Wednesday November 30, In the year of our Lord 2011
My House, Caronport Saskatchewan
Still digesting theology, 6:35 PM
Weather = lightly frosted
Within Christian Scripture there is a clear division between God and creation. It can be illustrated like this:
Creator
-----------
creation
God created the world and is distinct from it. It is fundamentally wrong headed to try to take a piece of creation and try to say 'God is like an angel in that he is a spirit' or 'God is like a father in that he cares for us.' No! As I have already written about in the last two sections God is known by his self-revelation in word and deed in Jesus. The reason for this is that God is not 'like' anything in creation. There is nothing we can compare him to. But this is review.
So yes, God is distinct from creation, but that is not the end of the story. The other side of this theological coin is that God 'gets his hands dirty' by being intimately involved with creation. By God's spirit everything is animated and has life. In Genesis 1 God created everything and in Genesis 2 God takes specific interest in humanity, breathing the breath of life into Adam's nostrils (what a picture of closeness!), planting a garden full of good trees pleasing to the eye and good for food, bestowing Adam an incredible honor by allowing him to name the animals and continue in God's work of creating, and taking a special interest in Adam's completeness, creating the first woman, and oh I am sooo glad that he paid such incredible attention to all these things. His action in the world didn't stop there though, when Adam and Eve sinned God lead them out of the garden both as a judgment and a protection lest they live in their sins forever and he promised a savior. When the people tried to built the Tower of Babel God scattered them both as a judgment and as a protection. Then there was God's provision for Noah and his family, the calling and the covenant he made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He called Moses to work as his agent as he went to war with the gods of Egypt and delivered his chosen people to the Promised Land. God continued to work in the world, revealing himself to the Judges and then to David and the Prophets. Finally he came to earth himself, a man, the historical Jesus of Nazareth who was mighty in word and deed. He revealed a new way of relating to God, as Father by participating in the relationship of The Son by the Holy Spirit! Christ's life, death, Resurrection, and ascension by which he sealed the everlasting relationship and definitive revelation of God to the entire cosmos! Then he sent The Holy Spirit to live inside of those who put their faith into him! God has been living and active in the word from its very creation and will continue to be until the very end of time if such a thing even exists!
There are several heresies that occur when we try to lessen or expand the gap between Creator and creation.
If we try to make God further from creation than is revealed in Scripture then we end up with Allah, or Deism. The Muslims' god is a completely transcendent deity. He is so holy that nothing can come close to him and he does not come close to us. While the Christian god is completely holy and just as transcendent, he speaks into creation in word and deed and chooses to participate (and takes great delight) in creation.
This version of God is basic Deism. The God who wound up the universe like a clock and then left.
If we try to remove the barrier between Creator and creation then we end up with Pantheism where everything is God. God is in every tree, every stone, every human soul, etc. Many First Nations religions and modern 'spirituality,' boil down to basic Pantheism. This is not how God has revealed himself. He is distinct from creation, not part of it.
Also chipping at the edge is Panentheism (there's an extra 'n'). The belief that God is slowly moving into creation or that creation is slowly moving into God. Hegel's theory of continual thesis, antithesis, and synthesis is the root of this heresy in modern Christianity.
So yes, there is a clear division between Creator and created. God is the creator and everything else, every tree, rock, angel, demon, human spirit, and celestial being is creation.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Theological Points 2: God Speaks
Wednesday November 30, In the year of our Lord 2011
My House, Caronport Saskatchewan
Continuing to digest theology class, 6:14 PM
Weather = the same as it was last time I posted
Very much related to the last post is this. The only knowledge we have of God is God's self-revelation. The only way we can say anything about God is to repeat what God has said about himself. God speaks and we respond to his speaking. God always speaks first by word and deed.
Why does this matter? It matters because it determines everything we know and can know about God. This is why The Bible is the final authority for all matters of faith and conduct. Within its pages are the words of God, the revelation that came, not from man's ideas, but which came from God himself and were recorded.
Jesus is the definitive revelation of God (John 14:7-9; Heb 1:1-2). This means that all revelation of God comes through Christ. Any spiritual experience that denies Christ is not revelation of God. This is the bottom line and the reason why Christianity is often viewed as 'intolerant' to other faiths. Ours is an exclusive faith where Jesus is the only gateway to the Father.
In terms of 'General Revelation' where a person will look up into the heavens or behold the glory of a sunset and feel in her heart the existence of God, if it be true revelation, occurs through Christ who causes the heart to be stirred in that moment.
If we try to circumvent the path that God has created from himself to us (Jesus) and try to find our own way we are only projecting our own ideas onto the God who can not be known apart from how he makes himself known (in word and deeds culminating in Jesus). The entire Liberal approach to theology, of taking my own personal experiences and extrapolating from them what God is like is, quite frankly, completely backwards and heretical. God is known by his self-revelation only and while this will result in personal experiences does not begin with my personal experiences.
Any time come to any knowledge of God, be it intellectual, emotional, relational, grammatical, theological, philosophical, or anything at all, it is because God first spoke and is at that moment speaking.
My House, Caronport Saskatchewan
Continuing to digest theology class, 6:14 PM
Weather = the same as it was last time I posted
Very much related to the last post is this. The only knowledge we have of God is God's self-revelation. The only way we can say anything about God is to repeat what God has said about himself. God speaks and we respond to his speaking. God always speaks first by word and deed.
Why does this matter? It matters because it determines everything we know and can know about God. This is why The Bible is the final authority for all matters of faith and conduct. Within its pages are the words of God, the revelation that came, not from man's ideas, but which came from God himself and were recorded.
Jesus is the definitive revelation of God (John 14:7-9; Heb 1:1-2). This means that all revelation of God comes through Christ. Any spiritual experience that denies Christ is not revelation of God. This is the bottom line and the reason why Christianity is often viewed as 'intolerant' to other faiths. Ours is an exclusive faith where Jesus is the only gateway to the Father.
In terms of 'General Revelation' where a person will look up into the heavens or behold the glory of a sunset and feel in her heart the existence of God, if it be true revelation, occurs through Christ who causes the heart to be stirred in that moment.
If we try to circumvent the path that God has created from himself to us (Jesus) and try to find our own way we are only projecting our own ideas onto the God who can not be known apart from how he makes himself known (in word and deeds culminating in Jesus). The entire Liberal approach to theology, of taking my own personal experiences and extrapolating from them what God is like is, quite frankly, completely backwards and heretical. God is known by his self-revelation only and while this will result in personal experiences does not begin with my personal experiences.
Any time come to any knowledge of God, be it intellectual, emotional, relational, grammatical, theological, philosophical, or anything at all, it is because God first spoke and is at that moment speaking.
Theological Points 1: God is Known by his Deeds
Wednesday November 30, In the year of our Lord 2011
My House, Caronport Saskatchewan
Digesting modular class, 5:48 PM
Weather = lightly snowing but still nice enough to wear sandals
God's identity = God's action and God's actions = God's identity. Put another way; the Christian God is known through his interaction with creation.
I have spent the last three days in a heavy theology mod about the doctrine of God and creation. I am writing about it to better understand what I am learning as well as cement it in my mind. I may touch on several key concepts so buckle up; we're going for a theological ride!
Christianity has always understood God by the actions that God does. There is no knowledge of God apart from God's revealing of himself. Part of the problem of our theological thinking is that we immediately move to philosophical abstractions. God is spirit, God is loving, God is omnipotent, God is gracious, God is all powerful, etc. While these things may be true in a basic sense they are impersonal and cold terms which are inadequate for describing the living God of Christianity. Just look at Psalm 103:
God is not just philosophical abstractions, he is personally involved in creation, more than that, personally involved in the lives of humans. God is known by his deeds and his deeds define who he is. He also does not expect us to worship him until he reveals himself in his actions. Read the rest of the psalm and look specifically for God's actions.
The appropriate reaction to God's action is our worship of him. He does not just appear and say "behold I am God; the essence of true being. Worship me." He proves himself to be a good and loving God by acting in our lives and being known by his actions. God's reputation is recorded in the Bible, the God who creates, sustains, breathes life into humans, leads, disciplines, calls, protects, redeems, and loves. God's present actions are in accordance with his past actions and his future actions will also be in accordance with who he is, how he has acted, this is called God's Faithfulness!
It is never enough to just say "God is loving." How has God loved and how is he loving now? God gave his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ to mediate the relationship of Love and the gift of everlasting life while we were still sinners Christ died for us. God continues to love by enlivening us with the Holy Spirit and allowing us to commune with the Father through the Son. This is the ultimate act of love and it is of cosmic proportions. It is a demonstration of his love. To say that "God is loving" without also speaking of the act of God's love is to not do justice to the Biblical account of God.
God is not a Platonic ideal, a philosophical 'being' to which we ascribe the highest of virtues, he is known by practical, physical, actual actions that take place in history.
My House, Caronport Saskatchewan
Digesting modular class, 5:48 PM
Weather = lightly snowing but still nice enough to wear sandals
God's identity = God's action and God's actions = God's identity. Put another way; the Christian God is known through his interaction with creation.
I have spent the last three days in a heavy theology mod about the doctrine of God and creation. I am writing about it to better understand what I am learning as well as cement it in my mind. I may touch on several key concepts so buckle up; we're going for a theological ride!
Christianity has always understood God by the actions that God does. There is no knowledge of God apart from God's revealing of himself. Part of the problem of our theological thinking is that we immediately move to philosophical abstractions. God is spirit, God is loving, God is omnipotent, God is gracious, God is all powerful, etc. While these things may be true in a basic sense they are impersonal and cold terms which are inadequate for describing the living God of Christianity. Just look at Psalm 103:
1 Praise the LORD, my soul;all my inmost being, praise his holy name.2 Praise the LORD, my soul,and forget not all his benefits—3 who forgives all your sinsand heals all your diseases,4 who redeems your life from the pitand crowns you with love and compassion,5 who satisfies your desires with good thingsso that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
God is not just philosophical abstractions, he is personally involved in creation, more than that, personally involved in the lives of humans. God is known by his deeds and his deeds define who he is. He also does not expect us to worship him until he reveals himself in his actions. Read the rest of the psalm and look specifically for God's actions.
6 The LORD works righteousnessand justice for all the oppressed.
7 He made known his ways to Moses,his deeds to the people of Israel:8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious,slow to anger, abounding in love.9 He will not always accuse,nor will he harbor his anger forever;10 he does not treat us as our sins deserveor repay us according to our iniquities.11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,so great is his love for those who fear him;12 as far as the east is from the west,so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
13 As a father has compassion on his children,so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;14 for he knows how we are formed,he remembers that we are dust.15 The life of mortals is like grass,they flourish like a flower of the field;16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,and its place remembers it no more.17 But from everlasting to everlastingthe LORD’s love is with those who fear him,and his righteousness with their children’s children—18 with those who keep his covenantand remember to obey his precepts.
19 The LORD has established his throne in heaven,and his kingdom rules over all.
20 Praise the LORD, you his angels,you mighty ones who do his bidding,who obey his word.21 Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts,you his servants who do his will.22 Praise the LORD, all his workseverywhere in his dominion.
Praise the LORD, my soul.
The appropriate reaction to God's action is our worship of him. He does not just appear and say "behold I am God; the essence of true being. Worship me." He proves himself to be a good and loving God by acting in our lives and being known by his actions. God's reputation is recorded in the Bible, the God who creates, sustains, breathes life into humans, leads, disciplines, calls, protects, redeems, and loves. God's present actions are in accordance with his past actions and his future actions will also be in accordance with who he is, how he has acted, this is called God's Faithfulness!
It is never enough to just say "God is loving." How has God loved and how is he loving now? God gave his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ to mediate the relationship of Love and the gift of everlasting life while we were still sinners Christ died for us. God continues to love by enlivening us with the Holy Spirit and allowing us to commune with the Father through the Son. This is the ultimate act of love and it is of cosmic proportions. It is a demonstration of his love. To say that "God is loving" without also speaking of the act of God's love is to not do justice to the Biblical account of God.
God is not a Platonic ideal, a philosophical 'being' to which we ascribe the highest of virtues, he is known by practical, physical, actual actions that take place in history.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
One God in Trinity
Thursday, November 24, In the year of our Lord 2011
My House, Caronport Saskatchewan
Making supper, 6:17 PM
Weather = warm for the beginning of winter
So I have a modular class next week and I'm finishing up the pre-course work fairly well. I need to write a precis on a chapter from one of the textbooks but I'm not happy with what I've written. So I'm writing a basic non-academic precis on my blog to hopefully better form and articulate my ideas. The book is Gerald Bray's The Doctrine of God: Contours of Christian Theology. The Chapter is number three, One God in Trinity.
The Christian understanding of God is unique and peculiar. Our faith is one of the great Monotheisms alongside Judaism and Islam, but unlike both of these faiths Christianity is not Unitarian. We believe that there is one God, this is monotheism, but we also affirm that this one God exists in three persons. What a strange doctrine. To an outsider, and to many Christians, this concept of the Trinity seems redundant and even contradictory to the oneness of God. Why do we have a doctrine of the Trinity and why have attempts to go back to Unitarianism been unsuccessful and deemed heresy?
The reason for the doctrine of the Trinity is not redundant or political, but was the result of many theologians attempting to understand God in light of the revelation of Jesus and the personal experiences of believers. Originally, since Christianity came out from Judaism, it shared the same Unitarian understanding of God. This understanding was questioned and abandoned because it did not do justice to the person of Jesus who could only have been God but was somehow distinct from God whom he called Father. Jesus performed miracles, spoke with authority about God and The Law, was able to forgive sins, did not refuse the worship of his followers, was raised from the dead, and ascended into heaven. Jesus did things that only God could do, which meant that at the very least God was working through him, but he also spoke and acted as God himself, forgiving sins, accepting worship as he himself, not as a mediator priest or even a prophet but him himself. The poor disciples, they only figured it all out after the fact, that the man who they had lived with for years and known was actually their God come down to earth in human flesh! He was God and yet distinct from God who he called Father. Well every good Jew knew and still knows that there is only one God, therefore Jesus could not be a second God.
Jesus also spoke of the Holy Spirit who he would send as another helper as he was who would lead his followers into all truth. Another helper, as Christ was, divine, God, yet distinct from The Father and also distinct from Jesus. And it was that in the early Church the Holy Spirit enabled the disciples to do as Jesus had done, perform miracles, raise the dead, speak authoritatively, and understand the mysteries of God.
The logical philosophies of the Greeks was dominant in the world, and when Christianity spread like wildfire across the Roman Empire the philosphers and theologians attempted to make sense of this paradox. There is only one God and Jesus was God and yet disctinct from God who he called Father. Therefore the one God must exist as at least three hypostases (roughly translated as 'persons') but one ousia (essence). This was the only way to do justice to the reality of what had been revealed in Christ and in the experience of the church. The language is very precise, God is ONE essence, and the 'threeness' of God is not parts as if God could be divided, or essences, or faces, or perspectives. The precision of Platonic thought was used to best put into words the fact that there is only one God, but that he exists as three persons who are equally God and yet distinct from one another but still the same being.
This doctrine was not formed frivolously or quickly. It is the result of centuries of theologians wrestling with history, experience, and existing doctrine to best articulate what is true about God. And this is one thing that the other monotheisms do not have, the freedom to wrestle with God in order to understand him. Judaism focuses its attention to The Law and articulates stipulations and contemplates how The Law of God ought to be interpreted in new situations but there is no exploration of God as person. Islam demands adherence to its doctrines through social coercion and regards God as a far off, too holy to touch, entity. Christianity is a new relationship between God and man that has come through the person of Jesus that allows us to relate with God without defiling him while not being obliterated by his holiness. We know God from the inside whereas they know God only from the outside.
My House, Caronport Saskatchewan
Making supper, 6:17 PM
Weather = warm for the beginning of winter
So I have a modular class next week and I'm finishing up the pre-course work fairly well. I need to write a precis on a chapter from one of the textbooks but I'm not happy with what I've written. So I'm writing a basic non-academic precis on my blog to hopefully better form and articulate my ideas. The book is Gerald Bray's The Doctrine of God: Contours of Christian Theology. The Chapter is number three, One God in Trinity.
The Christian understanding of God is unique and peculiar. Our faith is one of the great Monotheisms alongside Judaism and Islam, but unlike both of these faiths Christianity is not Unitarian. We believe that there is one God, this is monotheism, but we also affirm that this one God exists in three persons. What a strange doctrine. To an outsider, and to many Christians, this concept of the Trinity seems redundant and even contradictory to the oneness of God. Why do we have a doctrine of the Trinity and why have attempts to go back to Unitarianism been unsuccessful and deemed heresy?
The reason for the doctrine of the Trinity is not redundant or political, but was the result of many theologians attempting to understand God in light of the revelation of Jesus and the personal experiences of believers. Originally, since Christianity came out from Judaism, it shared the same Unitarian understanding of God. This understanding was questioned and abandoned because it did not do justice to the person of Jesus who could only have been God but was somehow distinct from God whom he called Father. Jesus performed miracles, spoke with authority about God and The Law, was able to forgive sins, did not refuse the worship of his followers, was raised from the dead, and ascended into heaven. Jesus did things that only God could do, which meant that at the very least God was working through him, but he also spoke and acted as God himself, forgiving sins, accepting worship as he himself, not as a mediator priest or even a prophet but him himself. The poor disciples, they only figured it all out after the fact, that the man who they had lived with for years and known was actually their God come down to earth in human flesh! He was God and yet distinct from God who he called Father. Well every good Jew knew and still knows that there is only one God, therefore Jesus could not be a second God.
Jesus also spoke of the Holy Spirit who he would send as another helper as he was who would lead his followers into all truth. Another helper, as Christ was, divine, God, yet distinct from The Father and also distinct from Jesus. And it was that in the early Church the Holy Spirit enabled the disciples to do as Jesus had done, perform miracles, raise the dead, speak authoritatively, and understand the mysteries of God.
The logical philosophies of the Greeks was dominant in the world, and when Christianity spread like wildfire across the Roman Empire the philosphers and theologians attempted to make sense of this paradox. There is only one God and Jesus was God and yet disctinct from God who he called Father. Therefore the one God must exist as at least three hypostases (roughly translated as 'persons') but one ousia (essence). This was the only way to do justice to the reality of what had been revealed in Christ and in the experience of the church. The language is very precise, God is ONE essence, and the 'threeness' of God is not parts as if God could be divided, or essences, or faces, or perspectives. The precision of Platonic thought was used to best put into words the fact that there is only one God, but that he exists as three persons who are equally God and yet distinct from one another but still the same being.
This doctrine was not formed frivolously or quickly. It is the result of centuries of theologians wrestling with history, experience, and existing doctrine to best articulate what is true about God. And this is one thing that the other monotheisms do not have, the freedom to wrestle with God in order to understand him. Judaism focuses its attention to The Law and articulates stipulations and contemplates how The Law of God ought to be interpreted in new situations but there is no exploration of God as person. Islam demands adherence to its doctrines through social coercion and regards God as a far off, too holy to touch, entity. Christianity is a new relationship between God and man that has come through the person of Jesus that allows us to relate with God without defiling him while not being obliterated by his holiness. We know God from the inside whereas they know God only from the outside.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Christianity and Dualism
Tuesday November 22, In the year of our Lord 2011
My House, Caronport Saskatchewan
Appeasing the side of my brain that wants to write non-homework stuff, 10:01 PM
Weather = White, fluffy, and melting.
Christianity is not a Dualism.
But what is Dualism you ask? I'll be happy to tell you! Dualism is the contrast of light and darkness, good and evil, the yin and the yang. It is the belief that for every good force there as a bad force to oppose it and for every bad force there is a good force to oppose it. There is no purely good thing and there is no purely bad thing. Light and darkness are like two fish constantly trying to devour the other and never succeeding. It is a belief of balance.
Historically Judaism and the Christianity that came out of it have had nothing to do with Dualism. Yahweh is the all powerful God of creation who holds both light and darkness in his hands. It is estimated that Job may be the earliest book written in the Bible, and the message is clear right from the beginning that there is no Dualism at work but only the will of sovereign God. From Genesis to Revelation there is no hint of Dualism to be found.
Oh sure there are forces that oppose God, there is darkness in the world and there is light, but they are not in Dualism, they are firmly and immovably in the will of God in whom there is no darkness or evil thing. God is God, and the devil, all the demons, and every evil thing is as a tiny cornflake compared to God. The same can be said of the Christian who's identity is in Christ. Sure we live in this world struggling against sin and darkness, but in Christ (ie: in God) the light burns away the darkness and our sins are obliterated. Rejoice! Our God has conquered sin and death and there is no power above the earth or below it that can sway His eternal victory both in the lives of believers and in all things in all eternity! The cross of Christ has become the eternal anthem of victory and glory of the greatest story ever told, how the God of creation came down as a man, lived among us, died so that we might not die in our sins, raised back to life so that we might live, and now intercedes on our behalf to the Father so that we might know God in all his fullness from the inside.
We as Christians are called to live in the light, to live in the Spirit which is the reality of the relationship of God both above and distinct from us as well as inside of us. This always results in living wisely, which often looks like the sort of balance that yin and yang strives to inspire. The difference is of eternal consequence though, Christianity is the repair of a relationship with the almighty eternal God resulting in eternal life whereas Dualism is a fatalistic attempt at living well in the midst of powers that are beyond our control ending in death.
My House, Caronport Saskatchewan
Appeasing the side of my brain that wants to write non-homework stuff, 10:01 PM
Weather = White, fluffy, and melting.
Christianity is not a Dualism.
But what is Dualism you ask? I'll be happy to tell you! Dualism is the contrast of light and darkness, good and evil, the yin and the yang. It is the belief that for every good force there as a bad force to oppose it and for every bad force there is a good force to oppose it. There is no purely good thing and there is no purely bad thing. Light and darkness are like two fish constantly trying to devour the other and never succeeding. It is a belief of balance.
Historically Judaism and the Christianity that came out of it have had nothing to do with Dualism. Yahweh is the all powerful God of creation who holds both light and darkness in his hands. It is estimated that Job may be the earliest book written in the Bible, and the message is clear right from the beginning that there is no Dualism at work but only the will of sovereign God. From Genesis to Revelation there is no hint of Dualism to be found.
Oh sure there are forces that oppose God, there is darkness in the world and there is light, but they are not in Dualism, they are firmly and immovably in the will of God in whom there is no darkness or evil thing. God is God, and the devil, all the demons, and every evil thing is as a tiny cornflake compared to God. The same can be said of the Christian who's identity is in Christ. Sure we live in this world struggling against sin and darkness, but in Christ (ie: in God) the light burns away the darkness and our sins are obliterated. Rejoice! Our God has conquered sin and death and there is no power above the earth or below it that can sway His eternal victory both in the lives of believers and in all things in all eternity! The cross of Christ has become the eternal anthem of victory and glory of the greatest story ever told, how the God of creation came down as a man, lived among us, died so that we might not die in our sins, raised back to life so that we might live, and now intercedes on our behalf to the Father so that we might know God in all his fullness from the inside.We as Christians are called to live in the light, to live in the Spirit which is the reality of the relationship of God both above and distinct from us as well as inside of us. This always results in living wisely, which often looks like the sort of balance that yin and yang strives to inspire. The difference is of eternal consequence though, Christianity is the repair of a relationship with the almighty eternal God resulting in eternal life whereas Dualism is a fatalistic attempt at living well in the midst of powers that are beyond our control ending in death.