Tuesday, August 25, 2009

An refreshingly-odd picture of God

A few conversations recently have pushed me to question how much we (Christians in the US, Raleigh, who I know, etc.) desire to have God be a part of our lives, of changing us and weather or not we even think that is possible... is being close to God something that is saved for a few people?

I don't think so! I believe that God wants to spend time with each one of us and cherishes us more than we can understand...

So my refreshingly-odd picture of God comes from Song of Songs, chapter 2 v. 8...

Ah, I hear my lover coming! He is leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills...

So, this could be talking about someone completely different than Jesus, the Holy Spirit, Abba father, but some think that one layer in the complexity of this book we find an allegory of God's love for his children.

I was just thinking about God going out of his way to leap over mountains and bound over hills to spend time with me. Its playful, its inspiring. Do I believe that God loves me that much? Do you?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

yes- i do!!

kec said...

"is being close to God something that is saved for a few people?

I don't think so! I believe that God wants to spend time with each one of us and cherishes us more than we can understand... "

Does this mean you do not believe in a limited atonement?

traci said...

What is a limited atonement?

kec said...

Try this one:

http://www.dougledbetter.org/theology/limited_atonement.html

traci said...

Hm, I have 2 thoughts...

1) In my post I wasn't trying to argue the on the breadth of Christ's salvation, I was more challenging the notion that often even those who are already following Jesus do not consider themselves on the same playing field as other "super Christians" or people who seem to have more of leadership role in the church.

I was attempting to remind myself and others, that no matter who we are, God wants to be close to us, just as close as he seems to be to Mother Teresa or others like her.

Maybe that goes into limited atonement, I'm not sure?

So,
2) I grew up Presbyterian, so I have some understanding of predestination, but I'm also not a scholar on it and haven't done much thinking about it in a few years. I would probably fall in the camp that your link refers to as "God sent Jesus to redeem everyone who would believe (have faith) and take advantage of Christ’s work. This is the view of Arminians who believe that Christ’s death was potential atonement, not actual atonement."

However, I do believe that Christ's atonement was actual and not just potential, so I'm not sure how to fuse the two ideas... maybe its not possible? I'm not sure.

I have a really hard time believing that God has chosen only a few to receive his salvation... maybe its true? not sure?

One line says, "the atonement in a broad sense is offered to all; in a narrow sense, it is only offered to the elect." Can you make more sense of that for me?