Tag: God

One Take on the After Life

The data goes, while the shell turns to dust

A truly eternal paradise would not be a state of solid matter, comprised of atoms and elements such as those listed on the Periodic Table here in our current physical realm, as all these things are subject to decay at the molecular level over linear time, and humans are comprised of these same elements as well, primarily C ‘carbon: group 14’ and H²O¹.

An eternal realm would necessitate a particular type of super-perceived, timeless state of being where everything still appears entirely tangible and yet wholly foreign and imperishable compared to the cosmos in which we currently exist. It would be a place where the laws of physics cannot coexist, and by its very nature, would exclude expansion or movement as our universe experiences. Such a state would also mean the absence of time, which is the measurement of light’s speed, represented to us as a clock’s ticking.

So how do we get there, aside from the fact that we first depend on Jesus covering our fare? The logical answer is that the soul would have to move toward or be guided through some form of interdimensional portal, which cannot begin until one first stops breathing, and the soul is loosed from the expired body it inhabited in this world of decaying particles. I would venture that it’s apt to be the same portal used by angels and Lucifer, as in Job’s story wherein he pays God a personal visit.

A super-perceived realm opens up limitless possibilities that could never occur here on earth, not excluding such things as streets of gold or traveling at the speed of thought. If any of the so-called near death experiences are remotely accurate, it would also explain why the authors of those events record such observations, as running through a field of flowers and then looking back to find that not a single flower has been crushed. It would be because they had perceived the field of flowers they’re seeing. The flowers weren’t biological in makeup.

A realm of super-perception would genuinely be a paradisiacal place. Do you say you miss all the dogs you ever had? Well, that’s not a problem. Simply think them back, and there they’ll be, standing at your feet wagging their tails. The saying would be correct. “All dogs go to Heaven!” I know I certainly won’t have any problem living forever in a place where I can have my heart’s desires. I’ll definitely be visiting my mom to listen to the golden harp she said she wanted when she got there. If she plays it anything like she did the piano, there’s a constant crowd around her.

YOU Are Important

dennishomepage

Whether you believe that God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit are who they claim to be does not change the fact that they are, indeed, who they claim to be. One part of this precept supports the notion that the Bible is literally the inspired word of God. Additional support for this hypothesis is provided in II Timothy 3:16 and provides concrete evidence of this hypothesis. Timothy states that “All scripture is given by inspiration of God…” This point is foundational to the Christian belief system and to our healthy development as human beings.

Let me explain.

The Biblical character, King David, notes in Psalms 139 that our God, the everlasting presence, knows everything there is to know about us. There is no place where we can hide from God, and no thought that we can prevent Him from knowing. Actually, King David suggests that God already knows our thoughts, needs and desires. How does this relate to YOU and your importance?

Knowing that the Bible is the inspired word of God, and King David is right in his Psalms 139:14 narrative when he states that “for I am fearfully and wonderfully made…”, then, before the beginning of time, God has known you. I suggest, no: I know, that YOU are so important that Christ designed your specific DNA before the Father actually spoke the creation narration. The artist Lindsey-Anderson depicts this concept in the painting on this page.

Please do not believe the doubts you sometimes have about your self, or what others may say or think about you. YOU are important! God said it, I believe it, that settles it! I love you.

jesushands

Comments Welcomed on:

  1. Who is the artist in the picture, and how do you know?
  2. What are your observations of the pencil?
  3. What is the artist drawing?

Ref:

The Holy Bible. The Open Bible. King James Version. (1975). Thomas Nelson Publishers.

The View from God’s Eyes

This universe is but a crystal sphere in His hand

Imagine you are in the realm of the Creator right now. Wait… Let’s go all the way with it and take the ultimate leap. Imagine for a moment, you are the Creator… right now… in that place… whatever or wherever that place is. You are neither a man or woman. You are an infinitely all knowing mind, in the form of a hovering, enormous, radiating and blinding white light that casts no shadow.

From your point of view, this entire universe is suspended in front of you… no bigger than a baseball. From this perspective you can’t even see our entire ‘Milky Way galaxy… let alone our tiny sun inside it with its even tinier eight orbiting planets. You are timeless and outside of time, because time is simply the physical movement of interacting light within that sphere in front of you. You’ve existed for as long as you can recall, which seems to be forever, and may very well be. The history of events on this minuscule satellite, and all of humanity’s actions, have already been zoomed in and scoured over by you from beginning to end, so many times, it is like an old dog-eared book. The entire span of earth’s life is infinitesimal, in comparison to the grand timeline’s panorama of creation.

From this vantage point… and with you being the creator of all things… this entire physical universe could just be one of many spheres that you have designed and made during your entire existence right now. All of them dangling about like fine crystals on gold strings, along a grand hallway, with more of them still on your drawing board. You made all of them because you love creating and you want the sentient souls of your living planets within them to seek you out and become your eternal children who will love you and become family where you are now. It’s what you do, so why would you ever consider ceasing from it and just placing your hands in your lap for the rest of forever? You wouldn’t. You move on to the next beautiful concept and creation that pleases you.

You are all knowledge. You are all math. You are everywhere at once… because everywhere was conceived by your infinite mind.

Now that just leaves two questions…

1. What are you going to do with all these empty universes once all the intelligent life within them is eventually with you, and you’re done with them? You know all these souls could start bunching up around you like a starship full of multiplying tribbles if you don’t stop. And—

2. What’s on your drawing board for the next project? It’ll be interesting to find out.

Have You Got God Right Where You Want Him?

Once there was a time when man believed that the earth was the center of all there is.

Once there was a time when man believed the sun was the center of all there is.

Once there was a time when man believed the earth was flat and if you traveled too far, you would fall off the edge… to somewhere… evidently little regard was ever given to exactly what ‘somewhere’ would be, other than an ancient map I once studied containing words along the edges that said, “Here be Dragons”.

Now, most of humanity realizes that the sun, earth and the rest of the solar system are neither at the center of anything, but in addition, we’re so minuscule as to not even show up within one spiral arm of our ‘sombrero’ galaxy… and that the universe is an endless sea of such galaxies.

We now say that everything our Hubble Space Telescope sees is ‘The Known Universe’.

Of those of you who believe in an Intelligent Design… and are of the belief that just because what we can now peer into the vastness of space, that now that’s all there is… I’ve got something quite intriguing for you to ponder and for you to compare yourself with those ancient people of the past who thought their intelligence had it all figured out too.

Just what does the word ‘Create’ mean to you, and how would you describe someone who enjoys making things, or even just painting or sculpting?

Do you actually think an all-powerful Creator would only make something once? And then sit down… cross His arms, and declare, That’s it! I’m done! I’m never going to make anything else again!

I’m just going to sit here for eternity and retire from being creative! I’ve lost all interest, and there’s nothing you can say that will make me change my mind!”

If you really believe that way… as the ancients did, then all I can conclude is that you have tied your God’s hands behind his back, and that you are as jealous as the child who has discovered there’s a new baby in the house.

I’ve got news for you brothers and sisters… There very well could be an endless sea of beautiful universes, dangling like crystal prisms, along a great corridor that the Creator frequents, and adds yet another whenever He pleases.

And to top it off… if it is His will, there could be life inside every single one of those gems.

It’s called The Multiverse Theory… and unless you’re an astrophysicist, you don’t even want to attempt comprehending it… but leave it to say, it certainly removes the rope that some people have used to tie God’s ‘Creative’ hands.

Start thinking bigger.

 

God Whistles While He Works

God Whistles While He Works
maybe… probably… more than likely…

musicinstruments

First, let me begin this purely imagined theory by pointing out that the Bible clearly reveals that God especially enjoys music, and this is fundamental to the crux of my missive here. In fact, theoretically, even melancholy music from one of His children with a worried mind would hold interest for God, as the woeful sounds of the voice and instruments give amplification to one’s suffering in a melodic form. By singing from the heart, he or she is voicing that they’re in a troubling situation, perhaps beyond their ability to conquer alone.

While many songs are certainly joyful and pleasing to God, it’s also likely that the songs of despair touch Him as well and are apt to move Him to compassion. They tell Him that the situation is desperate enough to put to music and sing with fervor as intensely as any prayer. Indeed, music can occasionally be prayer.

Any type of music sent up sincerely and purposely to God must surely be heard, for this is the most expressive type of language we have. Often referred to as ‘The Universal Language, it was, like everything else, conceived by God, and being the author of such an expressive form of communication is what lead me to a theory regarding what may well be a personal attribute of God that can be shared with us.

 

I am reasonably certain at this point in my life, that God surely does not create solely in a state of never-ending silence. We know He has a voice because we hear Him speaking throughout the Old Testament, and often with a lot of authority. Here then, I present to you, the thoughts from my own speculative mind about a divine Creator who may sometimes gets a little melodic while He’s working.

I started out one morning, thinking about God’s creative propensities, His surroundings, and what He might have been doing, even before He had created the angels. I’m not sure why my mind went off on that tangent just then, but I do know it happens all the time with me, because I’ve never lost my childhood inquisitiveness that most adults do, nor have I any intention of losing it. By the way… just so you know… you’re more apt to be called a dreamer if they notice you voicing that inquisitiveness too often, rather than a visionary.

Anyway, there I was, sitting out on the porch at sunrise, gazing out across the treetops while rocking back and forth. My fingers were tapping out a rhythm on the arm of the rocker, and I began diving deep in thought. “Hmm… just what might God have actually been doing some of the time before he created the angels?” I knew He was called the Alpha and always was, but angels didn’t always exist because they were first conceived in His mind. So surely there had to have been an unknown interval before angels when God was doing other things.”

Right about then, my brain took a hard left and I said to myself, “Hold on a second, what He was doing isn’t quite what my mind is seeking here.” A list of the things He might have done or is doing is all a very intriguing subject, but really, isn’t it pretty much a given that He was forever doing an endless number of things involving things like conception, creation, or interaction with His Triune Self, but since there are no written records of what those things might have been, it’s a bit of a moot point to me. What I really want to know is some aspect of just how a perfect mind might focus and go about the task at hand. Rather like discovering what a person’s common propensities are by watching their daily routine several times from morning ’til night, and that just might be something that can very well be gleaned from the Old Testament.

Granted, my rocking chair musing was little more than a Holmesian deduction based on insufficient Biblical knowledge and a lot of the usual conjecturing, rendering it far out in left field to a lot of folks, but that’s how I relax, entertain myself, and distance my mind from depressing things… like living in this one room at the moment. Other people mow their lawns to do that, but not me. I have to be comfortably loafing. Besides, I don’t have a lawn, and to my way of thinking, pondering is no less constructive than making up jokes and one-liners for a book to be published. Well, except for the royalties the book can return if anybody buys the thing.

So I began thinking all over from scratch again, but this time with the specific angle of envisioning God out in the field, commencing His next seven-day creation project. How is He carrying Himself about? Is He moving about in that same cloud that hovered over the tabernacle tent for forty years in the wilderness? How does He start His morning, as it were? Does He tend to recline, stand, or both when He works, or does He continuously hover about?

Then a really intriguing thought suddenly entered my mind. Does God talk to Himself or make some kind of vocalization when He has an epiphany or asks Himself whether there’s a better way of doing the thing He’s creating? That was it! That’s the question! Does He talk, shout, laugh, and even sing? If so, then I’ve finally stumbled onto a unique aspect of God I can relate to on a human level.

I talk things out and sing to myself all the time when I’m alone. So if I’m made in God’s image, why wouldn’t He talk and sing to Himself as well? I find that talking to another me, gets the kinks out of the project quicker and with greater clarity. Talking to one’s self is a useful thing. Of course, having a mental condition that causes strange verbalizing is not. Still, people who make fun of you for talking to yourself need to learn the difference and try it themselves.

Now the obvious began entering my mind, and the rest of the lights came on. “Hold the phone. God made the decision to populate heaven with angels for some intelligent company and to be recognized as being their Creator.” He thought out their makeup and endowed them with the specific talents and skills of His choosing. And what do we know from the Bible, to be one of the most exceptional talents that angels possess, that would have made Him want to create them precisely the way He did? They sing! They started singing from the time they were created, and they haven’t stopped since. Their singing is said to be the most beautiful sound in existence. It’s the Heavenly Choir.

Within an hour after stepping out onto the porch that morning, my rocking chair crossed the finish line. The Creator of music must surely be making melodic sounds, either in thought or vocalized with that very same voice that spoke to Moses on the mountain. And if God is singing, then it follows that like us, when we’re busiest, we often drop back from singing the lyrics to much less distracting humming or whistling.

And there it was. A uniquely physical attribute that God undoubtedly has, that I as a music lover, could relate to and have a constant encouraging affinity with right here on this temporal plane. Whether it’s a fact or not can’t be proven while I’m still breathing the air of course, but it falls into the realm of logical probability, and I can take that rocking chair deduction and hold on to it as a comforting thought for myself for the rest of my days. Like watching a memorable sunset by the ocean. Admittedly there is no practical use for speculative thinking as this. Still, imagination has always been useful to me as it gives me nearly as much pleasure in this life as music and puppies.

Sometimes I remind myself that God loves music enough to hum or whistle, by telling folks, “Hey, I know something about God I bet you don’t.” When they ask, “Oh yeh, what would that be?” I reply, “He whistles while He works.” Then I get that look like I’m one brick short of a load and laughed at, but that’s alright because I’m pretty sure God laughs at us as well…

If There’s No Time, There’s No God

If There’s No Time, There’s No God

Stephen Hawking

By Douglas Duncan October 24, 2020

I remember reading a science news article quite awhile back, wherein the late astrophysicist Stephen Hawking was giving some finalized theories regarding our universe and a creator in his farewell book, “Brief Answers to Big Questions.” I used to just take for granted that Hawking was on the same level of genius with Einstein, due mainly to his notoriety on the subject of black holes, quantum physics and theories on the nature of, and beginning of the universe, together with accolades and a seemingly endless list of awards, but I dropped that meteorite real fast when one of his last opines collided head on with an asteroid at 186,000 miles per second.

In his last days, one of the final issues he addressed was the existence of God. He stated in reference to our universe’s beginning, “We have finally found something that doesn’t have a cause, because there was no time for a cause to exist in. For me this means that there is no possibility of a creator, because there is no time for a creator to have existed in.”

You don’t even have to believe in God to perceive that there is something really wobbly with such a simplified, foregone conclusion. Even Einstein held to a pantheistic concept of an impersonal creative entity. Hawking was stating with all confidence, that God cannot exist because before the Big Bang there was no linear time in which anything could be the cause of anything, therefore, neither could there be a higher consciousness to choose to cause something. Whoa Nelly! What the hey kind of epiphany was that utterance? He certainly wasn’t giving any creed to all the possibilities when he dictated that one over his synthesizer.

He addressed the God issue with the near imbecilic assumption that linear time would have been necessary before the Big Bang in order for there to be any possibility of the existence of God, or perhaps more to the point, a ‘time out of time’. He completely excluded the plausibility that there may be a God residing in a higher non-physical, non-decaying and timeless dimension far outside the creation event, or that sudden spark of light and explosion of everything from nothing, commonly referred to as the Big Bang, or as I prefer to call it, the “Let there be light” event.

Why that makes about as much sense as saying, “I was just about to make you pancakes for breakfast this morning, but unfortunately I didn’t exist because I wasn’t able to be standing outside the factory just before they made the Bisquick box, so now there aren’t any pancakes. So why don’t you go back to bed, and then come back out here after awhile, and see if any pancakes have shown up. You never know, I might spontaneously exist inside the box, and then, there they’ll be… all nice and fluffy and golden brown, with butter and syrup already on them! Stranger things have happened I’m sure.”

The whole concept there Stephen, is that an extremely powerful Entity with a grand idea, chooses to create a dimension of both physical matter and continuously expanding movement of said matter, including those speedy little photons shooting out from the stars which is what we like to measure the speed thereof and refer to the results as time. The Entity itself is not a part of Its newly created dimension, anymore than you are a part of your scooter, which will probably now be enshrined in a prominent place at The Cambridge University.

Space-time is an inescapable part of our expanding universe and is not a requirement nor even a probability in the absence of white hot glowing matter, outside of it, regardless of what other non-physical dimensions lie beyond its edges. I cannot help but shake my head at Hawking’s final conclusion on the subject of God, because the one thing he came close to being right on, is that God really cannot be a part of time, which is solely an attribute of the cosmos that He Himself made. So what was someone evidently putting in his daily nourishment, that would have given him cause to believe that a Creator cannot exist just outside the boundary of the universe where there is no space-time occurring, when he made such a peculiar statement? As a theoretical physicist, it should have at least occurred to him that an all powerful Creator would have absolutely no need of the internal movement of star light or the passing of sand in the hourglass that we experience within this defined temporal realm. God does exist where there is no time. He conceived time. It’s His baby, just like His concept of the blood pumping through our veins or the water drawn through the capillaries of every leaf on every one of His trees. He thought it all up… He’s not part of it.

There was an earlier time when Hawking was a bit more open to the idea that there may in fact be a God. In his book ‘A Brief History of Time’ he wrote, “Is the unified theory so compelling that it brings about its own existence?” Sometime after that book was published, while spending time with mathematical physicist Neil Turok, both men came to an agreement that a Creator was quite compatible with an open universe. So what happened that would ultimately close the door on the idea of a purposed universe? Perhaps one reason for his eventual atheistic view could have been that he had become set against a perceived cruel God for a lifetime of imprisonment in a non-responsive body, which would be more than understandable. However, there being no apparent public record of him saying such, it’s purely speculation on my part. Actually, that’s not at true. My wife told me to include it here as a paragraph. There… Happy now?

At any rate, I would have thought that he would have been more of an outside the box thinker, but I guess his reasoning got too close to the event horizon and he got sucked into a black hole at the finale. Well, I must say, that was a pretty dismal belief system to wrap up one’s last days on Earth with, but as for myself, I believe I’ll adhere to a grander and much more outside the box hypothesis. All the way to the last breath.

So long Stephen. Maybe I’ll see you sometime… out of time… or not…

Why Did God Create the Thai Liver Fluke?

whydidgodcreatethethairiver
BY FAZALE RANA – JULY 11, 2017

The Thai liver fluke causes quite a bit of human misery. This parasite infects fish living in the rivers of Southeast Asia, which, in turn, infects people who eat the fish.

Raw and fermented fish make up a big part of the diet of people in Southeast Asia. For example, in Thailand, a popular culinary item is called sour fish. This “delicacy” is prepared by mixing raw fish with garlic, salt, seasoning, and rice. After rolling the mixture into a ball, it is placed in a plastic bag and left to ferment in the hot sun for several days.

The fermentation process isn’t sufficient to kill the cysts of the Thai liver fluke embedded in the muscles of the infected fish. So, when people eat sour fish (or raw fish), they risk ingesting the parasite.

The Thai Liver Fluke Life Cycle

After ingestion, the cysts open in the digestive track of the human host, releasing the fluke. This parasite travels through the bile duct, making its way into the liver, where it takes up residence.

Once in the liver, the fluke lays eggs that are carried into the host’s digestive track by bile secreted by the liver. In turn, the eggs are released into the environment with human excrement. After being ingested by snails, the eggs hatch, producing larvae that escape from the snail. The free-living larvae infect fish, forming cysts in their skin, fins, and muscle.

Image: Life cycle of Opisthorchis viverrini. Image source: Wikipedia

The Thai liver fluke is a master of disguise, evading the immune system of the human host and living for decades in the liver. Unless the infestation is extreme, people infected with the fluke are completely unaware that they harbor this parasite.

Estimates indicate that 10% of the Thai population is infected with the Thai liver fluke. But in the villages of northern Thailand, where the consumption of raw and fermented fish is higher than in other areas of the country, 45% of the people carry the parasite.

The Thai Liver Fluke and Cancer

The Thai liver fluke can live for several decades in the host’s liver without much consequence. But eventually, the burden of the infection catches up with the human host, leading to an aggressive and deadly form of liver cancer that claims about 26,000 Thai lives each year. Once the cancer is detected, most patients die within a year.

Biomedical researchers think the liver cancer is triggered by the Thai liver fluke, which munches on the host’s liver. Interestingly, the fluke’s saliva contains a protein (called granulin-like protein) that stimulates cell growth and division. These processes help the liver to repair itself after being damaged by the fluke. In effect, the parasite eats part of the liver, supercharges the liver to repair itself, and then eats the new tissue, repeating the cycle for decades. The repeated wounding and repairing of the liver tissue accompanied by rapid cell division eventually leads to the onset of cancer.

The Thai Liver Fluke and God’s Goodness

The problems caused by the Thai liver fluke are not limited to the biomedical arena. This parasite causes theological issues, as well. Why would a good God create the Thai liver fluke? Questions like this one fall under the problem of evil.

Philosophers and theologians recognize two kinds of evil: moral and natural.Moral evil stems from human action (or inaction in some cases). Natural evil proceeds from nature itself—earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, diseases, and the like.

Natural evil seems to present a greater theological challenge than moral evil does. Skeptics could agree that God can be excused for the free-will actions of human beings who violate his standard of goodness, but they reason that natural disasters and disease don’t result from human activity. Therefore, this type of “evil” must be attributed solely to God.

Are Some Forms of Natural Evil Actually Moral Evil?

As I have previously argued, many times natural evil is moral evil in disguise. (See the Resources section below.) In other words, the suffering humans experience stems from human moral failing and poor judgment, not the actual natural phenomenon.

This most certainly seems to be the case when it comes to the Thai liver fluke. Liver cancer caused by parasite infestations would plummet if people stopped eating raw fish and developed better public sanitation systems and practices.

So, is it God’s fault that humans become infected with the Thai liver fluke? Or is it because the people of northern Thailand suffer from poverty and a lack of sanitation—ultimately, conditions caused by human moral failing? Is it God’s fault that people of Southeast Asia develop liver cancer from fluke infestations, when they eat raw and fermented fish instead of properly cooking the meat, knowing the adverse health effects?

Parasites Play a Critical Role in Ecological Systems

Still, the question remains: Why would God create parasites at all?

As it turns out, parasites play an indispensable role in ecosystem health.1 Though these creatures make minor contributions to the biomass of ecosystems, they have a significant effect on several ecosystem parameters, including biodiversity. In fact, some ecologists believe that an ecosystem becomes more robust and functions better as parasite diversity increases.

Considering this insight, a rationale exists as to why God would create the Thai liver fluke to be a member of the ecosystems of the rivers in Southeast Asia. This parasite infects any carnivore (dogs, cats, rats, and pigs) that eats fish from these rivers, not just humans. Undoubtedly infecting these carnivores influences a variety of ecosystem processes, such as species competition, and energy flow through the ecosystem. The harm this parasite causes humans is an unintended consequence of imprudent human activities—not the inherent design of nature.

Parasites and God’s Providence

Remarkably, recent work by scientists from the Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine (AITHM) indicates that the suffering caused by the Thai liver fluke may fulfill a higher purpose—a greater good.

These researchers believe that the Thai liver fluke may hold the key to effectively treat slow- and non-healing wounds caused by diabetes.2

High blood glucose levels associated with diabetes compromise the circulatory and immune systems. This compromised condition inhibits wound repair due to restricted blood flow to the site of the injury. It also makes the wound much more prone to infection.

The AITHM researchers realized that the granulin-like protein produced by the Thai liver fluke could be used to promote healing of chronic wounds because it promotes rapid cell proliferation in the liver. If incorporated into a cream, this protein could be topically applied to the wounds, stimulating wound repair. This treatment would dramatically reduce the cost of treating chronic wounds and significantly improve the treatment outcomes.

Ironically, the properties of the granulin-like protein that make this biomolecule so insidious are exactly the properties that make it useful to treat diabetics’ wounds. To put it another way, the Thai liver fluke is beneficial to humanity.

The idea that God designed nature to be useful for humanity is a facet of divine providence. In Christian theology, this idea refers to God’s continual role in: (1) preserving his creation; (2) ensuring that everything happens; and (3) guiding the universe. The concept of divine providence also posits that when God created the world he built into the creation everything humans (and other living organisms) would need. Accordingly, every good thing that people possess has been provided and preserved by God, either directly or indirectly.

On this basis, as counterintuitive as this may initially seem, it could be argued that as part of his providence, God created the Thai liver fluke for humanity’s use and benefit.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

–Romans 8:28

Resources

Endnotes

  1. Peter J. Hudson, Andrew P. Dobson, and Kevin D. Lafferty, “Is a Healthy Ecosystem One that Is Rich in Parasites?” Trends in Ecology and Evolution 21 (July 2006): 381–85, doi:10.1016/j.tree.2006.04.007.
  2. Paramjit S. Bansal et al., “Development of a Potent Wound Healing Agent Based on the Liver Fluke Granulin Structural Fold,” Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 60 (April 20, 2017): 4258–66, doi:10.1021/acs.jmedchem.7b00047.

Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and The Shack for Two Brothers

The ShackI have been wondering, for several years, if there are other people who are convinced that the traditional teachings of the Church do not fulfill the accurate and true attitude, image, and mind-set of the Trinity. Specifically, why do we seem to separate the attitude and image of God the father from those of Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit?

I recently found a short yet significant read that is causing redefining moments in my thought processes. William P. Young (The Shack, 2007) presents compelling suggestions that we, as a Church, need to reassess the images we invoke when we speak of the attitude, image, and mind-set of the Trinity.

Traditional teachings seem to present that God the Father is a wise old man who sits in judgment. Sometimes we include the flowing long gray- or white-haired old man who wears a flowing robe. Usually we project a sternness of appearance, demeanor, and attitude. I suggest that many times we project God the Father as a proverbial taskmaster. Kind of like when we do something wrong (make an error, sin) look out because our error or sin has caused the Father to be angry. I suggest that the Father is not the angry God that Edwards (1741) presents in his sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Actually, the Father is quite the opposite. The second point of discussion is our projection of Jesus.

I humbly suggest that Jesus is not the epitome of a Jewish priest. My heart strings tell me that Jesus is more like the personal prayer partner or accountability partner that each of us should have, and, be to others. Yes, he is a priest. Yes, he is Jewish. Yes, he is the human form of God the Father. However, his role is not judgmental. Rather, reconciliation and relationship restoration. Biblical perspectives and stories suggest that Jesus is a hands-on, loving, caring, one-on-one relationship focused partner. His relationship with the disciples, His presentation to the woman at the well, His people-first behavior, His commitment to the Father’s will, are examples of Jesus’ dedication to people. In summary, we misrepresent God the Father and Jesus the Son as the good cop-bad cop cycle. The third point of discussion is our understanding of The Holy Spirit.

In short, I suggest that the Holy Spirit has two primary jobs. First, to commute between heaven and earth to present to God the Father, and Jesus the Son, evidence that we are behaving with a mind-of-Christ. Basically, to evidence that we are getting it right. The second job is to quietly convict us of our errors (sins). The Holy Spirit’s intent of conviction is to bring us into restored relationship that provides physical evidence so that the Holy Spirit may complete His primary job.

Young’s novelette presents a thorough review of our misconceptions while presenting plausible alternatives. His thought processes are interesting and Biblically valid. Enjoy the read.

Edwards, Jonathan. (1741). Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Retrieved on 31 May 2008, from The Holy Bible. The Open Bible. King James Version. (1975). Thomas Nelson Publishers.

Young, William P. (2007). The Shack. Windblown Media, Los Angeles, California.

Thanks for listening.