tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4879615387850345622.post5770169669901306342..comments2023-07-17T23:10:02.228+10:00Comments on Discombobula: And after the fire, a still small voiceSuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01122659239039900398noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4879615387850345622.post-23673549255762610942009-08-24T14:13:15.215+10:002009-08-24T14:13:15.215+10:00Hey Sue,I'm not sure what I think about alot o...Hey Sue,<br><br>I'm not sure what I think about alot of things as it relates to God either. The way I understand God's common grace is that I don't deserve it and God is therefore under no obligation to give it to me. I don't think that God owes His creation anything. I cannot deserve as a non-being to be created and placed on this earth and have all my needs met by God. As I see it He's the Creator and I'm the creature. He has rights and prerogatives that I don't have. If God witholds His common grace from me He does nothing wrong. He's not evil by allowing terrible things to happen to me even if I don't understand why He allows them to happen. He owes me nothing. I can't fully comprehend the infinite ways of God. I know that He will and does bring good things out of the evil things that happen to me.<br><br>I see God as being in a different category than His creation. He's the Other. There are ways that I am like God and ways that I'm not. When I try to be like God in every way possible it leads to pride and arrogance.<br><br>Example:<br><br>God is self-sufficient I'm not<br>God is all-knowing I'm not<br>God is perfect I'm not<br>God is infinite I'm not<br>God is all-powerful I'm not<br>God is everywhere at once I'm not<br>God is unlimited in understanding I'm not<br><br>I am humbled in believing that there is a God and I'm not like Him in everyway.Mysterium Tremendumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18342042981695750691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4879615387850345622.post-8546933273859543112009-08-24T15:02:42.740+10:002009-08-24T15:02:42.740+10:00Hmm...I want to too....Bu as Paul said in one of ...Hmm...I want to too....<br><br>Bu as Paul said in one of his letters in that collection... we see in a darken mirror - a clouded looking glass...flashes, glimpses....sigh.Katherine Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06574051760314762024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4879615387850345622.post-80061135622063826462009-08-24T16:45:47.618+10:002009-08-24T16:45:47.618+10:00me too:- I'm already dreading summer- have don...me too:<br><br>- I'm already dreading summer<br><br>- have done my share of tearful bellowing in the past couple of years<br><br>- find left of mainstream folk to be my tribe :)<br><br>moving through the questions, not getting hung up on them, tis a healthy thingKelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18425317942978557478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4879615387850345622.post-73566559040482033212009-08-24T23:18:33.413+10:002009-08-24T23:18:33.413+10:00Cole - hey, dude. Hmmm, I understand where you ar...Cole - hey, dude. Hmmm, I understand where you are coming from but I don't see it that way myself. I mean, a parent doesn't owe their child anything either but they will do everything in their power to see that that child is safe and warm and secure. I believe, despite the evidence to the contrary - and this is where the tension is for me - that Love is even greater than that. But yeah, I agree with you in the sense that we aren't necessarily <i>entitled</i> to an easy life. God sure is different and weird in that way, that's for sure :)<br><br>Yeah, I can definitely sit with you in the humility of God as Other. It's sort of exhilarating in a way. Like a big Christmas present yet to be unwrapped, just bit by bit as we go.<br><br>KG - yeah, sigh is about it. Some days I've just had enough and want him to rip apart the whatever and come on down or in or over or whatever the heck he will do. But maybe we would spontaneously combust from the face-to-faceness, heh :)<br><br>Kel - yeah, that sounds like a good place to be in, going with the questions but not impaling themselves on them. They do seem to come in cycles, these questoins, especially when bad things happen.Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01122659239039900398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4879615387850345622.post-48876549680426361662009-08-24T23:34:31.823+10:002009-08-24T23:34:31.823+10:00Hey Sue,I don't think your analogy of parent-c...Hey Sue,<br><br>I don't think your analogy of parent-child holds because I believe God is in a different category than we are. It's like a categorical mistake to place God in the same category as us. Well it is for me anyway because I believe God is different than His creation. Her ways are infinitly higher than our ways and and Her thoughts are infinitely higher than our thoughts. <br><br>Anyway,<br><br>Good discussion. I hope all is well with you.Mysterium Tremendumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18342042981695750691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4879615387850345622.post-26809051622477591482009-08-24T23:44:16.039+10:002009-08-24T23:44:16.039+10:00Indeed. And as a parent's ways are infinitely...Indeed. And as a parent's ways are infinitely higher than the child's ways, so are God's ways higher than ours. And God calls himself our father throughout the Christian scriptures. I think it is a rock-solid comparison :) We shall just have to disagree :)Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01122659239039900398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4879615387850345622.post-20161060599388272622009-08-24T23:48:17.379+10:002009-08-24T23:48:17.379+10:00Hey Sue,I guess we will have to disagree. I don...Hey Sue,<br><br>I guess we will have to disagree. I don't go by the Bible anymore. :)<br><br>Although I still believe in God.Mysterium Tremendumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18342042981695750691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4879615387850345622.post-91322819500271926902009-08-24T23:52:41.180+10:002009-08-24T23:52:41.180+10:00I understand, dude :) The Bible is a pain in the ...I understand, dude :) The Bible is a pain in the arse to lug around heh :) I think at this point in time the way it is translated by Christianism conceals more than it reveals.<br><br>Following God just by him/herself is freedom :)Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01122659239039900398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4879615387850345622.post-84249171156478660922009-08-25T05:06:52.185+10:002009-08-25T05:06:52.185+10:00Yep. The Bible is a pain.I've been looking int...Yep. The Bible is a pain.<br><br>I've been looking into "nature mysticism"<br><br>There's alot that I relate to in their experiences. <br><br>For instance Bede Griffiths tells one of his experiences:<br> <br>Now I was suddenly made aware of another world of beauty and mystery such as I had never imagined to exist, except in poetry...I experienced an overwhelming emotion in the presence of nature, especially at evening. It began to wear a kind of sacramental character for me. I approached it with a sense of almost religious awe, and in the hush which comes before sunset, I felt again the presence of an unfathomable mystery. The song of the birds, the shapes of the trees, the colors of the sunset, were so many signs of this presence, which seemed to be drawing me to itself.<br><br>I know exactly what he's talking about. I've experienced the exact same thing. Anyway, good talking to you Sue!Mysterium Tremendumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18342042981695750691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4879615387850345622.post-65052061390847537262009-08-26T09:16:48.900+10:002009-08-26T09:16:48.900+10:00Oh, yes. And what a beautiful way of describing i...Oh, yes. And what a beautiful way of describing it!Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01122659239039900398noreply@blogger.com