Quote:
Originally Posted by Dante
There are two views that are prominent among people regarding God's involvement in humanity as a whole. If there are more than these two then I beg of you to post them, but essentially the ones I want to bring to your attention are:
1. God is actively involved in every aspect of His creation - He built it and is in control of moving all the mechanics of it to make sure it moves smoothly. Also, He is personally involved in every single person's life who is alive today.
2. God created the universe but has taken a "hands off" approach to it. In other words, He set it up so that it runs on its own, and has now stepped back away from it for things to operate how ever things turn out. He has tuned the universe to operate according to certain laws so that certain actions trigger a reaction, and He has no need to be personally involved in people's lives because He has set up the rules of the universe to take care of themselves.
Which view do you take, and why?
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I believe that God has within His eternal character, the distinct and apparently contradictory qualities of
Transcendence and
Immanence. (I linked to Wiki articles which discuss these qualities to spare you from having to listen to me explain them here- though the articles themselves don't exactly jibe with my own views in all matters of theology).
Transcendence:
Job 22:2;
Isaiah 40:13;
1 Corinthians 1:25, 1 Corinthians 2:16;
Romans 11:33-36.
Immanence:
Jeremiah 23:23-24;
Acts 14:17,
Acts 17:27-30.
... notice also
Isaiah 55:8-11. Here God is described as being unreachable and incomprehensible to human beings. However, God sends His "Word" (in Greek= "Logos") so that we might learn of Him. The Hebrews called this "
Memra" (or "Dibbur" as it is in the original in
Isaiah 55:11). This "sending of His Word" is generally equated with the incarnation (
John 1:1-14;
Philippians 2:6–8) though He obviously had been "sending His Word" for a considerable period of time before that (
1 Samuel 15:10;
Isaiah 38:4;
Jeremiah 1:4; and so many other verses).
In the process of time, God also took on the quality of "Dwelling," "Tabernacling" or "In Dwelling." This seems to be reserved for a description of God temporarily "inhabiting" a particular place in a particular way. This is not an "eternal" quality of God (IMHO) since it requires a creation with which He interacts. Thus,
Genesis 1:2 (ESV), may be the first reference to God assuming this quality.
Thus, in the words of Paul, "One God and Father of all, who is
above all (transcendent), and through all (immanent), and in you all (tabernacling).
Ephesians 4:6.
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