The more that I study about God, the more I realize that there is much more to know about God than I will understand in my lifetime.
God is greater than my finite mind.
A friend of mine wrote this:
"Rob Bell comments in Velvet Elvis: “Central to the Christian experience is the art of questioning God. Not belligerent, arrogant questions that have no respect for our maker, but naked, honest, vulnerable, raw questions, arising out of the awe that comes from engaging the Living God.
This type of questioning frees us. Frees us from having to have it all figured out. Frees us from having answers to everything. Frees us from always having to be right. It allows us to have moments when we come to the end of our ability to comprehend. Moments when the silence is enough.
The great Abraham Joshua Heschel once said, ‘I did not ask for success. I asked for wonder.’
The Christian faith is mysterious to the core. It is about things and beings that ultimately can’t be put into words. Language fails. And if we do definitively put God into words, we have at that very moment made God something God is not.”
Bell argues for a more flexible articulation of doctrinal propositions—more like a trampoline than a solid brick wall. He says that we have been guilty of painting Velvet Elvis doctrine and theology that ends up outdated and shoved in the corner of our attics or basements. Faith at its core is the ability to believe without having concrete proof—it does appear that if God wanted a rock-solid articulation of theology (literally “God-Study”) he would have been a lot more straight forward in articulating it in Scripture. Some of our “distinctive” doctrinal positions are closer to “pet rocks” or “mood rings”—so individualistic and temperamental."
Definitely interesting stuff!!
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George
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Acts: An exegetical commentary
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2 comments:
I agree with Rob (and you) in that we cannot determine who or what God is. In an earlier blog, we talked about what God is and decided we couldn't describe God, we could only describe what God was not. God himself gives us the only description of Him that we need. He said, "I AM WHO I AM." (Exodus 3:14) in talking to Moses and told Moses to tell the people of Israel that "I AM sent me to you." By faith, we need no more description than that. God IS whatever I need at the appropriate time I need it. He is my comforter, my counselor, my Father (of many different adjective additions), my friend, my hope, my deliverer, my strength, my guide, my fortress, my water, my path, my compass, my whatever! Whatever I am in need of, or for whatever I am seeking, God IS! He will supply all that I need and will answer all that I ask and will be where I am.
Because He is the GREAT I AM!
He can be that for you as well. Faith is believing in what cannot be seen...I'm currently reading "The Case for a Creator" by Lee Strobel and it's amazing. All of "The Case" books by Strobel are amazing but in this one, he takes science and proves the existence of God. Yes, that mighty tool of man (science) is used to prove that man was created
by God, for God. All of the old quoted folks (Darwin, Hawking, etc.) are proven wrong...well, Hawking isn't really proven wrong since his theory requires an intelligent design but he is proven wrong as he doesn't want to admit that God is that intelligent being! I was blasted to realize that Hawking only used imaginary numbers to prove his theory in the first place...if you use real numbers, you get real (God) results. What we believe by faith (God the Creator) is what science proves anyway!! I have said for many years that science is not the enemy of faith and scientific discoveries over the last twenty years provide proof for that. God allows us to discover stuff as we are ready and within His plan for the world. And He allows us to disprove goofy theories (evolution-Hah!, Wilson's creation of life-Hah!, etc.) as fits His design. If you don't think so, just read Lee Strobel's books and check his research (or the research cited) as you go along. Every scientific study that has been used in the past to disprove the existence of God was either false (Wilson) to begin with or has proven to support the existence of God. I know, Big Bang, Big Bang...who did the banging? That's right, God did! Scientific theory supported by using Occum's Razor. In the absence of another explanation, the obvious answer is the answer! God is the obvious answer! And HE IS THE ANSWER!
God IS! He is greater than this world and greater than we can think! So, I rest in the knowledge that I belong to the GREAT I AM and have faith that He will be what I need, when I need, how I need, who I need, where I need, why I need! HE WILL! HE IS!!
Love God, love people.
Jon
Knowing God, is like knowing people. I can truthfully say, that I know Pastor Flattery. Jon can say, I know Pastor Flattery, better than you. Why? Because he has known him longer than me, been closer to him than me, experienced him more than me. These are all true. The closer we are to someone the more we know about them and the more they know about us. God, on the other hand, knows everything about us, without us being close to Him because he is God. The scary part about that type of relationship is that even after knowing me, He (God) still loves me and desires to have fellowship with me. Sometimes from our position in the relationship, we don’t desire God as much as we should, or as much as He would desire us to.
Many Christians only know God from reading the scriptures and you can learn a lot that way, but that is not having fellowship or intimacy or closeness. I know God is with me all the time, but I don’t experience His closeness all the time or as much as I’d like. Thats problably my fault.
The times I have experienced God and His presence, have been life changing to say the least. I’ve experienced deliverance from drugs and alcohol abuse, deliverance from occult practices, I’ve experienced God as my healer, He has supernaturally supplied the needs of myself and my family. I have been blessed and touched by God in so many ways.
Now I know people who have experienced God, (the same God I’m talking about) in a totally different way, but just as personal. God is not a respecter of persons. God reveals Himself to those who truly believe that He is. And he rewards those that diligently seek Him. I fell, that I fall way short of the Patriarchs’ of the Bible, but I have a desire to know God as they did. A simple understanding and a trusting relationship, a knowing in my knower that He was and is and is to come. I have experienced God as He has revealed Himself in His word. Experience will hold on longer than knowledge alone. Experience has to line up with the revealed knowledge of God in His word.
I can know and find out everything I want to know about Pastor Flattery and Jon. But I’d rather know them, for myself and experience them for myself, and that is something nobody can take away from me. I have first hand knowledge and experience. I know for myself now, what is true.
Know God because He already knows you and loves you anyway. Be Blessed in Him.
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