“But a thinker who has no desire to think cannot think . . . And one who desires but cannot imagine what it is he wants is not getting very far with his desire, which, if it were real, would attempt to achieve an intelligible form.” — Northrop Frye, Fearful Symmetry, 27
Once again we are inspired by Barry Casey’s ponderings and deep insights. We are gently reminded of how foolish we are to limit God in any way I am reminded of JB Phillip’s inspirational writing. Your God Is too Small really inspired me to see God in a whole new way. The first half of the book is about many of our misconceptions of God. The second half of the book, though, does not set out to provide a list of proper views of God, but instead Phillips discusses how God came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ to give us a right understanding of God’s nature. in his book he says:
"[Some Christians] prevent themselves from growing up. So long as they imagine that God is saying 'Come unto Me" when He is really saying “Go out in My Name,” they are preventing themselves from ever putting on spiritual muscle, or developing the right sort of independence quite apart from the fact that they achieve very little for the cause to which they believe they are devoted.
God will inevitably appear to disappoint the man who is attempting to use Him as a convenience, a prop, or a comfort, for his own plans. God has never been known to disappoint the man who is sincerely wanting to co-operate with His own purposes."
Once again Barry your writing has “stirred” things up, for the better.
Thank you, Sam! I read that book years ago when I was in high school. I must look for another copy. I still have his New Testament translation that I have treasured all these years.
“We cannot tell the whole truth about God because we do not know it and we couldn’t express it fully even if we did.”
So true. Every decade that passes as a human being should teach us this. We can believe when we are young that we understand everything…but this is only because of what we know and are exposed to. The older we get the more we truly understand how little we really know about God, ourselves, and others.
People now are not attracted so much to a group that claims truth. Instead, people want to be in a group that practices authenticity and humility. Thus, the following topical list has little appeal to people in our culture:
The Truth about The Sabbath
The Truth About Death
The Truth About Hell
The Truth about 666
Bible Prophecy Truth
Truthfully, God is bigger and better than we think and our language cannot contain His truth.
Great article Barry,
We were created for greatness but doomed ourselves with mortality, all we have is the faith of Jesus to achieve the mind of Jesus 1 Cor.2:16