In this series, I will examine what beliefs we should have about the kind of being God is. In general, I can think of four sources of information used by Christians in determining their beliefs about God's nature. Not all Christians place the same value on each of the sources, though most Christians use all of the sources to some extent. The sources are:
Philosophy: There are philosophical ideas about what the nature of God must be, and some of these have been incorporated into some Christian views on God's being.
Tradition: There are views that have been supported by long acceptance by prominent Christians within the church or a segment of the church. Traditional beliefs often have their origin in one of the other sources (such as philosophy), but sometimes the importance of the origin fades compared to the importance of traditional acceptance.
Scripture: There are statements in Scripture that describe God, and various beliefs have as their basis some interpretation of these statements.
Creation: The characteristics of the created world, including characteristics of humans, are used to infer beliefs about what the Creator of such a world must be like.
In this series, I will examine some of the common beliefs about the nature of God, and try to identify the sources that can be used to support these beliefs. I believe identifying the source(s) is particularly important. Combined with an opinion on which sources are most reliable or essential, this should allow us to determine which beliefs should be held most firmly.
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Russell Edson sang, "In such a world there is much sadness which, of course, is joy."
ReplyDeleteDon't forget Artistic: God is a man with long hair. "The two skinny Christs balance the fat one."