Sunday, April 26, 2009

God is. Love.

God is, was, will be... love.

At church today, I was struck with that oh-so-common quote: "God is Love." I don't know why...but is there more to this?

His love...must be something foreign to us. But not completely. We see broken pieces of it everywhere. A glass that has been shattered all over the floor. The loving-kindness of a friend, the forgiveness of a father, the gentle embrace of a beloved, the patience of a mentor... but pieces they remain. Moments in time. Individual points. Everyone fails in love.

Love is something that has been so distorted by the ambitions and sentiments of capitalism, by the won-ton carelessness of "the media," it is something to be profited from. It is something to be purchased. Something to be hedged, to be taken, to make a statement with, to fall into. We're taught this from a young age. It's no wonder we struggle with finding what is real in relationship because we're so far from real it becomes hard to discern from the distance. How has this impacted our dynamic with God? Our perception of Him? Our expectations? If He is love, how has our understanding of Him been distorted?

Hang on that for a minute...selah I believe is the word. Each of us has been affected differently by our respective cultures. Clearly this distortion will be different for each of us...

--------------

Another matter came to my mind aswell this morning, and it is of this void I hear so much of. This "hole": we try to fill with everything but God. What is this a metaphor for exactly? A need for intimacy? A need to be part of something larger? I've never felt this hole, except a desire for human intimacy...a desire for my works to be of merit. To be contributing to something greater. But these feelings are coming from a heart that has already been "saved," so where's the difference?

Is it that my void has an outlet, someplace to be anchored in? I never seem too lost in the woods...and at least I know I have a purpose, without even having to try. No searching required, only trust.

Perhaps there's a different reason entirely why money and greed don't satisfy the soul...


My musings for a busy Sunday are thus concluded. For now.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Funny thing: God is complicated

This weekend, I had the wonderful opportunity to converse with my peers regarding basically the contents of my previous post: the Infinity of God. This has been the subject of much of my personal, internal quandaries, and I feel I have as of yet heard a decent response to my questioning...until perhaps now.

Not that my questioning has been satisfied entirely, but, as it turns out, God is merely more complicated than I had thought. Funny thing to say, I'm sure.

For instance,

God can change His "mind." Example: Moses begging God not to absolutely destroy the Israelites in the desert after having forsaken Him time and again. (Exodus 32-33) God relents His fury. How is this even possible? Things get sticky here, because if one assumes that He had already planned on saving Israel before Moses pleads to Him, then that makes God out to being manipulative, which seems totally out of character. But...how could He not have known?

There are other specific incidents throughout the Old Testament where God holds specific conversations with people, (Walks through the Garden with Adam/Eve, the Burning Bush, the Anointing of David, all the Prophets and them being spoken to...etc) and then, most prominently, The Christ in the New Testament.

Apparently, the conclusion is that God can enter into and out of our time.

???

How can He do that? When He's...here...does He not know everything? But He must...but He can't?

I was told there's a new theology gaining in popularity that says that God has limits to His knowledge, that He can only know that which has already happened. But then, what about prophesy? What about His plan? (Well, I suppose there is a difference between His will and plan). What about purpose?
I don't like this idea that God can have such crippling limits.

So, what then? He is the same, always. Was, is, and will be -- simultaneously. I was asked, does that mean that Christ is concurrently child, dead, and resurrected? Maybe existing in separate time-lines... I can't say. Is He ministering right now to all the people that could have possibly existed now, but aren't due to the decisions made in our time-line? But that's just crazy string-theory, right?

Maybe.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Benevolence vs. Omnipotnece

So I heard it last night. Again, that pivotal issue upon which I feel the whole of Christian faith rests upon, unknowingly. Something's up in the basement.

The argument is apparently an old one, but it goes like this:

God is
  • All Loving
  • All Knowing/Powerful
  • There is Pain and suffering in the world
Pick 2.

If He's all knowing, but there is pain... then He must not be all loving. If He is all loving and there is pain and suffering, then He must not be all powerful. If He is all loving and all Powerful, then pain must not really exist but in our minds on a psychological level. (That one can be easily ruled out)

I've heard this issue mentioned several times these past few weeks. It's also something that has weighed on me personally. When in brief, I hear something along the lines of God cannot create evil; cannot create pain. We brought that into the world. But...

He's all knowing.

He created everything.,

So, then, are we saying that He didn't know that there was going to be this decision for evil when it all was set into motion?

But we have free will!

But, God is an infinite God, unrestrained by the constructs of time. He exists simultaneously then, now, and future. He knew. He couldn't not have known, and since He does nothing by accident, this line of thought suggests the created, knowingly, the potential for sin. It was intended.

I don't know how not to conclude this!

If I designed a car, knowing that the breaks would fail if you were to drive above the speed limit by 5 mph, and I knew you were going to do so, is it the driver's fault when he ploughs over a barricade into a ravine?

If this is so, then I'm sure He has a plan for it.

But then, that brings up other problems...

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Purpose

I spend a lot of time in church. I mean, a lot. I've been going since I was a small child; before then, really. I've heard all the doctrine, all the stories, made all the crafts, I've even preformed that admirable accomplishment of having read through the entirety of Christianity's only sacred text: the Holy Bible. Through the years I've heard many justifications. Cop-outs. Glossed over accounts. Those things that ruin my appetite for more. Faith.

The purpose of this blog is to explore Christianity in a deeper way...as I go to church now, I rarely track 100% with the preacher: there's another story happening in my head. I jot down questions. I seek answers.

It is through this medium that I have selected to chronicle my continuing journey. I doubt anyone will read this, but if in fact you, reading this right now, are someone besides myself, I can only hope to be revealing additional insight to your journey. If not, then at the very least, be entertained! ;)

Camina con dios,
~Theophilus