand through knowledge and wisdom. People study science and the humanities to master the environment and human relationships. God is a God of truth.

Mankind desires to do good works. This is evidenced in charities, volunteer work and the many social and professional organizations that champion high ethical standards. People have through religion and philosophy sought guiding principles of goodness. Our nature feels remorse when we do wrong, and we feel indignation when we see wrong doing. Because our creator is sensitive and idealistic, people are sensitive and idealistic too. God is a God of goodness and justice.

3. We see order, law and principle throughout the universe. Incredible order and harmony permeates creation. Kant said, "...the glorious order, beauty, and providential care, everywhere displayed in nature, give rise to the belief in a wise and great Author of the Universe." Kepler said, "The universe was stamped with the adornment of harmonic proportions .... illustrating the glory of the fabric of the world, and of God the Architect." Cicero said, "The celestial order and the beauty of the universe compel me to admit that there is some excellent and eternal Being, who deserves the respect and homage of me." God is a master scientist--a God of law, order and principle.

4. Every person has a deep need to create and to build. We admire and treasure the creations of man, and we stand in awe of the creations of God.

We see infinite uniqueness in the universe. Snowflakes have six sides, yet no two snowflakes are the same. How many snowflakes have fallen in history? Every person has two eyes, a nose and a mouth, but no two faces are identical. Even identical twins are not identical. Every person has fingerprints, yet no two people have ever had the same fingerprints. Every human being has a unique personality and a deep need to express that special individuality by creative work. This deep motivation to be creative and to strive for excellence comes from our creator God. God is a God of creativity.

5. Mankind seeks eternal, unchanging, and absolute values. A marriage ceremony is when a man and a woman publicly pledge eternal, absolute and unchanging love. We desire to make commitments for life. Many songs are about love that lasts forever. For example, one popular song says:

People want eternal unity with their families, relatives and friends. We also have the wish for an eternal afterlife because we do not have enough time on earth to express all our love and creativity. Kant said, "... it is plain that the hope of a future life arises from the feeling, which exists in the breast of every man, that the temporal is inadequate to meet and satisfy the demands of his nature." The desire for eternal life and eternal, unchanging and absolute values comes from God. God is eternal, unchanging and absolute.

A fundamental question of mankind is what is our relationship to God? God is our parent, and we are his children. An essential part of being a parent is being a leader. God's desire is for us to be good followers. Other terms that could be used are subject and object.

We are to be good objects to God. This does not mean that God is a dictator and we are to be robots. True leadership does not mean pushing someone down but lifting them up with parental discipline, nurturing and love. Although God is to be the leader, he also needs our ideas, love and creativity. Between people there is often a leader and follower relationship. We see this between parents and children, teachers and students, employer and employees, a conductor and an orchestra, political leaders and their constituents.

To find real happiness, people must master the art of being a good follower to their leaders and being a good leader to those who follow them. The action between leader and follower is called Give and Take Action. God created everything in the universe to exist, act and multiply through give and take action, i.e., through interdependent and harmoniously reciprocal relationships.

For example, atoms exist and act because of the give and take action between the protons and electrons. Plants exist because of the give and take of xylem and phloem. Plants give oxygen to animals, and animals return carbon dioxide to plants. Each person can exist and act because of the give and take between the arteries and veins, inhalation and exhalation. We need give and take between our mind and body. On a human relationship level people need give and take in the family between husband and wife, parents and children, brothers and sisters. Society can function well only if there is harmony and cooperation for common goals between people, families, groups and nations.

If parents have many children they know and love each of them intimately. Even though there are billions of people God loves and knows each person intimately too. And just as parents want give and take with their children, God wants give and take with each of us.