- Can you believe in a God who saw all that could and might happen?
- Can you believe in a God who is not the Creator of the universe, but is the Initiator.
- Can you believe in a God who is inside time and is time?
- Can you believe in a God who initiated and set in motion a universe so complex and awe aspiring that life arose and evolved in it?
- Can you believe in a God who watched and waited, observing and delighting in that which formed?
- Can you believe in a God who saw life gain intelligence and reasoning, A God who loved so much that he stepped out and held out “his” hand in greeting and friendship?
- Can you believe in a God who saw what would come, and yet still allowed us free will? A God knowing what might happen allowed it in order to allow us to be real beings?
- Can you believe in a God who warned of what knowledge would bring yet still offered it?
- Can you believe in a God so holy and pure that even seeing what might come was surprised at how badly we fell?
- Can you believe in a God who saw us lose our way, fall into habits that hurt us, and refused to listen to “him” when he tried to point out that these things hurt us?
- Can you believe in a God who loved that which he had caused so much that he was willing to become one of us, mortal? A God who was willing to become us so he could truly understand us?
- Can you believe in a God who loved us so much that when taking our form and gaining a mind like ours was prepared to die so that we would actually pay attention to what he had said?
- Can you believe in a God who wishes the best for all, and sees what that might be, a God who loves the homeless, the sick, the poor, the weak, the helpless and the fool. And yet loves us and respects us so much that he cannot and will not force any one us to do what he sees is best, but only shows us the way letting us choose, letting us be real people?
- Can you believe in a God who waits for us to decided who and what we are, to experience many of the aspects of life, and who waits for us to leave behind the limitations of this cocoon of flesh and truly know him?
- Can you believe in a God who loved us so much he let us choose what we would become for better or for worse?
- A God so complex that this surely only touches on the most infinitely small facet of what he really is?
If not what can you believe in? Please feel free to post how you see God in the comments or on your own blog. I think the manner in which we see God and his actions differs for each of us and underlies all that we do and are. Therefore I'd love to get some idea of how others veiw God.
Also feel free to make any objections to items in this list you feel necessary, I'll try to explain it but, seeing the above is probably a reasonable overview of some of the bias's that underlie my understanding of God and therefore my faith. What I say may make little sense and likely in some areas lack a strong and strictly accurate logical structure.
7 comments:
That's pretty cool Chad... it's pretty darn close to what I believe too.
As with Matt pretty close to what I believe. Just a few critiques or points:
1. Can you believe in a God so holly I'm sorry I can't
2. who waits for us to leave behind the limitations of this cocoon of flesh and truly know him? possibly too gnostic sounding for me. I think that it is not the flesh that limits us but rather we who limit ourselves.
3. Whilst in concept I agree with the evolution point I am not as certain to what extent God controlled/guided/watched over it. Whatever the case nothing happened without Him.
4. I like this point Can you believe in a God so complex that this surely only touches on the most infinitely small facet of what he really is?
Good post.
:p Jared!
Thanks corrected, as usual the spelling bites me.
hey bro, do you remember me from last year (at that Cambodian restaurant)? anyhow, the answer is no, first because there's no real proof (although there's no real proof God doesn't exist either), and secondly if that's how God works then i'd rather live in a world where we don't have choices rather than a world where people make choices that often f_ck others up. the cost of the bad choices outweighs the benefits - whether or not you agree with that usually has a link to how much of a victim you are to those decisions
oh yeah, i guess my answer is more of a "can you love a God who", not "can you believe"
Well I remember the restaurant and that there were a couple of people that I didn't know unfortunately I can't but a face to you though.
Interesting reply, it is true that there is no proof as such for most of the statements above, some verses tend to suggest some of the above to me. Still it's very much a few of the way "I" would like God to be. And it is definately shaped by scientific education.
i'd rather live in a world where we don't have choices rather than a world where people make choices that often f_ck others up.
An interesting view and one that I certainly could not share. Seeing one of my primary biases is that all humans must have free will or they would not be "real" or self aware. Again little direct biblical support that I can think of.
> Well I remember the restaurant and that there were a couple of people that I didn't know unfortunately I can't but a face to you though.
> An interesting view and one that I certainly could not share. Seeing one of my primary biases is that all humans must have free will or they would not be "real" or self aware. Again little direct biblical support that I can think of.
ho hum, well i was the Asian guy with strings on his glasses, you can see what i look like at www.myspace.com/jesuscrux, the photo i have for my profile here on blogger is of baby Tito, just one of the reasons i don't support choice (with my limited knowledge and personal point of view, because God has reasons for everything). the parents decided they didn't want to be Christians and as a result baby Tito has to suffer all this pain, i'd rather a world where we aren't conscious of all this than a world where there are some results of good decisions and also other results of bad decisions. in fact i kinda think it's unfair we don't get to choose whether or not we want to be born into this world - it's like someone creating you and holding a gun (a metaphor for Hell) to your head, saying you get to choose to love me and live happily, or reject me and die. which is a cool choice if you make the right decision, but we didn't get to choose to have the gun there in the first place
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