Thanks. This reminds me of that response Donald Rumsfeld gave about the "known knowns" and "known unknowns." Obviously falling back on it as a mystery does not satisfy that burden, but I credit you for not trying to disguise it with an intellectual platitude.
Well, that's always been the position of The Church (Orthodox, and to some extent Catholicism), which is that God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) is the greatest Mystery. He is The Mystery. If God (Father) could be known, then He is not God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit). Doubt is as much a part of Christianity as is Faith.
Doubt is built into the religion itself. But, I digress:
God (Father) approaches us through Christ (Son) in a language we can understand, His "Word" or Logos. He is the Son, begotten, not created. An important distinction. The Holy Spirit: The Life-Giving Spirit of God
The Holy Spirit, as the third person of the Holy Trinity, is equally divine in the same way as the Father and Son. For this reason, he is given the titles â€Lord†and â€Giver of Life†(cf. Rom 8:10) – attributes, which can only properly belong to God and not to created beings. For this reason, as is recited in the Creed, the Holy Spirit is worshipped and glorified together with the Father and the Son. Beyond affirming the divinity of the Holy Spirit, the Church also taught that the Holy Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father; yet was sent into the world, within time, by the Son of God to continue the salvific work of God. There is, therefore, an important distinction made in Orthodox theology between the Holy Spirit’s eternal procession and existence, and his temporal mission. That is to say, whereas the Holy Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father only, He is sent into the world, in time, through the incarnate Son of God. In particular, the Eastern Orthodox tradition teaches that Holy Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father alone – that is, not from both the Father and the Son as is taught in Western theology with the addition of the filioque [Latin for, â€and from the Sonâ€] in the [Nicean] Creed – whilst, He is sent into the world in time, by the Son.
(Bolded the distinction between East and West, AFAIK. The Western church teaches that the Holy Spirit comes from Christ, the Son. The East teaches that the Holy Spirit comes from the Father, only. The importance of that detail, I'm still learning.)
The Holy Trinity is God's Mystery personified. How can One be Three in One and equal to Three and One at the same time? Makes no logical sense does it? Of course not. If God made logical sense, He wouldn't be God. The ultimate Unknown quantity. But, then again, it made logical sense to us at one time that the world is flat.
It's hard enough to
attempt to approach (understand) God's Mystery with that in mind. So difficult that some give up altogether and revert to the claim that God is polytheistic. Moses battled this tendency throughout the OT. It is to place human limitations on God to claim that "Since I, an enlightened Human, can't understand God's mysteries, therefore
*insert your favorite assertion about God." It's a bit geocentric to do so.
I believe what [MENTION=36308]Huldah[/MENTION] is attempting is to simplify God into a known quantity because that is the habit of Literalists. Literalists can't abide the unknown, so
they seek to know God through their own subjective filters(
Sola scriptura - Wikipedia), which is why she's spitting Bible verses she interprets as supporting her position. God is such a mystery to her that she speaks of Him in the human term of polytheism.
If I wanted to kill Asians, I bet I could find a reason in the Bible to kill Asians. And that's the problem. Literalists each see themselves as the authority and read the Bible how they wish, individually, instead of collectively with the proper context in mind. Atheists do this, too but that's because Atheists in the US come from a culture of Biblical Literalism. So ingrained into the culture is this Literalism that Atheist do it themselves. [Aside: I think it's particularly cute when Literalists (of both stripes) catch vapors upon learning that the Bible is a compiled and written work by the apostles and church fathers (men). Like the Bible was supposed to have descended to earth from the heavens]. I bet if I read the Bible drunk, high, and sober, I'd come away with different interpretations each time. For this reason, the interpretation is "Peer reviewed" in ecumenical councils, from the beginning.
Ethiopian eunuch - Wikipedia
Philip the Evangelist was told by an angel to go to the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, and there he met the Ethiopian eunuch. He had been to Jerusalem to worship (Acts 8:27), and was returning home. The eunuch was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah, and had come to Isaiah 53:7-8. Philip asked the Ethiopian, "Do you understand what you are reading?" He said he did not ("How can I understand unless I have a teacher to teach me?"), and asked Philip to explain the text to him. Philip told him the Gospel of Jesus, and the Ethiopian asked to be baptized. They went down into some water and Philip baptized him.
The Church is the "Body of Christ." The Church is not "Christ's Arm, Christ's Leg, Christ's Hip, etc." Do you want 30,000+ denominations? Because that's how you get 30,000+ denominations; everyone reading and interpreting the Bible on their own, starting their own churches, all claiming their interpretation is the correct one. The Orthodox Church holds that there is
only one correct worship, and it's the one that remains unchanged since Pentacost. "Nothing new, and nothing novel." Not a modern church, and certainly not of this world.
If the Bible was written in Greek, I'd trust the Greeks to understand the subtleties and context of the scripture and over their own language, than some random in Battle Creek, MI.
edit: you removed your post. why bother, in real life you don't get to erase what you say like that. once its out its out
![Shrug :shrug: :shrug:](/data/vbsmilies/dunno_shrug[1].gif)
I wasn't satisfied with that post, and this forum is hardly reality.
In the end, one has to be open to God. If you want God, you'll seek Him on your own. Free will and all that.