One of the few truly interesting apologetics Christian's have is love. Love in the Christian sense is interesting because it is so counter cultural to the world.
Christian love differs from love in the world in that it is beyond reason. We love not because of what is, but what could be or because of what Jesus has done.
You see Christian love is not without reason but its base is in an event in the past or in future possibility. Christian love often ignores what is.
That is why the early church spread so quickly. There was something very distinctive about their love.
Argumentation or debate are apologetics with little use. Most debates are ended emotionally long before the intellect is engaged. You see that man does not like the Christian message about himself because he must first accept his nature.
It is good for man to accept his nature. But he does not like the message.
Ultimately the solution of free grace through faith is dependent on the realization of need. The good news of salvation is only good when we realize the actual state we are in.
Showing posts with label emotion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label emotion. Show all posts
Friday, June 27, 2014
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Joy, happiness, and honesty
In life we meet many Christians who try to fake happiness. They feel commanded to be happy and so they go around with a smile on their face when they are clearly miserable. It is as if it is a sin to be sad.
You see they miss the fact that joy (which is commanded) and happiness (which is not commanded) are very different. You see joy is at a much deeper level and it is a state of character and faith more than an emotion.
And the issue is greater that we are commanded to morn with those who morn. You see we can be expected and godly to be unhappy! We can have joy and morn. God's commandments are difficult and we always fall short and have a sympathetic high priest in Jesus.
Scripture challenges us always. It defines things as God sees them rather than as we see things. Many things we see as exactly the same God sees differently. Many things we see as completely different God sees as interconnected.
It is always that we are too small and too nearsighted to see all the realities. That is why we need for God to tell us of the realities and later we usually figure out why God was right all along for ourselves.
You see they miss the fact that joy (which is commanded) and happiness (which is not commanded) are very different. You see joy is at a much deeper level and it is a state of character and faith more than an emotion.
And the issue is greater that we are commanded to morn with those who morn. You see we can be expected and godly to be unhappy! We can have joy and morn. God's commandments are difficult and we always fall short and have a sympathetic high priest in Jesus.
Scripture challenges us always. It defines things as God sees them rather than as we see things. Many things we see as exactly the same God sees differently. Many things we see as completely different God sees as interconnected.
It is always that we are too small and too nearsighted to see all the realities. That is why we need for God to tell us of the realities and later we usually figure out why God was right all along for ourselves.
Sunday, November 24, 2013
To understand Sin
The modern church at least in American has never really gotten the grasp of sin. Everywhere well-meaning Christians are greatly concerned that not all will be saved.
It is not fair that there will be those who are not saved. It is as if it is fair for us to be saved.
Strangely we haven't grasped the concept of sin. You see what is fair is hell and condemnation. There is a sense in which those who are saved have had something unfair happen.
The saved have had and will have something fair happen in a sense. That is heaven but you see it is what Jesus deserves not what they deserve.
The Christian through union with Christ gets what Jesus' perfect life and perfect obedience to death deserved heaven. And Jesus got what we deserved on the cross - of course as God the grave good not hold him.
You see we are so concerned with what is fair but we have not even inquired of the bible what is fair. I suppose we do not like the explanation in the bible of what is fair so we ignore it.
I suppose we can always continue in this way ignoring what the bible says and imposing our ideas in the church. You see we think our ideas make missions important.
If we think this is nonsense. Really the concept of finality pushes missions and the sense of it really might not be so bad because we do not want to think of God in this way impends missions.
The bible gives a clear picture of God and it is God as he wishes to be viewed. He wishes to be viewed as gentle and tender as a lamb lead to the slaughter and he also wants to be viewed as the lion of Judah.
You see God shows himself in many ways. In a gentile wind, in a small voice, in a flood of enormous proportions, in the sending of plagues, and the care of the poor and sick.
You see people often try to redact scripture or draw a dichotomy between the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament as if they are different.
But Jesus spoke more of hell than heaven and his whole life as he spoke of it was predicated that he had a work to be done. The reality is that God is larger than we are and more complex than we are.
Our personhood is so small we cannot grasp the degree of his personhood. Sometimes we get a glimpse of the strangeness of emotion.
Maybe a friend gets a great opportunity in a place far away. We have sadness and joy mixed together. Emotion on top of emotion and emotion which seems contradictory.
You see if is right to feel many emotions about the same event at times. We draw lines in the sand between emotions and sharp contrast. This is because we are small and cannot understand what it means for example to have anger and compassion at the same time.
It is not fair that there will be those who are not saved. It is as if it is fair for us to be saved.
Strangely we haven't grasped the concept of sin. You see what is fair is hell and condemnation. There is a sense in which those who are saved have had something unfair happen.
The saved have had and will have something fair happen in a sense. That is heaven but you see it is what Jesus deserves not what they deserve.
The Christian through union with Christ gets what Jesus' perfect life and perfect obedience to death deserved heaven. And Jesus got what we deserved on the cross - of course as God the grave good not hold him.
You see we are so concerned with what is fair but we have not even inquired of the bible what is fair. I suppose we do not like the explanation in the bible of what is fair so we ignore it.
I suppose we can always continue in this way ignoring what the bible says and imposing our ideas in the church. You see we think our ideas make missions important.
If we think this is nonsense. Really the concept of finality pushes missions and the sense of it really might not be so bad because we do not want to think of God in this way impends missions.
The bible gives a clear picture of God and it is God as he wishes to be viewed. He wishes to be viewed as gentle and tender as a lamb lead to the slaughter and he also wants to be viewed as the lion of Judah.
You see God shows himself in many ways. In a gentile wind, in a small voice, in a flood of enormous proportions, in the sending of plagues, and the care of the poor and sick.
You see people often try to redact scripture or draw a dichotomy between the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament as if they are different.
But Jesus spoke more of hell than heaven and his whole life as he spoke of it was predicated that he had a work to be done. The reality is that God is larger than we are and more complex than we are.
Our personhood is so small we cannot grasp the degree of his personhood. Sometimes we get a glimpse of the strangeness of emotion.
Maybe a friend gets a great opportunity in a place far away. We have sadness and joy mixed together. Emotion on top of emotion and emotion which seems contradictory.
You see if is right to feel many emotions about the same event at times. We draw lines in the sand between emotions and sharp contrast. This is because we are small and cannot understand what it means for example to have anger and compassion at the same time.
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Knowledge of God
How can we know God's nature? Many people have suggested that God is unknowable.
There is a certain plausibility at first since God is not like us. The bible makes this very clear.
However the bible always asserts that God wishes to make himself known. Thus the pendulum swings to a desire for complete knowledge of God.
We cannot know God completely as he is above human capacity to understand.
A strange notion is in the world of the dichotomy between the OT God and the NT Jesus. As if the OT God did not preach forgiveness and Jesus does not preach condemnation.
Almost all theological error is a simplification. The teaching of scripture is always difficult. Jesus is tender and yet has a great severity against sin.
Often we find in God facets which seem impossible to coincide. The answer is always that our personhood is too small.
It is not that God is double minded it is that we are too small to truly experience the complexity of proper emotions.
Sometimes we get close. Maybe we feel happy for someone who beat us at one moment in a competition and disappointment the next.
Emotion has a mixture at times and the person of God has a higher mixture of emotion because his personhood is infinite and all other personhood is in fact derivative from his personhood.
There is a certain plausibility at first since God is not like us. The bible makes this very clear.
However the bible always asserts that God wishes to make himself known. Thus the pendulum swings to a desire for complete knowledge of God.
We cannot know God completely as he is above human capacity to understand.
A strange notion is in the world of the dichotomy between the OT God and the NT Jesus. As if the OT God did not preach forgiveness and Jesus does not preach condemnation.
Almost all theological error is a simplification. The teaching of scripture is always difficult. Jesus is tender and yet has a great severity against sin.
Often we find in God facets which seem impossible to coincide. The answer is always that our personhood is too small.
It is not that God is double minded it is that we are too small to truly experience the complexity of proper emotions.
Sometimes we get close. Maybe we feel happy for someone who beat us at one moment in a competition and disappointment the next.
Emotion has a mixture at times and the person of God has a higher mixture of emotion because his personhood is infinite and all other personhood is in fact derivative from his personhood.
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Personhood of God
A lot of people like to think of God as some sort of impersonal force in the universe. The Christian God is very different from this, however.
He is a very personal God who interacts with his people. Some people have claimed that God cannot feel emotion since to feel emotion is to change and God cannot change.
I find such an object to be far too philosophical and not enough theological. I believe that it is true that God does not change, but to suggest that experiencing emotion is a changing of the nature of God seems to be a concept derived more from Greek philosophy then the scriptures.
Emotion is a state which one experiences and not an essential change of one's nature. It is true that people have often been changed by the emotions that that feel, but to experience an emotion does not necessarily change one's nature.
The bible through speaks of God as an emotional being. That God is an emotional being is not surprising since, we are created in God's image and our emotional beings.
Even if one cannot conceive that God has eternally experienced emotion one must now allow that when God's son Jesus (fully part of the trinity) entered into history now God has emotion as part of the Godhead. Of course Jesus never left his human nature upon his assent into heaven. He is in heaven as he left, fully God and fully man.
He is a very personal God who interacts with his people. Some people have claimed that God cannot feel emotion since to feel emotion is to change and God cannot change.
I find such an object to be far too philosophical and not enough theological. I believe that it is true that God does not change, but to suggest that experiencing emotion is a changing of the nature of God seems to be a concept derived more from Greek philosophy then the scriptures.
Emotion is a state which one experiences and not an essential change of one's nature. It is true that people have often been changed by the emotions that that feel, but to experience an emotion does not necessarily change one's nature.
The bible through speaks of God as an emotional being. That God is an emotional being is not surprising since, we are created in God's image and our emotional beings.
Even if one cannot conceive that God has eternally experienced emotion one must now allow that when God's son Jesus (fully part of the trinity) entered into history now God has emotion as part of the Godhead. Of course Jesus never left his human nature upon his assent into heaven. He is in heaven as he left, fully God and fully man.
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