The lecture affirms the human need for a true knowledge of God — knowledge that is not merely doctrinal ideas but a practical spiritual life. His Holiness Pope Shenouda III teaches us that a wrong picture of God corrupts the relationship with Him: either we load Him with all our evils or we imagine Him harsh, dry, or distant from people’s concerns. In contrast, Christ revealed to us a merciful, compassionate, pure Heavenly Father who invites us to holiness and love.

Core idea

• We should not cast all our problems on God as if He causes evil himself; some evils have worldly causes and God sometimes permits so that a good may appear later.

• We must educate children and the people with a language that adopts spiritual responsibility: not “God is angry” as a threat, but “your actions ruin you” because God loves you and wants your salvation.

• We must not present God as a rigid or frightening legal figure; rather in His parental, tender, compassionate image that calls to sanctification and perfection.

Ways of knowing God according to the lecture

1. The Son (Christ): the image of the Father who became incarnate and the supreme example in love and holiness.

2. Lives of the saints: walk in the footsteps of the sheep — the lives of the saints give us a practical picture of God’s attributes (tenderness, humility, holiness, generosity).

3. Contemplation of nature: nature proclaims God’s glory; contemplating it should lead us to God and not stop at the creature.

4. Prayer and spiritual experiences: true knowledge requires prayer, contemplation, and experiences of divine revelation, and is not merely theoretical knowledge.

Coptic Orthodox spiritual and educational dimension

The perspective is Coptic Orthodox and connects doctrine with life: knowledge of God is a call to holiness (be holy as your Father in heaven is holy), and spiritual education should bring people to the heart of God by love not by fear. Emphasis on spiritual mysteries, the lives of the saints, and inner asceticism aligns with the Coptic tradition of turning knowledge into popular spiritual life.

Practical invitation

• Make God present in your life by prayer and petition: “O Lord, I want to know You.”

• Meditate on God’s attributes and praise them until they become an inner life, not only theoretical information.

• Walk in the footsteps of the saints and let their lives be a mirror leading you to Christ.

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