Due to weather, we didn't go to church this morning (I might have stayed home anyway) and so I spent some of the morning and part of the afternoon reading. In the mid afternoon to sometime into the evening, I had a very, very interesting conversation with a handful of my "internet" friends (some of whom I now know in person!) on the nature of death and if it's possible to say exactly how and when the soul leaves the body (and more). Not surprisingly, we didn't come away with any real conclusive answers on the mystery.
However, I'm not here to talk about that (it's still sinking into my brain), but to continue summarizing the third chapter of Authentic Christianity. I still did not finish the chapter. To begin therefore:
God is Omniscient. Some people deny this fact...
However, I'm not here to talk about that (it's still sinking into my brain), but to continue summarizing the third chapter of Authentic Christianity. I still did not finish the chapter. To begin therefore:
God is Omniscient. Some people deny this fact...
It is impossible to think of a God who is not all-knowing, although the Unification Church believes that God is limited in His power and His knowledge. Y. O. Kim, in the official “Moonie” manual, Unification Theology, writes: “God is not omnipotent… Man was created in such a way that he can restrict God’s purpose… Nor is God completely all-knowing. His omniscience, like his omnipotence, has to be qualified by man’s free will. God does not know everything that will happen because even though he wills some result it cannot take place if we do not cooperate.” 35 In this system, man, not God, is the most powerful being in the universe. 35. Kim, Unification Theology, 67. (267)
This makes me ask: "Doesn't this make man God?"
Anyway, the next thing Dr. Morecraft draw our attention to is what God knows. Now of course, "omniscient" means all knowing, but we might like to define what it is He knows a little better than that, simply for our own sakes. Therefore, God Knows Himself...
Anyway, the next thing Dr. Morecraft draw our attention to is what God knows. Now of course, "omniscient" means all knowing, but we might like to define what it is He knows a little better than that, simply for our own sakes. Therefore, God Knows Himself...
There are no mysteries in God to God.
R. J. Rushdoony concludes: “there is no subconscious in God or any unrealized aspects or potentialities. God knows Himself fully and completely and has fully known Himself through all eternity.” 37. R. J. Rushdoony, By What Standard? (Fairfax, VA: Thoburn Press, 1974), 159. (267)
God Knows Creation and All it Contains:
He knows everything there is to know about everything there is to know anything about. (267)
His knowledge of this universe is never in error. It is the correct, comprehensive, detailed and only interpretation of everything...All creation is perfectly understood
and fully interpreted by God, even before it was created. (268)
God Know the Future:
He knows everything that will be in the future, in time and eternity, just as He has
fully known the past. If that were not true, there could be no such thing as Biblical prophecy. (268)
God Knows the Possible:
Job 12:22 can also be used to show that God knows everything that is possible to
the power of God, but which God shall never bring to pass. He knows everything there is to know about everything that could have been but is not. (268)
God Know Man:
God has all-encompassing knowledge of all of us. He has a perfect and thorough knowledge of our every posture, gesture, pursuit, state, condition, emotion, aim, doubt, distress, desire, motive, plan, imagination, memory and intention...We are unaware of thousands of things that influence us, but God knows them all. (269)
How does God know?
God knows all things because He has planned all things. He knows all things instantaneously, simultaneously, and eternally, in one eternal act of knowing, because there is no succession of thoughts or moments in the eternal, unchangeable and omniscient mind of God. Because He is eternal, everything is eternally present
in His mind. He knows everything all at once. (269)
God’s knowledge is not derived from observation (Acts 15:18). Human knowledge of something assumes the existence of a thing. The opposite is true of God. God fully knows a thing before it exists. (269)
There are a few more things Dr. Morecraft has to say about God's omniscience...
God’s knowledge of Himself and of His creation is the basis for all human knowledge. In order to know anything truly about God, creation and ourselves, we must “think God’s thoughts after Him.” (270)
To summarize: God’s knowledge of things is creatively constructive. His thought and will give existence and meaning to all things. Man’s mind and knowledge are not creatively constructive, his mind and knowledge are receptively reconstructive; that is, he receives the word of God, and seeks to reconstruct life, spoiled by sin, but being renewed by grace, by the faithful application of that word to life in all its facets. “[A]s man as a knowing creature learns, he is, to the degree he truly learns, ‘thinking God’s thoughts univocally after Him.’”41. Robert L. Reymond, The Justification of Knowledge: An Introductory Study of Apologetic Methodology (Nutley, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1976), 45. (271)
Next point: God is Most Wise...
God’s wisdom is His ability to use His knowledge and power to accomplish His plans in a way that brings the most glory to Himself and the most benefit to His people. Wisdom without knowledge is impossible. Without power it is pathetic. Power without wisdom is terrifying. And knowledge without wisdom is useless. In God, boundless knowledge and boundless power are used by His boundless wisdom for the accomplishment of all His plans, thus making Him worthy of our greatest admiration and fullest trust. (271)
God's wisdom is manifested in creation, providence and redemption.
Creation, with all its variety, harmony, beauty, orderliness, usefulness, and perfect
interrelatedness... Providence, in His restraints upon sin and in His methods whereby He brings glory to Himself out of sin, without every excusing sin... Redemption, God made our Mediator, Jesus Christ, to be fully God and truly man in one person forever: “the infinite with the finite, infant and eternal God, Lawgiver and subject, and all without mixture or separation.” 42. Source unknown. (272)
Biblical knowledge is a solid grasp of the content of the Bible. Biblical wisdom is true insight into life and reality as they really are, in the light of that Biblical
revelation, coupled with the ability to apply this knowledge practically to everyday
issues; so that God may receive the most glory and God’s people receive the most benefit. (272)
The third, and final point from today's reading: God is Most Holy.
Holiness is God’s moral purity and glorious majesty. God’s holiness denotes two truths about God: (1) He is absolutely distinct from all creation; and (2) He is exalted above all creation in infinite majesty and splendor. (272-273)
“Holiness is to be regarded, not as a distinct attribute, but as the resultant [effect] of all God’s moral attributes [perfection] together… His holiness is the collective and consummate glory of His nature as an infinite, morally pure, active, and intelligent Spirit.”43. Dabney, Lectures in Systematic Theology, 172 (273)
It is impossible for God not to be holy and still to be God. God is necessarily holy as He is necessarily God. Without holiness, His mercy would be mere sentimentality, His wrath sheer madness, and His power terrifying tyranny. (273)
GOD’S HOLINESS IS HIS MAJESTIC AND MORAL SEPARATION FROM HIS CREATION. (273)
Christian man’s holiness is comprised of his being separated and consecrated to God and to His glory as the chief end of His existence. God’s holiness is His absolute self-consecration—is total consecration to Himself and to His own glory. (274)
God's anger is holy:
It is not capricious, arbitrary, irrational, uncontrollable or impulsive. It is of irresistible force. It is continuing and abiding. It remains as long as the sin stirring God’s holiness to displeasure remains. It is the most destructive power in the universe. It will completelydevastate all sin, and will pursue all God’s enemies into
the darkness, where the worm does not die and where the fire is not quenched. (275)
Then Dr. Morecraft lists a number of ways in which God's holiness is manifested...
God's holiness is manifested throughout history; it is manifested in biblical law. God manifested His holiness in the death of His Son:
God's holiness is manifested throughout history; it is manifested in biblical law. God manifested His holiness in the death of His Son:
Romans 8:32 says that God did not spare His beloved Son from any of the punishments God’s offended holiness demands for sin. He poured out on Jesus, our
substitutionary sacrifice for sin, all the condemnation our sins deserve (Mark 10:45; 1 Pet. 2:24). The tidal wave of God’s holy anger beat upon the breast of the spotless Son of God as our Substitute. He bore to the fullest extent God’s holy hatred and anger for human sin. (276)
God also manifests his holiness in every aspect and phase of our salvation:
We were elected to be holy (Eph. 1:4). Christ died so we could be holy (Titus 2:14).
The Holy Spirit calls us to be holy (1 Thess. 4:7). Sanctification and the Christian life consist in our progressive development in the holiness of the image of God (Rom. 8:29). Christ will return at the end of history to perfect us in holiness (Eph. 5:27). (276)
We are holy as we reflect God’s thoughts and character in our own minds and lives.
God’s goal for us as Christians is holiness. The pattern of our lives is God’s own holy life in Jesus Christ. The method of reaching God’s goal is faith in Christ and obedience to Biblical law for Jesus’ sake. The power for a holy life is the Holy Spirit of God living within us. (277-278)
I leave you here tonight; brain fried from all kinds of interesting conversations...
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