So, I've disclosed a little bit of my internal dilemma based around understanding the full nature of who God is. There was a lot more that went on internally in the past few weeks in trying to understand this, and I still don't understand it all. But this is the point that I came to a couple of weeks ago. I came to the point that I could see it, like, I understood it and put it all together (sort of).
I could see God's love in displaying himself to humanity and the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms. Basically, God is good. No, that is an understatement, God is amazing. And so, the most loving thing for him to do is to reveal himself to those outside himself. God is also creative, so he makes things. So God makes things and reveals himself to those things. Now, God is also just. So he gives these things what they rightly deserve. Ok, we're going good here. So we have beings created by God, to whom he is continually revealing himself, and he is dealing with them according to their actions, because that is what they deserve. Now, God is also wise (striving after the best ends by use of the best means).
So we have this being, God, eternally existent. Within his nature there is the need to create, love, and reveal himself. So he makes a world, knowing from the beginning his exact purposes in creating that world. Knowing how he will display his justice, love, mercy, wisdom, grace, righteousness, wrath, and this is where we run into a problem. Part of God is an intense hatred and wrath against something unlike himself. In fact, we know that God is jealous, meaning that he REQUIRES that all worship him, that all view him as the ultimate being. And his wrath will be poured out on all who don't. Which means that there must be some who do not worship and love him!
So we have this eternal being, creating for the purpose of lovingly revealing himself, knowing that this means that some will be created for destruction, in order to display his wrath and jealousy, which are good and righteous attributes.
Wow.
And do you know what my conclusion was? God, I get it, I see it, like, I can't even describe to you, the reader, how clear all of this was in my eyes, but I said to God, I don't like it. In fact, I realized that this is a piece of God that I don't love. I don't love his wrath or his jealousy. I don't!
And so my prayer is, Father, teach me to love you as you are. Teach me to see your manifold wisdom in choosing some for life and others for death. Teach me to see your love in you wrath and your mercy in your justice. Teach me to see you for who you are, to be amazed, and to love and worship you, because I know you are worthy. I don't want to just know the answers, I want to love the answers, and more than that, I want to love the one behind the answers.
Come Lord Jesus Come! For then we will get to look into these things clearly, for then we will see you and know you even as we are seen and known. For then the revelation will be clear and complete. Reveal yourself to us, for we need you, we need to know you, you are our very life and breath, our very vision, our very sustenance, our very food. Come Lord Jesus Come!
How do you go about understanding the attributes of God and how He does all that He does without contradicting Himself or changing? Do you sometimes ignore certain attributes to make your view of God more "palatable"? What attributes do you tend to emphasize or under-emphasize?
Showing posts with label paradox. Show all posts
Showing posts with label paradox. Show all posts
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Merciful Justice - Aren't these contradictory terms??
So, this is following the post from a few days ago...more struggles with who God is based on the knowledge that He will send people to Hell. Think about that for a moment. What does it tell you about God that He would create people with the intention of sending them to Hell? Most Christians dismiss these questions/thoughts as unimportant, but this is your God! If we claim that we desire to grow in a knowledge of God (which if you are a Christian you should desire this) and you claim to love God (which as a Christian you should claim this) then how can you dismiss this as unimportant!?
So, how is it that God can create people with the INTENTION of sending them to Hell? Wow...
So I recently read through Lamentations. Amazing book, by the way, never realized it, but it's an amazing book. The city of Jerusalem is being destroyed, an enemy is camped outside cutting off food supplies. Women are eating their children in the streets. People are dieing every day. Destruction is rampant. And this author (seems to be a leader of some sort in the city) is crying out to God. Now there are a million different directions to go with all of this, because in the past week my mind has gone a million different directions. I've learned so much more what God's mercy is by reading this book. At one point the author says "because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed. His compassions never fail" And I realized something. This man is looking around at complete destruction, but he realizes, we deserve much worse. God should just destroy us right now. But He hasn't, which is mercy, not giving the bad that someone deserves. Grace is giving someone good that they do not deserve and mercy is withholding the bad that someone does deserve.
But this led me to a dilemma. How can God be both merciful and just? If justice is repaying someone according to what they deserve and mercy is withholding the bad from someone that they rightfully deserve???anyone else seeing my dilemma here?
Now, I have thought since of some answers to this problem, but for my purposes today I will leave you with this question. Feel free to comment any thoughts that you have.
So, how is it that God can create people with the INTENTION of sending them to Hell? Wow...
So I recently read through Lamentations. Amazing book, by the way, never realized it, but it's an amazing book. The city of Jerusalem is being destroyed, an enemy is camped outside cutting off food supplies. Women are eating their children in the streets. People are dieing every day. Destruction is rampant. And this author (seems to be a leader of some sort in the city) is crying out to God. Now there are a million different directions to go with all of this, because in the past week my mind has gone a million different directions. I've learned so much more what God's mercy is by reading this book. At one point the author says "because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed. His compassions never fail" And I realized something. This man is looking around at complete destruction, but he realizes, we deserve much worse. God should just destroy us right now. But He hasn't, which is mercy, not giving the bad that someone deserves. Grace is giving someone good that they do not deserve and mercy is withholding the bad that someone does deserve.
But this led me to a dilemma. How can God be both merciful and just? If justice is repaying someone according to what they deserve and mercy is withholding the bad from someone that they rightfully deserve???anyone else seeing my dilemma here?
Now, I have thought since of some answers to this problem, but for my purposes today I will leave you with this question. Feel free to comment any thoughts that you have.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Wisdom in Destruction??
So, I've realized recently that I originally started this blog with the intention of exploring/discussing new things that God was teaching me about himself, or that I thought perhaps I was learning about God. At times I have gotten off of this course, at times I have stated things a little more emphatically than they should be if I truly see myself on a path of learning, but I realized today that the very thing I've been struggling with recently, the very thing that I've been contemplating and questioning, I have not posted about at all. So here goes. This will not be a well constructed, beautifully worded, eloquent post, because this will be a post of questions, not answers. These have been recent thoughts and struggles in my head.
Question raised by a friend - "How could God, if He is love, create the world knowing beforehand that people would go to Hell? And not only foreknowing this, but actually predestining it, actually planning that it should be so?"
This question has in some ways plagued me in the past few months. It has been addressed numerous times by many great thinkers and theologians. I know the "answers" to it, but it still in some ways plagues me. I have listened to John Piper on the topic, and have read Jonathan Edwards' "The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners". I have considered Ephesians 3 which says "I became a servant of this gospel...to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. his intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence." So we know that this mystery was kept hidden IN God for ages past. I feel that one could contemplate that for a lifetime. And we know that God created ALL things.... wow! And this tells us His intent, His eternal purpose (what! Wow, this is God's ETERNAL purpose!!) that through the church (!) the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities [of the world. Right? NO!] in the heavenly realms!!!
So, I've gotten thus far. God has called the elect, the church, and in so doing his wisdom is displayed to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms. And this was His eternal purpose and the reason as to why he created all things (both the elect and those who will perish).
Ok, so I know WHY God created the world with the intention of some going to Hell. He did it to display his wisdom. Ok, great, let's move on. But wait a second.....how could he do that without compromising his love? How can God be loving and also wise in this kind of way? Here John Piper's words ring in my head. It is because the most loving thing that God can do is to be God. Our only satisfaction is in God, so he must reveal himself and be true to who he is, and since he is wise he MUST display this and it is the LOVING thing to do. Ok, makes sense. I get it....but I still struggle.
WHY?? HOW??? How could God devise such a plan? Isn't there another way? Couldn't he have shown his wisdom and love some other way?
Ok, enough for today. More thoughts later.
Question raised by a friend - "How could God, if He is love, create the world knowing beforehand that people would go to Hell? And not only foreknowing this, but actually predestining it, actually planning that it should be so?"
This question has in some ways plagued me in the past few months. It has been addressed numerous times by many great thinkers and theologians. I know the "answers" to it, but it still in some ways plagues me. I have listened to John Piper on the topic, and have read Jonathan Edwards' "The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners". I have considered Ephesians 3 which says "I became a servant of this gospel...to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. his intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence." So we know that this mystery was kept hidden IN God for ages past. I feel that one could contemplate that for a lifetime. And we know that God created ALL things.... wow! And this tells us His intent, His eternal purpose (what! Wow, this is God's ETERNAL purpose!!) that through the church (!) the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities [of the world. Right? NO!] in the heavenly realms!!!
So, I've gotten thus far. God has called the elect, the church, and in so doing his wisdom is displayed to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms. And this was His eternal purpose and the reason as to why he created all things (both the elect and those who will perish).
Ok, so I know WHY God created the world with the intention of some going to Hell. He did it to display his wisdom. Ok, great, let's move on. But wait a second.....how could he do that without compromising his love? How can God be loving and also wise in this kind of way? Here John Piper's words ring in my head. It is because the most loving thing that God can do is to be God. Our only satisfaction is in God, so he must reveal himself and be true to who he is, and since he is wise he MUST display this and it is the LOVING thing to do. Ok, makes sense. I get it....but I still struggle.
WHY?? HOW??? How could God devise such a plan? Isn't there another way? Couldn't he have shown his wisdom and love some other way?
Ok, enough for today. More thoughts later.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
How to Deal With Paradox
At the crux of every Christian paradox is God.
The more I learn about the Bible and truth the more I find truths that at first glance contradict each other. I find that so much of what is true is in tension with itself, so that to present some truths simultaneously almost certainly results in seemingly contradicting oneself. As I considered these paradoxes and why they exist so rampantly and why it seems that in the reality of time and space and human wisdom they cannot dwell together equally true every moment of the day, it occurred to me that it was because, at their very root, these things dwell outside the realm of natural everyday existence. The truth of these paradoxes, and the resulting tension, lies in and can only be understood through the very nature of God. The supernatural acting upon and interacting with the natural makes the natural seem....unnatural.
I then realized that there are only three possible responses to Christian paradox:
1) Discount it as untrue nonsense that is implausible. People who do this are seen as the "world". Because they have rejected Jesus as God they are left in their sin with no glimpse or understanding of God. Unable to grasp salvation that depends upon works but has no basis in works, a man who is simultaneously 100% human and 100% God, or a loving God who created the world with the intention of sending people to Hell, they simply reject Christianity all-together. Individuals who deal with Christian paradox by simply marking it off as untrue foolishness subscribe to the wisdom of the world, which God's wisdom surpasses.
2) The second possible response is blind "faith". People simply take these things to be true, they see contradictions in Scripture that they neither have the desire to understand nor the courage to reject. They are Christians because they are and accept what is handed to them because they do. We typically see these people as "nominal" Christians, but one quickly sees that this approach leave one alarmingly short of God. Rather than seeing God, rather than pursuing God through truth, they are satisfied to have truth and leave God out of the picture. Like the demons in James they affirm that there is a God, they affirm truth, but they know neither the Way nor the Life. They are lukewarm. They feel no tension resulting from conflicting truths, they have no problem with affirming the deity and humanity of Christ but at the same time they have no explanation for how these can exist together. However, in order to "believe" two things that are entirely opposite, one must either be crazy or actually believe neither of them at all. If you feel no tension resulting from contradictory concepts then you do not fully subscribe to those concepts as true. While the first group at least had the wisdom of the world, this group has no wisdom at all. And on the last day God will say, "Away from me, I never knew you" because they were so quick to "accept" truth without ever taking the time to know and love God, who is at the root of all truth.
3) The third response to Christian paradox is to search it out. Things in Scripture that make no sense, such as the unity of heart and mind, or the very nature of our covenant being simultaneously new and old. The third group of people dig into these things and cry out to God for an understanding of these things because they are not satisfied with anything that leaves them short of knowing God. They love God so intensely, and desire Him so fully, that they are not satisfied with truth, but rather look past it and into The Truth.
This leaves me to wonder if we should even teach the answers or solutions to the great paradoxes of the Christian faith, or whether we should rather, like Scripture and the apostles (Luke 24:25-27; 1 Corinthians 1:18-31) only teach Christ's suffering and glory, clearly presenting the paradoxes that exist, and then leaving it up to the hungry and the thirsty to find the God of all wisdom and truth and to worship with their faces to the ground.
The more I learn about the Bible and truth the more I find truths that at first glance contradict each other. I find that so much of what is true is in tension with itself, so that to present some truths simultaneously almost certainly results in seemingly contradicting oneself. As I considered these paradoxes and why they exist so rampantly and why it seems that in the reality of time and space and human wisdom they cannot dwell together equally true every moment of the day, it occurred to me that it was because, at their very root, these things dwell outside the realm of natural everyday existence. The truth of these paradoxes, and the resulting tension, lies in and can only be understood through the very nature of God. The supernatural acting upon and interacting with the natural makes the natural seem....unnatural.
I then realized that there are only three possible responses to Christian paradox:
1) Discount it as untrue nonsense that is implausible. People who do this are seen as the "world". Because they have rejected Jesus as God they are left in their sin with no glimpse or understanding of God. Unable to grasp salvation that depends upon works but has no basis in works, a man who is simultaneously 100% human and 100% God, or a loving God who created the world with the intention of sending people to Hell, they simply reject Christianity all-together. Individuals who deal with Christian paradox by simply marking it off as untrue foolishness subscribe to the wisdom of the world, which God's wisdom surpasses.
2) The second possible response is blind "faith". People simply take these things to be true, they see contradictions in Scripture that they neither have the desire to understand nor the courage to reject. They are Christians because they are and accept what is handed to them because they do. We typically see these people as "nominal" Christians, but one quickly sees that this approach leave one alarmingly short of God. Rather than seeing God, rather than pursuing God through truth, they are satisfied to have truth and leave God out of the picture. Like the demons in James they affirm that there is a God, they affirm truth, but they know neither the Way nor the Life. They are lukewarm. They feel no tension resulting from conflicting truths, they have no problem with affirming the deity and humanity of Christ but at the same time they have no explanation for how these can exist together. However, in order to "believe" two things that are entirely opposite, one must either be crazy or actually believe neither of them at all. If you feel no tension resulting from contradictory concepts then you do not fully subscribe to those concepts as true. While the first group at least had the wisdom of the world, this group has no wisdom at all. And on the last day God will say, "Away from me, I never knew you" because they were so quick to "accept" truth without ever taking the time to know and love God, who is at the root of all truth.
3) The third response to Christian paradox is to search it out. Things in Scripture that make no sense, such as the unity of heart and mind, or the very nature of our covenant being simultaneously new and old. The third group of people dig into these things and cry out to God for an understanding of these things because they are not satisfied with anything that leaves them short of knowing God. They love God so intensely, and desire Him so fully, that they are not satisfied with truth, but rather look past it and into The Truth.
This leaves me to wonder if we should even teach the answers or solutions to the great paradoxes of the Christian faith, or whether we should rather, like Scripture and the apostles (Luke 24:25-27; 1 Corinthians 1:18-31) only teach Christ's suffering and glory, clearly presenting the paradoxes that exist, and then leaving it up to the hungry and the thirsty to find the God of all wisdom and truth and to worship with their faces to the ground.
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